Forking Around

by Erin Nicholas

  “Awesome.”

  “So you need to use the scrub brush.” She pointed to the cupboard under the sink nearest him.

  “Got it.”

  He opened the cupboard and pulled the brush out and then, well, he scrubbed a toilet. For the first time in his life.

  When the timer went off at fifteen minutes, everyone stopped and turned to look at one another.

  Dax pointed at Kelsey. “You ready, or do you want me to go first?”

  “Oh, you have to go first,” Kelsey said. “I need to see how this works.”

  He nodded. “I’m on it.”

  And he proceeded to reduce both of the Kemper girls to giggles and twinkling eyes, serenading them with Frank Sinatra, via toilet brush.

  He had to admit Kelsey absolutely brought her A game when it was her turn. But in the end, he and Kelsey both agreed Jane was the winner. The way she lip-synced to Frank showed she’d listened to that song a number of times too, and that pleased Dax more than he ever would have imagined.

  An hour later, the house was clean. Everyone had performed, and Dax was officially falling in love with Jane.

  “Ice cream time,” he announced after all the supplies were put away.

  “Yes,” Kelsey said enthusiastically.

  “I don’t know…” Jane laughed and put her hands up as they both turned to her at once. “What am I saying? Yes, ice cream, of course.”

  Kelsey ran upstairs to grab her shoes, and Dax took the opportunity to put his hands on Jane’s hips, back her up against the front door, and kiss her.

  She didn’t resist. In fact, she wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed close.

  They kissed for long moments, then Dax lifted his head.

  “Wow, what was that for?” she asked.

  “Frank Sinatra, being an amazing older sister, being sexy as hell, letting me come along.”

  She smiled. “Oh. Okay, then.”

  He chuckled. “You’re awesome.”

  Her expression softened. “I don’t know about that. I’m kind of wishing I could not take my little sister out for ice cream right now. That’s not very awesome.”

  “You don’t want to take Kelsey for ice cream?” Dax asked.

  “Well, it means it will be longer I have to wait to have you alone.”

  Oh, he liked that a lot. He leaned in. “You want me alone?”

  “I really do,” she admitted.

  “We can cancel ice cream,” he said quickly.

  She laughed and pushed him back. “You really don’t know how teenage girls work.”

  On cue, Kelsey came bounding down the stairs.

  Dax let Jane step around him and took a second before turning, making sure Jane was in front of him. He didn’t know if Kelsey would notice how happy Dax had been to be up against her sister, but it was safer to block the view.

  “I’m ready!” Kelsey said, her smile bright.

  “Where are you guys going?”

  They all looked up to find Aspen on the staircase.

  “Ice cream,” Dax said. He glanced at Kelsey and Jane and then took a risk. “Want to come?”

  He wasn’t sure who looked more surprised, Aspen or Kelsey.

  “Um… really?” Aspen asked. Her gaze also skittered to Kelsey.

  “Yeah, really. If you want to,” Dax said.

  He couldn’t see Jane’s face, but she didn’t say anything. He heard Kelsey sigh, but she didn’t protest.

  Aspen seemed very torn. She chewed on the inside of her cheek. He wouldn’t have blamed her for saying no. After all, things were tense with Kelsey. Going out and eating ice cream together might be awkward.

  But she finally nodded. “Yeah, that would be nice.”

  “Grab your stuff,” he said. “We’re on our way out.”

  “Okay.” Aspen turned and ran up the stairs.

  Dax braced himself for Kelsey and Jane’s reactions.

  “Ugh,” Kelsey said. She sounded more resigned than angry though.

  “Sorry,” he said. “Just thought maybe extending an olive branch would be good.”

  Kelsey rolled her eyes. “I guess.”

  “You don’t actually hate her, do you?” he asked.

  Kelsey frowned. “I don’t hate her. I hate sharing a bathroom with her, and she can be super obnoxious and petty and unreasonable. But…” She shrugged. “Aspen doesn’t have a lot of friends, and she hasn’t figured out that it’s entirely her own fault. But I think she will eventually. I feel sorry for her sometimes. Her mom isn’t helping make her a better person at all, and she’s got a weird, broken-up family just like we do.” Kelsey looked at Jane. “And she doesn’t have a cool sister to help her through it.” Kelsey focused on the floor. “I feel bad that I’m not a better sister to her. She’s just so difficult, and I lose my temper and fight with her instead of trying to be her friend.”

  Jane reached out and pulled Kelsey into a hug. “It’s not on you to make Aspen better. But you’ll never be wrong being the bigger person.”

  Kelsey wrapped her arms around Jane’s waist. “Is that your way of saying I shouldn’t touch her makeup anymore?”

  “It is,” Jane said. Then she kissed the top of Kelsey’s head. “And I think you’re a very cool sister too.”

  Dax felt an ache in his chest. He’d never seen a woman he wanted to do very dirty things to, interact with her family. He’d met one mother of a girl he was dating one time, and he hadn’t really seen them just being together. So maybe he would feel this warm, soft, urge to hug them both very tightly if he’d seen other women with their families. But he doubted it.

  “I’m ready.” Aspen joined them at the bottom of the steps. She actually looked shy.

  “Okay, let’s go,” Dax said, clapping his hands. “I had no idea cleaning toilets could make me so hungry.”

  “I guess I wouldn’t really know,” Aspen said, her smile small and tentative.

  Kelsey snorted loudly. “That’s for sure.” But she actually gave Aspen a grin.

  “Your lip sync was really good,” Aspen told her.

  Kelsey’s eyes rounded. “You saw it?”

  “I love that song. I looked out to see what you were doing.” She shrugged. “But I guess I’m not surprised. You’re really good at dance.”

  Kelsey had added choreography to her lip sync and Dax would agree it had been impressive.

  Kelsey looked stunned at Aspen’s compliment. “Uh… thanks.”

  “Maybe next time I can help in the bathroom,” Aspen added, “if you’ll teach me some of that choreography.”

  “Holy crap. I will happily exchange dance lessons for help with chores,” Kelsey said enthusiastically.

  “Do you think you could help me get good enough to get on the dance team?” Aspen asked.

  “Yes,” Kelsey said without hesitation. “But you have to quit being a bitch to me.”

  “Kels!” Jane protested.

  But, her cheeks pink, Aspen nodded. “Okay.”

  “Okay,” Kelsey said as if that decided it. She turned to Dax. “We’re ready.”

  They all headed for Jane’s car, but Jane grabbed Dax’s hand, pulling him up short and letting the girls get to the car while they were still on the front steps.

  “You know that 'you’re awesome' thing you said to me a little bit ago?”

  He nodded.

  “Well… ditto.” Then she lifted up on tiptoe and kissed him. “And eat your ice cream fast,” she said against his lips.

  He reached down and squeezed her ass. “I have a feeling I’m in for some major brain freeze.”

  She settled back on her feet and gave him a naughty little smile he was instantly crazy about.

  “I’ll warm you back up,” she said. Then she headed for the car.

  Dax took a breath. It was no surprise Sinatra and ice cream were solid ingredients for a seduction. But a toilet brush? He never would have guessed. But he knew without that particular tool, he would not be anywhere near as close to getting Jane
Kemper naked.

  He would happily scrub toilets every day.

  Jane loved her little sister.

  She really did.

  She also loved ice cream. A lot. Not as much as pie. Or cake. Or cookies. But it was very, very good.

  Yet here she was, eating fast, impatient with her sister’s chatter—even though happy chatter from Kelsey was lovely and not common after a run-in with Aspen. Then again, Kelsey and Aspen eating ice cream together after one of their blowups had never happened, so this was an unusual night all around.

  About as unusual as the idea of a playboy millionaire turning her on with a toilet brush.

  Of course, that wasn’t really what turned her on about Dax Marshall.

  It was… pretty much everything.

  Jane scooped up another spoonful of strawberry ice cream, listening to Kelsey telling Dax about the upcoming dance competition in Des Moines as her chocolate ice cream with marshmallow and graham-cracker-crumb topping melted in her bowl. Jane cast a glance at Aspen. Her stepsister was just sitting there quietly eating her vanilla with caramel sauce. Jane tried to remember the last time she’d been around Aspen that hadn’t included Cassie. She couldn’t come up with anything.

  Was it possible Aspen fed off her mother more than her actually disliking Kelsey and Jane? The girls did butt heads, and Aspen did seem jealous, but they were two teenagers living in the same space, wanting the same things. And Cassie did pit them against one another, now that Jane thought about it.

  Huh. Maybe she needed to give Aspen more of a chance. Maybe the girl needed some positive female role models and just some freaking attention that wasn’t about the things Kelsey had that Aspen didn’t.

  Jane felt herself frowning. Dammit, Cassie.

  “Hi, Kelsey.”

  Jane was pulled out of her thoughts by the young, male voice. There were four guys about Kelsey’s age standing around the table now. They looked like they could be athletes, based on their builds, and they were pretty cute. For guys way too young for her to really notice.

  Kelsey was trying to look cool, but Jane could tell she was surprised by the guys’ presence. “Hi, Matt.”

  “We were wondering if you wanted to come sit with us,” Matt said. He glanced at Aspen, who was studying her ice cream intently. “Both of you.”

  Aspen looked up quickly, clearly shocked.

  “Uh.” Kelsey looked at Jane. “I think we’re almost done, actually.”

  “Oh okay.” Matt shrugged. “Just thought we’d say hi.”

  “Okay.” Kelsey nodded, clearly puzzled.

  “Um, you’re Dax Marshall, right?” Matt asked, lingering behind Kelsey’s chair.

  Dax nodded. “I am.”

  “We are huge fans, man,” Matt told him. “Warriors of Easton has been our favorite forever, but this newest edition is kick ass.”

  Dax smiled. “Thanks. I really appreciate hearing that.”

  “Yeah, I heard you were one of the new owners at Hot Cakes,” another of the boys said. “That’s really cool too. We had no idea you might come to town though.”

  Dax gave Jane a look. She knew she was staring, but this was… weird. She’d known about the video game, of course. She knew Dax made appearances at Comic-Con and other gaming cons. She knew he had a huge social media following. But even after looking everything up and seeing some video footage, it hadn’t really sunk in that he was famous. At least in his corner of the world.

  “I’m going to be spending a lot of time here,” Dax told the boys. But he was looking at Jane.

  “That is amazing,” another of the guys said. “This town is so small and boring, but we’ve got the Warriors of Easton inventors here. That’s just wild.”

  “Is there any chance you guys would do like a gaming event here or anything?” Matt asked. “It would be super cool if you did.”

  Dax shook his head. “I don’t know. Something to think about though. We’re really focused on Hot Cakes right now, but I’ll keep that in mind. You guys would be up for helping out?”

  “For sure,” Matt said, and the other three nodded adamantly.

  “Great. Why don’t you give Kelsey and Aspen your numbers, and I’ll get ahold of you if we put anything together. They’ll be our go-between. I assume you talk to them a lot at school and stuff?” Dax asked.

  “Uh… yeah,” Matt said.

  Dax looked at Kelsey. She rolled her eyes.

  “I mean… we can. We want to,” Matt said. “Very happy to be in touch with Kelsey and Aspen.”

  “Great. Girls, why don’t you give the guys your phones, so they can put their contact info in?” Dax said.

  Both girls reached for their phones, handing them over as if waiting for someone to yell “Psych!”

  In the end, all four guys put their numbers into both phones and headed toward a back booth after gushing again over Dax and how much they’d love to have a tournament or a con in Appleby.

  When they were out of earshot, Kelsey leaned in, her eyes on Aspen. “Oh my God.”

  Aspen leaned in too. “I know!”

  “I have Matt Porter and Landon Summers’s phone numbers in my phone!” Kelsey said in an excited whisper.

  “And Tanner asked if we were going to be back in here next Saturday. A bunch of people are getting together after the baseball game!” Aspen said.

  “They looked like athletes,” Jane said, scraping the bottom of her bowl with her spoon and taking the last bite of her Strawberry Supreme.

  “They are the athletes,” Kelsey said. “Those four are good at everything and captains of like every team. They are the hottest guys in school.” She turned round eyes on Dax. “I had no idea they were gamers though. Oh my God.” She grabbed Dax’s arm. “They think we are so cool just because we know you!”

  Dax smiled, clearly used to this kind of reaction. “Well, you’ll have to let me know if they say anything interesting about Warriors.”

  “I can’t believe you set up a way for them to talk to us,” Aspen said. “I didn’t even know Matt knew my name.”

  “Well, I don’t want them calling me directly all the time,” Dax said with a laugh. “Plus I did them a huge favor.”

  “Yeah, you’re going to set up a huge gaming con in Appleby for them,” Kelsey said with a laugh.

  “I don’t know about that,” Dax said, chuckling. “But I do know I gave them all very good excuses to talk to two beautiful, fun, smart girls. They don’t have to come up with their own lame lines now.”

  Aspen blushed and Kelsey laughed. “Yeah, they were just dying to talk to us.”

  “Well, if they weren’t, they will be after a few conversations,” Dax said.

  “I know nothing about Warriors of Easton,” Kelsey said. “Sorry,” she added.

  “Me neither,” Aspen said.

  “I can teach you anything you need to know,” Dax told them. “But I’m thinking they’ll find new topics to talk to you about after a bit.”

  Kelsey smiled as if pleased and Aspen sighed. “That would be nice.”

  “Is everyone done?” Jane asked. She was ready to get out of here. Really ready. Dax was…too clothed. And not close enough to kiss.

  “Yeah, I guess,” Aspen said.

  “Not quite,” Kelsey replied.

  “Hurry up,” Jane told her.

  “Hey. What’s your problem?”

  “I’ve got…” She looked at Dax. “Stuff to do.”

  He smirked at her and her inner muscles clenched. Wow. That was new. And not unpleasant.

  She reached for her sister’s ice cream dish and headed for the garbage.

  “Hey! There’s some left.”

  “Then you can eat it in the car.” Jane turned toward the door, still carrying Kelsey’s ice cream.

  “Oh my God!” But Kelsey scrambled after her.

  By the time she was behind the steering wheel, Kelsey was in the back seat with her dish, and Aspen and Dax were climbing in as well.

  She glanced at Dax. He look
ed smug.

  Well, that was fine. He could be as smug as he wanted to be. As long as he kissed the hell out of her the second they were alone.

  No, the second they were back at the Hot Cakes parking lot where no one would interrupt them.

  She tried to focus on the girls in the back seat, talking happily about the guys that had called goodbye to them as they left the ice cream parlor. That did make her happy. Of course.

  But maybe not as happy as kissing Dax would.

  She pulled into the driveway. “Okay, ladies, good night. Love you.”

  Aspen hesitated getting out. “Hey, Jane?”

  “Yeah?”

  “Thank you for letting me come along.”

  That caught Jane off guard. She smiled. “You’re welcome.”

  Aspen nodded then looked at Dax. “And thanks. This was all really fun.”

  “You bet,” he told her.

  “Hey, Aspen,” Jane said as the girl got out of the car.

  “Yeah?”

  “Let’s make things better tomorrow too. You can help with that, right?”

  It was clear Aspen knew exactly what Jane was talking about. “Yeah, I can.”

  “Great.”

  “’Night.” Kelsey leaned over the seat and kissed Jane’s cheek. Then she leaned over and kissed Dax’s cheek. “Nice to meet you.”

  He chuckled. “Ditto. Work on your lip sync. We’ll enter the lip-sync competition in Chicago as a duo.”

  Kelsey gasped. “Really?”

  “Sure.”

  “Okay!”

  A minute later, both girls were finally out of the car and heading up the path to the front door. Once they were safely inside, Jane shifted into reverse. But before she moved the car, she looked over at Dax. “Have you ever had sex in a car that cost less than eight thousand dollars?”

  His eyes were hot when he met her gaze, but he smiled. “I don’t think I’ve ever even been in a car that cost less than eight thousand dollars.”

  She grinned. “You don’t think?”

  “I’m pretty sure. Maybe a guy in college or something.”

  “Right.”

  “In case you’re wondering,” he added, “I’m very okay with doing anything you want in this car. Or any other car. Or any other place for that matter.”

  “That’s good,” she told him. “That’s very good.”