Page 96 of Licks

“Owen loves them. I’ll make a double batch.”

Those vegan brownies tasted like cardboard mated with grass. If Owen ate them, he either had the palate of a starving prisoner, or he was the best boyfriend this side of Canada.

“I’ll make extra for you, too,” Ainsley told Rachel.

“Will you look at the time?” Rachel glanced at her slender wrist, which didn’t house a watch. “Pretty sure it’s almost midnight. We should get back to the boys.” Crafty girl, dodging the brownies.

She kissed my cheek before we moved. “But Ainsley’s right. Not about the awful brownies, but about us rallying. We’re here for you. If you need a breather, come visit me in Napa. If you need me to make an emergency trip here, just say the word.”

I squeezed her elbow. “I’d be lost without you ladies. And you realize what this means, right?” When I had their attention, I pulled three folded papers from my front pocket.

They both gasped.

“I forgot we did that,” Rachel said.

This time last year, we’d made resolutions that would change our lives. We’d written them on papers to hold ourselves accountable. Rachel and Ainsley had fulfilled theirs months ago. Mine had seemed impossible, the distant hope to know my father having slipped through my fingers when Mary had died.

I may not have met him, but I’d discovered his name, my history, and I’d hopefully be meeting my birth mother in the coming months. “I’d say we rocked the shit out of our birthday wishes.”

“Was there ever any doubt?” The pride in Ainsley’s voice was contagious.

I gave the girls their papers and pocketed mine. “To another amazing year.”

Ten minutes before the clock struck midnight, we joined our men. Jimmy pulled Rachel’s back into his chest and wrapped his arms around her. Owen did the same with Ainsley and played with the pendant hanging from her necklace.

August winked at me and picked up a glass of red wine from the bar. “Figured you’d want this.”

“You’re a mind reader.” I did want the wine. I also wanted him. In a simple white T-shirt and faded jeans, he was lickable. My libido revved back to life.

He tucked me into his side and raised his glass to the group. “Is there a birthday wish on tap this year?”

“I don’t need a wish to get what I want,” Ainsley said. I expected her to make a show of kissing Owen, but she batted her Lancôme lashes at his brother. “If Emmett doesn’t tell me what Owen’s tattoo means, I’ll tell his boyfriend about the gift I’m buying for Emmett’s birthday this year.”

Emmett narrowed his eyes at her. “Nice try, but this guy”—he flicked his thumb toward Cameron, whose hand was in Emmett’s back pocket—“knows what I’m packing below.”

Playing along, Cameron waggled his eyebrows. “Any bigger and I’d be in trouble.”

Undeterred, Ainsley tapped her index finger against her chin, as though contemplative. “I’m not sure I believe you, and I bet the crowd here might wonder why I feel obliged to buy you a…PENIS PUMP.”

She said it loud enough that a few people turned their heads.

I snickered. The fact that Owen had Japanese words tattooed on his ass was funny. The fact that he’d been clueless to their meaning until this year was priceless. The cheeky (pun intended) man now refused to tell Ainsley. Just to torture her.

“Not amusing,” Emmett said, then grumbled something under his breath.

“I’m still waiting.” Ainsley cleared her throat, ready to crow.

Emmett jutted his chin at Owen. “Just tell her already. She’ll only get worse.”

“It’s true,” Rachel said. “She’s like a fashionable pit bull.”

Owen dashed a hand through his sandy hair and shrugged. He leaned down and whispered in Ainsley’s ear. She bit her lip and covered her heart with her hand as she listened. Blue eyes glazed, she looked at Emmett. “You’re forgiven for not telling me.”

“Now I want to know,” I said. Ainsley rarely got choked up.

She ignored me and pressed a kiss to Owen’s chest.

“So no real wishes?” Jimmy asked us.