Flaws And All by Nikki Winter Page A

feelingdesirable.
                    After Vincent, their first child, things just seemed to kind of…snap back into place. This was not the case with Gianna. Samara was beginning to lose the weight but it was a slow, slowprocess. Taking off her clothes in front of a man who looked as though he’d been carved from granite and painted in gold? Er…no thanks. She’d managed to avoid being in anything less than a T-shirt from the time she and Gianna had been released from the hospital. Not an easy feat by any means.
                    Luciano was naturally affectionate and more than a little good with words. He knew how to talk his way out of a night on the futon in the office, had mastered the art of carefully deflecting awkward questions and even understood what should be done when Mother Nature left a her small monthly gift on their doorstep, but Samara doubted if her spouse was diplomatic enough to handle the fact that, for the first time in their three-year marriage, his wife didn’t want to keep the lights on while making love. Maybe she could dart out of the bathroom naked and dive under the comforter?
                    “Okay, kid, talk to me.” Nyssa sat back, waving her hands about. “I understand that sometimes you must come to the altar of the wise one and lay down your burdens.”
                    “Jane Lynch has an altar?” Once again, she should’ve seen that pinch coming. “Stopdoing that!”
                    “Stop making me mental!”
                    “Nature already took care of that, you sideshow freak!”
                    Nyssa growled. “What is wrong with you?”
                    “A lot! Starting with the fact that you and I share genetics!” Samara snarled.
                    “Why do I talk to you?” Her sister tossed up her arms.
                    “Because other people are afraid of you, and I’m all you have!”
                    “Bitch.”
                    “Twat-face.”
                    “Big Mac ho.”
                    “Condom thief!”
                    The older woman gasped, leaning forward. “I told you never to mention that. It was one time— one time—and it’s not stealing if it’s a free clinic!”
                     “You dumped the whole bowl in your bag! That was doing the public a disservice, you whore!”
                    “We’re not talking about me right now!” Nyssa reached over and poked Samara in the forehead. “We’re talking about you.”
                    “Yeah, well, how about we stop that now, eh?”
                    “Nope.” Her sibling drew the word out then twirled a finger in the air. “Out with it, Lady Dramatic, she with the bad poker face.”
                    “Clever name. You come up with that while Sunny was humming on your—”
                    “Andthis conversation is now over.” Nyssa stood, still clearly in denial about her obvious feelings for Samara’s brother-in-law despite the fact that she was riding him harder than a business man on the red-eye to L.A. “Good day, ma’am.”
                    “But—”
                    “I said good day!” In typical theatrical fashion, Nyssa swept out of the café, leaving Samara to sit and wonder how she was going to manage to keep her husband from noticing all the imperfections she now had. Not an easy thing when she was dealing with a man whose favorite words were “Naked ass naked.”
    ***
                    “I want you to listen to me carefully, Sunny. Tonight is the first night in twomonths, two whole months, where I can do something other than—”
                    “Quietly sob in the shower