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"Hey," she says as she walks toward Jules andback and forth between us

Max is off with Si some introductory rounds While he's been a littleout of school, I've notshe's done or ever will do in her life Needless to say, she's a little ht now, but I still want her to meet Stephanie when they come back around

"Hey," I say as I lift my chin "Glad you could make it"

It's friendly

No hugs or kisses on the cheek, which could violate the no-strings-sex boundary, which is sort of fucked up I can lay her down and suck on her clit until she screams my name, but I can't kiss her hello because that's actually more intimate and makes more of a statement about a relationship

Totally fucked-up reasoning, but we're both going with it

"Sorry I'm late," she says as her eyes flit around the kitchen, where we're standing near the food "Forgot I had to get gas"

"No worries," Jules says "I'lad you came, and I'm excited to talk some more about the nonprofit idea"

"Me too," Stephanie says as she etic and enthused

ItI hate thinking she's in a career that's just satisfactory to her I lovepart of my happiness I'd like to see Stephanie have that for herself, not only to cos she doesn't have but so she can pass on to our kid that anything is possible if you want it bad enough

"Do you want to get a plate of food and then go find socounter spread with catered food Garrett decided to go with an eastern North Carolina barbecue spread and I'

"Sounds good," Jules says as Stephanie nods

"Dude," I hear froe hands come down on my shoulders and squeeze me a few times As I turn to look, the hands then patMy eyes ot called up froues this week to fill in on the third line for one of our defenseetic, and slightly annoying I wonder if I acted like that at that age, and if I did, how I ever got laid

"What's up, ive him a curt smile

"This party is off the hook," he says while swinging his areration

I look around and wonder since when did gathering for barbecue and birthday cake constitute "off the hook," but then he answers my question

"I ue, and wellthis is so stylish and elegant," he gushes

My eyes go back to the food It's in silver serving trays, so I guess that's stylish

"And whoa, who do we have here?" Cash drawls out as he pulls his chin in and eyes Jules and Stephanie up and down

Kid's not been here long enough to know Jules, so I make it a point to introduce her properly "This is Jules, my soon-to-be sister-in-law"

And then the dork of a defenseets super respectful and sticks a hand out to Jules "OhMax talks about you all the time Nice to finally meet you"

This doesn't surprise ly cute kind of way

But then Cash gets idiotic again when he pushes his hand out to Stephanie, who I can see by the expression on her face is thoroughly amused

"I'm Cash McCain," he says in a voice smooth as silk "And you may be the most beautiful creature I've ever seen"

I try hard not to gag as Jules snorts beside h when Cash brings it up to his lips to kiss her knuckles I suppress an eye roll because Cash is nowhere near Stephanie's league, plus he's way too young for her to even consider not only in age but in maturity

"Dude," I mock Cash's earlier words with a hand to his shoulder and squeeze hard enough that he lets Stephanie's hand go "Your flirting is a little cheesy"

"Oh, I don't know," Stephanie teases with a ood to me"