“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!”