Page 191 of Made in Love and Blood

He spoke too soon.

Mina’s child-like giggle, a staple of her personality that made his skin crawl now, sounded behind him. “Nicky baby, it’s been forever!”

Fuck.

He could see the fire light in Frankie. If her face hadn’t already been blended to the Gods with full glam, he bet her cheeks would be as red as her dress, and not from embarrassment.

No, that anger burned him on the spot, and hell, he knew she wasn’t mad at him.

“I love you,” he mouthed right before he turned around. “Mina,” Nico greeted the twenty-year-old waiting at his back. He kept one hand on Frankie, as if that would somehow make her stay there. “You’re looking...the same.”

Not quite. He didn’t want to be a whole prick.

The years did to her what it had done to him. Made them taller, older, and different in a way that losing adolescence did to a person. Their bodies filled out and they appeared a lot more like adults than the kids they’d once been. She still looked like every teenage boy’s wet dream in a gold body-hugging gown with a slit that went so high it could be considered indecent. Black kohl smoked out her blue-gray eyes and her painted red lips smacked around a piece of gum.

Nico, on the other hand...well, he wasn’t fourteen anymore and his dream fumed behind him.

“Marco invited you?” he asked Mina.

She smirked and shrugged. “Yeah, for old times. You know. Just for fun.”

Uh-huh.

“Weren’t you at Northwestern?” he asked.

“Dropped out last summer.”

“So, what, you show up whenever Marco beckons?” Nico questioned.

“Jealous, are we?”

“Not even close.”

Then, Mina reached out with a black, coffin manicure like she might touch Nico. He didn’t even know what she planned to reach for because he didn’t care or want it. Leaning back so she couldn’t, he shook his head.

“Nope, no. No touching,” he said, repulsed. “You had your time for all that.”

At once, Frankie made herself known by sliding around the side of Nico to tuck under the arm he automatically lifted for her. She put that hand, diamond front and center, back on his chest so it was the second thing Mina noticed after Frankie. She was the star of his show.

Mina’s stare jumped between Frankie’s smug smile and the hand Nico lifted to kiss along the side.

“You’re not trying to touch him, are you?” Frankie asked, her tone like poisoned candy; sweet but threatening. Mina’s hand dropped back to her side fast. “Don’t touch him. That’s the only time I’ll tell you.”

“Mina, this is my—”

“Oh, I’ve heard about her. The girlfriend, right?”

“Fiancée,” Frankie spoke up, now smiling sweetly. “And it’s Francesca to you.”

“That’s...news.”

“Don’t worry,” Nico told her, “Marco wouldn’t know that yet, so he couldn’t share.”

“Mmhmm.” Frankie grinned when he kissed the top of her head. “It’s a surprise.”

“Surprise,” Nico seconded, amused.

Mina shifted from foot to foot, her sky-high heels clicking with each uncomfortable movement as she met Frankie’s gaze head on. “Well, I’m the—”