“You’ll be fine after one shot.” She gives me an exaggerated pout.

“My buddy here likes shots.” I nod to Felix.

“Oh, hi!” She extends a hand. “Are you an actor, too? I don’t recognize you from TV.”

He shoots a look my way before he takes it. “I’m a lawyer.”

She makes a face. “Oh. Well, wanna do a shot with me anyway?”

Thankfully the rest of the guys show up and displace my new friend. I slide over, making room for them in the booth and putting distance between me and the fangirl. She disappears eventually and we talk sports and eat wings while we watch the game on the big screen behind the bar.

It’s loud, and the game isn’t particularly exciting, so I check my phone. I have social media alerts, and new messages from both Kailyn and Emme. I check the messages first to make sure everything is okay. They’ve sent pictures of their painted toes and fingernails. Emme’s are dark sparkly purple with little jewels or something stuck to the tip. I hope like hell she doesn’t think this is going to become a regular thing.

Kailyn has a French manicure.

I send her a private message meant for her eyes only.

Dax: You know what those pretty fingers would look great wrapped around?

She responds with an eggplant emoji.

Dax: I was going to say a glass of wine, but that works, too.

Kailyn: Lies ;) Hope you’re having fun.

More alerts come through for my social media so I check that, too, annoyed the fangirl has already posted the selfies she took on every single social media outlet she seems to have an account for, and of course I’m tagged in all of them. I untag myself where I can. It’s not like this hasn’t happened a million times before; it’s just been a few years since it’s been an issue.

I get home to find Kailyn and Emme sitting on the couch, heads nearly touching as they peer at my sister’s phone. There’s a mostly eaten bowl of Sour Patch Kids on the table, a treat I’ve started stocking up on since both Kailyn and Emme love them. “What’s going on over there?”

“Nothing!” Emme shoves her phone in her pocket and giggles, giving Kailyn a look I can’t decipher.

“We were just talking about the dance.” Kailyn’s smile tells me there’s more to the conversation, but I’m not going to hear about it.

Emme whispers something to Kailyn and she raises her brow. “You’ll have to ask him.”

Emme gives her puppy dog eyes, the kind that make me fold all the damn time, but when Kailyn doesn’t relent, Emme sighs and crosses her legs, knees bouncing as she looks to me. “So Ainsley Baker is having a sleepover after the dance.”

“Okay.” I wait for the rest.

“And I’ve been invited.”

“Is Ainsley a girl?” It’s a fairly androgynous name.

“Oh my gosh!” Emme flings her hands in the air and gives Kailyn her seriously? face.

“It’s a legitimate question, Emme. It’s both a girl and a boy name.”

“I wouldn’t ask to sleep over at a boy’s house! Yes. Ainsley is a girl.”

“How many friends will be at this sleepover?”

“Um, I think there are three of us, plus Ainsley.”

“Her parents will be there?”

Emme nods fervently and glances at Kailyn.

“Why don’t you give Dax her mom’s number so he can call and get the details?”

“Oh yeah! I have that. Hold on.” Emme pulls out her phone, and a few seconds later mine pings. “So can I go? Marnie is going and her parents already said yes.”

I trust it’s safe if Marnie’s parents have already said yes, but I still want to make sure. “Let me call and get the details. I think as long as it’s supervised and there are no older brothers, we should be fine.”

“Ainsley is an only child.”

“I still want to call.”

“Can you do that now?”

“It’s almost ten. I’ll call tomorrow.”

“In the morning? Her mom works from home.”

“In the morning.”

“Okay.” She looks between me and Kailyn. “Well, I’m tired and I have to be up early, so I’m going to bed. Thanks for taking me out tonight, Kailyn, I had a great time!” She gives her a hug and then flits upstairs.

“She had fun?” I stay where I am until her door closes. It’s a little less slam these days.

“We both did. You didn’t have to pick up the tab for that, you know. I offered to take her. I was more than happy to pay for the nails and dinner.”

“Taking care of my girls is the least I can do.” I tip my chin up. “Let me see those pretty nails of yours.”

She lifts her hands and vogues them in front of her face, smiling. She’s wearing a pair of royal-blue skinny jeans and a very worn It’s My Life T-shirt. Based on the way it fits, I’d say she’s probably had it since high school and wearing it tonight was purposeful.

She looks gorgeous, and I haven’t been inside her for more than five minutes in almost a week, which feels closer to forever. I stand in front of her and straddle her knees, leaning down so I can steal a kiss. It starts out chaste, but I’ve been thinking about her hand wrapped around my cock since she sent that eggplant emoji, so it escalates quickly.

“Dax,” she mumbles around my tongue and pushes on my chest.

I back off a little. “Wanna come up to my room for a while?”

She glances at the stairs. “I don’t know if that’s such a good idea.”

“She said she’s going to bed.”

Kailyn drags her nails down the back of my neck. “I think she suspects there’s more going on here. We have to be careful. I don’t want to set anyone up to get hurt here.”

“I just want to get my hands on you.”

She smirks. “I think it has more to do with getting my hands on you.”

“That, too.”

Emme’s door closes again and I take a few steps back, bumping into the coffee table. I rearrange my hard-on so it’s not obvious and make sure my shirt is covering the problem before I turn around. Emme appears at the top of the stairs. Her expectant grin falls a little.

“What’s up? You need something?”

“Oh. Uh, I forgot to give you my phone!”

She rushes down, holding it out. “I already put it on Do Not Disturb so it won’t beep.”

“Thanks, kiddo.”

“’Kay, night!” And up the stairs she goes again.

It’s something she has to do every night, pass over her phone until the morning. Otherwise I’m sure there would be text messages coming at all hours. Usually I have to go up and knock to get it from her. I sigh at Kailyn’s I told you so expression.

“When am I going to get some alone time with you?” I sound whiny. I’m hard and I have some fantasies in my head that I’d like fulfilled courtesy of Kailyn.

“This weekend, apparently, as long as you feel comfortable with Emme having a sleepover.”

“That’s days away.”

Kailyn licks her lips, and the hint of a smile appears. “Didn’t you say you had all sorts of memorabilia in the basement?”

For half a second I don’t understand what the hell It’s My Life memorabilia has to do with my hard-on. It just goes to show how single minded I am at the moment.

She stands up and does this little excited jumpy thing. It’s fucking adorable. “Why don’t you show me what you got?”

Half an hour later—okay, it’s more like twenty minutes . . . fine, seventeen, but she came, too—she traipses up the stairs carrying an armload of It’s My Life crap, and I’m a much more relaxed man.

It’s sleepover-dance night. My sheets are clean. I’m groomed, on my face and below the belt—and I’m stocked with condoms. I plan to get little in the way of sleep and lots in the way of Kailyn naked.

“Time to go, kiddo!” I call down the hall. It’s already six thirty. The dance starts at seven and I’ve offered to drive. It’s my way of sussing out the girls Emme will be spending the night with. I did the legwork, spoke to the parents, gave them my contact information, and went through the list of questions Kailyn sent me. There were many.

Everything should be good. Emme is excited and I get a night with Kailyn. It’s a win for everyone.

“Okay! I’m ready!” Emme bounds down the stairs two at a time, backpack and overnight bag slung over her shoulder.

I do a double take. “Are you wearing makeup?”

Her cheeks flush, or maybe it’s blush, I have no idea. “Just a little.”

“Right.” If she were auditioning to be a Kiss groupie, then maybe I’d say just a little, but Emme hasn’t ever really worn makeup before, so it seems like a lot. Her eyes are rimmed with black liner and I’m pretty sure she’s wearing mascara. And lipstick.

“Do I look okay?” she asks, suddenly self-conscious.