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“Presumptuous of you.”

“I want to take you out to a nice steak dinner and buy the nicest bottle of wine on the menu, because I already know you like the good stuff.”

Her lips curled. “I’m not sure you can afford that, Rex.”

“I’ll work doubles, then, because I want you beside me, and I don’t want it to be fake.”

Her breath was a trembling sigh that slipped through barely parted lips. Blue eyes watched mine, and she asked, “And if my brother shows up and tells you to go home?”

“I’ll handle it.”

“That’s nice and vague.”

I grinned. “You’re not going to let me off easy, huh.”

“You wouldn’t want me to.”

She had that right. I wanted the difficult, demanding, delicious woman that she was. “I would tell your brother that you’re a grown woman, and you get to decide who to date. And if I happen to be the guy lucky enough to do it, then I wouldn’t let anyone stop me. Definitely not him.”

Abigail’s arms uncrossed, and she reached up to delicately rearrange the shoulder seams of my shirt. “Talk is cheap, though.”

I couldn’t help but smile. “You gonna give me a chance to prove it to you?”

Her eyes were sharp, but her hands had moved to smooth over my shoulders and around to the back of my neck. “Maybe. If you’re nice.”

Moving closer, I let my knees nudge hers. My hands shifted from the counter to her hips, and the rightness of having her in my arms couldn’t be denied. “I’m sorry, Abigail.”

She took a breath and allowed the corners of her mouth to turn up slightly. “You’re going to have to give me a second with this because I’m not used to being apologized to this easily.”

I smiled back at her. “Has it been a second yet? Because I’d really like to kiss you now.”

Slight pressure on the back of my neck told me I had the green light, and I wasn’t going to give her the chance to change her mind.

Abigail’s forgiveness tasted sweet and hot and a little angry. She scraped her teeth against my bottom lip and tuggedme closer, smiling at my grunt. I deepened the kiss—and the front door burst open.

Abigail broke the kiss and turned toward the sound, and I nudged her chin with my fingers to bring her back where I needed her.

“Might be Gabe—” she mumbled against my mouth.

“Don’t care,” I said, then kissed her again.

She laughed. “That’s a quick one-eighty,” she teased, and looked like she was going to say more before I scooped her onto the kitchen counter and pulled her tight so I could kiss her harder. The gallon of milk went crashing to the ground?—

And Donny’s voice carried into the room.

“Sorry to interrupt your little lovefest,” he started.

“Lovefest?” Blair replied, swiveling her head around from behind her fiancé and lifting her sunglasses off her face to get a better look at the situation.

Abigail sighed and leaned her forehead against my shoulder.

“Um. You guys know we need to use the kitchen too, right?” Blair asked, disgust written into every line of her face. “Do you have to do thatthere?” She waved her hands at us.

“Kind of, yes,” Abigail mumbled against my shirt.

I snorted and backed away slightly so she could slide down to the floor again.

“We’ve got a lot to do today,” Donny finished. Abigail backed away slightly as we turned our attention to the bride and groom.