KristoEventually, she emerged from the bedroom again. She had told me she was just about to start work as a librarian, and she looked quite the part that day. She was wearing a deep red wrap dress that showed just a hint of cleavage, her hair piled haphazardly on the back of her head in a bun. It was far removed from the pure glamour and sex appeal of the outfit she’d been wearing to the gala, but I didn’t mind. She looked sort of like a teacher, one I wouldn’t have minded rolling in the hay with.“Hey.” She smiled at me, touching her dress nervously. “Do I look all right?”“You look great,” I promised her, and I pushed the dirty thoughts firmly out of my mind. She had a hell of a lot going on, and I didn’t need to add my libido to her problems, that was for sure. I would keep my attraction to her under wraps and keep this firmly a business transaction. It was the right choice for both of us, no matter how hot I thought she looked in that dress. At least I would get the pride of havi
Amaya“Amaya.” The woman at the desk—Marjorie? I was pretty sure that was her name—greeted me with a sweet, broad smile. And then her eyes slid over to the man beside me.“And this is …?”“A guest of mine. Kristo,” I replied, glancing over at him. I could leave the husband explanation for later. “How’s Jolene doing today?”“She’s good.” Marjorie nodded. “She missed you while you were away, though.”“Yeah, I missed her too,” I replied with a broad smile. No matter how much I knew this was costing me, how much I was aware of the strain on the meager budget we already had, I loved Jolene too much to let that overtake me when I was thinking about spending time with her.“You ready to head up?” she asked, and I nodded again.“I’m ready to go when you are,” I replied. I glanced over at Kristo. “You?”“Sure.” He nodded, and I wondered how this was going to go down. I had taken one guy to meet Jolene before, and I had been sure he’d been the one, that I had been in love with him, but then I h
Amaya“We should do lunch.” Jolene clapped her hands together. I couldn’t help but giggle. Sometimes, I knew she went out of her way to sound grown-up, especially when she was around new people, but she was still my baby sister more than anything else, and it was cute to hear her speaking in such an adult fashion.“That sounds great.” He glanced down at her chair. “Does this place have a way to get the chair out of here, or how does this work?““Yeah, we can’t fit it in the car,” I reminded her, and she waved her hand, ever the optimist.“Yeah, I know that,” she replied, shooting me a look. “But they have a van we can use to take the chair out and about in. We could do something next week if you want.”She was glancing up at Kristo nervously, and I could tell this meant a lot to her. She was playing it cool, but it was clear to anyone paying attention that she was a little nervous at the notion of him turning her down. But he nodded at once.“I’ll need to call up work and make sure I
Kristo“You’re sure this is the dress you want me to wear?” she asked, plucking at the dark green fabric clinging to her hips. I nodded.“Trust me. You look perfect,” I assured her. She had before, as well. That wrap dress had been stunning, and I loved the way it had caressed her curves as though it didn’t want me to forget about them. But she looked like a teacher. Hell, for all I knew, she actually had been a teacher at some point—she had talked about studying at the university, and she could have covered classes as part of that. My family, though, would want something a little more impressive. And it was easier to sculpt her into the vision of what my family would want from my wife than to argue with Amaya, so I picked out the dress from the boutique, and she gamely changed into it in the back room. I tried not to linger on the thought of her stripping down in there, forcing the image out of my brain, but as soon as she reemerged it was replaced.She looked good. She had looked am
Kristo“Your what?” Leda shrieked at the top of her lungs.“What’s going on out there?” I heard Nonna Balaban’s voice float through from the kitchen, where she was no doubt holding court.“Kristo’s married,” Leda yelled back, and I was sure I heard the entire house take a collective gasp of shock.“Bring him in here,” my grandmother ordered, and I took Amaya’s hand and led her through to the kitchen. Lunch was nearly on the table, but the entire house virtually came to a halt at the news.“Uh, hello.” Amaya waved, managing a smile. Nonna eyed her with an inscrutable expression.“And this is your wife?” She turned to me, eyebrows lost in her carefully done gray hair.“Yes, this is my wife Amaya.” I realized I didn’t know her last name, so I decided to forgo it.“Your wife,” Nonna repeated again and then turned to the scattering of cousins in the kitchen. “Go, take the food to the table. I need to talk to Kristo.”“I can help with that if you—” Amaya tried to offer, but Nonna cut her of
AmayaI tugged at my dress, pulling my hair up and letting it down again. I wasn’t sure if I looked right yet. I was just going to the library, a place I’d been a dozen times before, but I still wanted to look right for work.I finally let my hair down, allowing it to flow over my shoulders. Sexy librarians were a thing, right? Yeah, a porn category, I replied to myself snarkily. I quickly pulled my hair up and tied it into a ponytail and checked for the thousandth time that everything was in place for me to head to work. I finished up the last of the coffee I had been sipping on. Kristo had made me a pot, the same as he had on my first morning here, and I was surprised at how quickly I was growing to love the bittersweet darkness of it.It was odd, getting ready in an apartment that wasn’t my own, but I supposed I was going to have to get used to it now that I had officially moved in with him. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to see his family again soon. That dinner had been way more th
AmayaI climbed into the back of the car and smiled nervously at the driver. I had never not driven myself to work before. It wasn’t like I could afford to pay for someone to take me in, and I barely ever took cabs because I always thought of it as a waste of money. It was odd, knowing that now, I could have asked for a driving tour of the whole city and been able to afford lunch at the end of it.“The library?” he asked, and I nodded.“Yeah, that’s right,” I replied, and he drew away from the building and down into the city. I turned to watch the apartment vanish into the distance. Some part of me was still begging for us to turn around, forget work, and spend the rest of the day hiding out in the apartment together reminding ourselves of everything we’d both forgotten.That was probably the most frustrating part of all of this. I couldn’t remember what we’d done together that night, no matter how much I cast my mind back and tried to fit the pieces together. I had lain in bed and st
KristoI sensed something was up as soon as I stepped into the office. And I had a feeling I knew what it was before I arrived at my desk. When I opened my door and saw her sitting there, I rolled my eyes to the heavens and let out a pointed sigh.“Cleo, what the hell are you doing here?” I demanded. My sister was sitting in the chair behind my desk with a big grin on her face, spinning around like she owned the place. Well, she could have if she’d wanted to, but she’d been the one who’d insisted she was more interested in pursuing her art than anything else. She spent most of her time hanging out at balls and galas and getting photographed for the social pages, but she had a studio and occasionally produced some awesome paintings when she put in the time. I had one of them sitting next to the bed in the spare room, waiting to be hung up.“I thought I’d come in and visit you,” she replied, playing at innocent even though I knew she was anything but. “They told me the news, you know.”