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“And you ladies are looking beautiful.” He flashes us a full smile. “Now, what’s that about Vegas?”
He plops down in a chair at our table.
“You’re not invited to sit with us,” Jess says cheerfully. She twirls one of her curls as she looks at him.
Dax clutches his chest in mock pain. “That actually hurt. Why are you so mean to me, Jess?”
“Oh, let me count the reasons,” she fires back. “One. You’re smug. Two. You think too much of yourself. Three. You think you’re God’s gift to women. Four . . .”
Dax holds up his hands, “Okay, okay, stop right there. I think you’ve made a huge error in judgment here. I don’t justthinkI’m God’s gift to women. Iknowit,” he says with a smirk. He grabs a stuffed mushroom from Jess’s plate and pops it into his mouth. He leans back into his chair and leisurely crosses his arms over his chest.
Jess looks at him in disgust. “You’re gross. Do women actually fall for your shit?”
Lana and I are fascinated. We’re listening to their wordplay back-and-forth and loving every second of it. It’s like watching a ping-pong match, but better.
“They most definitely do fall for it. If you’d like, we can find a quiet corner somewhere, and I can show you exactly why they fall for it.” He winks suggestively at Jess, and her face heats up. He busts out laughing. “So no to the private corner? Do you prefer the balcony?”
Jess turns her back to him and addresses me and Lana instead. “We should go get a drink,” she says pointedly.
Lana and I look at each other, and we’re both dying to laugh. Knowing that Jess would be pissed, we hold it in. Just barely. “Sure,” I agree. “Let’s get a drink.”
“You want something from the bar, Dax?” Lana asks.
“Nah, I see Ethan and Jake over there. I’m going to talk to them,” Dax says. Though he’s talking to me and Lana, his attention is still on Jess. His eyes are full of intrigue as he watches her every move. Jess, however, is acting utterly oblivious to Dax and his looks.
“Alright, we’ll catch up later,” I say.
Dax stands up from his chair and gives a little wave. “Bye, ladies. Bye, Jess.”
Jess responds by rolling her eyes and starting to walk away. She doesn’t even glance back to see if Lana and I are following. We have to hurry to catch up to her. “It’s hard to believe he’s related to Jake and Ethan,” Jess grumbles under her breath once we are no longer within hearing distance of Dax.
“He’s actually a nice guy once you get to know him,” I tell her.
“Whatever,” Jess says. “I don’t want to talk about him anyway. I want to talk to you about why you and Ethan were so late getting to the venue. I’ve never known you to be late for anything in your entire life.”
When I don’t immediately answer, Jess stops and puts her hands on her hips.
“No need for dramatics. You haven’t even known me my entire life. Anyway, we just had to do something for Matthew. He was fussy, so we couldn’t leave.”
“So, no wardrobe malfunctions or anything?” Lana asks.
“Huh?” I ask in confusion. “No, our clothes were just fine.”
Simultaneous slow smiles spread across Jess’s and Lana’s faces. Jess thrusts out her hand toward Lana, triumph showing in her eyes. “Told you, sucker! Now pay up.”
Lana purses her lips and nods solemnly. “Yep, you sure did. You were right, and I was wrong.” Lana opens up her purse and pulls out a twenty-dollar bill. Jess gleefully snatches it from her and shoves the money down the bodice of her dress.
“Right about what?” I demand incredulously. “What are you two talking about? Did you make some sort of bet about me?”
Lana tilts her head. “Well, it’s interesting, actually. Jake told me that Ethan arrived late for photos, and the photographer was freaking out about getting the pictures done in time. Ethan apologized for being late. Made up some excuse that he couldn’t find his bow tie and that the button fell off his pants at the last minute, and he had to sew it back on. Jake didn’t believe a word of it.”
“Well, yeah, umm, that happened, too.” I tell the lie with a straight face and as much confidence as I can muster.
Lana puts her finger up to her chin. “So, Matthew was so inconsolable that the nanny couldn’t handle it. And then Ethan lost his bow tie, and his pants button fell off. Is that what you’re telling us?”
“Yes.”
“You’re a damn liar,” Jess accuses, wagging her finger in the air.
