Free HANDLE WITH CARE (The Ludzecky Sisters Book 5) by Kathryn Shay

when Sofia arrived for Mother’s Day.
Matka
was on the phone—with guess who?—and Nia wasn’t up yet. Of course it was only 7:00 a.m. Sofia had seen Rafe’s car out front, too, and wondered if he was spending nights here. Sometimes, she thought her sisters worried too much about the proper thing to do in a situation like this.
    As if she’d conjured her, Nia came into the kitchen, all sleep rumpled. “Hi, sweetie. You’re here early.”
    “I always come early on Mother’s Day. I like to have some down time with
Matka
before everybody converges.”
    “We won’t be in your way,” she said, getting a cup and filling it from the pot Sofia had put on. “Sal stayed over at Paulie’s house. He’ll come back with them later.”
    “So,they moved in?”
    “Yeah, just this week. It’s stunning, of course.”
    “I’m glad they’re close to the homestead.” She waited. “Is that why Rafe stayed?”
    “Yeah. There’s a lot of room here now, and we’re thinking we might want to buy the house from
Matka
and live here as our Queens home and keep the loft. Of course, she’d live with us, but we haven’t asked her yet.”
    “So you and Rafe aretalking future, right?”
    “Uh-huh. It’s tough being apart now that we’ve decided we want to be together.”
    Just then Rafe came through the door. Man, the guy was gorgeous in a classic way. Unlike Max, who was sexy and ruggedly handsome but not a movie-star look-alike. “Hey, Sofia.” He kissed Nia on the lips, then Sofia’s cheek. He got coffee and stood leaning against the counter. “Don’t letme interrupt.”
    “I was just telling her how we don’t like being apart.”
    “Yeah, that’s true.” Now his eyes lit. “So, Sofia Ludzecky, tell me who the guy was kissing you in the park this week.”
    Sofia dropped the knife she’d just gotten out of the drawer to cut fruit. “How…?” She knew she blushed. “I…”
    Nia and Rafe laughed.
    “It was Max. We went for a bike ride. How did you seeus? It was dark.” When he’d taken her in his arms, leaned her against the tree and kissed her soundly before they left.
    “Not at five o’clock.”
    “Five o’clock?” Hell he’d seen that sexy thing Max had done with her neck? “What were you doing there?”
    “I took Sal and the twins for a bike ride.”
    “Oh, no, did they…?”
    “Nah. I just spotted the blond hair. The kids were too busy one-uppingeach other. Even Sal,” he said with a grin.
    “I’m glad Sal’s coming out of his shell.”
    “Don’t change the subject.” This from Nia, who’d gone to Rafe and leaned into him. They were ganging up on her. For some reason, it felt good, maybe, to have something in her life to be ganged up on.
    o0o
    On Sunday, Max lay in bed, with thoughts of Sofia in his head. He stared out thewindow at the clear sky, feeling the warm May breeze on his naked skin. He’d dreamed about her again, a hot experience that had made him hard when he awoke. After taking care of that, he let himself enjoy what he knew was happening between them. Reaching over, he picked up his phone to call her.
    There was a text from Lauren Talbot.
Hey, handsome. After all the hullabaloo today, want to geta drink tonight? My parents are out west. Lonely day.
    He hadn’t seen Lauren outside of school since he and Sofia had decided to date. He wondered briefly if she’d seen Gus. Though he agreed to seeing others, he hadn’t pursued anything more with Lauren. And that wasn’t fair. He needed to think about this. So he texted back:
Sorry. Plans with Mom and the guys. Maybe this week?
Then he wouldcome clean with her. Despite what Sofia said, he wasn’t interested in spending time with another woman.
    He punched in Sofia’s number. She answered right away, sounding a little breathy. “I dreamed about you last night,” he said by way of greeting.
    “I was just talking about you.”
    “Yeah, to who?”
    “Nia and Rafe. Seems we were spotted in the park.”
    “Holy shit. Which