said. I swear, the Vagina Speech will be whispered about for years to come.”
Dawn groaned, shaking her head. “Don’t do that. Don’t capitalise it.”
Knox grinned, looking boyish and carefree once more. “Too late.”
“You are incorrigible,” she said.
“I know. It’s a part of my charm. Does this mean I’m forgiven?”
Dawn nodded, “It does.” She then moved in close, lowering her voice for his ears only. “And I am sorry too. Sorry you had to come face to face with a paladin suffering the way you suffered. I know it was confronting. If you ever want to talk about it, I’m here.”
“Thank you, Dawn,” Knox said gratefully. “Does this mean I can have my old job back?”
“What do you mean?”
“As your personal assistant,” Knox clarified. “We’ve been avoiding each other these last few days.”
“I don’t really need an assistant, Knox,” Dawn told him. And it was true. She was busy but she liked it that way. She was used to being busy.
“Dawn, I’m going to let you in on a little secret; I don’t need to be an assistant.” His grey eyes snagged hers as he admitted, “But I want to be.”
Dawn drew in a deep breath, feeling the silent encouragement from her entire Order. She licked her lips nervously and tugged on her hair until she could twirl her fingers around it. “I still have a few tasks I could use an assistant for.” Knox’s relieved grin made her breath catch in her throat. Now all she had to do was figure out why.
Chapter Seven
Knox waited anxiously behind his bar, checking the door every time he heard it open. Dawn had said she would come for a drink that night and Knox was nervous as though it were a date. Which it is not, he sternly told himself. It had been just over a month since he had introduced himself to the pretty life warden, and although they had spent lots of time together, it had all revolved around work – or pseudo work anyway. With Knox’s duties as PA fulfilled – that is, Dawn having no more jobs she could make up for him to do – they were having recreational drinks.
“Recreational? Then why are you so dressed up?” Kane asked from his position behind the bar. He was unstacking the dishwasher and passing the still wet glasses to Kellan.
Both of them looked at Knox with identical knowing expressions. If Kai were there, Knox was sure he would have had the same expression on his face too. The only problem with having identical triplet sons, Knox thought, was seeing identical looks of ‘you’re a moron, dad’ on their faces. “I’m not dressed up,” Knox finally retorted.
Kellan looked Knox up and down. “You’re wearing a shirt with buttons and a collar. I haven’t seen you in anything but a t-shirt and jeans since you came back.”
“I’m wearing jeans,” Knox hastily pointed out.
Kane snorted, his grey eyes twinkling in amusement. “You’re wearing new jeans. Besides, aren’t those the ones Cali said make your butt look good?”
Knox grumbled at his laughing offspring, choosing not to answer them. So what if he had only worn the dark denim jeans once before? And so what if that one time, his good friend Cali had informed him his butt was extremely edible in them? It didn’t mean he was trying to impress Dawn or anything, Knox assured himself.
“Dad, it’s cool,” Kai said, startling Knox. He had somehow snuck up on him. “Dawn is fantastic.” He grinned mischievously, “We’d be happy to have her as our new stepmother.”
“You –” Knox reached for Kai, but he was too quick, darting away and cackling like a hyena. “What are you doing here, anyway? I thought you were having a night in upstairs?” Knox was very much of the same mindset as Max. He believed paladins should get downtime. Not only did it ensure they were rested and therefore sharper on the job, but it was also just fucking manners. Last he heard, Kai was planning to eat dry cereal in his underwear as he binge watched Lucifer.
Kellan laughed loudly, looking pointedly at his older brother. “That was before he knew Dawn and her Order were coming. He wouldn’t want to miss an opportunity to make moon eyes at Willow.”
“Willow?” Knox turned to Kai, who was, much to Knox’s shock, blushing. “You have a thing for Willow?”
Kai glared at his snickering brothers before replying, “No more than you have a thing for Dawn.”