Page 20 of Nitro

A soft knock on the door sends Nina to answer it. Tucker’s loaded down with shopping bags. He carries them into the room and looks around. Since there’s no open floor space, he sets them on top of the dresser.

“Thank you, my sweets,” Nina says, giving him a disarming smile.

“Can I get you anything else?” he asks, as eager as a puppy.

“Not at the moment.”

“I’ll be right outside.”

After the door closes, Julia raises a brow at Nina. “You’re torturing the poor boy.”

“That’s better than fucking his brains out and ruining him for all other women, don’t you think?” Nina asks in a tone that’s far too innocent.

“You’re terrible.” Julia shakes her head and laughs.

“Anyway, we guessed your size, but if you don’t like anything we can return it or exchange it.” Nina grabs a shiny pink bag and hands it to me.

“Oh, don’t start with that one,” Julia says.

“You put your bra and panties on first, so why not start with that bag?” Nina asks.

“Now you’re ruining the surprise.” Julia scowls.

“Oh, open it already,” Nina says.

I pull the fluffy pink and white tissue paper out of the bag. Two gorgeous bra and panty sets sit atop more tissue paper. I lift the pink bra up first.

“This is so pretty,” I whisper.

“Check the size,” Nina says.

I glance at the tag. “You guys are good. It’s exactly my size.”

“See,” Nina says to Julia triumphantly.

“You’re like a walking measuring tape,” Julia says.

“It’s a gift.”

I glance at the tag, which still has the price on it.Holy shit!“This is too much. I can’t take this.”

“Nonsense,” Nina says. “It’s yours. Don’t tell me you don’t want it. That’s just insulting.”

“I don’t mean to sound ungrateful,” I say.

“I felt the same way when Nina showered me with gifts,” Julia says. “But eventually I got used to it. She loves spoiling the people she loves.”

There’s no way Nina cares about me that much. She doesn’t even know me. But I don’t want to be rude by rejecting her gifts, so I set the lingerie aside and open the next bag. It contains a bedazzled pair of boot-cut jeans and a blue turtleneck sweater the exact same shade as my eyes.

“Oh, I love these.”

“We thought you might,” Julia says. “It’s practically our uniform around here.”

“So true.”

“Open the next one,” Nina says.

Julia sets a thick, green paper bag on my lap. I glance down and know I’m going to love it before I even take it out of the bag.

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