Chapter Seven
I’M SO GLAD you guys came,” Skye said with a smile as she hugged Lexi. “I was starting to think my brother was keeping you away from me on purpose.”
“Now why would I do that?” Dane asked drily as he followed Lexi into the building.
He nodded at Jax then inhaled deeply through the nose. It smelled like more cake…and maybe something Italian. He wondered if his sister needed a neutral third party to taste anything.
Skye made a face as she came over and hugged him, too. “Maybe you’re worried I’ll tell her about all your bad habits, like that disgusting thing you do with French fries and mustard.”
Lexi laughed. “Too late. I saw that last night. And as long as he doesn’t try and convince me to put mustard on my fries, I’m fine with it.”
Dane smirked at his sister. “See? Lexi accepts me for who I am, mustard addiction and all.”
Skye folded her arms. “Great. So I guess you’ve told her you sing in your sleep?”
“He does what?” Lexi asked in surprise.
“Oh yeah,” Skye said. “He used to hum and sing theme songs from old TV shows in his sleep.”
Dane flushed. “I haven’t done that since I was a teenager.”
Leave it to his sister to embarrass him. Hopefully she wouldn’t bring up any of the names of any of those shows because he used to watch some really lame stuff—as in old reruns from the sixties, seventies, and eighties. ThinkGillian’s Island,SWAT, and evenWonder Woman. The first two he might be able to get away with, but Lexi would never let him live that last one down.
Fortunately, Skye didn’t get into it. Instead she gave Lexi a quick tour of the place and told her about the events she was currently catering.
“My sisters and I used to love making cupcakes with my mom when we were little,” Lexi said with a smile. “We couldn’t wait for them to cool off after they came out of the oven so we could frost them.”
Skye’s eyes lit up. “Jax and I were about to start frosting these when you guys came in. You want to help?”
Dane opened his mouth to remind his sister what happened the last time he’d helped her frost cupcakes, but Lexi was already nodding, clearly thrilled with the idea. A few minutes later, they were all standing around the granite topped island frosting several dozen cupcakes.
As it turned out, he ended up having a way better time than he thought he would. He quickly discovered that he loved doing anything with Lexi, even frosting cupcakes. They probably ate a lot more than they should have—and Skye had to redo quite a few of them—but it was fun hanging out together.
Dane watched transfixed as Lexi licked chocolate frosting off her finger. She must have caught him looking at her because she smiled. If his sister and future brother-in-law hadn’t been there, he would have kissed her to see if the creamy confection tasted sweeter on her lips.
He stifled a groan. He’d never known a woman like Lexi. She could turn him on with a look, a smile—hell, even a snap of her fingers. And if Tory and Kole hadn’t shown up last night and interrupted them, Dane was sure he and Lexi would have ended up in bed. Talk about the ultimate cockblock.
“Jax and I need to deliver these cupcakes,” Skye said as they finished frosting them. “You guys want to hang around here and we can have dinner when we get back?”
Dane gave Lexi a questioning look. She smiled and nodded.
“Sounds good,” he said. “I wanted to show Lexi the horses anyway.”
As he and Lexi helped box the cupcakes, Dane mentioned to Skye he thought it was cool that she had little boxes with cutouts to hold up the cupcakes and her catering company’s name—Her Kitchen—emblazoned across the lid.
Skye elbowed him in the ribs as she led the way outside to the delivery truck. “Hey. This is a serious business. I’m not messing around.”
Dane only chuckled.
After Skye and Jax left, Dane led Lexi over to the barn and introduced her to the horses.
“This guy is called Big Joe,” he said as they stopped in front of a stall occupied by a huge black stallion. “He’s the player of the ranch, always trying to woo the ladies.”
Lexi smiled as she ran her hand down Big Joe’s strong neck. “That explains why he’s making moon eyes at that girl.”
Dane glanced over at the chestnut mare in the stall on the other side of the barn. “Probably. Then again, according to Jax, Star is immune to Big Joe’s charm, so it could be a case of him fixating on the one horse who doesn’t want him.”
Lexi laughed. “I can’t believe that. Big Joe is a very handsome horse. Aren’t you, boy?”
