Both turned to her and scolded, “Language.”
“Sorry, but it’s true,” she reiterated as she in turn gulped her drink.
“She’s not exaggerating,” Prowler quipped. Taylor’s cheeks were on fire. She wasn’t on board with the whole setup vibe of the night, but neither was she ready to be embarrassed.
“No wonder she’s not having any. She pranked us.” Cass was obviously joking. Prowler’s laughter joined his daughters. That took a little sting out of it, but not all.
“I followed the recipe to the letter. It took me forever to track down carob, which I’d never even heard of.” She crossed her arms over her chest like a petulant child. It didn’t escape her notice that Prowler’s gaze dropped to her cleavage almost instantly. Good. It’s hard to laugh when distracted.
“That’s the problem. You followed a recipe, which I can only assume was written by hippies in a commune in the mid-seventies.”
“I don’t get it. What do hippies have to do with anything?”
Taylor didn’t have a clue what Prowler meant by that.
“What is fu…” Cass looked over the top of her phone with a raised eyebrow. “Fudging carob?” Cass whispered as she typed. If the vegan didn’t know, then Taylor definitely went wrong somewhere.
“According to the internet, it’s a flowering evergreen shrub in the subfamily of a legume.” She reads more before proclaiming. “It’s supposedly like chocolate, but dogs can eat it.”
With that announcement, she grabbed her plate and stood. “Let’s skip dessert next time if you wanna feed us dog chocolate.”
Taylor was powerless to hold back her laughter.
“I second that,” Prowler agreed.
“Ouch, shots fired.” Taylor gripped her chest where the imaginary wound was. “But valid. Agreed, no more carob.”
“I’m going to call it a night and go listen to music in my room.” With that, Cass winked, freaking winked, and in the same manner as her dad, no less. After dropping her plate in the sink,Cass slid her headphones from her neck to her ears. “Loudly.” She added and disappeared into her room.
Once gone, Prowler reached for Taylor’s arms, which were still crossed over her chest. He interlaced their fingers and rested their joined hands on the table.
“Thanks for trying with Cass. It means a lot … to her.” The last two words sounded like an afterthought. Like it meant a lot to him, but he chose not to reveal that.
She wished.
“Of course, you know I adore her.”
Prowler’s inhale was audible. “And to me. It means a lot to me too.” The way he said it was forced but sincere. Almost as if voicing gratitude was foreign to him.
Taylor just smiled and cleared the table.
She didn’t do well with emotions, especially unexpected ones … and from the man she’d fallen for when she’d promised she wouldn’t.
She started rinsing and loading the dishes to keep from blurting out,I think I kinda love you, and Cass thinks you’re a werewolf.
Strong, tattooed arms wrapped around her from behind, removing the plate from her hand and setting it in the sink.
“What? No,of course I adore you too, for me?”
“You know you’re too handsome for your own good.” She turned in his embrace to face him. “Look at you. Do you really need your ego stroked that much?”
“Too handsome for my own good, huh?”
Taylor rolled her eyes.
Dipping his head, he nibbled her neck in that perfect spot again. He seemed to be fascinated with it, and she didn’t mind. Fuck, the man knew how to turn her bones into jelly.
“Besides, the thought of you stroking anything of mine is fucking appealing.”
