taken one with me to the party, just in case. And I’d already used it earlier with a sultry blonde eager for a good time. I’ve been tested since Ranger’s birth. I’m clean, but still… I take my responsibility seriously. I can’t imagine indiscriminately having kids and not caring what happens to them.
“Apparently, he took pride in impregnating his assistants. He got some dirty thrill out of knocking them up in the office.”
“What a scumbag.”
“You must be talking about dear old Dad,” Harlow suddenly quips from the archway leading into the kitchen.
She looks cool and sporty this morning, long hair in a ponytail and wearing a pair of shorts that show off her tanned legs.
“How’d you guess?” Nia grimaces. “Coffee?”
“Not while I’m breastfeeding, but thanks.”
“Make your little guy jumpy, too?”
“Unfortunately. You okay?” She glances back at the shattered glass in the living room. “What can I do to help?”
Nia shakes her head. “Cleaning up the house can wait. Let me check on Amanda and put on some clothes. I’ll be quick. Then we’ll sort it all out.”
“No rush. Noah has daddy and dutiful-son duty today.”
As Nia leaves, I see my sister-in-law eyeing me with speculation, so I seize the conversation first. “How’s Makuahine?”
“Fine.” She looks me up and down with a whistle. “Tell me about your night. You look like Masey wrung you out and ran you over.”
I send Harlow a stern stare. I’m not saying shit about Masey’s personal business, even to her best friend. “I’m good.”
She scowls. And it occurs to me that if I’m serious about wanting to see if there’s anything more between Masey and me, Harlow would be a hell of an ally.
“And?” she demands, dark brow raised.
“I want to talk to you about her.”
“Uh-oh. What happened? She didn’t freeze up or suddenly decide she misses Thom, did she?”
“No.” Not at all, thank god. “She was”—I filter through a whole bunch of ways to describe Masey before I finally settle on one that says a lot without saying too much—“perfect.”
Harlow claps her hands. “So glad my bestie got over the ‘hump’ of humping someone else.”
“Aren’t you funny?”
“Okay, so it’s almost as bad as a dad joke, which your brother is getting too good at. I’m going to have to smack him.”
I laugh at her because I know better. “I’m serious. I need to talk to you about Masey.”
“I’m all ears.” She sets her purse on the white marble counter, then walks past me to grab a glass of water. As she heads back, she yanks up the back of my shirt. “Holy shit.”
I don’t know what my back looks like, but based on where Masey’s fingernails spent most of the night, not to mention the stinging and tingling when I showered, I can guess.
I shrug away from my sister-in-law. “Do you mind?”
“Oh my god, thank you. Masey needed good sex. I don’t think she’d ever had any.”
“I’m happy to have helped. Thank you for introducing us. We really…clicked.” Now I have to be honest. “And the truth is, I’m not ready for it to be over.”
Harlow shrugs. “I’m sure she’d be down for another hot and steamy night with you.”
“I was thinking more.”
“A week? Two?”
I shake my head. “More serious than that.”
“Like…making her your girlfriend?”
“Yeah, and seeing if we have any kind of future.”
My sister-in-law rears back. “You, thinking relationship?”
“Why not?”
“That’s not going to happen.”
“Because?”
She sighs. “Well, for starters, she doesn’t live on Maui. But…you were just supposed to help her with the sex, buddy. That’s it.”
Of course I was.
“’Cause that’s what I’m good for.” I grit my teeth and try not to be hurt that my sister-in-law just told me in not so many words that I’m not good enough for her bestie. “Got it. I’ll figure it out alone.”
I don’t want to be around her right now and know she’s watching me with a pitying stare, so I push away from the counter, haul ass across the kitchen, then head toward the front door. After I pull the heavy decorative slab of wood open, I make to slam it shut behind me. It never hits the threshold.
On the front walkway, I whirl around. Harlow is marching out after me, hands on hips. “Hold up. I never said you were only good enough to fuck her. I’d be happy as hell if two people I love fell for each other. But I have to be honest. Masey just spent ten years with someone. She wants to be alone—probably for a long while—before she attempts