Nate was aware that it was already getting dark outside. He was thinking of four hours or more on the road to Boston. He didn’t mind driving at night, but he’d rather be at the hotel, watching a movie, than negotiating traffic on the highway.
But he also had to consider Sonia’s romantic expectations. They’d agreed to just once but the longer he stayed, the more likely she was to think of this as a beginning instead of an incident.
He needed to leave and keep things simple.
Nate pulled on his undershirt and briefs, then fastened on the Hook again, securing the harness. By the time he was done, Sonia emerged from the bathroom. She’d put her hair up in a messy bun, one of those magic things women did in seconds that always fascinated him, and was wrapped in her towel still. He was surprised that she was shy, giving what they’d done together, but she kept her back to him as she took clean clothes from the wardrobe. The towel remained resolutely in place until she’d made her choice, then she put on a bra and T-shirt before dropping the towel to her waist. White cotton this time. She must be in agreement that the party was over.
Holding the towel like a shield made Nate think she didn’t want him to look, but there was no chance of him not admiring her.
No, it was as if Sonia didn’t want him to see.
But he’d already noticed her mysterious scars and he still couldn’t explain them.
Only when she was wearing a pale pink T-shirt and faded jeans did she turn to face him. Nate was buckling his belt over his trousers, wondering what had happened to his second sock. He could only see one.
“You should eat something before you go,” Sonia said and he glanced up. “That will save you having to stop on the way.”
She was right on schedule for trying to make their interval into more. Nate spotted the sock under her bed. “I don’t mind stopping. I’ll pick up some fast food and just keep rolling.”
“But we have those food boxes. We could cook together.”
Nate was tempted. He’d much rather eat something healthy than some fast crap, but that wasn’t the only reason. “I don’t want to wreck my suit,” he said because it was true. “I’m not a neat cook.”
“Oh, I probably have a pair of sweats you could wear.”
There wasn’t a snowball’s chance of that, given how slender Sonia was, but Nate didn’t have time to protest before she opened the wardrobe. She lifted out a folded pair of grey sweats. He was ready to argue that they’d be too small, then she shook them out and he blinked at their generous proportions.
Why did she have a huge pair of sweatpants?
He was going to make a joke that they could both get in with room to spare, but she was deadly serious.
Had they been left behind by an old boyfriend? Maybe the guy who’d broken her heart? Either way, Nate wasn’t putting them on.
He made a joke instead. “Wow. It’s like a magic wardrobe,” he said, looking behind it. “Can you decide to go to the dance at the palace and find a ballgown in there, with glass slippers and a coach-and-four?”
“Not hardly. I just like to be ready for anything.” She was blushing so Nate knew that wasn’t it. She held out the sweatpants and he took them, even though he didn’t want them.
He also felt like he was on thin ice, though he couldn’t explain why. “Then you must know my sister. Kind of a kindred spirit thing.”
“Your sister?”
“My sister, Diane. She has a solution for everything, and the right whatever for any situation.” He put the sweatpants on the chair, then kept getting dressed. “I defy you to go to her place and ask for anything, no matter how outrageous it is, and come away without it.”
To his relief, Sonia smiled. “Organized?”
“And then some. When the Apocalypse comes, my sister will be more ready than anyone. Her place is where you should go.” He frowned in thought. “Actually, there might be a line by the time you get there.”
“You sound afraid of her.”
“She’s my big sister.” He held up a hand in the middle of his chest. “She’s this tall and she still terrorizes me completely.” He shrugged into his jacket and put his tie and sunglasses in his pockets, then picked up his keys and tossed them in the air. “Do you want the other box?”
Her eyes lit. “Then you will stay.”
Nate shook his head, feeling like a jerk even though he knew it was the right thing to do. “”No, I’ll head out, thanks. But I won’t cook the meal kit. That would be a disaster. You could have both and save mine going to waste.”
She folded her arms across her chest, looking a little bit annoyed. Nate doubted that was about the meal kit. “Why wouldn’t you cook it?”
“I’m not so great in the kitchen. Not fussy but not hugely skilled either. I’ll get a pizza in Boston.”
“In five hours,” she said, shaking her head. “You can’t be as hungry as me. I’d never last.”
He should have been out the door, but as was so often the case with Sonia, Nate was conflicted. He wanted to leave to keep from building false expectations. But she so clearly wanted him to stay that he’d feel like a jerk walking out the door.
And he was starving.
He’d call it the Sonia Effect, a sign of her ability to tangle him up.
Sonia opened the box, as if she knew she could change his mind. She started to unpack the contents on the island, lining them up. “It’s so well planned. It’s insulated with freezer packs and everything.”
“It wouldn’t be very celebratory for Reid to give all the wedding guests food poisoning.” Nate was intrigued despite himself.
“No, it wouldn’t. It looks good. Look. Fresh rosemary.” She wagged a thin plastic bag with green stuff inside.
“Let me guess. It’s chicken.”
Her smile was mischievous. “It was a wedding.” She pulled out a package and looked mystified by it. Nate had no clue what it was either. “Phyllo pastry,” she read then took out another package. “Chanterelles.” They were kind of orange and looked like mushrooms. Nate was starting to salivate. Sonia had a recipe card with a picture on it, which she waved at him. “This looks like it’s going to be fancy chicken.” She gave him a look. “Or are you going to faint of hunger while you’re driving and I’m having California Chicken Pot Pie?”
Nate’s stomach growled right on cue. “You’re killing me,” he said.
Her smile was serene. “Am I? What if Pierce asks whether you liked the meal kit?”
“You’re right. I can’t fool him.”
She raised a brow expectantly and he surrendered.
“All right!” He raised his hands. “I’ll get the other box.”
But the sweatpants were a hard no.
“Hurry! You should bring a change of clothes, too, maybe.”
Just like he was moving in. He’d lost the battle, but he wouldn’t lose the war. Nate left the apartment, unable to explain his buoyant mood—unless he considered the option of round three.
And the picture of the finished meal did look good.
He saw the two shadows in the gap under that door on the floor below and knew the nosy neighbor was watching. He whistled for her benefit and gave her door a wave, then continued down to his car.
Dinner, then he was out of here.
That had been close.
Sonia finished unpacking the meal kit, feeling as if she’d had another near escape. Nate had been visibly surprised that she had the sweatpants but to her relief, he hadn’t asked any questions. She shouldn’t have offered them, but she’d wanted him to stay—and cooking in such a great suit was an invitation to disaster. She totally understood that he wanted to dress down.
Her urge to help had nearly blown it all.
Nate buzzed from the street a few moments later and she let him in, then heard his footsteps on the stairs. She was already starting the preparations and had the video playing on her phone.
“It’s amazing,” she said as Nate put the second box on the counter.
“It might not be foolproof,” he replied. “Be warned that my lack of cooking skills is legendary.” He took off his suit jacket and set it aside, then headed into the washroom with his bag. When he came back a moment later, he’d changed to jeans and a black Henley, though Sonia could still see the white of his undershirt at the neck. He hung up his suit in a suit bag and looked around. She pointed to the bathroom door because there was a hook on the back of it. After he’d hung it up, he set his bag by the door and put his keys on top. Sonia understood that the next time he left, it would be for good.
“I’ll be in charge then,” she said, keeping her tone light. “You’ll have to follow orders. You said you’re good at that.”
“Bossy chicks are the best kind,” he teased. “At least that’s what my sister says.” He grinned in that lopsided way that made her heart go thump.
“So, it’s chicken in a gravy, that gets baked with pastry on top,” she said. “With a salad on the side. It looks a bit challenging to make.”
“Huh. You’d think it would be no-fail.”
“But it was a wedding. It’s probably supposed to be celebratory.”
“It looks like my mom’s chicken pot pie,” he said, peering at her phone. “She always says it’s easy.”
“I’ve never made pastry before.”
“Isn’t it made already?”
“Yes, but it’s still intimidating.”
He held up the package of frozen phyllo pastry and wagged it at her in what was probably supposed to be a menacing way. “Boo!”
Sonia laughed. “Your fault if it comes out wrong.”
“Absolutely,” he agreed easily. “It says twenty minutes preparation.”
“And thirty minutes to cook.”
Nate made an anguished cry, then stole a kiss that had her sizzling all over again. “I’ll make the call,” he whispered in her ear.
“What call?”
“Pizza. My treat.”
Sonia didn’t tell him that she never ate pizza.
“What do you like on it?” he asked when she didn’t answer.
“I think we shouldn’t waste the meal kits.”
“Okay, tell me what to do to help while I still have the strength.”
And he’d wanted to get on the road to Boston.
“I thought you didn’t cook.”
“I don’t, but I’m not completely hopeless.”
Sonia gave Nate a knife and a cutting board. “Dice the onions?” Too late, she wondered if she was being insensitive, but Nate got to work.
“Absolutely,” he said. He held the onion with the Hook and peeled it easily, as if he’d done it a thousand times.
Maybe he had.
“It doesn’t look like you’re lousy in the kitchen.”
“I’m lousy at cooking. I manage prep work well if I’m motivated.” His stomach growled again and they laughed together, the balance between them restored. They stood beside each other in the small kitchen to work, their hips and elbows brushing, and Sonia could smell his skin. She felt good and surprisingly happy.
“Just so you know, I would put that ten bucks toward the pizza,” he said when they were reviewing the next step.
“We can do this!”
“So long as we don’t die of starvation first. Make a roux. Seriously? What’s that?”
Sonia reviewed the part of the video and began the roux. “What does your sister do?” she asked when Nate was chopping vegetables and she was stirring. “Besides terrorizing you, I mean.”
“And preparing for the Apocalypse,” Nate added with a sidelong smile that made Sonia’s heart skip. “Don’t forget that bit.”
“I wouldn’t dream of it.”
“She’s an editor at a publishing company. She has a whole lot of people to organize and terrorize there.” He nodded. “Entire teams. Then there are the freelancers, like the poor writers who actually sell her a book.” He shook his head sadly and Sonia smiled.
“Is it enough?”
“Evidently not, she still terrorizes my mom and me. We call it her relentless plan for world domination.”
“In case of Apocalypse.” Sonia smiled when he nodded. “Is she married? Does she have kids?”
“No, much to my mom’s disappointment. Diane is married to her job.” He sighed. “We are failures in the quest of generating darling grandchildren.” He made a sad face, so she knew he didn’t take it that seriously.
“Does your mom bug you about it?” Sonia wondered what it was like to have a normal mom, one who actually cared about someone other than herself.
“She makes pointed comments on occasion. Usually when we’re all together, for Christmas or something.” He smiled. “Diane comes honestly by her talent for terrorizing, although my mom’s strategy is more like water torture. Drip, drip, drip.”
“Don’t you want to have kids?”
“I don’t lie awake nights worrying about it,” Nate said. “For me, the point of life is to enjoy each moment while you’re there. If you worry about what you don’t have or what you haven’t done yet—never mind whether you ever will do something—that takes you out of the zone. It steals the joy.” Sonia had to think that was a sensible philosophy, if a bit hard to do for most people. “I get tired just thinking about all that stuff.” He pushed the diced onions in the bowl she’d put out for them. “What’s next? I have my chopping rhythm going now. I will chop all the things.” He spun the knife with a flourish.
“Garlic.” She shook a finger at him. “Then celery. And no knife tricks.”
“I don’t know any.”
Sonia rolled her eyes.
“But I’m not without other skills.” He raised a finger as if advising her to wait for it, then crossed the room to his jacket. He pulled out his phone and tapped through to something, then placed it on the counter. “I did promise to sing.”
“Can you sing?”
Nate scoffed. “Hello. You’re making dinner with the former lead singer of the Manic Eclectics.”
His attitude made Sonia smile. “The Manic Eclectics?”
“Ask for us by name. Although, actually, we disbanded more than fifteen years ago. We had a garage band in high school and we weren’t bad, if I say so myself.”
“No.”
“Oh yeah. You’re not the only one with secrets, Sonia Olson.” He wagged the knife at her, then dropped his voice to a whisper. “Welcome to the hidden past of Nathan Buchanan.”
“Now I need to hear you sing,” Sonia said.
“Ask and you shall receive,” Nate said, then touched the phone. “I made a mix for the drive. I like to sing in the car.”
“Not in the shower?”
“That would be a cliché.” He clicked his tongue. The apartment filled with the opening sounds of Jeff Healey’s Angel Eyes. Nate cleared his throat, winked at Sonia, then started to sing along.
She felt her mouth drop open.
Nate had a fantastic voice.
Sonia felt like she was being serenaded all through dinner preparation. The mix was a good one, mostly ballads so she wasn’t tempted to get up and dance, but songs with a good beat that made the time fly. She knew most of the words, but Nate’s voice was so great that she just wanted to listen. He played a little air guitar in her kitchen and swung her out to dance more than once, hamming it up so that she couldn’t help laughing. She didn’t even notice she’d been hanging onto the Hook until she was back in front of the counter again.
“You have to sing this one,” Nate insisted when she recognized the opening notes of Rhiannon. “Before we do the final assembly. It’ll be our big finish.”
“I can’t sing like Stevie Nicks.”
“Everyone does Stevie Nicks,” he scoffed. “Even I do Stevie Nicks. But you have to make a guest appearance on today’s Singing Along with Nate.” He shook the Hook at her. “Small price to pay for taking advantage of my superior onion-chopping skills.”
Sonia smiled. “I’m not as good a singer as you.”
“Don’t sell yourself short. Take a chance.” He gestured to the otherwise-empty apartment. “And if we suck, who’s going to know? I won’t tell.”
There was that.
Sonia sang along, her voice steadily getting stronger, until they sang the final chorus together triumphantly. Nate held the closing note so long that Sonia applauded him and he took a bow. Someone’s cat howled in the distance and Nate laughed.
“See?” he said, turning off the music. “You’re a natural.”
“You’re even better.”
“I should be.”
“Okay, so now it goes in the oven for half an hour.” Sonia was checking the directions.
Nate flicked a look at the darkness pressing against the windows. Even though he didn’t say anything, Sonia knew what he was thinking about his drive. She was going to miss his company when he left, and not just because she’d been home alone for months, but didn’t want to think about that yet.
She started to wash the greens for the salad. “Why was your band called the Manic Eclectics?”
“Because we had such a mixed list.” Nate leaned against the counter beside her. “We didn’t choose songs by theme or anything predictable like that—we figured out which keys were best for each of us, and learned all the songs we could in that key. That made it eclectic.”
“I don’t know a lot about music. You have to explain.”
“Okay, Angel Eyes is in C major. Rhiannon, too. My best key. Since I was lead singer, we did a lot of songs in C major.”
“Did you play an instrument?”
“Nope, just sang.” He lifted his right arm. “Good thing I wasn’t dependent upon playing the guitar to earn a living.”
It was surprisingly easy to picture Nate, young and confident, as the lead singer in a rock band. His hair would have been longer and he would have had more attitude. He would have been leaner, too, hungrier looking—perfect for a local rock star and heart-throb. Sonia wondered how many girls had tossed their panties at him. She’d guess a lot. She admired that he didn’t feel sorry for himself or bemoan what he’d lost—he just made his peace with the change in his life and moved forward.
“What other songs?” she asked.
“Now you want a playlist,” he teased with a shake of his head. “Hotel California. Losing My Religion. When Doves Cry. Can’t Buy Me Love. A lot of Beatles’ songs, actually. Lovesong. Mustang Sally. Material Girl. I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues. Quite a few Elton John songs, too. Heaven by Bryan Adams. Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go. INXS’s Devil Inside. I like that one.”
“You?” Sonia asked, laughing. “I don’t believe it.”
Nate gave her a wolfish smile that made her wonder if she was wrong. “That’s because you don’t know about my wasted youth.” He sounded like he was making a joke, but Sonia wasn’t sure—and he continued before she could ask. “You’re My Best Friend. I never had Freddie Mercury’s range, but I nail that one. I used to…” He fell silent suddenly, his lips pulling to a taut line.
Sonia guessed that a memory had taken him by surprise. She knew how that went. “That’s eclectic all right.”
“We’d just start out with a bang then slow it down for a bit, and build to a crescendo for the big finish. Our set was about an hour. It was a lot of fun.”
“But you never thought of making a career of it?”
Nate laughed at the very idea and she liked how his eyes danced. “We weren’t that good, but we got lucky a lot more with the band than without it. That, I’m sorry to say, was the entire justification for its existence.”
“You’re not sorry at all.”
His eyes glimmered all hazel and gold, making him look like pure trouble “Not one bit.”
Sonia tried to get her heart to stop fluttering. “So, when you didn’t need to get lucky you got rid of the band?”
“Hardly. Some of the guys got married.”
“What happened to them?”
“Day jobs. Dustin is a cable repair guy with three kids in New Jersey. Ricky was the brains of the operation. He’s a college prof in California. Married, two kids.” He raised his brows. “I think he’s Richard now but we call him Dr. Rick. Yvan designs role-playing games. Married, no kids. I enlisted so I was gone for a few years.”
Sonia couldn’t help noticing that Nate was the only one not married. Was that important? “Do you think it’s sad that you all went your separate ways? You must have been close for a while.”
“Yes and no. People grow and change. We stay in touch, though. Calls at Christmas, celebrations, stuff like that.” He flicked her a look. “Don’t you keep in touch with people from high school?”
“No,” Sonia admitted, dropping her gaze to keep him from guessing too much. Nate was perceptive. “But I didn’t have a lot of friends in high school.”
“Get out. I thought you would have been prom queen.”
“No.” The suggestion almost made Sonia laugh, but Nate was waiting for a reply. “We moved a couple of times and by the time we started at our last high school, everyone already had their groups of friends established.”
Nate waited and she felt she should say more. “Katia met Tommy in high school and they’re still friends. She goes to book fairs and trade shows with him and kind of works for him. She also lives in his massive apartment on the Upper West Side.”
“Was that the party you went to on Valentine’s Day when you switched places with Katia?” His tone was neutral. He stole a cherry tomato from the salads she was making, and tossed it in the air, catching in in his mouth.
“Yes. That was the one.”
“You sound like it wasn’t a good time, Cleopatra. No one to beguile?”
Sonia decided to share a bit. “Not exactly. This guy came on to me and I was flattered, until I realized he thought I was Katia.” She left out the bit about the guy in question being Nick, her high school crush.
Nate winced, then shook his head as if saddened. “Where do you find all these dumb losers who can’t tell the two of you apart?”
“You were fooled by Katia at the F5F party.”
“Not really. I knew there was something wrong. I thought you were drunk because I couldn’t think of any other reason for the change. If I’d known you had a twin sister, I would have understood what was going on right away.”
Sonia studied him. “You really think you can tell us apart?”
“I know I can. You’re beautiful and she’s not, at least not to me. Easy peasy.” Nate shrugged as if his words were less important to Sonia than they were.
“But we look the same now, except for my tattoo.” There were her scars, too, but Sonia didn’t want to talk about them.
Nate shook his head with surprising vigor. “No, you don’t look the same. It’s your character. Yours shines through. No matter what physical traits you had, you’d be beautiful, Sonia. Don’t imagine otherwise.” He said this with such conviction that Sonia believed him and it made her feel a glow inside. “I don’t think it’s even possible that I could ever find Katia beautiful, no matter what she wears.”
Sonia was amazed. Most people had only been able to tell her and Katia apart because of their weight difference. “Did you get x-ray vision somewhere along the line?” she asked, teasing him.
Nate laughed. “Not hardly. Come on. What’s the next job, boss lady?”
“This,” Sonia said and took the step between them. She reached up to touch Nate’s face and watched the heat fill his gaze as he realized what she was going to do.
“Twenty-two minutes to go,” he murmured, eyes glowing. “How will we fill the time?”
“I have an idea.”
“I see that you do.” Nate smiled, just a little, then bent down to meet her halfway. The kiss was exciting and yet inevitable in a way that warmed Sonia to her toes.
It was exactly what she’d been waiting for.
The asshole who had treated Sonia badly had been the guy she’d met at the Valentine’s Day party. That had probably been her last night out since the lockdown had started after that, and the loser had confused her with Katia. Nate couldn’t believe anyone could be so stupid.
And if Sonia needed reassurance that she was gorgeous and sexy, Nate was more than ready to give it to her.
Even if it meant they failed Meal Kit 101.
He had zero issues with calling for pizza.
But Sonia was clearly watching the clock. She had his belt unbuckled in nothing flat. She cast him a smile as her hand closed around him and caressed him so sweetly that he felt dizzy.
Nate closed his eyes. “I’m starting to see the merit of fast,” he managed to say. Her touch turned purposeful, as if she was driving toward a goal. Nate knew she was, but it felt different than the last time. He couldn’t think straight enough to name why. Instead, his blood was simmering and he found himself gripping the counter when he felt her hair across his skin. He pulled away to keep from coming too soon.
Something was wrong.
“Not like this,” he said, his voice rough.
“Am I doing it wrong?”
He couldn’t coherently explain, but again Nate had the sense this was something Sonia thought she should do rather than something she enjoyed. It felt like an obligation and he didn’t want to introduce that note to their interval. “I’d rather see your eyes.” It was true. When he admitted that, she looked pleased.
He’d gotten that right.
He caught her nape in his hand, pulling her close for a kiss. She leaned against him, still caressing him with one hand, but Nate had a much better idea of how to pass the time. He moved and picked her up, his hand around her waist and the Hook beneath her bum, then put her on the counter. In one smooth stroke, he removed her jeans, then bent to eat her before she could move away.
Sonia sighed.
She moaned.
And he already knew exactly how to get her to that little squeak in record time.
They were well on the way when her phone rang. Sonia jerked away from him, looking toward the nightstand. There was a charger there, but no phone. “Where is it?” she whispered, evidently intent on taking the call.
Damn.
Nate would plan for dessert, maybe.
“Purse?” he suggested. He crossed the room and got her the one she’d had at the club. Something inside it rang as he was passing the bag to her. “Point to me,” he said as she pulled out the phone.
Sonia looked at the call display in obvious confusion. “Tobias? What does he want?” She didn’t expect Nate to reply, obviously, because she answered the phone.
Tobias?
Who the hell was Tobias? Nate felt a niggle of jealousy that was completely unmerited. It didn’t matter who Tobias was. It didn’t matter if Sonia had a whole list of candidates vying for her attention. Their one-and-done was finished.
All the same, Nate felt grumpy as he headed for the washroom to wash up for dinner.
“Tobias?” Sonia said behind him, then caught her breath. “Katia!”
Nate glanced back as relief washed through him. If Katia was close enough to Tobias to have his phone, then Tobias, whoever he was, had Nate’s complete sympathy.
“What do you want?” Sonia asked her sister in an undertone when Nate had shut the bathroom door.
“We need to talk,” her twin insisted.
“We do not,” Sonia replied. “I’m done talking to you…”
“Valentine’s Day was ages ago,” Katia replied heatedly. “And besides, we have bigger problems than Nick being a jerk.”
“I don’t agree. You might have bigger problems, but I’m not interested in solving any of them. We’re done.”
“You have to be interested,” Katia said with greater urgency. “This is huge. It’s epic. This is going to mess up everything. We have to make a plan…”
“No,” Sonia said, well accustomed to her twin’s fondness for exaggeration. “No more plans. I don’t even know you anymore. You’re dead to me, just like them.”
Katia fell silent for a minute and Sonia wondered whether it was actually possible to hurt her sister’s feelings. “You don’t mean that,” she said finally. “You can’t.”
“I do mean it. You set me up. You thought it was funny, I’m sure, but I’m not going to play along any more. You always want someone to mock, Katia, and it isn’t going to be me anymore. Give Tobias back his phone and leave me alone.”
“I had to use his phone. You’ve blocked me.”
“Which is a big clue that I don’t want to talk to you.” Why was it that no one in Sonia’s family ever took ‘no’ for an answer?
“But we’re sisters!” Katia wailed.
“So, now I’ll block Tobias, too, since you’re going to borrow his phone. Have a nice life, Katia.” Sonia ended the call and blocked Tobias’ number. She was angry and agitated, and she resented the change to her mood. There was no doubt about it: her family was toxic.
She hated when she felt shaken up and hated more when someone pushed her in that direction. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, finding her center. Damn Katia anyway. It had been such a great night until she called.
What was Katia trying to warn her about? Sonia put her phone in the charger, trying not to wonder. It wasn’t her problem anymore, she reminded herself. She was done with all of them, forever. They were done.
Was it really epic? Or was Katia just trying to manipulate her?
“All good?” Nate asked, returning to the kitchen.
“All good,” Sonia replied, her tone firm.
“Want to talk about anything?”
He was wary and she knew that meant he wasn’t interested in heartfelt confidences. Fair enough. They were supposed to be having fun tonight, not trying to figure out her crazy sister’s motivation—if there even was one.
“No, thanks. It smells good, don’t you think?”
“The pizza offer stands, just FYI.”
There was no way Sonia was going to order a pizza, not after that call. She wasn’t going to succumb to old habits and get sucked down into that pit. She’d learned and she’d healed. Katia wasn’t going to screw her up.
She would compromise, though. “Do you want a glass of wine?”
Nate looked around, considering that. “Sure. Just one.” He shook a finger at her, his eyes glinting in a way that made her smile. “Otherwise you might take advantage of me.”
“You should be so lucky,” she said as the timer rang and he grinned.
“I was.” He caught her on the way to the stove and stole a kiss that almost persuaded her to let the pastry burn. Then his stomach growled loudly again and she moved out of his embrace.
“Can you open the wine please? There’s a bottle in the rack and glasses there.”
“That’s totally in my wheelhouse.” Nate was already opening her cabinets, pulling out plates. He set two places on the island, and added cutlery and the glasses before reaching for the wine. When it was open, he faced her then raised his hands to invite her verdict.
“Ten out of ten,” she said and he fist-pumped the air. Sonia was trying to ease the pastry out of the pan where it had stuck a bit. “You’re just hungry.”
“I told you I was good in the kitchen when motivated.”
“I’ll have to remember that.”
“Motivate me anytime.”
“I might.” Sonia put down the loaded plates, feeling a little disappointed. “It’s not as pretty as in the picture.”
“But it smells great. That’s the important part, isn’t it?”
“You’re right.” They toasted each other, then dug in.
“This is awesome,” Nate said, saluting her with his fork after his first bite. “I can’t believe you made this.”
It was pretty incredible. Sonia looked down at the plate, amazed herself. “We did it together.”
“Pastry. Conquered.” Nate offered his hand for a high five. “All hail the queen of the meal kit!” Sonia laughed. “Seriously, take credit where it’s due, Sonia.” He pointed a finger at her. “You. Rock. Never doubt it for a minute.” Then he smiled that cocky grin that made her heart go thump and she wanted him all over again.
Dinner was amazing, so amazing that Nate was glad he’d stayed. He’d been taught that it was rude to just wolf back a meal, no matter how good it was, so he tried to make conversation while they ate.
“What did Katia want?” He kept his tone light, curious but not pushy.
“I don’t know. She said we had to talk about something, but I didn’t bite.” Sonia pushed her food around a bit before she took another bite.
“Who’s Tobias?”
She looked up. “Tobias de Wynter, a writer. He used to be Tommy White when we were in high school. Katia’s friend and employer.”
“And owner of a phone sufficiently convenient to be borrowed.”
Sonia nodded.
Nate took a chance and pursued the topic. He was curious. “You said you hadn’t talked to Katia since Valentine’s.”
“It’s true. I haven’t.” She smiled. “And her attitude tonight didn’t encourage me to change my mind.”
“But you can’t avoid her forever.”
Sonia looked up. “Why not?”
“She’s family.” Nate gestured with his fork. “You know that old saying: you can pick your nose, but you can’t pick your family.” She didn’t smile at one of Uncle Jed’s favorite sayings.
She just looked stubborn. “Well, I have chosen.” Her gaze was hard and she put down her utensils. “She’ll just have to deal with it.”
Nate had to wonder what Katia had said. “Seriously?”
“Seriously.” Sonia’s gaze flicked away, then back to meet his again, as if she’d decided something. Her eyes were very blue. “I haven’t talked to my parents in twelve years.” She sounded as if she was challenging him to believe her but Nate had no doubt it was true. Her steady look said it all. “Maybe Katia needs to join that club.”
She’d broken all ties with her family.
Why would anyone do that?
He had to think she had a good reason but couldn’t imagine what it might be.
Sonia had already admitted that she didn’t keep in touch with friends from high school. Was she just determined to be alone?
Why?
Even though he was supposed to be heading out the door and minding his own business, Nate was too curious to do either.
“You’re kidding me,” he said, instead of asking all the questions.
Sonia shook her head. “No. I left home as soon as I could, right after my eighteenth birthday, and I’ve never looked back.”
Nate was thinking about those scars and wondering again what might have caused them. He wished he knew because, otherwise, there was a really good chance he’d say the wrong thing and step right into it.
Actually, he just wished he knew. He wanted to know everything about Sonia even though he knew that wasn’t the smart choice. There was something about her that prompted all his noble urges—he wanted to know because he wanted to fix it for her, or defend her against it happening again. That was dangerous territory, a choice that might lead to unreasonable expectations about the future, and Nate knew it.
He should have played it safe and changed the subject, but he couldn’t. “Didn’t they look for you?”
“Maybe.” Sonia shrugged. “It wouldn’t be easy to find me, though.”
Nate didn’t get it. Maybe before the internet, it would have been more challenging to find someone, but he had to think it was hard to hide now. “Why not?”
Her gaze was even more intense than before. “My name wasn’t always Sonia Olson.”
Nate was shocked, but she didn’t even blink. How could that be?