“Vincent!” I shot straight up in the bed. “Oh, my God. Why—oh, my God, you said my name. Your whole family heard you yell my name when you were coming? I’m never going to be able to look any of them in the eye again. Ava won’t ever speak to me, and Liam—he’ll never let me forget it. And your mother is going to hate me before she even knows that you and I are—well, whatever it is we’re doing.”
“Amanda.”
“Yeah, that’s it. Say my name a few more times in case someone down the block from your parents’ house didn’t hear you the first time.”
“Amanda.” He was laughing, damn the man. He was laughing at my humiliation.
“Keep it up. Keep laughing. I’m glad you find this so amusing.”
“Amanda,” he wheezed. “I’m not at my parents’ house. I’m at home—at my house. I was just teasing you. It was a joke.”
I fell back onto the bed. “A joke? I’m going to fucking kill you, Vincent DiMartino.” I paused. “You’re really at your house?”
“I promise, I’m at home. Really. I’d never do that to you, Amanda.”
“Hmph.”
“Hey. Don’t be mad. Didn’t you like your holiday orgasm?”
I couldn’t keep my mouth from curving up. “Yes, I did. Did you like yours?”
“Best one ever. But I’ll let you in on a secret. That was my first Christmas orgasm, too.”
Now, sitting on my couch, I gave a happy little sigh, remembering that night. On the other end of the phone, Ava cleared her throat.
“Amanda? Are you still there? Are you going to answer me?”
“Ummm, yes. I mean, no, of course I’m not avoiding you. I’ve been super busy with classes and work. Maybe you remember that I’m in my last semester of law school. Things tend to get a little hectic.”
“Hmmm. Yeah, I get that. But you can’t hide away forever. Liam and I were thinking of driving into the city this weekend. Let’s plan to have dinner.”
“No.” I didn’t mean to sound as adamant as I did, but Vincent and I were meeting this weekend at an inn halfway between his house and mine. We hadn’t seen each other since Ava and Liam’s wedding, and after several other phone sex sessions—I was definitely not a virgin anymore—we were desperate to see each other. To be together. We might have agreed that sex shouldn’t be the only reason for us to like each other, but it was a damn important part of the equation, too.
“Oh.” Ava sounded taken aback. “Are you busy? I mean ... we can be flexible. If we can’t have dinner, maybe we could meet for breakfast or lunch. We haven’t all been together in one place since the wedding, and we haven’t gotten to celebrate Giff and Jeff’s engagement.”
I felt like a jerk now. “It’s not that I don’t want to see you, Ava. I miss you guys, too. And I’m so excited for Giff and Jeff. But I really do already have a commitment this weekend. Could we try for next weekend, instead?”
She was quiet for a second. “Sure. I’ll check with Liam and see if that works for him.”
“Okay, and I’ll do the same with Giff. If it all pans out, let’s have dinner next Saturday at that kitschy little Asian fusion spot over by Penn. We can drink sake and toast the boys.”
“That would be fun.” Ava paused for a beat. “Amanda, I’m going to ask you this, and you don’t have to answer. Did my dickhead brother do something to make you mad? I saw you two dancing at the reception, and then Ange said that she thought Vince drove you to your hotel. I hoped ... but if he was a jerk, I’m really sorry. He’s just—Vince.”
“Oh.” I laughed, stalling. “No, of course not.” I hated the idea of lying to my friends, and I was skirting dangerously near that edge now. “He’s not so bad.”
“Well, you don’t know him like I do. He made my life miserable when I was growing up. Any time a boy would even look at me, there was Vince, glowering. My first date, he took the poor kid aside and threatened him with loss of life if he tried to kiss me.” She snorted. “Meanwhile, he was nailing anything in a skirt from the time he was a freshman. Talk about double standards.”
“Awww, he was a good big brother.” I smiled, picturing Vincent cracking his knuckles as he intimidated Ava’s potential boyfriends.
“Yeah, he had his moments.” Ava sighed. “After Antonia ... well, when she got pregnant, Vince was furious. Not at her—Vince always had a soft spot for Antonia—but at Frankie’s father, Mark. He beat him up. Ma was afraid Mark might press charges, get Vince in trouble, but he didn’t. I guess he knew he’d screwed up, and maybe he realized he’d gotten a little of what was coming to him.”
My heart hurt a little for Vincent, at the same time that I was proud of him for standing up for his sister. Antonia had gotten pregnant in high school, I recalled. Ava had given me the short version of the story one day when I’d been visiting, and she’d been babysitting her niece, Frankie. A drunk driver had hit Antonia’s car one night when Frankie was just an infant, killing Ava’s sister immediately. I knew that it was a tragedy that it had scarred the tight-knit DiMartino family.
“I can’t imagine what it must be like, to have a protective brother.” I’d wished for a big brother when I was little. It had always seemed like the best kind of sibling to want. But my feelings toward Vincent were far from fraternal.
“It’s not a bad thing, and the truth is, I love the big lunk. Carl, too—but you know, Carl’s more like my father. There’s a quiet strength there. Vincent’s more like a male version of Ma, I guess. Protective to a fault, and not afraid to say what’s on his mind—but someone you definitely want on your side all the time.”
“True.” I smiled, thinking of the way he’d held onto me that night at the beach.
