A Kiss to Last a Lifetime

The Next Few Days part 4

Chloe pov

The next day flew by pretty quickly. Reggie invited me over to his place to meet his parents. I will admit I was a little nervous. Sure I had already met his lovely mother, but throwing his dad in the mix made my hands clammy.

I wore a sleeveless modest sundress this time with a crochet cropped cardigan. It wasn’t fancy, but it was paired beautifully. When I got dressed I picked this outfit with the hope that Reggie would enjoy the view. Oh my did he let me know everything he liked about it. Toward the end of our stay at the hospital Reggie invited me to an intimate lunch with his parents. No extra guests this time. That was a huge relief.

Everything was going well after Reggie introduced his father, Romeo, and I had already met his mother, Bella. We were laughing and enjoying a story of a younger Reggie.

However, the tone and the direction of the conversation shifted to Romeo talking about Reggie not bringing any women to meet his parents before I came along. I was once again surprised, but tried to keep the thoughts to myself.

Reggie is gorgeous. There’s no way that he avoided women before me, sure there was still a lot I didn’t know about Reggie, but he was not lacking in the looks and charisma department.

Romeo asked, “Why have you never brought any other woman home to meet us?”

Reggie responded, “They were not suitable companions. They didn’t want anything real just mutual release and privacy.”

Romeo replied, “Ahhh, my son ever the bachelor, your mother always talked about arranging a young lady for marriage, but I’m glad you managed to find someone to care about, someone who also cares for you.”

“Son take good care of Chloe, she is definitely a keeper. As you have just stated there aren’t a lot of women like Chloe out there. Luckily she’s aware of your past and has decided to accept you.” Romeo finished before asking more serious questions like what our plans were for the future. If I had plans to stay in the state for college, would I make a life here after school, and so on and so forth before lunch concluded.

After lunch Reggie wanted to revisit the garden, and he took us to the perfect spot. He knew I had questions regarding his past, and my future. I wasn’t going to let anyone hold me back from achieving my goals.

Reggie was first to break the silence. “I know we are still getting to know each other and your past has been laid out since we met. Mine was sort of put on the back burner.”

“I have to admit that I wasn’t ready to tell you, but I’m relieved that my father brought it up. I wasn’t trying to hide my past. I just wasn’t sure when it would be a good time to bring it up.”

He paused before continuing, “I have slept with my fair share of women. None of those encounters were serious. I won’t make excuses for my behavior in the past. However, I would like to explain why I was waiting to tell you.”

“When we met, it was electrifying. You brought forward my need to have someone I cared about and connected beyond the initial secsual attraction. I wanted to protect you, and show you as well as myself that I am capable of loving and being loved.”

“Based on everything I seen and heard about your ex boyfriend, I didn’t want you to categorize me as the same cheating philanderer as Dane. I now realized that I wanted to step up and be a better man for you. I swear you are the only one I’m with and the only one I think about.”

“I’m not placing any blame on anyone beyond myself. I regret not sharing info about my past and I apologize for omitting it. I hope you will forgive me from keeping my past a secret from you. I want more than a friendship with you. I hope you want more too. But I won’t force my feelings on you.”

“I want you to make your own decisions, that means we will need to figure out how to make us work, if that’s a direction you want. I will do whatever I need to do to make amends.” He finished.

It was my turn to share my thoughts. “I remember being shock when your mother said I’m the First Lady you brought home to meet her. You are a beautiful man, and it didn’t make sense as I knew there are plenty of ladies who would gobble you up if given the opportunity.”

“Tessa is one of those ladies by the way. She made sure to tell me how much of a catch you are and that I don’t deserve you. Her mind is pretty twisted, so her thoughts count for nothing. But I did wonder, if you even knew ladies were gawking and flirting with you, or if you were just oblivious and unfazed. With everything coming to light now. I know you simply don’t care about the other women.” I paused for a moment.

“I’m not sure how to feel. Disappointed sure. Deceived yes.”

“All this time I thought you were too good for me. You have been the perfect gentleman up until the point where I learned you were intentionally omitting your history with woman. I will admit it has me rethinking your true intentions.”

“I try not to compare you and Dane, but right now you both come off as womanizers. The only difference being you didn’t cheat and manipulate those women. I’m glad you’re not trying to justify your behavior. I have a lot to unpack. I do know that I still want you in my life, but I don’t know what to do.”

“But I know we need to take this slow and really get to know each other. You know the nitty gritty stuff, and the stuff no one knows.”

Reggie and I spent the next few hours chatting about our past, and our wants a needs for the future. When I was satisfied with everything he shared I asked him to take me home. When we parted ways I told him that I was looking forward to seeing him tomorrow.

Despite the fact that I learned his worst characteristic, I still wanted him, but I was determined not to rush anything.