“Gina Rossi.” He couldn’t hold back. His cheeks tugged at his lips.
“The pizza girl?” Bo asked, and he nodded. “Well, all right.”
“Tony’s baby sister?” Kit cocked his head.
“Younger sister,” Matt corrected him. “And she’s all grown up.”
It was difficult for him to reconcile that Gina and the little rugrat who took delight in annoying her older brother and his friends all those years ago were the same person.
Matt never paid much attention to her then. He couldn’t stop thinking about her now.
“Remember that time she pulled my hair?”
He didn’t.
Bo smiled, buttering his corn-on-the-cob. “Junior year. I think she was like five.”
“You looking for trouble, rock star?” Sloan tilted his head.
Matt shot him a look. “What do you mean?”
“First, she’s a helluva lot younger than you.”
And?
It’s not like Gina was some giggly, no-brained teenager he was planning to take advantage of. Inside, Matt was simmering, but on the outside, he kept his cool. “So? She’s twenty-three. Gina’s an adult, older than Ava—Katie, too, for that matter. So don’t you dare twist this into something wrong, because it isn’t.”
“Age is just a number,” Ava said, taking up his cause. “Ain’t that right, baby?”
“Absofuckinglutely,” Bo said, and kissed her.
“Second, and more important, Tony’s our friend,” Sloan went on, disregarding their drummer and his girlfriend. “Do you think he’s going to be happy when he realizes you’ve got your dirty hands in his sister’s virginal white cotton underpants?”
Probably not. He cracked a beer open.
Shaking his head, Sloan muttered, “Jesus, Matt, she’s a goodie-two-shoes Catholic girl in a plaid, pleated skirt, and way too innocent for the likes of you, but maybe you’re into that sort of thing…”
“Shut up. You know I’m not.” Enraged, Matt tamped it down with a swallow of beer. “She went to Catholic school. So what? Gina’s smart—she’s a nurse. And she’s sassy and beautiful.”
“Do you like her?” Ava asked him. “I mean,reallylike her.”
“Yeah, I really, really do.”
“Babe, I’m so fucking happy for you,” Ava gushed, clapping like a kid on Christmas morning. Following her lead, Emery clapped right along with her.
“I am, too, brother,” Bo said with a reassuring squeeze to his shoulder. “You should call Gina over. I’d love to see her again.”
Kit remained silent.
“She’s working tonight, or I would,” Matt explained, suddenly feeling lighter. “I want you all to meet her.”
“Next weekend, then.” Bo nodded, wearing his usual grin, as if it were already settled.
“I’m taking Gina out to see the Navy Pier fireworks from Lake Michigan next Saturday,” he said, and smiling, drew in a deep breath. “Chartered a private boat.”
Sloan snickered.
Matt glared at him. “What’s wrong with that?”
