1. Chase

"Please? Please, please, please? It's my birthday, and you haven't come to any of the family dinners I've invited you to, but you have to come since it's my birthday."

Chase sat back in his plush leather executive chair and barely resisted the urge to roll his eyes at his assistant. She was more than an assistant, really. She was one of the few people he considered a friend, and he had turned down her previous invites to the family dinners. What kind of monster would he be if he turned her down yet again, especially on her birthday? He might be a ruthless attorney, but he did have a soft spot for Ava. Well, truthfully, he had a soft spot for any Little who batted their eyelashes at him. And Ava was batting those lashes so hard he was afraid she was going to lift off the ground for take-off soon.

"Fine. I'll go. What do you want for your birthday?"

Ava grinned. "A unicorn."

This time he couldn't resist the urge to shake his head and roll his eyes. This woman was the best assistant he'd ever had but she was also a handful. He'd known she was a Little when he'd hired her since she belonged to one of his best, longtime friends, but what he hadn't known was how much she would keep him on his toes.

"Do you remember the last time you tried to get a unicorn?"

Even though he hadn't been there, he'd heard all the stories about the trip she and the rest of the family had made to Rawhide Ranch for the Fourth of July. From everything she'd told him, it had been a total fiasco. Glitter and butt plugs and pure freaking chaos.

"I got a plug in my butt," she replied sheepishly, her cheeks turning bright pink.

"And I'm pretty sure you also had a red butt. So let's leave the unicorns where they belong and why don't you give me a better idea for a gift?"

All she did was shrug and skip out of his office. "Dinner is at six at our house! See you Sunday!"

After he heard Ava leave through the back door of the legal office where he spent at least sixty hours a week, Chase sat back and sighed. It wasn't that he didn't want to go to family dinners. He loved the Javier family. All of them would give the shirts off their backs to help someone and their Littles were just as adorable as could be.

Even though Chase hadn't been adopted into the family like most of the men, he'd still practically lived at the Javier home for his teenage years. But while most of those men had grown up in shitty circumstances, Chase had been privileged. Even though he came from a totally different world, they had never treated him differently and he loved them for that. After all, just because you had money, it didn't always mean you were living happily.

Leo was their dad, and he had been more of a father to Chase than his own father. He respected and loved the entire family. Each man had found their woman, and he was happy for them. But going to family dinner, surrounded by nine couples while he was still single, just stung, so he'd avoided the dinners as much as possible.

For a while, it had been easy because he'd been so busy with work. But now that he'd brought another attorney into the firm, he had more free time than he was used to. Not that he worked any less. He still camped out at the office for a lot of late nights so he wouldn't have to go home. And since he really did consider Ava a friend, he was truly stuck going to her birthday dinner. It would be fine, though. He'd make an appearance, bring her a gift, eat, and make up an excuse to leave right afterward. Who knew, maybe he would enjoy being around a bunch of Littles for a few hours.