Aspen flounced down the stairs. “Fine. I’ll do that, then.” She glared at Kelsey. “You’re lucky.”

“Yep,” Kelsey said, nodding. “I tell myself how lucky I am every single day.”

Aspen rolled her eyes and continued to flounce, right past them and down the hallway Dax assumed led to the kitchen.

“Do you use coconut oil on your hair?” Kelsey asked, her gaze going over his head.

He grinned. “Nope. I’m just blessed with amazing hair genes.”

“So you know about the coconut oil from women you know?” Kelsey asked. Her gaze flitted to Jane and the corner of her mouth curled up. “Just… friends?”

Dax liked Kelsey. “Yes. Some of my friends have used coconut oil on their hair.” He’d actually been told about it by one of the cosplayers who was a regular at the cons Dax and Ollie attended. She had great hair. She was also happily married and one of the few women who thought Dax was amazing, loved Warriors of Easton, and who didn’t want to sleep with him.

“Right,” Kelsey said. “And you make a habit of smelling women’s hair?”

“Whenever possible,” he said with a nod. “Assuming we have that kind of… relationship.”

“Of course,” Kelsey said, fighting a smile. “What does Jane’s hair smell like?”

“Cake,” he answered immediately. Then realized he’d just more or less confirmed they had a hair-smelling-is-appropriate relationship. Well done, Kelsey. He grinned at her.

Kelsey laughed. “That’s true. Of course, all of Jane smells like cake because of the factory.”

Dax glanced at Jane. She was watching him and Kelsey interacting as if fascinated and confused.

“Well, I’ll have to take your word for that,” he told Kelsey, his eyes still on Jane. “For now anyway.”

Kelsey snorted, and Jane’s eyes widened as she snapped her head to look up at him.

“Okay, enough of that,” Jane said. “It sounds like we have a lot of cleaning up to do in the bathroom.”

“She made as much mess as I did,” Kelsey immediately protested. “And Wade is not her boyfriend. She has no right to be mad he was talking to me.”

“Kels,” Jane said, sounding tired. “If we don’t clean it up, Aspen will tell Cassie, and Cassie will tell Dad. Then he’ll be upset you’re fighting and be concerned about Wade and….” She sighed. “I’ll help you clean it up. Let’s just… get through it. Just another couple of years.”

Kelsey looked like she was going to cry for a minute, but she finally sniffed and lifted her chin. “Fine. Whatever. I’m not sorry though. I’m not apologizing.”

“Okay,” Jane said. “Except about the smashed plates. You need to apologize for that and buy new ones out of your allowance.”

Kelsey shrugged. “I already gave Cassie money. She’s out buying new ones now.”

Jane shook her head with a sigh. “She’s out getting away from the two of you fighting.”

“That too,” Kelsey agreed.

“Mother of the Year,” Jane muttered. Then she looked at Kelsey. “I did not say that and you will not repeat it.”

“I know.”

Dax watched the exchange with interest. So Cassie just bailed when the girls started fighting? And Kelsey was a plate thrower? Wow. And it seemed that perhaps Jane said a lot of things about Cassie that Kelsey shouldn’t repeat judging by Kelsey’s answer.

He was not having a terrible time. This was infinitely more interesting than anything he’d be doing at the hotel.

Unless Jane was with him.

He couldn’t resist adding that little afterthought every time he thought about how boring his hotel room was.

“So go grab the supplies,” Jane said. “I’ll meet you in the bathroom.” She looked at him. “You can watch TV or something, if you want. Living room is in there.” She pointed. “I’m sure Aspen will shut herself in her bedroom and will be reading up on how to use coconut oil in her hair, and Cassie will stall coming back here for as long as possible. Especially because she knows I’ll be here.”

“She knew you were coming over?” Dax asked.

“She’ll assume Kelsey called me, and I always come over when the girls are fighting. Partly because Cassie always bails,” Jane said.

“Got it. But I’ll help,” he said. He wasn’t going to sit in the living room and watch TV when he could be hanging out with Jane. And Kelsey.

“You’ll help?” Jane asked. “You’ll help clean the bathroom?”

“Why not?”

She looked at up him, hand on her hip. “Have you ever, in your life, cleaned a bathroom?”

“Sure. There was this time in Vegas…” He shrugged. “It just didn’t seem fair to make the housekeeping staff clean that up.”

Jane and Kelsey’s eyes were both wide. He looked back and forth between them. “See, one of my friends was—”

“Nope.” Jane held up a hand. “Don’t want to know.”

“I do,” Kelsey said.

“No, you don’t,” Jane told her.

“I do.” She looked at Dax. “Is it super gross?”

He studied her. “Well, that depends. Are you the squeamish type?”

“No—”

“Stop it,” Jane said. She pointed down the hall. “Get the cleaning supplies,” she told her sister. Then she looked up at him. “If you’re going to help, you have to be good.”

He gave her a slow grin. He couldn’t let the moment pass without commenting. “I’m always good.”

“Yeah? And why do I think you’re just the guy to ask about how to get lipstick off of a mirror?”

He laughed. “Rubbing alcohol.”

Jane nodded. “Figured. And I don’t want to know that story either.”

“There’s more than one story involving lipstick and mirrors,” he said. It was true, but he also loved teasing her. “And windows.”

“Nope.” She shook her head. “No stories about Vegas, lipstick, bathtubs, showers, or… maybe no stories at all. How about that?”

He chuckled. He wanted to kiss her. Badly. He wasn’t sure he’d ever wanted to kiss a woman more.

“I don’t know if we have rubbing alcohol,” Kelsey said.

“Hair spray will work too,” Dax said. “Guessing you all have plenty of that.”

“It will?” Kelsey asked.

“Yep, it’s the alcohol in it. Just like the rubbing alcohol. And hair spray is easier when you’re covering a large area. If it’s just like a single lip print or a heart or something, you can just use a cotton ball and the rubbing alcohol, but if it’s a big area like with words and stuff, then the spray is easier.”

Kelsey grinned. “Yeah, we have hair spray. I’ll raid Cassie’s bathroom for the big bottle.”

“You wrote in big letters?” Dax asked, really liking Jane’s little sister.

She nodded. “Very big.”

She headed down the hallway, presumably to gather supplies. Dax watched her go then turned to Jane.