Instead, there was the woman, seated in the living room, with a cup of warm tea in her hand. She stared at us without an emotion on her face. She stir...ed her tea as we waited for her to speak, but she said nothing. Monik was the one to break the silence."Girls," Monik said. "This is Aree. She is a gypsy from Sudan, our home country." Hello," Sandy said.Aree did not respond."Aree is going to be doing something very important today," Monik said. "You must do as she asks, whatever she asks. Your. Her blush deepened. “Look, Mark,” she said. “Lacey’s your cousin. No matter what you feel toward each other—”“Yeah, I know,” I said. My heart sank. “I know.”Jean didn’t say anything for several minutes as we smoked in silence. She slipped her arm around me.“I love you, bro,” she said at last. “You know I do. Maybe we’ve had our fights in the past, but I still love you.”I nodded. “I love you,. ."What?"Grinning, he had taken her phone and returned the pictures via Airdrop, deleting all but one non-nude which he intended to keep. He had them safely backed up on Box anyway, not that he told her that.She eyed him uneasily. "You wanted to see me nude?" Who wouldn't?" he answered honestly."My son... ?" Your son is sixteen years old with an incredible babe of a mom. Of course I wanted to see you nude. Who wouldn't," he repeated.Mattie was embarrassed and flummoxed. Suddenly everything was. I caught myself smiling. I called her my little panther. She had a feline quality touched with a hint of danger. Her eyes were rare; very dark with tarnished flecks of pure 24 karat gold, intense and penetrating. Glossy dark hair added to the impression of a panther. But it was her teeth that really completed the image. Rory’s canines were slightly longer than her other teeth, so when she smiled in a particular way and her eyes flashed, I felt like raw meat being contemplated for dinner.I quite.