Page 84 of Lovers' Dance

I chewed my lower lip. Would it be out of place to offer advice in this situation? Shouldn’t they be talking to their mom about this shit? I pushed that ridiculous thought aside. Teenagers didn’t talk about their lives with their parents.

If my mom had been alive, I would have. God. My birthday was coming up. That was never a good time for me.

“First of all,” I said, all authoritarian—I was older, that had to count for something. “You shouldn’t be snooping around on someone’s page without their permission. That’s an infringement of their right to privacy and a bit stalkerish.” I shrugged, then added, “But I totally get why you did it. Guys be sneaky sometimes.”

Nikki giggled. “Oh my gosh. Your accent is so cute. I wish I sounded like that.”

I flashed her a smile before bestowing my wisdom. Ha, these seventeen year old girls probably had more relationship experience than me.

“Secondly, that friend of yours sounds like a snake. What sort of messages are they exchanging? If it’s normal stuff, then that’s fine and you might be overreacting, but if it’s inappropriate you need to call them out on it.” I chewed my lip. “But that comes with a price. You’ll have to admit you were snooping, and you’ll look like a psycho in training. Do you want people thinking you’re a bunny boiler? That shit sticks like glue to your reputation.”

Nikki nodded in agreement, while Natty observed me with unhappy eyes.

“Thirdly, you’re seventeen, beautiful and rich. Why are you worrying about stupid boys? You should be focused on your education right now. Leave the boys for later.”

Natty let out a loud, frustrated sigh. “That’s easy for you to say, Madison. Can I call you Madi?”

I nodded, and she continued with the teenaged anxiety I assured myself I’d grown out of. “You probably can’t remember what it’s like having your first boyfriend.”

“Matt’s my first—” I slapped a hand over my mouth.Jesus Christ.I had gotten caught up in the teenaged drama. There was no other explanation for my slip of tongue. Both girls stared at me, mouths hanging open. I lowered my hand and avoided their incredulous blue eyes.

“Matt? You mean—our Uncle Matt’s yourfirstboyfriend? You’re twenty-six. That’s crazy,” Nikki shrieked.

I winced at the noise and tried to school my features into blandness. “As I was saying, you should enjoy being a teenager. Forget about—”

“Wait a moment.” Natty was kicking off her heels. “No way is Uncle Matt your first boyfriend.”

I swallowed hard and blushed. “I don’t think this is an appropriate topic to be discussing. Ah, shouldn’t we be going downstairs?”

They exchanged a long look, then Nikki said, “I like her. She’s cool.”

Natty nodded slowly. “She’s nice. And we should change.”

The girls jumped off the bed and ran to the closet. What on earth were they doing? Crazy ass—

“Why are you changing?” I asked in confusion as Nikki unzipped her sister, who then returned the favour.

“Do you want to be the only one in t-shirt and jeans at my grandparents’ dinner party?” Natty asked dryly. “If I know Uncle Adam, he’s probably told all the other guests about the poolroom incident.”

My eyes widened. The girls had a point. A brilliant smile stretched my face until my cheeks hurt. “You girls would do that for me? You don’t even know me.”

Nikki paused in slipping her dress off. “Uncle Matt doesn’t bring his girlfriends to this house. He must like you.”

“If he likes you so much,” Natty added, stripping down her dress and kicking it aside, “then we do, too.”

“It doesn’t matter if you’re black.” Nikki was standing in her underwear and rifling through the clothes. “We don’t care about that anyway. Only outdated people care about stuff like that.”

“Grumps is extremely outdated.” Natty grabbed the jeans Nikki held out to her. “But don’t worry about him. Uncle Matt’s his favourite and we’ll protect you.”

I arched my eyebrow at that as I observed their exuberant movements. In five minutes they were wearing jeans and t-shirts. I liked Matt’s nieces.

Matt kept the strained smile on his face as he conversed with a couple of his parents’ friends. Internally, he was fuming. When he’d spoken to his mother, she’d given the impression it would be a relaxed family dinner. This was anything but. Had she done this on purpose? He wouldn’t put it past her. Matt tried to curb his negative assessment of his mother. Maybe this was her way of showing her friends she was fine with Matt’s new girlfriend. Maybe not, he thought as he glanced over to where the Gillifords stood in deep conversation with his grandfather. Louisa was a guest along with her parents. Bloody hell. What had his mother been thinking? After the necessary perfunctory greetings, Matt had avoided his ex-lover like the plague. He stifled his annoyance and agreed with Carter Bishop about the worry the man had over the government’s draconian measures in place to crack down on tax evasion. Matt spared a look past his shoulder. Where was she? Madi should be changed by now. The glimmer of a real smile tickled the edges of his mouth. His sweet poppet. The look on her face when he pulled her out of the pool. Priceless. The way she kept her calm when he introduced her to his family filled him with pride. Matt wasn’t a fool though, he suspected his laughter over the pool incident would earn him some form of well-deserved punishment at her hands. He glanced at the double doors leading off the grand salon. Where was she?

Hannah glided over with Stuart on her heels. The Bishops, on seeing their approach, politely wandered away.

“Have the girls not come down yet?” Stuart asked, swishing the whiskey in his tumbler.

---