Frisk Me(28)

“Some way to greet your sister,” the woman said with a husky laugh. “I came to see you.”

“You flew from Los Angeles to New York to see me?”

“Well yeah, it’s your birthday week!” Again with that low laugh. Rather villainous, actually.

“My birthday’s been the same day for years, and usually I only get a text. Generally a day or ten late.”

There was no real ire or irritation in Ava’s voice, only befuddlement at her sister’s presence, and for some reason that made Luc’s chest squeeze. Her own family didn’t remember her birthday?

“Sweetie.” Her sister’s hands found Ava’s shoulder. Squeezed. “You know how busy I am. And Danny too. And Mom and Dad—”

“I know,” Ava said, her voice just the slightest bit sharp. “You’re all very busy and important.”

But her sister had already moved on, looking around the room with an expression half-curious, half-disdainful.

Miranda’s eyes locked on Luc, giving him an impressively subtle once-over.

“So…this looks fun,” she said.

Ava sighed before forcing a smile and raising her voice slightly. “Everyone, this is my sister Miranda Sims, here from Los Angeles.”

Although it wasn’t really his place, as the mere subject of Ava’s story, the mood in the room had turned definitely awkward and he decided to throw Sims a bone. He moved toward Miranda, extending a hand. “Hey there. I’m Luc.”

Miranda met his hand with a firm handshake. “Miranda Sims. Ava’s little sister.”

Miranda was a good four inches taller than Ava, so “little” was a misnomer, and there was a harshness around her eyes that made her look older than Ava. But even still, she was a gorgeous woman, and the cocky tilt of her chin said that she knew it.

“Nice of you to come up for Ava’s birthday,” he said.

“Oh well.” Miranda gave a little dismissive wave of her hand. “It’s also for business.”

“Mmm,” Luc said, his eyes flitting to Ava to see if the real reason for her sister’s visit had any impact on her. But her face was carefully blank.

“What business is that?” Luc said, feigning interest. Ava still hadn’t moved.

Miranda gave an incredulous little laugh. “Um, the Miranda Sims show?”

Luc shrugged and shook his head. Never heard of it. And even if he had heard of it, he wouldn’t give Ava’s sister the satisfaction of showing it. The woman had self-absorption coming off her in waves. He’d known the woman for all of forty seconds, but it was long enough for him to know that he didn’t like her.

“I have my own talk show,” Miranda said with a self-deprecating laugh, even though nobody had asked.

“Well it’s nice to meet you,” Luc said, deliberately skipping over her announcement. “Didn’t realize Sims here had any siblings.”

Miranda’s brown eyes narrowed just the tiniest fraction to show she’d caught the unspoken jab:

Ava’s never mentioned you. I’ve never heard of your stupid show.

“Our Ava’s a busy girl. What are you working on this time, sis? Fluff piece on cops?”

Ava’s bottom teeth dug just briefly into her upper lip in what might have been a grimace, but she recovered quickly with a huge fake smile. “Yup. Totally fluffy. Sort of an unsung hero type of thing, you know?”

“Oh well that’s great, sweetie!” Miranda said with another of those condescending little laughs. “Not bad at all for the local news, you know? Mom and Dad must be over the moon. And look, if they start to get on your case about not being anchorwoman yet, just call me, ’kay? I’m happy to run interference.”

“Right,” Ava said, plastic smile still stuck in place.

Luc’s eyes narrowed. Something was going on here. For starters, Ava’s story was national, not local. Luc didn’t know shit about broadcast journalism, and even he knew that was an important distinction. A distinction that most of the time pissed him off. He didn’t want to be a local hero, much less America’s Hero.

But that didn’t mean he liked the way Ava was letting her sister belittle her. Deliberately belittle her, if Luc had to put money on it.

“So can I steal you away?” Miranda was asking Ava. “I’m sure they can handle taking a few pictures of a cute cop without you,” Miranda said, linking her arm through Ava’s and pulling her toward the door. “I’ll take you to lunch.”

“Um, sure.” Ava shot an apologetic look at the photographer. “You good getting those last few shots we talked about?”

“You got it,” the photographer said distractedly, apparently unaware of the sibling drama playing out before him.

Luc, however, wasn’t unaware. And he didn’t like it one bit.

“I love your outfit, Avie,” Miranda gushed as they headed toward the door. “I feel like I don’t even get to pick my own clothes anymore. Now that it’s my name on the show, they’re extra careful about which labels I wear, you know?”

Ava murmured something in agreement, and Luc’s eyes narrowed as the two sisters finally exited. Ava hadn’t looked at him once. Hell, she hadn’t even seemed the same person. Five minutes in the presence of her domineering sister had brought out a meek, self-deprecating version of Ava. He felt her lack of sass acutely.