Sex, Not Love

climbing?”

“Yes, his name was Jayce. He’s also Catholic. He hasn’t been to confession in quite a few years. You should work on rectifying that. It’s good for the soul to ask the Lord for forgiveness.”

Why in the world did this man show up at my mother’s door? Any other man would have run as fast and far as he could without looking back. Instead, not only did he survive the interrogation by my mother—a woman who because of her own experiences is leery of all men—but I got the feeling my mother might have had a bit of a crush on the man herself.

I stood and walked to the window where she was still gawking. Standing behind her, I placed a hand on her shoulder. “He sounds great, Mom.”

“He does.”

“You have my blessing.”

“Good. Wait. What?”

“You have my blessing to go out with him. I know he’s a few years younger than you, but I think you two will make a great couple.”

My sisters smirked at me behind my mother’s back.

Mom actually blushed. “I’m not interested in him for me. I meant for you!”

“Uh-huh.” I hid my smile and made a face that said sure you are.

“Natalia Valentina Rossi. You need to get back out into the dating world, and this man has flown all the way across the country to get to know you better.”

“He has a job out here, Mom. He travels for work, and his job happens to be in New York this time.”

“It didn’t happen to be in New York. He requested the project so he could be closer to you.”

I was taken aback. “He told you that?”

Izzy blasted through the front door. “He’s better than my coach!”

Is that…a smile I see on her face? The man wasn’t just a charmer, he was a fucking magician.

“But he’s not as good as me, is he?”

Hunter walked in behind her and closed the front door. He was sweaty, so deliciously sweaty. “You play?”

Izzy scoffed. “When she shoots a free throw, one of her legs goes up like she’s Marilyn Monroe. And a few weeks ago, she scored a goal.”

Hunter’s brows drew down. “She plays soccer, too?”

“No, that’s what she said when she miraculously hit a basket. She started jumping up and down yelling that she’d scored a goal.”

“I was excited.”

Izzy shook her head, but the smile never left her face. “I invited Hunter to come see my game on Tuesday. He’s gonna watch and tell me what I’m doing wrong, like Dad used to do.”

I looked at Hunter. “Oh, is he?”

“Is that okay with you?” he asked, looking sincere.

Izzy was so excited, I couldn’t possibly say no. At least that’s the reason I gave myself when I didn’t object.

“Sure. That’s nice of you. I have plans after the game, but I can make them a little later to stay for the recap.”

The Hunter swoon-fest continued during dessert. After we’d finished, when I caught the time on my phone, I was surprised to find it was almost ten o’clock. Normally we were out of here by eight since Izzy had school in the morning and the train ride was over an hour.

“It’s getting really late. We better head out, Izzy.”