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“So, what kind of meals have you been cooking together?” Mom asked pointedly, looking between Cassidy and me, ignoring the bickering of who was a bigger fuckboy at the table. Were we always this loud? I was surprised Cassidy fitted in so casually around my loud dysfunctional family.
“Umm, we’ve been baking sweets and Lori’s been giving me recipes for vegetarian alternatives.”
“Wait, are you vegetarian?” Jude asked.
“I told you that, you dimwit,” Lori said, her fork suspended and pointed at him.
“So, what’s big beast over here been eating?” Declan asked, pointing a thumb my way. Man, they were enjoying this way too much. I’d have to find a way to punish them for it later. Maybe I’d start with kicking them out of the apartment in Chicago I’d bought for them.
Cassidy seemed affronted by the nickname, but her lip curved into a stifled smile. “He’s been eating the stuff I’ve been cooking,” she said, somewhat confused. I took another swig because I knew what was coming and it was like watching a natural disaster unfold, there was nothing I could say or do to intervene and stop the inevitable.
Jude’s jaw dropped. “No shit, you’ve got him eating vegetables? All he ever eats is meat and potato. I haven’t seen him eat greens since we were kids and grew up to be bigger than Dad and he realized he could say no.”
Again, my family stared at me like I’d grown a third head, and it was the smug smile and twinkle in my mother’s eye that unnerved me the most.
“It’s all carbs,” I mumbled under my breath.
But Cassidy stared at me with surprise. Great, now I really would look like, as she would put it, “a teddy bear.”
Declan fell back into his chair. “Shit, I thought I’d seen it all.” They all glanced at my finished plate that had only contained meat and potatoes soiled in gravy. I wasn’t a complete saint.
“And how long do you think you’ll be staying?” my mother asked Cassidy.
Cassidy nervously tucked her hair behind her ear. “Um, I’m not sure yet, maybe a week or so?” She looked at me in question.
“Oh how lovely, why don’t you take her target shooting tomorrow, Eric?”
“I’d be down for that,” Lori was quick to assert.
“Yea let’s do it!” the twins yelled in unison.
“No, you two boys can actually handle the café for once. Give Eric and Lori a day off.”
A twitch threatened the corner of my mouth. Maybe I didn’t have to serve out punishment after all. Because my mother had already done it.
They grumbled their complaint. Considering the twins were in town for a few nights, it might offer Lori and me a small break.
For once, I couldn’t read Cassidy’s expression. “You don’t have to,” I was quick to say.
“It’s not that, I’d love to.” She perked up. But there was hesitation.
“Sounds like a plan,” my mother chimed again, that mischief was gleaming in her expression. She was up to something and in the way her and Lori looked at each other, it was like they were in on it together. I took another swig. When those two schemed, nothing good ever came of it. Well in my experience the result was always an inconvenience to my daily routine. “Now with that decided, who’s ready for dessert?”
As expected, the twins found themselves elsewhere when it was time for cleanup. I stood in the kitchen, scrubbing at the dishes as I considered tonight and the silent promise that had perfumed the air all night between Cassidy and me. I’d claim her tonight, there was no doubt about it.
I imagined Cassidy beneath me, her thighs wrapped tightly around me. I considered her vow of celibacy and had I been a better man, I might’ve made the decision for her that this wasn’t best. But I wasn’t a better man and I wanted to fuck that sweet little pussy more than I needed my next breath.
My cock twitched and I sighed. Not in my mother’s house, however.
“Eric,” my mother’s voice broke through my thoughts, and I almost dropped the plate I’d been absentmindedly cleaning.
“Mom, what’s up?” I replied, pressing a kiss to her cheek as she came to a stop at the sink and began wiping over the drying plates.
“It’s always interesting how your brothers find themselves busy elsewhere when it’s time to clean up, huh?” she said with a knowing smile.
“I told you, you went too easy on them growing up,” I teased. “And where’s Thomas?” He usually helped out.
“He’s with Lori and Cassidy.”
