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“Enough already,” Brax interrupted. I’ve only been able to talk her out of the hotel three times, and I’ve called her twice a day since we’ve been home. There. Are you satisfied?”
“Damn, that was going to be my bet,” Linc said as he opened the fridge and brought out more beers.
“One is enough,” Nolan said as he waved his hand. “I’m on toddler duty tonight. Mrs. Fuentes is a dependable babysitter, but she always gets Iris to sleep during the day, so by the time we get home, our little angel is raring to go.”
“Thanks for the info,” Kostya said. “I don’t think Lark and I will be using her then. The last thing we need is having a kid who doesn’t sleep at night.”
“Good luck with that. I might have missed the time when Iris was a newborn, but I’ve been living through teething. It’s hell, man.” And with that bit of warning, Nolan went to the fridge and pulled out a bottle of water and took a healthy swig.
“I don’t want to think about it. I say we bring our focus back onto Brax. So, what have you and Jenny been talking about?” Kostya wanted to know.
Brax turned back to the women and saw that Jada, Maggie, and CiCi were coming their way. It must be meal prep time. He definitely knew that Jenny and Lark didn’t cook, so that’s why they were still in the living room. He looked over at Linc and raised his eyebrow.
“Cooking isn’t Leila’s thing. Which is great, since I like doing it.”
“That’s great, then I’m putting you to work,” Jada said as she rounded the kitchen island and smiled up at Linc. “Any of the rest of you want to volunteer?”
“What are you making?” Gideon asked.
“Street tacos and all the fixings.”
“I’ll leave you to it.” Gideon gave his woman a lingering kiss.
“Enough making out, there are vegetables that need slicing,” Linc objected. “Out.”
14
“Thank you so much for today. I had the best time.”
“I’m glad, Honey,” Brax said as he pulled up to the hotel parking gate.
“You don’t have to park, you can just drop me off up front.”
“That’s not the way this works. I pick you up at your door, I drop you off at your door.”
He could feel her looking at him as he grabbed the ticket.
“It’s a waste of money. I’m perfectly safe here.”
There she was, always thinking about everybody else. This was all about saving him money, when he knew damn good and well, even walking up to her room by herself was going to scare her.
“Humor me, Jenny. It’s part of being a big brother. I can’t help myself.”
“Oh. Yeah. That makes sense.”
I’m going to have to remember that. I get my way when I use the big brother argument. Cool.
“Me opening your door is also part of the big brother service, so wait for me, huh?”
“Now you’re just yanking my chain.” She rolled her eyes.
“I’m not. They’ve salted the parking lot because of the ice. It’s slippery, so please wait for me. Please.” He saw her give in on the ‘please.’ He took his time walking around the truck. All evening he couldn’t get his friends’ voices out of his head. Yeah, he liked Jenny. He liked her a lot. He worried about her. But was she really someone he wanted to get involved with?
He opened the passenger door.
She looked down at him. “Okay, Hotshot, I waited. What’s my prize?” Her smile could melt ice.
With that one smile, he wanted to kick his own ass. Who was he kidding, they already were involved. But he realized he wanted more. Now he needed to find out if there was any chance that Jenny might be on the same page.
