“Damn straight I’m scowling!”
“Here, why don’t we do some nice yoga together; it will improve your demeanor,” she said.
“You know what else would improve my demeanor? You undoing your handiwork.”
“I know not to what you refer,” she said before standing on one leg and crossing her other foot over her knee with rather remarkable balance for an eighty-something woman.
“You know damn well to what I refer. The fact that Sims just texted me and said they were running thirty minutes late but should be here within the hour.”
“Sims?” his grandmother said, her dark brown eyes all cloudy confusion.
“Ava,” he ground out.
Nonna’s responding smirk told him she’d known all along what Ava’s last name was and had just wanted to call the wily reporter by her first name.
She dropped into a yoga pose and Luc growled before going to the fridge for a beer. It was only two o’clock, but he had the day off and he was sure as hell going to need it when the cavalry arrived with cameras to his house.
“I thought the home was supposed to be a sacred thing, Nonna,” he said, leaning against the counter. “Isn’t that like an old Italian proverb or something?”
“If it is, I’ve never heard of that damn-fool nonsense. But you know what is an Italian proverb? A good lay with a pretty brunette will make you less irritable.”
“That’s not a fucking proverb,” he muttered.
It was true though.
Very true.
It had been over a week since he’d kissed Ava at her apartment, and although things between them had been friendly enough, it was harder than ever to be around her without touching her.
Even Lopez had noticed.
Not only had he sent Luc a variety of links on cures for blue balls, but he had also backed off his own flirting with Ava, along with a solemn “dicks before chicks” proclamation, which had just sounded plain wrong.
His grandmother rolled out of an awkward crab-like position and looked him over. “You should change.”
Luc glanced down at his jeans and white T-shirt. “Into what?”
“Your uniform.”
“Hell no. It’s my day off. The only day where I don’t have to let polyester anywhere near my skin.”
“Well at least wear your badge.”
“Nope.”
“But you’re carrying, right? Let her see your bulge.”
He gave her a look. “Nonna.”
She heaved out a sigh and glanced at the clock behind his head. “Fine. Doesn’t matter anyway. Anthony should be here any minute, and he’ll be in uniform. Your Ava can fawn over him.”
“She’s not my Ava,” he said, tipping the beer bottle back.
He sure wanted her to be, though.
As though he’d heard his name, Luc’s older brother trudged through the front door, taking in the yoga mat and the beer in Luc’s hand before nodding his chin toward the fridge.
Luc was one step ahead of him, already pulling the cap off the beer as Anthony went to the safe where they locked their weapons when off duty.
“You may want to stay armed,” Luc said, handing his brother the beer. “Your grandmother has invited the CBC sharks into our home to film how cops live, or some shit.”
“I heard,” Anthony said, taking a long pull on the beer.
“And you still came home?”
His brother grunted. “Turns out the family interference? Not limited to our lovely grandmother. Also, Nonna, please stop…I’m not taking you to urgent care for a pulled groin again. Anyway, Nonna got the parents in on this. Dad called in some favors, got me the afternoon off so I could be here for the, quote, family affair.”
“Jesus,” Luc muttered. “Do you think we should get matching sweaters and pose in front of the mantel?”
Nonna clamped her hands together in delight. “Oh, that’s wonderful. I wish I would have known, I used to knit…”