“Um, thanks. Sit, eat.” She bolted to the kitchen. “I’m not feeling very good, so I’m going to, um, just go. You two enjoy dinner.”
“Taylor, please don’t go.” The heartbreak in his daughter’s voice almost killed him. It was clear he’d fucked up, but he didn’t have a clue as to how, but he would fix it.
Seeing Cass looking sad and Taylor looking like a wounded kitten made him realize the truth in his earlier words.
Theywerehis two favorite people, and somehow, he’d cluelessly hurt them both.
Fuck.
FOUR
TAYLOR
“No, Tay. Stay. You did all this work. Even ordered vegan stuff for me, when I know you’d rather eat the real thing, so please?” Cass’s sweet begging face was impossible to resist. When she glanced up, Prowler looked apologetic, even though neither one knew what was going on in her head.
Apparently, being given flowers was still a trigger she hadn’t realized was still a trigger. Every time her dad had boundary issues, he’d apologize with flowers. Then, the first time her brother followed his pattern, complete with apologies and flowers, she got the fuck out of that toxic environment, even though it had meant sleeping in her piece of shit car for months. It was still a far sight better than staying at home.
Then it was from one bad situation to another until she finally got the courage to end it once and for all. The trigger then had been, yep, flowers. Hospital flowers were always worse than acute care flowers for some reason. Maybe because it made her feel so much more stupid because of the severity of it all. So, when Billy went to jail, it was the wilting flowers that whispered to her it was time to go.
However, there was no need to make Cass, or even Prowler, pay for someone else’s or multiple someone else’s sins. Taylorwas a work in progress, so she decided to see the flowers as a step in that journey.
“Of course, sorry, I just let my mind go somewhere else for a hot minute. I’m gonna put these in water so they don’t wilt.” She plastered a smile on her face, one she knew she’d start to feel the longer she spent with Prowler and Cass.
After placing hers and Cass’s flowers in water, they all sat at the table. Prowler reached over and took the knife and serving fork from her with a smile.
When their eyes met, her stomach did a little flutter. His denim-blue eyes stared at her with softness and questions. It took her aback. Prowler had always reserved his softness for Cass. Sometimes she envied it, if she were being honest. Being on the receiving end of it was dizzying. Maybe it was just the emotional aftermath she was in that was doing it.
She put both her hands in her lap to resist the urge to reach up and stroke his soft blond beard. One she knew the feel of against almost every inch of her skin.
Just the thought had her pulse racing and core heating. “Jellybean, will you grab a soda for Taylor?”
She heard the scrape of the chair and Cass’s retreating steps but couldn’t look away. Prowler’s probing gaze held her captive. When he spoke, his voice seemed a little huskier than normal, like when they —
“Taylor.” He leaned into her, nipping her neck where it sloped into her shoulder, right where he knew turned her legs to pudding. Nothing could hold back the moan that escaped her. “If you keep looking at me like that, I’ll throw you over my shoulder and be balls deep inside you before we have dessert.”
A whimper left her mouth as he stood back upright and began slicing the Wellington as Cassidy placed an unopened can of soda by her plate and sat down.
Without a thought, she reached for the can and rolled the cool exterior along her heated neck. A choked sound escaped Prowler as he sliced.
Instead of looking at him, Taylor turned to Cass to try to divert her attention. The kid was too perceptive by far.
“So, um, how’s your social studies project coming along?”
Cass had talked to her in depth about it, and Taylor thought it was a great idea. Cass’s big fear was that her dad might not agree, so Taylor decided to open the subject for them.
“Oh, you’ve decided what you’re doing it on then?” Prowler asked.
Taylor was a little proud of herself for that flawless segway.
Their plates were loaded down, and everyone had taken at least one bite before Cass spoke.
“Yeah. I’ve decided to explore the relationship impacts between family and friends when one person goes vegan.”
Prowler choked a little on his Wellington before furrowing his brow. Taylor wanted to reach over and smooth the wrinkles away. He was sexy even when he wasn’t doing anything remotely sexy, and that didn’t bode well for her chances of ending their arrangement, but she needed to. She was in too deep already, and he wasn’t the settling down type. Fuck, she wasn’t either, at least not until those thoughts started creeping in over the last week or so. Hell, the no-strings part of their relationship was why she’d been so stoked about the whole proposal.
What is it they say about the best-laid plans? Yeah, that. The more intimate they were, the deeper she fell, and the deeper she fell, the more she wanted exclusivity, and that was just a hair’s breadth from all-out commitment in her mind.
Forcing herself to bring up the picture of his ex-wife’s lips on his did the trick. She ate in silence as they spoke about Cass’s idea.
