Page 131 of Lights Out

“You look beautiful,” I told her.

She smiled up at me. “So you’ve said. We should do this, just the two of us. Get all dressed up and go out for a nice dinner.”

I rubbed the back of my neck, feeling overheated even though it was freezing out.

Aly saw my discomfort and rushed on. “I’ll find a place with low lighting and a table in the back where no one but our server will see us. And if they start to look squirrely, or you don’t like it, we can leave.”

“I don’t know,” I said, still hesitant.

She rolled her eyes. “Look, I didn’t want to say anything because I didn’t want it to inflate your already dangerously oversized ego, but you do realize that the people who stop to stare at you aren’t doing it because they think they recognize you, right?”

I frowned. “Then why?”

“Because of how hot you are.”

I blinked. Was she serious? Was that a thing? I knew I was more attractive than the average bear but hot enough to stop people in their tracks?

I refocused on my girlfriend, looking for some sign that she was joking or exaggerating, but her expression was stone-cold.Oh, man. If she was right, I was going to have so much fun with this.

Aly caught sight of my widening grin and huffed out a breath. “I knew I shouldn’t have said anything. You’re going to be insufferable now, aren’t you?”

I turned my face from left to right. “Which do you think is my better side? I’ll need to know when it comes time to send modeling agents my portfolio.”

She slapped my arm and then rang the bell.

The front door opened so fast that Nico must have been standing right on the other side of it. Listening to our conversation?

Awkwaaard.

Nico threw his arms wide and stepped onto the front porch with us. “There’s my girl.”

Aly shot me a panicked look as her uncle hugged her. His overfamiliarity made her as uncomfortable as going out in public made me, and I knew she only endured it for my sake. I’d have to find a way to thank her for it later. Maybe it was time to finally give in and let her use the plug onmefor once.

“Alright, fella,” came a lilting feminine voice. I glanced toward the front door as a petite woman with pale skin and light brown hair appeared inside it. “There’s no need to overdo it and scare the girl off.” Her Irish accent was so thick that the word “there’s” sounded more like “tears”. It must have been the infamous Moira.

Nico released Aly and turned toward his wife. “Who can blame me for being excited to welcome our niece back into the fold?”

“Uh,” Aly said. “That’s not what this is.”

Moira gestured us inside. “Either way, get in. It’s cold as a nun’s twat out here.”

Aly and I exchanged glances and followed the pair into the house. From what Aly had told me about her aunt, I knewthat Moira’s family had ties to the IRA, and she and Nico met when they were still in their teens, back when the Italian mob was trying to court the Provos. Their dads had done business together, and theirs had been a Romeo and Juliet-style courtship but with a better outcome.

Aly had only interacted with her aunt a few times and said that was all it took for her to grudgingly like the woman. Moira had a whip-sharp sense of humor and didn’t take shit from anyone, her husband included. I’d just met her and could already see what Aly meant.

Moira held the door open as I passed, doing nothing to mask the appreciative way she eyed me, and I decided that maybe Aly had a point about my looks after all.

Moira’s gaze shifted to her niece next, and she winked. “Well done, you.”

Aly slipped her arm through mine, looking like the Mona Lisa with a smile full of secrets. “If you only knew.”

Moira’s brows lifted, her green eyes sparking with interest as they slowly rose to mine.

Nico chose that moment to clear his throat, and I was so grateful that I could have hugged him. Whatever the reason I drew so much attention, it still made me feel like I was about to break into hives.

Nico shut the door behind us and lifted an arm, indicating we precede him deeper into the house. “There’s wine waiting for us, and Moira put out a nice spread.”

She snorted. “Don’t get your hopes up. It’s just some fancy cheeses and crackers arranged on a board.”

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