Page 109 of The Honest Affair

“Yeah?”

“You know, I thought about it, and I think it’s a good thing, you and Nina, after all. She loves you. Anyone can see that.”

I turned. “You finally coming around, little sister?”

“I think it’s good for you, too,” she said as she walked toward the door. “I see how you love her. How you talk about her daughter. Soon you’ll have a real family to protect. Not just me and the others. We’re all grown. You need a family of your own. I’m glad you’re getting one.”

The idea of Nina and Olivia as my family made my chest warm. I smiled. “Thanks, Fran.”

“Have fun at the ball, Cinderella,” she teased as she left.

* * *

Ten minutes later,I was showered and in my room drying off when my phone buzzed on my bureau.

“Perfect timing,” I said. “I just got out of the shower.”

“And so you decided to tease me with that image?” Nina’s voice, slightly husky, purred through the speaker.

I turned, examining myself in the mirror with a towel wrapped around my waist. Not too bad for thirty-seven. I was fit. Could still make out the individual muscles of a solid six-pack. If anything, since meeting Nina, I had more of a reason to look good, just to hear her sound like that.

“Could be,” I said, turning away from my reflection. “Since you’re being stubborn and wouldn’t let me get ready with you uptown. Should I send you a picture? Let you know what you’re missing?”

“Matthew…”

“I’m just kidding. For now. Anyway, I’m getting dressed, so I won’t be late, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“No, that’s not it. Actually, well, there’s someone at the door for you, and no one has answered the door, so she called me…”

“Matthew!” Frankie’s voice shouted before I could ask Nina what she meant. “Get down here!”

“Hold on, doll.”

Keeping Nina on the line, I jogged downstairs to find my sister signing for some kind of garment bag and a shoebox. A young woman who looked a little too buttoned up for the typical bike messenger bristled as she handed me the bag and shoes, but her gaze drew over me a little too slowly for formality.

“Oh, for crying out loud, Matthew,” Frankie said. “I didn’t mean come down in your towel.”

On the phone, Nina chuckled. “Perhaps I do want that picture after all.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I told them all.

I glanced down at my naked torso, which the messenger seemed to be enjoying. Eat your heart out, lady. This ain’t for you.

“Thanks,” I told her, then fished a crumpled five-dollar bill from the key bowl, shoved it into her hand, and shut the door. I carried the packages upstairs, Nina still on the phone tucked under my ear.

“Did you just shut the door in that poor woman’s face?”

“I gave her a tip,” I said as I hooked the garment bag over my closet door. “What did you want me to do, chitchat with her in my towel? I have things to do. Anyway, what’s all this?” I asked as I hooked the garment bag on my closet door.

“A gift. Something for you to wear tonight.”

I frowned. “What? I have a tux.”

I glanced at the 1980s Armani hanging from the back of my door, freshly dry-cleaned and pressed for tonight’s party. Nina had seen it before—exactly one year ago, in fact, when we had tried to say goodbye to each other at the last gala. Of course, that evening hadn’t exactly panned out the way we thought. Eric ended up killing a man, and I’d spent a sleepless night trying to understand what happened until Nina showed up on my doorstep the next morning.

“Darling, I’m going to tell you something, and I don’t want you to be angry.”

I frowned suspiciously as I wiped a few drops of water off my chest. “What’s that?”

---