Page 74 of Fierce-Jax

He opened the box while Dillion took the batteries out of the package and handed them over.

Gianna took the bird out of his hand while he read the instructions to squeeze the tail feather, wait for the beep, then say your words. Pressing the belly would replay the words back.

“Can I try?” Gianna asked. “Is it ready?”

“I think so,” he said. “Hold this feather down, wait for the beep, and speak.”

She did as instructed, the bird beeped and Gianna said, “Jax is my new best friend.”

Dillion moved over and put her arm around his waist. “Suck up.”

24

THEY WELCOMED HER

“My mother said Gianna has been talking about you this morning,” Dillion said four days later.

“That’s a good thing,” he said.

“It is,” she said. “I’m nervous and shouldn’t be and didn’t need to say that and make you nervous. I’m sorry.”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t take this the wrong way, Dillion. I’m not nervous about meeting your father. I can handle adults. I was terrified of meeting Gianna. I can tackle anything thrown my way now.”

“That’s very sweet,” she said. “I need a hug. Give me a hug.”

“Gladly,” he said, opening his arms to her.

She moved in and held him tight.

The only other man in her life she’d ever held this tightly was her father when she was a little girl and scared.

Now she was an adult and worried that her father could make her life difficult if he didn’t like her new boyfriend that she was positive she was falling in love with.

“I’m glad you’re not nervous. I shouldn’t be. I wasn’t until this morning. I think my mother sent that text to give me a sign it’d be fine.”

“You said your parents have been good about us dating,” he said.

She leaned back and looked into his eyes. “They have been. My father is going to be protective. It’s in his nature. With everything that happened with Alec, and me not listening. It’s like the whole ‘I told you so’ thing.”

He frowned. “What does that mean?”

“Nothing,” she rushed out to say. Talk about putting her foot in her mouth.

Maybe if her father hadn’t brought up Alec a few more times in the past couple of weeks and how he’d warned her, then she wouldn’t have thought much of it.

She’d gotten her father to back down once she’d said how nice Jax’s parents were and how well they all got along. It was a close-knit family and she felt very comfortable there.

That they welcomed her and made her feel like part of the family too.

“Are you sure?” he asked. “Give me a heads up if your father is going to put me on the firepit and grill me. You know, throw me a bone.”

He was laughing so at least he wasn’t overthinking it as much as she was.

“I don’t know what he’s going to say, but I don’t think it’s going to be horrible. The fact that Gianna was taken with you and has been talking about you so much will go a long way with them.”

The meeting with her daughter couldn’t have gone any better.

No, that was a lie.