Going Down Easy (Boys of the Big Easy #1)(45)

He breathed out, calling himself a million kinds of idiot, but finally he nodded. “Maybe Coop and I should get home.”

“Okay.” She leaned back, kissed him, and then pulled up her dress.

Watching her cover that breast made Gabe curse himself again, but he pulled his boxers and jeans back on while she stepped into her panties and they left the laundry room together.

They headed back upstairs and exclaimed over the beaded artwork, then Gabe had Cooper say goodbye to Stella, and they started downstairs.

At the door, Gabe turned to Addison. “I was invited to a masquerade ball next Saturday. Be my plus-one.”

Addison hesitated. “Just us?”

“Just us.”

“So a date. Without kids.”

“Yes.”

She appeared to be thinking it over. Did that seem more serious than getting their kids together? Maybe. But Gabe knew this woman. “You can buy a big, fancy gown, and there will be a live jazz band and mint juleps,” he said, naming off the most southern things he could think of.

As expected, her eyes widened. “I’ve never had a mint julep,” she said.

“And you really should have your first at a big southern plantation during a ball,” he said.

Her eyes got even wider. “It’s at a plantation?”

He nodded.

She tried to act nonchalant about it as she said, “I guess that might be kind of cool.”

He grinned. “I wasn’t going to go, but then realized that this is right up your alley.”

“You’d go just for me?”

He ran a hand over her head. “I’d do anything for you, Ad.”

And damn, he meant that. More than he’d even realized.

“Well, how can I not go to the ball with you, then, Prince Charming?” But a second later, she frowned. “I don’t know who I’d have sit for Stella. Maybe Lexi? Or I guess I could ask Elena. I haven’t needed anyone at night except for support-group night. But I don’t think that gal would want to stay until midnight.”

“Or later,” Gabe said, suddenly really liking the whole Cinderella imagery she’d planted. He would love to whisk her away from her worries.

Which, of course, was funny, considering it was because of his worries that he was still physically aching for her and would possibly have a date with his hand later.

“Or later,” she agreed.

“Well, you can share my sitter that night,” Gabe told her. That seemed like the easiest, most obvious solution anyway. “Right, bud?” he asked Cooper, who’d been standing by the door, patiently waiting. “Stella could come over and play with you while Addison and I go to a party next weekend?”

Cooper nodded. “Sure. I can show her my room then.”

“Exactly.” Gabe turned back to Addison. “What do you say?”

She lifted a brow. “Maybe. As long as it’s not your mom or something.”

Gabe grinned. “Of course it’s my mom.”

Addison groaned.

“Oh, come on,” he said, stepping close. “She’s great.”

“That’s not what I’m worried about, and you know it,” Addison told him.

“Then what?”

“I’ve met your—” She glanced at Cooper. “O-f-f-s-p-r-i-n-g,” she spelled out. “I think maybe meeting your mom is a little fast.”

Gabe laughed. “She already knows all about you.”

“She does?”

“Of course.”

“You told her about me?” Addison looked surprised and, maybe, a little touched.

“Cooper did,” Gabe said. “But I confirmed everything he said.”

“What did he say?” she asked, looking at Cooper with a soft expression.

“That you’re sweet, and smell good, and are pretty, and funny, and that you like to kiss boys.”

Addison’s eyes flew to his. “What?”

“Well, okay, you said that girls sometimes start the kissing,” Gabe added, letting his gaze drop to her lips so she knew that he was most definitely thinking about all of their kissing. “And I think he also told her . . . What was that last part, Coop?”

Cooper giggled. “That she’s full of beans.”

Gabe winked at her. “Right.”

Addison pointed at Cooper. “Remind me that none of my secrets are safe with you,” she told him.

Cooper just laughed harder.

“Come on, go to the ball with me,” Gabe said. “Let my mom spoil Stella, and let my son spend some time with that bright, shiny girl who he already feels safe with.”

Addison tipped her head back with a groan. “How am I supposed to resist that?”

“You’re not supposed to.”

“Okay.” She looked at him again. “I’ll go. But I should warn you, I’m going to knock your socks off with my dress.”

“Yeah, you will,” he said sincerely. Then, following his gut exactly as Addison had encouraged, he wrapped an arm around her waist, dipped her back, and, much to Cooper’s delight, kissed her good night.



“I can’t wait,” Caroline Trahan said, taking Addison’s hand and pulling her into the living room. “He’s going to be speechless.”