"I never told my parents why, exactly, we broke up. They just know that I broke it off," she admitted.

I nodded.

"I figured as much. My parents know it all, though," I said. "They've been lecturing me for years. They've also been really good about giving me all the information I want on you without making me feel stupid for hanging on so tight."

She snorted.

"You're terrible. I think I had my mom stalking you. As did my dad. And your dad, for that matter," she giggled. "We're two of a kind, aren't we?"

I pulled her until her face was inches from mine and said. "We were made for each other."

Then I kissed the shit out of her.

Chapter 11.

Dinner with the parents should earn you at least a cookie. No...a whole fucking cake.

-Masen's secret thoughts Masen I glanced nervously at the door as we pulled up on Booth's motorcycle.

I was dressed head to toe in leather.

We'd spent the day riding, and now we were in front of my parents' door.

And my parents didn't know that Booth was coming.

"Just chill out," Booth said for the fifth time. "They liked me before, well, once they got over you dating me anyway. There's no reason they won't like me now."

I willed my stomach to chill out and swung my leg over, standing up to my full height and staring at the mailbox in disgust. It was brand new. Again.

"Someone hit my parent's box again," I said. "They do that once a month. On purpose."

"What?" He asked. "Why?"

I shook my head and shrugged.

"No clue. All I know is that they replace it, and it'll take about three or four days before they fix it. Then within a week it's broken again," I explained.

Booth's brows furrowed.

"That sounds like you need to put some surveillance up," Booth said. "All you really need is like a deer camera or something to go off when it captures movement. Since they're at the end of the block you shouldn't get many cars down by the mailbox."

I nodded. "That makes sense. I'll run it by dad."

My gaze went across the street, and I shuddered when I saw my parents' neighbors that were directly across the street. They creeped me out, and had since I was younger.

Booth took my hand, diverting my attention, and led me up the front path to my parents' house, stopping when we reached the front door.

Without hesitation, he knocked and stepped back, taking me with him.

He tucked me under his arm and stared calmly at the front door.

Which opened moments later.

My mom's mouth hit the floor when she saw Booth.

"Michael Booth Jones," she whispered, lurching forward. "I'm so glad to see you!"

I rolled my eyes.

My mom was such a shit.

She talked a good game, but when it came to 'Mikey' she was a sucker and always had been.

"Hi, Karen," Booth smiled. "How are you doing?" He asked, patting her back.

I disentangled my arm from Booth's and walked inside, looking for my dad.

"Dad!" I called.

Dad came out from behind me and scared the shit out of me.

"Shit," I said, heart pounding. "Where'd you come from?"

My dad smiled and pointed over his shoulder at the side yard where he'd built a koi pond for my mother.

"I was feeding the fish," he explained.

I nodded and walked to the door to look at the pond.

"The fish are getting big," I noticed.

"The big white one was the small one of the bunch when we got him, now he's the size of my foot," he pointed at his foot.

I agreed.

He was getting big-the fish, not my dad.

"What are you feeding them, miracle grow?" I muttered.

My dad snorted.

"Your mother makes me buy them this high performance pet food, and I swear they doubled in size within a month of starting it," he told me.

Then he froze as he got a look at who was inside with me.

Then a huge smile broke out over his face.

"Happy Veteran's Day, Booth," he called, offering Booth his hand.

Booth took it and shook, nodding his head. "Thank you."

"What are you doing here?" My mom asked him bluntly.

Booth looked over at me, smiled, and then moved his gaze back to my mom.

"Masen and I are back together," he said without preamble.

My mother's mouth dropped open, but dad didn't look too surprised, making me narrow my eyes.

"It was you, wasn't it?" I hissed.

He looked at me almost repentantly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he lied, but I could clearly see the smugness in his eyes.

I rolled my eyes at him, causing him to smile.

"Thank you," I said softly.

He smiled down at me. "Anything for you, baby. It's good to see you smile like that again."

I felt something warm overtake my heart once again for the millionth time that day.

"I love you, daddy," I whispered.

He winked at me.

"Your mom made his favorite, you know," Dad said.

"What?" Booth exclaimed, his ears perking up.

I laughed.

Booth was in love with my mother's lasagna for some reason.

Hell, I thought it was just plain old lasagna.

Booth, however, freakin' loved it.

"I made lasagna," my mother exploded excitedly.

Booth left us without another word, leaving us all laughing like we used to do.

"I see he hasn't changed," my mom said with amusement.

I shook my head.

No, I guess he hadn't.

Not where it counted, anyway.

Dinner was almost like it used to be before he'd left...except for Daniela's trilling laughter not being there.

She loved Booth almost as much as I did, in a brotherly way of course.

She really used to have a crush on Booth's step-brother, but they'd never progressed past anything but friendship. I think that was more on Daniela's part rather than Aaron's.

"Do you want more, Booth?" My mom held up the spatula with a small, pleased smile.

Booth eyed the pan as my mom was about to scoop him another slice from, and groaned in defeat.

"I can't," he said. "I've had way more than I could handle, and I'll be lucky if I'll be able to roll my way out of here."

My mother smirked.

"You can take some home," my dad offered. "She made two pans."

"Score," Booth crowed, leaning back and patting his full belly with one hand.

Not that you could tell it was full.

His abs still stood out blatantly despite his three pieces of lasagna.

Me, I'd had to unbutton my pants after the first piece and a half.

Not that anyone had noticed that I'd had to do it.

A strange beeping sound had me turning to see Booth staring in horror at a...pager?

"What is it?" I asked worriedly.

He sighed and stood up, trying not to grimace.

"SWAT," he said.

Just one word had the power to bring me to my knees.

"What?" I asked.

He nodded. "I'm on the SWAT team, and there's been a callout."