Matt had worked with Genevieve long enough to pick up subtle actions and clues to how she was feeling; she bit her thumb nail when frustrated, she would bite her lip when trying to remain professional and not laugh at a giant mistake a customer was about to make, she would flutter her eyes when she was embarrassed, and her shoulders would square and stiffen when she was uncomfortable. This was certainly the last cue.

From the moment her mother had turned for the house, she hadn't said a word. She had incoherently muttered something, and slowly marched towards what she had considered their doom.

Matt was not one usually at a loss for words, but he thought it best to just let her stress out her thoughts for the moment. He threw his duffle over his shoulder, and with a deep sigh, followed her into the house.

As he stepped into the foyer, he was enveloped by the inviting smells of a rich dinner and hearty chatter coming from beyond a wall. He barely had a moment to take in the homely entrance before noticing Genevieve had begun to make her way upstairs in her continued zombie fashion. He made a move to follow her, and as he begun to climb, heard the room silence.

He had never been a person to shy away from a fight or be discouraged by the thoughts of another, but that silence was all he needed to know that he was about to enter the biggest test of his life. The questions, the curiosity and the judgements were about to begin, and he was just as nervous for Genevieve's sake as he was for his own.

Matt knew that if he made anything less than a perfect impression that, not only would he not be an accepted person amongst their family and the weekend would become  a disaster, but Genevieve would be forced into corner; she was the type of person that was highly influenced and concerned by the opinions of her family, and if they were not impressed, he was not sure whether her feelings were strong enough to overcome them. He wasn't really sure what she felt at all, and it was this thought that occupied his mind as he followed her into the room and closed the door behind him.

He found her staring at the bed, deep in thought. Matt couldn't help but smile at her deep concentration; she was leaning to side, arms folded across her chest and a thumb being gnawed by her plump lips. As nervous as he was to meet her family, he knew the pressure she must be feeling. From the little she had shared with him, he knew it was a big deal, and a fair amount of concern for her. In turn, that had put him under immense pressure to push aside his basic instinct of doing nothin but loving her as she deserves and he so wanted to do.

He took a step in front of her and clicked his fingers in front of her face. She blinked, as though startling herself out of a trance, and her face instantly filled with deep flush.

"You ok in there, Chief?" He bent down and frowned into her face, trying to convey his concern.

"I'm sorry," she mumbled half-heartedly. She motioned to the queen sized bed behind him and scrunched up her face. "This is just..." She paused, trying to muster the words. "Embarrassing."

He shook his head, not only to try and convey his nonchalance, but to attempt to reassure them both. "Don't even worry about it." When this didn't change her expression, he gently laid his hands on her shoulders. "Would you like me to sleep on the couch? I really don't mind"

This finally seemed to shake her out of her stupor. She seemed mortified as her mouth fell open, "Not at all! Don't be stupid."

"Are you sure?" He asked, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Yes." She nodded firmly. She took a deep breath before continuing. "It's just, well, I'm horrified that my family think, well assume, that we're sleeping together, and I feel ever worse for you that we're not."

He couldn't help but chuckle as he pulled her into a hug. Neither of them said anything for a moment, and it was only after he felt her hands snake up his back and return his embrace that he relaxed. Matt knew that as long as she didn't close off to him he'd have a fighting chance to bring her around to see the reality of the situation.

"How am I supposed to face them all when my life is in such a shambles?" She murmured into his chest, pulling herself closer into his embrace.

Matt kissed the top of her head, but said nothing for a moment. What could he tell her to do, when he felt the same, if not more pressure than she to impress her family?

"Be brave, my young padawan," he murmured against her hair, before he kissed her forehead.

He felt her laughing against his chest and he couldn't help but grin. She straightened up and kissed the base of his neck, the part beneath his open collar where it met his shoulder, and he couldn't help but feel a shiver at her touch run through his frame.

He tried to push it out of his mind as she nuzzled into his neck with a grin. "I can't believe you just quoted Star Wars."

----

By the time they had made their way downstairs, her family had given up waiting for them. Half of the kids had fallen asleep on the couch, whilst the older family members had begun the meal. Genevieve knew this would be better, as her family had an exuberance to them at the best of times, but had a nasty habit of becoming hangry, and unfortunate combination of hungry and angry, quite quickly. She didn't think either of them could deal with that after the long day they'd had.

Dinner as usual had been a rowdy affair; lots of loud talking, heated debates, discussions across the table and the passing of plates. Fortunately for Matt and herself, they escaped the deep interrogations she had feared, as there were family members who hadn't been seen in a much longer time sharing their limelight. This didn't mean they were skipped completely however, in between mouthfuls, Matt had been asked some form of question by nearly every person at the table and had diplomatically answered as best he could as part of dinner conversation without sharing too much to gain a pity vote.

She was memorized by him. When she had the chance, Genevieve snuck a glance at her dinner partner; he laughed at the right times, he politely answered questions, flowed the conversation quite naturally, and would throw her a glowing smile whenever someone mentioned her or he caught her looking. It was almost as though he was made to be interrogated by her family.

But it wasn't over yet. She knew her Nonna and her dad hadn't begun the questions, rather sitting back and smiling politely, but she knew them better.  Her mother and sister appeared to give him the seal of approval, as proven by the number of enthusiastic kicks she had recieved under the table. Well, it would take much more than a pleasant dinner for them to accept him in, and she prayed they wouldn't scare him off in the mean time.

By the time dinner was finished and the mountain of dishes had been cleared, it was close to eleven and many of the extended family had made their way to their sleeping quarters. Matt had made his excuses a few moments before as his phone had began to buzz, and Genevieve had been left to her thoughts and the returning of the dried cutlery. Or so she had thought.

"Well I love him." She heard her mother's voice come from over her shoulder.

"That boy is so fine! Where on earth did you find him?" Her sister's voice chimed in with obvious appreciation.

Genevieve felt her spine stiffen and she took a deep breath. She hadn't prepared herself to deal with this tonight. "Will you two put some ice on it please?" She hissed as she turned to face them, but her gentle tone betrayed her humor.

She was met by two grinning faces, and she sighed. For the longest time they had been waiting for her to find someone, and their anticipation had been as daunting as the process herself.  She threw her hands in the air and in the process, tossed the tea towel at them. "I can't deal with this right now. I'm going to bed!"

"But Gennie!" Her sister whined in a voice she had been making since the time she could speak. "We want details!"

She grinned at them and shook her head as she backed out of the room. "Tomorrow!"

Her sister and mother mirrored identical frowns. "You won't be my baby's godmother!"

Genevieve winked at them as she headed towards the stairs. "Try finding another person who will spoil that kid more than me! Night guys!"

She purposefully made her way up the stairs, but slowed right down as she made it to the top. Whilst she hadn't wanted to face their tirade of questions, she really wasn't prepared to share a bed with Matt, even if they were fully clothed.

Her breath hitched as she closed the door to her room behind her. Matt was still on the phone, and motioned to her with one finger as if to say 'one minute' whilst mouth "sorry".

She forced a smiled and grabbed her bag as she hurtled herself into the ensuite and inhaled sharply. My gosh, was he attractive. He had been standing at the window murmuring into his phone, wearing nothing but loose tracksuit pants. His tattooed torso highlighted the definition of his chest, and now that his arms weren't hidden by the sleeves he had been wearing all night, she had relished in seeing them again, if only for a split second. Sure she had liked looking at his tattoos before, but never had seen him without his shirt off. His arms were clearly the main feature, as his back had only three soaring Eagles across his right shoulder blade, and an outstretched eagle was spread across his chest, but that had only highlighted how defined he was. She hadn't realized he had worked out that much.

She spent as much time as she could fumbling around in the bathroom, hoping in equal parts that he would be in bed so she wouldn't see him, and that he would be asleep so he wouldn't see her. She hadn't counted on having to share a room, so she had brung a simple black nightie. One that's low v neckline was lined in lace and had a bad tendency to ride up in the night.

Not being able to put it off any longer, she took a deep breath and hesistantly entered the room. She burst out into a laugh but instantly caught herself as not to disturb Matt; he had taken the far side of the bed and was rolled to his side facing away from her, apparently asleep. What she couldn't deal with was the fact he had created a line of pillows between the two of them, as a barrier between her fears and his.

Though it made her smile, she couldn't help but still feel frightened to slip into the covers. She lay stiff on her back and tried to get comfortable, but just couldn't. She had the most incredible man she had ever met lying beside her, and he had created a miniature fort between them to make her feel comfortable.

She knew she was falling for him more and more everyday, and knew for certain that she would never find anyone who could be so kind to her, but she couldn't figure out why she was still so hesitant to proceed onto the next step. Whether it was to sleep with him, or to finally say the words they were both waiting for her to say, she wasn't sure.

All she knew was that she was so attracted to him that she wanted to go over and hold him close to her and never let him go, and yet her arms were magnetized to her bed.

She heard him rustling on his side of the bed, and she turned her head to she him turn to face her, and settle with a sigh as he rest his hand on the pillow. His eyes were closed, but he murmured sleepily, "You ok Gen?"

She grinned at his intuition. "I am." She whispered, turning on her side to face him. "Just thinking."

"About what?"

"About you."

This caused him to crack an eye sleepily. "Me?"

She nodded. "You're pretty amazing, you know that? No one has ever been this good to me," she whispered.

He slowly reached out to stroke her cheek gently, before laying his hand back on his side of the barrier. She couldn't stop herself from intertwining their hands and placing a soft kiss to his knuckles before gently testing their hands down.

"Just for you Gen. It's only for you."

-----------------------

Holy bananas guys, I don't even know what's happened! It used to be that I only had 100 reads max on a chapter, and then it seems like over the past month or so it's exploded (for my standards anyway). Over 15k reads, with notifications everyday telling me I have people binge reading my story.. And I just can't believe it! I never thought I'd have people reading my story, let alone this many! Thank you so much! You have no idea how giddy I get notification after notification saying that one person has just read for hours straight!

This story means so much to me, and it really means something to me that so many of you like it!

Some of you may think this chapter is weird or unrealistic, but I promise you it's not. I mean it when I say Genevieve is me - this is my family. They are exactly the same, and I share the same fears. You have no idea what it's like to be such a reserved person surrounded by such boisterous people. I only hope I can be as brave as Genevieve will soon be one day! Please by her some slack :) Are you still liking her?

Please let me know what your thoughts are this far - if you like it, what you don't, and what you think is going to happen next! I always love hearing if!

Don't forget to like and comment if you're enjoying it so far :)

G xxx