“He’s a very good builder,” Sharon interjected, her hand tightening around his. Jake realized she had either told her parents a lot more than she’d told him she had, or they really had run a background check on him. He’d thought she was joking about that.

But hey, their daughter was bringing a man they’d never met as her date to a family wedding, and they were obviously wealthy enough to have concerns over anyone she brought home. He supposed he couldn’t fault them for being protective. At least, that’s what he told himself.

Seeing the blank-eyed expression on Jake’s face, Sharon really wanted to shout, ‘I told you so!’ at him, but she refrained. Barely.

Reminding her parents that she and Jake needed to freshen up before the rehearsal dinner – which sent them off to their wing in a hurry as they needed to do the same – Sharon inwardly congratulated herself on her timing as she showed Jake to her wing. Her parents hadn’t had time to start harping on her before they had to get ready to leave.

One point for the home team! 

“You have your own wing.” He muttered the words under his breath, full of disbelief. Sharon looked up at him as he glanced over his shoulder, that expression deepening. “Why aren’t you in the same wing as your parents?”

She shrugged, as if it didn’t matter to her. And it mostly didn’t, not anymore. She’d liked her nannies better anyway. Yup, that’s me, the poor little rich girl.

“I was a noisy kid. Here we are. This is you. My room is there.” She pointed at the door across the hall. Jake nodded, apparently not surprised by them having separate rooms under her parents’ roof.

She couldn’t help but wonder how he was going to react when she joined him in his room later. Because she was definitely going to need some stress relief after dinner.

Fortunately, Jake didn’t question her any more about the separate wings for her and her parents’. She could tell he was still struggling to deal with the reality of what they were like and she really didn’t want to have to get into it. The guest room he was in, which was richly furnished and decorated in muted navy blue and forest green, was very comfortable and masculine (well, in her mom’s opinion). It was meant for male guests.

“Bathroom is through that door,” she said, pointing to a door in the corner of the room. “I’ll meet you out here in half an hour.”

“Great,” he said, sounding a little dazed as he looked around.