KristoAs soon as Amaya was out the door, I rolled out of bed and started taking care of everything that needed to be done for the day ahead. I had so much to get ready and what seemed like such little time to do it in. No matter how much work I put in, this place was never going to be up to standard for my nonna, and even if I scrubbed this place down on my hands and knees for the rest of the day, she would still sweep in and find something wrong with it in the first five minutes.That reminded me, I had to call her. I had told her that Jolene was going to be here today, but I had a feeling it might have slipped her mind, and I didn’t want her to turn up to that kind of a surprise.“Nonna?” I greeted her as soon as she picked up the phone. At once, she started rambling away to me.“Are you going to cancel on me?” she demanded. “I thought you would. When you told me to come to your place, I was sure you were—”“I’m not canceling on you,” I cut her off calmly. I had somewhat expected t
Kristo“Hey,” I greeted Amaya and Jolene with a grin as Amaya walked out of the elevator with her sister and moved toward the door. I went over to give them a hand, but she waved me away.“I can manage, don’t worry,” she assured me, a slight grimace on her face as she pushed her sister the last few inches toward me. Jolene grinned at me, rolling her eyes as she jerked her head in the direction of her older sister.“Sorry about her,” she announced playfully. “I didn’t realize she’d be trying to play the hero all day.”“I’m not,” Amaya protested weakly. “I just want to do it myself, that’s all.”“And what exactly do you have a big, strong husband for if not to help you with stuff like this?” Jolene demanded, and I cocked my head at Amaya playfully.“I’m on her side, you know,” I told her, and I helped hitch Jolene over the threshold and into the apartment. “There. All done.”“Oh my god, this place is incredible,” Jolene gasped as she looked around, Amaya closing the door behind her. I g
Amaya“So, you’re happy to go for us again?” Indina, my manager, looked over her glasses at me. I nodded.“More than happy,” I assured her. “I really enjoyed the gala. I’m sure that this will be fun too.”“Good.” She nodded and then leaned in close as though sharing a secret with me. “I hate these kinds of things. Reason I got into library work was so I didn’t have to worry about fancy parties all the time, but it seems like it comes as part of the territory.I laughed and leaned back, touching the necklace around my throat. Kristo had given it to me a couple of days ago, a thank-you for Sunday. It was pale, delicate silver with a single pearl pressed into a small claw at the center, and I thought it was about the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.“Well, I’ve got you covered,” I promised her. “Don’t you worry. I’ll be there.”“Wonderful.” She nodded. “That’s all I needed you for. Thanks.”I headed back to work and bit my lip as I imagined going to another one of those big, fancy p
AmayaKristo seemed to sense my quietness and changed the subject.“So, this gala,” he went on casually. “Who’s going to be there?”“No one who’s going to be much use to your business,” I admitted. “It’s probably just going to be people who want to think they’re fancy and cultured schmoozing near a library. Not much.”“I’m looking forward to it.” He grinned, cocking his head at me. “And seeing you in a new dress.”“My wardrobe’s going to be twice the size by the end of this year,” I remarked breezily, but some part of me wanted to remind both him and me that this had an expiration date, no matter how endless it seemed right now.“That’s the plan,” he replied with a glance at me. I relaxed and found myself enjoying our date. We didn’t talk about anything in particular and certainly nothing regarding the future of our relationship or what would happen at the end of the year. I was just a woman, out with a man who seemed determined to charm the panties off her every chance he got. He le
KristoI crossed my arms and drummed my finger against my elbows, waiting for her to come out of the library. I was ready for tonight. Everything was in place, and I was going to show her a seriously good time.I knew she hadn’t meant anything by it when she’d made that offhand comment about us not going out enough, but it had been playing at the back of my mind ever since. She had tried to convince me it was nothing more than a remark, that she hadn’t meant anything by it, but she was right. We didn’t go out enough. There had been that trip with the helicopter a few weeks ago now, and since then, the only times we’d done anything were when we headed up to see her family or mine. She deserved better than that, no doubt. She deserved to be swept off her feet every chance I got, and that was precisely what I was planning to do this evening. Every time she expressed even the remotest dissatisfaction about anything, I found myself leaping to fix things up, not wanting her to leave again.
KristoWe headed down to the comedy show and took seats at the back of the room, hiding out in the dark together. I let my hand rest on her knee casually, even though I felt as though her skin was pulsing heat through my entire arm.The show was patchy, but the two of us laughed along anyway. I felt like this was so easy with her, like I didn’t have to worry about whether she was having a good time or whether she liked where I was taking her. She wasn’t a snob. She always expressed herself openly, and that was so refreshing after so long dating women who always plastered on a game face no matter whether they were having a good time or not. Amaya didn’t bullshit me. That was half the reason I liked having her around so much.“So, what now?” she asked when the show was over. Her eyes were bright, and it was clear she was far from being done with tonight.“I don’t know,” I replied as I handed her coat to her. “What do you want to do?”“Ooh, are we close to Central Park?” she asked, clapp
Amaya“Are you sure I can’t get out of this?” I asked, and I was only half-joking. It wasn’t that I didn’t want to get to know his sister better, but I was also exhausted after a long week of work, and I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to keep my energy up long enough to entertain her for a couple of hours.“I’ll call you in an hour and claim there’s an emergency if you want,” he suggested as he took a sip of his coffee, but I shook my head.“No, it’s really sweet of her to think of me.” I sighed, slightly hating that I had agreed to this. “I should go.”“My sister can be a lot. Trust me, I know,” he assured me. “If you need an out, you just call me, and I’ll take care of it.”“Don’t tempt me,” I warned him, and he grinned and reached into his pocket. He pulled out his bank card and handed it to me.“You take this, and get anything you want,” he told me. I tried to bat it away.“I really don’t think that’s a good idea,” I replied. “I’d feel weird, spending your cash.”“Get somethin
Amaya“Yeah, I just need a little help with the zipper,” I called back, and she tugged the curtain open, stepped inside, and did it up for me. I turned to the mirror. I bit my lip to keep from laughing out loud. It looked terrible. It was a few inches too long, the waist flopping awkwardly down around my hips and the bustline drooping nearly to my belly button.“Okay, that looks like crap.” Cleo shook her head and chuckled. “Maybe scrap this one, huh?”“Glad you said it,” I replied. Any tension that might have remained between us was gone. We went through the rest of the dresses she had picked out for me, and I tried not to think too hard about the price tags. This was just fun, after all, and I was sure I could suggest a place a little more in my price range when this was all done with and pick up something there.But then she handed me one last dress, deep green, a similar color to the one I had worn that very first night when Kristo and I had met at the gala. I slipped it on, and I