AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“You made it after all,” she smiles. “You look awesome.” I take a step back and give her an admiring once-over. She’s wearing a vintage Norma Kamali wraparound dress and spiky heels.
“Where’s my hug?” Paxton holds his arms out. She kicks him in the shin.
“Hey!” he yelps in protest. “What was that for? I’m Paxton, your brother from another mother!”
Rowan looks at him in annoyance. “That’s for doing that interview without consulting me or our firm, to which your team pays very, very good money, you moron. Also for putting my sister on the spot on national TV and making an enormous amount of extra work for me. Twitface.”
I consider kicking him too, but I’ve got to play the part of adoring girlfriend, so I’ll have to save that for another time. He pulls out the chair for me, I sit down, and Paxton and I look over the menu and place our orders.
“Stop staring at us like that,” I order Rowan and Mason, as our appetizers arrive on wooden trays. They smell heavenly.
“Like what?” Mason raises his eyebrows at me.
“You know like what,” I say in exasperation. “You’re looking at us like the paparazzi do. Analyzing every move we make, trying to pick us apart. Are they affectionate enough? Are they too affectionate? Just leave us be and let us figure things out, okay?” My red wine arrives, and I take a very healthy swig.
“I guess that’s fair,” Mason says.
“We’ve got our eyes on you,” Rowan adds, narrowing her eyes at Pax.
“What about me?” I say dryly. “I’m capable of doing some damage.”
“You sure are, honey,” Pax smiles at me encouragingly. I see the glint of malice and anger in his eyes, but I don’t think anyone else does.
Screw him.
I shift in my seat and accidentally kick him under the table, hard. “Oops, so sorry.” I smile sweetly at him. “I’m so clumsy! Wow, imagine me on the ice—I’d be dangerous. And not in a good way.”
“Aw, I could never stay mad at you.” He steps painfully on my foot. I shift and elbow him when Rowan and Mason aren’t looking.
We can’t get away with too much in front of my sister, though, so I slide half a foot away from him so he can’t injure me any further, and we all exchange pleasant small talk. We gossip about hockey, we check out all the celebrities in the restaurant, Paxton steals food from me, and in return I pick up his plate and put it in front of me. Paxton’s funny and witty and full of self-deprecating humor; I’ll give him that much.
I wait until we’ve finished our dinner to stand up and accidentally knock my third glass of wine over. I’m aiming for the crotch, but he somehow manages to slide out of the way just in time, and it splashes on his shoes. Damn him and his catlike athletic reflexes.
“Oh, wow. I clearly have had too much. I should head home.” I giggle as we stand up.
Paxton narrows his eyes at me and mouths, “Game on.”
I stumble a little in my heels and fall against him. That was actually not on purpose, and it feels alarmingly nice. He’s so big and solid, and there’s something kind of hot about our sparring.
No more wine for me tonight, then.
“You don’t have to go home just yet, do you? I just got a message from the guys,” Mason says. “They’re at that new nightclub, Club Zero. They want us to meet them there.”
Rowan and I exchange glances.
“I’m not really much of a club person unless it’s for work,” Rowan says mildly.
“I think Pax and I were going to make an early night of it. Weren’t we, babe?” I throw my arm around his waist and smile up at him adoringly.
“Unless you guys are faking it and afraid to spend too much time together with us,” Mason says challengingly, staring straight at Paxton when he says that.
“Good point. I’m still not entirely convinced, but I could be. So come with us,” Rowan orders me. “There are worse ways to spend an evening.”
Are there? Medieval torture chamber? Swimming through a lake full of piranhas with steaks strapped to my ankles?
Well, whatever.
“Fine, but just for a little while,” I say reluctantly.
