“Jesus, take long enough?” Sondra snorts. “Thank you for putting your dick away long enough to feed my friend, Aleck.”

The table laughs and Dottie nearly chokes on her juice.

“No need to thank me, Sondra,” I say, pulling a chair out for Winter, then pushing it in once she’s sat. “I’ve already fed her. Several times, actually.”

Winter’s arm snaps in my direction, landing across my chest as I sit in the chair next to her. Her pink cheeks grinning from ear to ear as she giggles. Fucking adorable.

“Jesus, you guys,” she says. “Way to not draw attention to this.”

“And what exactly is… this,” Keith asks, his eyes gleaming with amusement.

I turn my head, laying my eyes on Winter, letting her answer for once. I know we’re not dating. That would be stupid. We’re parting ways in a few days. Obviously, it’s not that kind of relationship. But we are something. Something more than anything I’m used to. And I want to hear Winter say it. What she thinks this is.

She looks at me like she’s waiting for me to answer, to save her like I always do. I’ve been defining us since we met.

The floor is yours, Winter. You’ll have to brave this storm alone, baby.

I tick my eyebrows with a smile while every single eye at the table lay on her, waiting for a response.

“We’re… Well, we decided… Shit guys, I don’t know. We’re spending time together.”

Everyone erupts into laughter. Keith and the girls, minus Winter, give each other knowing looks.

“Relax Win, we’re just messing with you.”

Sondra reaches across the table and squeezes Winter’s hand. “Glad to see you happy, sis.” She releases Winter’s hand, then settles back into her seat. “Don’t piss her off again, Aleck. She’s an absolute bitch when she’s angry.”

They all laugh again, and this time, Winter joins them.

“I can’t promise anything,” I say. “Winter’s been in a perpetual state of being pissed at me since we met.”

“We know!” Keith, Dottie, and Sondra say in unison, exploding into another fit of laughter afterward.

Winter’s cheeks burn bright red, and she drops her face to her hands. I swing my arm around her chair and lean in to kiss her temple.

“Are you going to tell them you’re meeting my parents for dinner tonight?” I say into her ear, loud enough for the table to hear.

For a moment, the laughter ceases. A broad smile curling my lips, knowing Winter’s cheeks are about two-thousand degrees right now.

She lifts her face from her hands, still squeezing her eyes shut. “Dinner with the Fox’s tonight.”

The laughter continues with a couple of awes from Dottie and Sondra.

Any other woman I know would hold her head high, announcing I’ve invited her to dinner with my folks. She would have posted it on every social media platform she belonged to before we even left the elevator.

Not Winter, though. For being as vibrantly ball-busting as she is, she’s awfully shy with this entire relationship thing between us. And maybe it’s because we started out as a secret. A blip that wasn’t supposed to go beyond second base. But it has.