Page 50 of It Must Be Love

Hayes grinned. "Finally."

"What do you mean?"

"You date women who look like models, Amias, because they look like that."

"What's wrong with admiring beauty up close and personal?"

Hayes added a few more bottles to the cart. We walked around the store and picked up a couple cases of beer as well.

"Ah, she said she likes her champagne Blanc de Blanc and super dry. Thoughts?"

Hayes rubbed his hands together. "Ah, I know just the one. Come on, let's go spend some more of your money."

By the time we left the store I'd bought twelve bottles of wine for an ungodly sum of money. I hoped Naya would like the bottles Hayes had recommended.

"Will you tell her I helped or show off that you know your wine?" Hayes asked when we came to my place, and I opened one of his bottles of Burgundy.

"I do know my wine. I just don't know it as well as you do. You could work as a floor Somm at any top restaurant." I drank some of the Burgundy and moaned. "Holy fuck, this is good."

"Oh yeah," Hayes agreed after he drank some.

"What are you doing for Christmas?"

"I have a lady friend. She and I will have a meal I prepare at my place after which we'll drink some of this wine you bought for me and fuck like rabbits until university opens the first week of January," Hayes declared.

"Tell me more."

"Not much to tell. She's a visiting professor from Sorbonne. Has great tits; is a Fulbright Scholar."

"Tits come before brains?"

"Best thing about her? She's only here through the end of March. "

"So, perfect for you."

"I like my women better when I know they're going miles away after we're done," he admitted.

I leaned back on the couch and sighed. "Have you talked to Nolan since The Langham lunch?"

Hayes shook his head. "He called, and I told him I was too disgusted with him to talk. He asked why and I told him that he was a douchebag for treating his sister so badly. He hung up on me. How about you?"

"He came to the apartment. He apologized. I think mostly because Kara made him. She didn't want to miss out on Switzerland."

"And now you go ahead and cancel it. How did your mother take it?"

I groaned out loud.

"That well, huh?"

I laughed in self-deprecation. "She was pissed as hell. And then she wanted to know if I was seeing anyone else and if I was to make sure she was as classy as Ann."

"Your mother is a tool."

"Ann is a lot like my mother."

"Who is also a tool."

I wondered how my mother would feel about Naya. She'll think she can eat her alive until she tries, I thought in good humor. Naya would be a hard nut for her to crack. The woman was tough and humble. She had that quiet strength that didn't collapse under pressure.

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