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I would have said she was jumping the gun a bit. But her brother had already proposed to me. I kept touching the ring box in his jacket that I was wearing. “I’ve always wanted a sister too,” I said. “No offense, Liam.”

“None taken,” he said. “I did destroy a lot of your Barbies.”

“Gog,” Sophie said.

I laughed and shook my head.

Axel put his hand on my thigh, making my whole body suddenly feel overheated.

I wasn’t sure I’d ever get used to him touching me. Every time felt like a surprise. Like one of my many dreams I’d willed into existence.

“You know...there’s one more thing I want to do tonight,” Axel whispered in my ear. “To officially make it the best first date ever.”

Now my body really felt overheated. I had a feeling I knew what he was talking about. That next first. The big one. That he hadn’t done either. I couldn’t even hide the smile from my face. “Let’s get out of here.”

“Good because our Uber is already waiting outside.” Axel stepped out of the booth and grabbed my hand to help me to my feet. “RJ, get my sister home safe.”

RJ rolled his eyes. “Why don’t you take her, man? I’ve had enough babysitting duty for one night.” He immediately yelped. Parker must have kicked him under the table.

“Sorry, but I’m not going home tonight.” Axel was staring at me instead of at RJ.

RJ grumbled something. But Axel was already pulling me away from the table. We stepped outside and Axel opened the door of the Uber for me.

It was something he’d always done for me. But it felt different now. Axel had always been kind and protective of me. For a little while there, I’d thought it was because he’d thought of me like a sister. I was so glad I was wrong.

He climbed in on the other side and the Uber pulled away from the curb.

I stared at Axel in the dim light the city streets cast into the car. He was still wearing his homecoming crown. And I couldn’t help but think I was in a fairytale and he was my Prince Charming.

“What are you looking at?” he asked.

“For so long I had to hide my glances at you. I snuck them in all the time when you weren’t looking. And now I can stare unabashedly, so get used to it.”

He smiled. “For the record, you never hid it that well.”

I lightly slapped his arm and he caught my hand.

I was wrong. Nothing felt normal about tonight. It felt a million times better than normal.

Axel slid into the middle seat to be closer to me. He put his arm behind me.

This really was the best night ever. I looked up at him. “Did you really tell your whole team I was off-limits?”

“Yes. Because you were off-limits. You were mine.”

I knew that Axel hated my dad. But they actually had a lot in common. Like warding off guys that wanted to date me. I much preferred the way Axel had gone about it though. It was sexy and possessive. Words that Sophie had often used to describe my kiss thief.

“You were much better at hiding your feelings toward me, I guess,” I said.

Axel shrugged. “I was never quite sure how you felt. Especially after you told me you no longer wanted me to take your first kiss. But every conversation. Every innocent touch. I read into all of those. Probably more than I should have.”

“Me too!”

He laughed. “But I had to be pretty discreet. I thought Uncle James was going to murder me.”

I groaned. “My dad is the worst. I’m so sorry. God, I can’t believe what he did...”

“It’s going to be fine,” Axel said. “All that matters is that we’re finally together. We’ll figure everything else out.”