Soft, a little nervous, but real. Like the sound surprises her as much as it surprises me.
My hand twitches.
I want to reach for hers. I want to anchor her, to make a statement my mouth isn’t brave enough to make.
I don’t do it.
The last thing she needs is me turning this into a performance.
So I shift closer. Not touching. Just there—close enough to take the hit first.
Jax lets out another loud whistle and cups his hands around his mouth like we’re at a pep rally.
“LOOK AT YOU,” he yells, already grinning. “BROUGHT A GIRL.”
I wince. Lila’s eyes flick to mine, amused and wary at the same time, like she’s bracing for impact but willing to see if it’s funny.
I lean toward her, voice low.
“You can still run,” I murmur. “I’ll tell them you got abducted by aliens while we were at the museum.”
Her smile tugs up at one corner. It’s small, but it lands in my chest like a warm weight.
“Sounds reasonable,” she whispers back.
“With Jax?” I say. “Anything’s reasonable.”
Her laugh comes again, a little easier.
And as we step fully onto the patio, with my team watching and the city lights throwing gold across her hair, one thought hits me so clean it’s almost annoying.
This is my world.
And I want her in it.
Jax reaches us first. He grins like a man who has been waiting all day to ruin my peace. He slings an arm around my shoulders.
“Well,” he announces to the table, “if it isn’t the man who swore off relationships like they were gluten.”
Groans ripple around the table. Devon claps. Someone whistles again.
Jax looks at Lila like he’s just discovered Bigfoot. “And you must be the woman who breached the Cam Drake Ice Fortress.”
Lila blinks. Once. Twice.
“What?”
I drop my head. “Please don’t encourage him.”
Too late.
“Oh, it’s real,” Devon says, already halfway out of his chair, eyes shining. “We’ve tried to crack him for years. He’s an Ice fortress. With an emotional moat. And dragons.”
“Metaphorical dragons,” Hunter adds calmly from further down the table, lifting his glass. “Mostly in the form of sarcasm and avoidance.”
Lila laughs.
My chest does something stupid.
