“How about you keep your panties unbunched until after you see what it is?” I suggest.
Her mouth snaps shut and she crosses her arms over her chest. I don’t mind in the slightest—I much prefer this snappy, feisty version of Natalia to the quiet, sad iteration I’ve seen too often recently.
“Whatever it is, I don’t want it.”
“Now, now, don’t say that. You’ll hurt his feelings.”
I just smile, enjoying the way her teeth grind together.
The silence grows as I navigate out of after-work traffic and head for home. “You didn’t bring me a man, did you?” she blurts out of nowhere.
I almost swerve us off the damn road. It takes everything in me to stay between the lines. “Excuse me?”
She shrugs. “You know. Like, a gigolo.”
My disgusted expression only deepens.
“I know what a gigolo is,” I sn
