Page 46 of The Mafia’s Girlfriend

“I love Grey’s Anatomy,” Emma gushed. “I’m a diehard for the classics too. ER is my go-to, but—”

“Classics?” Mom laughed. “I remember watching those when they came out live.”

“Mom, this is Emma. Apparently another fan of that crap you love to watch. Emma, my mom, Nina Sawyer.”

Emma took a seat on the couch. “Nice to meet you.”

“Oh, very nice to meet you, honey.”

“Now is this episode six or seven? Because I remember when that one woman with the rare infectious disease shows up, it’s before that one guy died.”

I shook my head, leaving them to it while I changed. As I headed to my room, I called out, “We’re only stopping by for a minute.” Once I was in my room I closed my eyes and quietly groaned. She would think this was a date we were getting ready for, and Emma and I were not there. Yet? It was complicated, but I knew already that Mom would adore her. A shared love of stupid, totally farfetched hospital dramas? Mom would find no fault in her.

As I changed, I smirked at the idea of Emma staying in my life. So far, she’d been proving all my assumptions wrong. She was a pain in the ass, but that was growing on me. I didn’t want a wallflower. She was a virgin, but that could be fun, showing her what I liked and how things could be, exploring together as she learned. And I had yet to see her look down on me or us.

“I like her,” Mom said when I came back out with my duffel bag for the fight. I’d change right after to help Emma get her friend. “You’re a nice, decent good girl,” Mom praised as Emma stood.

“Oh, you’re too sweet,” she replied.

“And naïve,” I joked.

“Hey!” Mom said while Emma smirked at me.

No nice, decent good girl would let me finger her sweet pussy like she had yesterday.

I sighed, wishing I could stop thinking about it for more than a few moments. I was addicted, but I had to focus.

Back in her car, Emma glanced at my bag. Then me, with a slow once-over. “You look like you’re going to a gym.”

“I sort of am.”

She scrunched her face. “I’m not following.”

“You can keep your mouth shut, right?”

She mimed zipping her lips.

“I fight in a ring.”

She slapped her hand on her thigh. “I knew it!”

I furrowed my brow, glancing at her as I drove. “What?” Who snitched?

“I mean, I suspected. You knew how to fight that guy at that club. Like, really, fight. Krista and I were talking about you and—”

I grinned, feeling proud. “You talk about me with your friend?”

“Yeah.”

It cheered me up that I’d made as much of an impact on her as she had on me.

“Do you?”

“Talk to your friend about myself?”

She swatted my arm.

“No. Randy, the other guy I work with at the Tropican, knows about you. He’s been warning me not to get in trouble sleeping with a guest.”