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That had him rolling his eyes and glaring at me. “What part of making a good impression did you forget?”

None.

This was a much better reaction than fake happiness.

But I shrugged. “Oops.”

Sofie was trying not to laugh and glared at me too. “Don’t embarrass your partner on the first meeting, Tyson. Mama taught you better than that. You get to embarrass him on the second.”

Pretending to frown, I gave her a thoughtful expression that was better than either of theirs. “Are you sure? I distinctly remember embarrass first and then be sweet later. Because isn’t that what you did with Mario?”

Leaning to the side, I did a bad stage whisper. “Her mama met her boyfriend, now husband, for the first time when hewas sneaking out of her room. His pants got caught on the windowsill and then her mama realized Mario wasn’t wearing anything under his pants.”

Dessie’s wide-eyed look got a laugh from Sofie. “You’re terrible. You have to stop telling that lie.”

Glancing between us, Dessie was clearly trying to figure out who to believe. “He was wearing a jock?”

She laughed again, clearly approving that he’d played along. “Pink heart boxer shorts.”

Dessie’s smile was back, but after a second he shook his head and did his best to glare at me. “You shouldn’t be embarrassing her either.”

I wasn’t going to agree to that nonsense, so I rolled my eyes. “How about I make you coffee?”

Sofie snorted, shaking her head. “Bribing him to accept your bad behavior already.”

Dessie shrugged. “He has good coffee and he’s kinda cute.”

That got another delighted laugh from Sofie as she went back to moving around the kitchen, putting a grocery list together judging by the random way she was opening every cabinet. “If you give him an inch, he’ll take a mile.”

Her warning made Dessie nearly giggle. “And then he’ll track you while he’s enjoying that mile.”

“At least I’ll know where he is.” I wasn’t going to apologize for keeping him safe. “I haven’t done anything drastic.”

Just slightly illegal…and even that was questionable because the laws still hadn’t caught up with what the internet could do.

They both scoffed in unison.

“If you’re mean to me, I’ll start doing the grocery shopping again.” That shut her up quickly but it earned me another glare.

Dessie sighed. “Do I want to know?”

“No.” Sofie answered before I could. “Let’s just say he’s a petty brat when he wants to be.”

“We ate the Oreos eventually.” She was so dramatic. “Everything is cheaper in bulk. You’re just stubborn.”

If she wasn’t nice to me, I would buy one of those warehouse stores.

If Austin could solve his problems that way, I could create them.

Chapter 22

Dessie

“For fuck’s sake.” Daddy frowned at his phone as another message popped up. It was the third in about ten seconds and it didn’t look like they were going to stop. “I’m sorry. I told everyone that I was off for the weekend, but one of the British royals keeps looking up weird shit online and I have to make some calls or there will be an international incident.”

His life was so weird.

“Go. I’ll be fine.” Waving him away from the table, I gestured toward my cup. “I’m going to finish this and then steal another muffin while you’re not looking.”

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