Page 66 of Pink

Nessa snorted. “Unlikely. Are you going on a date? Because when you’re not working, you live in sweats. And you didn’t say you were working tonight.”

“Nosy.”

“And?” She offered that as if it wasn’t a problem. “But is it—a date, I mean?”

Lev’s shoulders tightened when she asked the question a second time, but it was his silence that had Nessa cooing out a loud ohhhhh.

“It is,” she said.

“I’m meeting an old friend,” he said. “It’s not a date.”

“Who?”

“A friend.”

“A nameless friend?”

“Nessa—”

“When was the last time you even went out on a date? All you do is work. And take care of your kid, too. Can’t take that away from you.”

She had a point, but still… “It’s not a date.”

“I think it might be just based on … you right now.”

Lev tossed the drying rag to the counter and pinched the bridge of his nose while he mentally willed away the irritation. “Jesus Christ.”

Turning around so he could tell Nessa to mind her own damn business, Lev ended up just staring at the grinning woman on the other side of the kitchen island. It was the gleam of expectation in her eyes that stopped him from being an asshole.

“Are you nervous?” she asked.

“It’s really not a date.”

She gave him a second look. “Are you sure? You even shaved, Lev.”

Fucking hell.

“We didn’t say it was a date. We’re just meeting up while she’s in town for work.”

None of that was a lie. It took a few days before Gigi sent him a text saying she could finally slip away to meet up without a whole media circus following along, but tonight was the night.

“Ohhhh, it’s a she.”

“What in the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

Nessa grinned and glanced upward as she replied, “I’m just saying.”

“Fuck you.”

“No thanks. You’re … kind of like my older brother. I’m not really into that.”

“Am I?”

“What?”

“Like your older brother?”

Nessa nodded. “I mean, yeah. Who knew what ditch I would have died in if Nan didn’t have you just down the hall to help me when she needed it? And I guess you were the first guy who showed me there were men who would show up, so to speak. You didn’t owe me shit. You weren’t my family. I wasn’t your responsibility, but you just kept showing up.”