Chapter 34 Hawk
THIRTY-FOUR
hawk
“Yes, Nonna. You’ll meet her tonight.” Kendra looked panicked as I walked past her in my underwear while talking to my grandmother.
“I’m meeting your family?” She mouthed. She stood stunned and looked incredibly fuckable in the lingerie she had purchased to minimize lines under her gown. She didn’t need it, but it was hot as hell.
“Hey, Nonny, I have to finish getting ready for tonight. Yes, I’ll bid high at the auction—I love you, too.”
I hung up and approached her, backing her into the wall and caging her in with my arms. “You need me to fuck some sense into you?”
“Um, that might distract me. Or at least help me work off some of these nerves. I didn’t realize I was meeting Nonna tonight.”
Her lower lip quivered, and I sucked it into my mouth. She opened up to me immediately. I pulled away before we could get too heated; there wasn’t time. “What are you afraid of?”
“Are we ready for this?”
“No doubt, Kendra. Look at me.” She did, her baby blues wide and scared. “Is it me you’re afraid of, or the rest of the world?”
“Not you. I’m afraid the rest of the world can mess this up. We’re in a bubble right now, but we’re wide open after tonight.”
“It’s the next step.”
“And what after that?”
“Do you want to map that out before the ball? Or do you think maybe we can get dressed and continue the conversation in the car ride over?”
She looked at the clock on the wall. “Shit, we’re late. Sorry. I’ll be fine. I’ve wanted to meet Nonna since you first told me about her. I just thought tonight would be more involved with casual acquaintances.”
“She’s going to love you.”
“Your parents, too?”
“No, they’re in Florida.” Kendra had clocked it correctly: Nonna’s opinion mattered more than my parents’. They were an afterthought, not a priority. “If it helps, Colby has already told her all about you; she loves you already.” It was shockingly easy to use the L-word.
Kendra nodded and took her gown off the hanger. “Help me zip this thing.”
When she turned and looked at me, she blushed. “Kendra, why are you shy now that you have clothes on?” The woman who blossomed naked in front of a camera got shy with her clothes on.
She swatted my chest. “Go put your tuxedo on. I’m going to check on my sister.”
She leaned against the kitchen counter and was focused on her phone when I walked up behind her. When I approached, she startled. “Everything okay?”
“Yes. Just me, trying to be supportive of my sister and not make the same mistakes again.”
I kissed the top of her head and tugged her toward the door. We both put our coats on, but Kendra stopped before we left the apartment.
“Wait, come here.” She held up her camera to capture a selfie. “If I’m meeting your grandmother, my family group chat gets a picture, too.”
“Damn, baby. We look good together. Send me that too?”
I could hear her phone buzzing in her purse as we rode down to the lobby to meet the car.
I opened my Instagram account, posted the photo, and captioned it “Date Night.” Adding a tag to Kendra, I hit post and sent it off for the world to do what they wished.