He turned, intending to ask her, but found she’d moved in behind him, and he bumped into her, stepping on her foot.

“Ow!”

He pulled the earbud from one ear. “Oh shit, sorry.”

“You don’t know how to scrub a toilet?” she asked. Clearly she’d seen him checking out the label.

“I do. I just read the instructions,” he said. “But I need to know—if I don’t put my hands in the toilet and scrub with a sponge, does that completely knock out the chance of a kiss tonight, or would you still consider it?”

She shook her head, grinning. “Your chances of getting kissed are far better if you don’t stick your hands in the toilet.”

“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.”