Oh shit, he was giving her the sad puppy dog eyes. How was she supposed to say no? He’d included her in his life tonight as no other man ever had. Maybe it was way too soon, but if she turned him down, it might set the tone for the rest of their possible future relationship. How bad could it be? She’d have a glass—or three—of wine and enjoy a meal at a restaurant that she couldn’t often afford herself. It was a win-win. She just needed to pull the big-girl panties up and say yes. “All right,” she agreed softly.

“Really?” A look of relief crossed his face as he squeezed her hands tightly. “Thank you, Gwen. I promise you’ll have a good evening.” She nodded in reply, already regretting her decision. As they walked through the parking lot, Gwen saw a dark-haired woman rushing toward them. Dominic leaned down and said something that struck fear in her heart just before his sister launched herself into his arms. “Meredith reminds me a lot of Maddy and Megan. Heck, she could be their mother. You don’t embarrass easily, do you?”

Surely, he was just kidding . . . “Dom!” his sister yelled as she hugged him tightly. Suddenly, she turned in his arms and noticed Gwen standing at his side. “Holy shit, did you actually bring a woman with you?”

“Very funny.” Dominic laughed, pulling on his sister’s hair. “Mer, this is Gwen Day. Gwen, this is my sister, Meredith, and she’s the rude one in the family.”

Gwen extended a hand to the other woman only to find herself pulled into a hug instead. “What a surprise! Wow, my brother brought a woman to dinner!” Gwen looked helplessly at Dominic as Meredith slung an arm over her shoulders and steered her toward the restaurant. “Now, how long have you known my brother?”

“Um . . . a few months,” Gwen replied. She might not have been sleeping with him that long, but she had known of him. Surely, that counted for something.

The other woman pulled back enough to look her up and down. “Honey, don’t take this the wrong way because I’m totally loyal in my love of men, but you are hot. I can see why Dom would like you. It’s so nice to see him dating someone with a little staying power.”

“Staying power?” Gwen asked uncertainly. She wasn’t sure she even wanted to know what that meant.

Meredith made a vague hand gesture before saying, “You know, a normal girl who has more on her mind than planning her next tattoo or body piercing.” They had been walking toward the glass doors of Ivy when Meredith stopped and spun around, causing Gwen to pull up sharply to avoid a collision. “Please tell me that you didn’t meet my brother at a strip club.”

“What?” Gwen gaped at her, thinking she must have heard the question wrong.

“You don’t collect dollar bills in a G-string for a living, do you?” Meredith asked, looking completely serious.

“N-no,” Gwen managed to get out, thinking Dominic was right. His sister was every bit as bad as Megan and Maddy. And what was it with the stripper questions. Was that Dominic’s usual mode of picking up women?

As if sensing her thoughts, Dominic closed the distance between them, resting his hand on the small of her back. “What are you two talking about?” he asked, looking just a tad too concerned.

“I was just assuring your sister that I didn’t work a pole for a living. She seemed to think that we might have possibly met that way.”

Looking not the least bit surprised or even upset, Dominic rolled his eyes at Meredith. “Could you at least wait until we’re inside before you run Gwen off?”

“Come on,” Meredith laughed, “it’s a valid question. Gage told us all about Kandi. He’s still upset with you, by the way, for dumping the poor girl.” Before Dominic could comment, they were seated at a table in the corner and a waiter had taken their drink orders. Gwen, though, found that she couldn’t let his sister’s earlier comment go without finding out more. She figured Meredith would happily satisfy her curiosity even if her brother did kill her afterward.

Flashing a brilliant smile, Gwen turned to the other woman and asked, “So, who’s Kandi?” She pretended not to hear the groan Dominic emitted beside her. Meredith, however, looked thrilled by her question.

“Well, I never met her personally, but according to Gage, my brother here thought she was some kind of ballet dancer who was quite popular with the men everywhere they went. She finally confessed that she performed her particular brand of ‘ballet’ to Beyoncé’s “Naughty Girl” most evenings at midnight . . . so he dumped her.”

“That’s not why we stopped seeing each other,” Dominic jumped in quickly.

Turning in her seat to stare at him, Gwen asked, “Oh really? Then why?”

He seemed surprised by her question before slumping down in his seat. “You don’t want me to answer that, babe. Trust me. Hell, neither of you want to hear it.”

Gwen was more determined than ever now to know the reason and his sister seemed to be right there with her. “Come on, brother dear, you can’t leave us hanging like this. Gage said it was just because you were a prude and didn’t like her profession.”

He shook his head, looking like a deer in the headlights. It was obvious that whatever the reason, he didn’t want to talk about it. She really should just let it go. He was more than likely right, and she was better off not knowing, but geez, it was going to kill her now. His sister continued to needle him until he finally cracked, saying something that Gwen hadn’t been expecting. “All right! She called my . . . package her lollipop, and she talked to it in some weird baby talk. It freaked me the fuck out, and I just couldn’t . . . do it and could you please stop being BFFs with Gage!”

Meredith burst out in laughter while Gwen just stared at him. Did he mean that he never slept with Kandi or that he couldn’t do it that last time before they broke up? She was helpless to deny the twinge of jealousy working its way through her system. No doubt, she had been no older than twenty-five, with the perfect, small ass, unlike herself. “Dear Lord, Dom.” Meredith giggled. “I can just imagine your face when that happened.”

“I’d rather you not be able to picture any of it, Mer. You are my sister, remember?” Gwen felt his eyes on her before his hand slid over her leg. “I told you that you didn’t really want to know,” he said quietly. “She didn’t mean anything to me, and she damn sure didn’t hold a candle to you.”

Meredith watched them from across the table, seemingly surprised by this softer side of her brother. If her smile was any indication, she completely approved. “Anyway, now that we’ve covered that, let me tell you what your nephews have been up to. Caleb got pissed at Jacob because he broke his iPad. Therefore, in retaliation, he flushed Jacob’s goldfish down the toilet. Then Jacob freaked out, took Caleb’s favorite Georgia Bulldogs T-shirt, and attempted to flush it. Well, needless to say, they clogged the upstairs toilet and flooded the bathroom and the hallway. Derrick was so pissed off I thought he would stroke out. He had the whole throbbing-vein-on-the-side-of-his-face thing going on.”

Dominic winced, laughing softly. “Those boys are something else. I guess that’s why Derrick said in his last e-mail that he’d been up to his knees in shit.”

“Trust me, he meant that literally.” Meredith shuddered. “We’d been meaning to have the carpet taken out and install hardwoods so that project got a major jump start.”

“How old are your boys?” Gwen asked, enjoying the easy banter between Dominic and his sister. It was obvious that he loved his nephews a lot and took great interest in their lives.

“Caleb is eight, and Jacob is six. Derrick’s holding down the fort while I’m gone, but hopefully he hasn’t set them out on the side of the road by now.”

Dominic smirked at his sister, saying, “I can’t believe you haven’t figured out how Derrick keeps the kids under control when you’re away. I mean, have you never noticed those muzzles in the hall closet?”