“Her situation?” Liam frowned. “What do you mean? Like I said, we went to school together. She’s a friend of mine. Her mother is on the governor’s staff, so we were thrown together at political stuff pretty much all our lives.”
“Does she live around here?” As I watched, she stood closer to Giff, gazing up at him. I wasn’t worried about that; I knew that Jeff was Gifford’s boyfriend, and so he wouldn’t be interested in Amanda. But watching them sparked another question in my mind. “And you never, uh ...” I pointed to her and back to Liam.
My soon-to-be brother-in-law scowled at me. “No, Vincent. Not that it’s any of your ... well, okay, yeah, I’m marrying your sister, so I guess itisyour business. But no. Just friends. And she lives in the city. She’s in law school.”
A little thread of disappointment tightened around me. “Law school. No shit.” Women in law school were not my type, not at all. Although I didn’t like Donna, the truth was that my no-strings hook-ups were more likely to be chicks like her: hard-working women with jobs that would probably be considered blue-collar; most of them had finished high school, but seldom more than that. I’d banged a couple of girls who were going to our local community college, but even then, they weren’t exactly the ambitious types.
Liam gripped my shoulder. “What’s the deal, man?”
I forced my gaze away from Amanda for just a minute. “No deal. Just curious. She seeing anyone? Boyfriend?”
He shook his head. “She was dating someone, but they broke up a while back. Nothing bad, just going in different directions, I think. But Ava might know more. They’re pretty good friends, and you know how girls talk.”
I snorted. “Uh, no. This isn’t the kind of thing you want to ask your sister about. I’ll take your word for it.” When I allowed myself another glance at her, I realized Amanda was looking back at me, her eyes wide and interested, and her lips slightly parted. I didn’t drop my gaze.
Liam, standing next to me and studying my face, wore a curious expression. I gave him a light punch on the arm. “Hey, good party, man. If I don’t see you again tonight, thanks. I’ll talk to you later.”
“Okay. See you around, Vince,” Liam called, but I didn’t bother acknowledging him. I was too intent on making my way through the guests to reach the woman in red.
She didn’t look away from me, and that made me even more interested. She wasn’t playing coy. Next to her, Giff said something and kissed her cheek before he and Jeff hustled away. God bless them.
I reached her side just as she laughed and called out to Giff. I knew I probably shouldn’t do it, but I’d never been accused of being smart about women. I laid one hand on the bare skin of her back, between her shoulder blades.
She was warm and smooth, and I swore I could feel the thrum of her pulse beneath my fingers. The minute I touched her, she stopped moving and stood perfectly still.
“Hey.” My voice was hoarse, and I cleared my throat, and then fuck if I could figure out what to say next. “Uh, hey. You’re Amanda, right? Liam’s friend?”
She turned around to face me, and I dropped my hand from her back. My heart stuttered when the tip of her tongue darted out to swipe over her lips. “Yes, I am. And you’re Ava’s brother, Vincent.” She paused. “You don’t remember me, do you?”
Shit. That was a loaded question. I was almost positive we’d never really met. Almost positive.
“It was a couple of years ago.” Her mouth tipped up into a slight smile. “At Liam and Ava’s housewarming party, when they moved into the condo. You were setting out cannoli, and I asked if you were the pastry chef. You lit into me for assuming that you were ‘just’ the pastry chef. You told me that making pastries was something you did—it wasn’t who you were. And then you accused me of being an elitist snob, only seeing those who provided services as what they could do, not as real people.”
I winced. “Ouch. That must’ve come across as really rude.” Bending my head closer to her, I lowered my voice. “I’ll tell you a secret. I have an evil twin brother ... uh, Vincenzo. It must have been him you met that day. He can be a real pain in the ass.”
“Oh, really?” Amanda tilted her head, and both her smile and her eyes showed a little more amusement. “That’s odd. I know Ava well, and she’s never mentioned a third brother. Pretty sure she usually talks about the two over-protective, domineering lunkheads who think they know it all about everything and treat her like she’s twelve.”
“Yeah.” I nodded, feigned regret all over my face. “That sounds just like Carl and Vincenzo. Doesn’t she ever talk about her enlightened, sensitive brother? That would be me.”
“Doesn’t ring a bell.” Her lashes swept down as she lowered her eyes. “And I don’t know much Italian, but isn’t Vincenzo the Italian version of Vincent?”
“My parents aren’t the most creative people,” I whispered. “But I am. Creative, that is. In so many ways.”
Her nostrils flared slightly. If I hadn’t been standing so close, I might not have noticed. “Creativity is an underrated trait. I, for one, appreciate it.” She lifted the glass she was holding and then frowned when she realized it was empty.
“Let me get you a refill.” I closed my hand around the glass over her fingers. “What’re you drinking?”
“Scotch, neat.” Her voice held a hint of a challenge, as if I might mock her choice of alcohol.
“You don’t mess around, do you?” I made sure she heard only respect, nothing else. “Most women I know drink red wine.”
“I grew up in politics. We drink the serious stuff.” She shot me a challenging glance as we made our way to the bar.
“They served kids hard liquor? That explains a lot about the state of politics today.”
Amanda laughed. “They didn’tserveit to us. But it was all around us, all the time, with most of the adults slamming them back. It was impossible not to be influenced at least a little.”
“Huh.” I stepped up to the bar and ordered Amanda’s scotch along with a beer for me. After I’d tipped the bartender, we wandered away, both of us moving together toward a quieter corner of the room as though we’d planned it.
