She laughed. “Hell no, why would I?”
He shook his head, a smile tugging at his lips. “I was worried for a minute there.”
She smiled, wrapping her arms around his waist before puckering up her lips at him. Obliging, Tate leaned down, pressing his lips to hers. Audrey pulled back first, and smiled. “No need to worry, Mr. Oooooder, I’m yours.”
Tate smiled, nodded, and said, “Good.” He moved his hand to behind her neck, cupping it as he looked deep into her eyes. “Question.”
Audrey grinned. “Yes?”
“After we eat, would you like to dance with me?”
She smiled. “Yes, but I have a more pressing question,” she said as they walked back to their table.
“What is that?”
“When do we get to go home?”
Tate chuckled. “I was only asking for one dance,” he said, insinuating that they wouldn’t be there long. At their table, he pulled out her chair as Audrey flashed him a knowing smile.
Lucas, who had overheard, said, “Make sure it is a salsa dance. That Facebook video was too blurry. Anderson was laughing too hard!”
Chapter 22
It had been a week since the Assassins Christmas party. Tate and Audrey had burned up the floor with their mad dance moves before going home and tearing up her bed. It was amazing. She had never felt so close to anyone before. He believed in her, listened when she talked about her dream of opening her cupcakery. He was there for her, and she didn’t think twice that he wasn’t.
He was her everything.
Tate left on a three-day road trip with the team, but it passed quickly and Audrey was glad he wasn’t missing Christmas. The bad thing was, the team was leaving on a four-day trip afterward, which meant he would miss New Year’s, which was probably worse than missing Christmas. Total bummer.
After the Christmas dinner, Audrey’s mother kissed her temple before helping with the dishes, then Fallon, Audrey, and Nora worked in silence cleaning up the kitchen. Christmas was a respected tradition in their family. Everyone looked forward to the holiday dinner, and especially the table setting that displayed all of her mom’s Spode china. The delicate pieces were beautiful, and Audrey always took great care washing and rinsing the holiday dinnerware.
Her father walked in carrying the last of the plates from the table. William had been hard on Tate during dinner, asking question after question. Tate sat confident through it, one hand in Audrey’s as he responded to her father’s interrogation. Her dad seemed to be satisfied with Tate’s answers as the questioning turned into general conversation while they ate dessert.
After setting down the dishes on the counter, William watched the women work, and when Audrey looked up at him, he smiled.
“Well, Audrey, I can’t believe it, but your mother and I both like your new guy.”
“Fantastic, Daddy, he’s great and makes me very happy.” She beamed as she wiped her hands on a towel. William nodded once, and Audrey knew that was the end of the conversation about Tate.
“I also like these cupcakes, they are wonderful,” he said, picking up a reindeer cupcake that she had spent all night making. They were a white cake dyed red with a green mint icing, topped with little reindeer she had made out of pretzels and chocolate. She knew Tate and Aiden would devour them, but what surprised her was that her father also enjoyed them. He was not a big sweets eater.
“Thanks, Daddy,” she said, pride filling her from the inside out. It wasn’t every day that her father complimented her, or Fallon for that matter. When he did, they savored it like the finest Rocky Top wine.
“Shouldn’t she open a cupcake shop, Dad? I think she would be fantastic at it,” Fallon said.