“So has Legend heard anything more from the birth mother?” I ask.
He nods. “She’s popped up a few times, demanding to see Charlie. But Legend is going to make her go through the proper channels. I think he’s open to visitation, but no way is he going to give up custody now.”
“That’s so sweet. It sounds like he’s found a really good woman along the way,” I murmur. Dax also filled me in about Legend’s neighbor, Pepper, who he seems to have fallen for. I look at my glass, frowning when I see it’s empty. “Look at that. I’m dry.”
Dax chuckles before finishing his drink. “Another?”
“Sure, why not?” I say, even though I’m well on my way to getting drunk. Right now, I’m highly buzzed and feeling good. Pretty sure Dax is, too, as evidenced by the goofy grin on his face as he pours us another drink.
We hold our glasses up and clank them a little too hard, causing some of my alcohol to slosh out. Giggling, I say, “Oops.”
“My bad,” he replies with a laugh.
After we both take a drink, I can’t help but tease him. “All the Vengeance boys are falling. Bishop, Erik, then Legend. And—”
“And here I am a married man now,” Dax says with a grin, holding his glass up to me. “To my wife.”
I snicker and tap my glass against his again, this time with care so I don’t waste any precious liquid. We each take another sip. I’m beyond the liquor warming my belly. Now it just goes down super smooth.
A thought strikes me. “How awkward was our wedding yesterday?”
Laughing, Dax shakes his head. “Poor Anita. I don’t think she knew what to do with us.”
That cracks me up, and I start giggling. “She was sort of clueless.”
“Poor woman,” he adds in between laughs. “I bet she’s never had a couple as unenthusiastic as us when it came to getting married.”
“You totally shocked her with that grandma kiss you gave me,” I say with a snort.
“I know,” he agrees. “She totally called us out, and I didn’t know what to do.”
“She was like, ‘Oh hell no… you kiss that girl again and you make it good’.”
“That woman completely egged us on.”
I have to hold onto my glass with both hands I’m laughing so hard now. Dax is as equally as cracked up, but he pauses to take another sip of his drink. He swallows, letting loose a low chuckle. “It was a good kiss, though. Right?”
My laughter dies as my face flushes at the memory of that kiss. It was, without a doubt, the best kiss I’d ever had in my entire life. I can’t figure out if it’s because I just don’t have much experience, or because I’m insanely attracted to Dax. Perhaps it’s because I’ve known him my whole life, and I love him.
In a sisterly way, I mean.
“Shit… it was a bad kiss, wasn’t it?” Dax blurts out, apparently not happy with how long I’m taking to answer.
Blushing furiously, I hold a hand up. “No. It was good.”
His eyes light up, the expression on his face turning sly. “Yeah? Just how good?”
“Good,” is all I’m willing to admit, despite my face still feeling incredibly warm because I’m afraid he sees through my vague words.
“Admit it,” he teases, scooting closer on the couch. He takes my drink from my hand, then sets them both on the table.” It was fantastic, wasn’t it?”
I sniff with an air of aloofness, my head now swimming with the fact we’re actually talking about the kiss that so thoroughly rocked my world. “I’ll do no such thing.”
“You will,” he promises, and the ominous tone causes a shiver to run up my spine.
“I won’t,” I maintain, lifting my chin in the air.
Dax lurches toward me. Before I know it, I’m flat on my back on the couch. He’s on top of me, straddling me, his fingers at my ribs, tickling me mercilessly.
“Admit it,” he says as he laughs and tickles the hell out of me.
Laughing, I squirm and claw at his hands, shrieking, “I won’t do it. You can’t make me.”
And then, he’s not tickling me. He pins my hands against the leather cushions above my head. My chest is rising and falling, and Dax’s smile is starting to fade.
We stare at each other for a long moment before he finally says, “If you won’t admit it, maybe your memory needs jogged.”
My lips part, a slight gasp of surprise and longing escaping. When he hears it, he knows what it means.
Bending closer, he kisses me.CHAPTER 7DaxI am not buzzed enough to even blame this on the consumption of alcohol, fatigue from the game, or worry over Tacker. In my conscience, I know this is so very fucking wrong. Yet, rather than retreat, I squeeze onto her wrists and deepen the kiss.