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His siblings were already snickering around the table. Even Troy was smirking.
“Has your father been pushing you too hard over this project?” she asked sympathetically.
“No, Mom, it’s fine.”
He subtly craned his neck for a better view behind her.
The man was feeding Milo a breadstick.
Why the hell was that necessary? Milo had hands! Perfectly functional hands and the ability to feed himself if he wanted a goddamn breadstick.
“Your claws are digging into the table,” Raina muttered into his ear. “Get it together.”
Rowan hastily retracted them just as Rupert rejoined them.
“Shall we order a bottle of wine?” he asked, already flagging down the waitress.
“Make it two,” Rowan grumbled.
When the server poured the wine, Rowan looked at her seriously until she filled it to the brim before handing it over, and Rowan downed half of it in one swallow before handing it back to her to refill.
“Tough day at the office, Snugglescales?” his mother asked.
Rowan watched the guy lay his arm casually over the back of Milo’s chair, and smoke blew out his nostrils. “Something like that.”
He took the wine back.
They eventually ordered food, the same server standing next to Rowan as they placed their orders. Rowan barely saw her, mumbling the name of a random dish off the menu while he tried to pointedly NOT look at what Milo was doing.
But he was imagining.
Were they canoodling? Linking arms to drink? Feeding each other bites of their main course? Playing footsie?!
“Ow!” Ruben complained.
Rowan blinked over to him. “What?”
“You just kicked me in the shin.”
Rowan was sheepish. That wasn’t the shin he was aiming for in his head. Oops.
“Be nice, boys,” their mother said. “I thought you left all this behind as children?”
“I didn’t do anything! It’s him,” Ruben exclaimed.
“You’re older than him, so set an example,” she said.
“I didn’t start it! Why am I being held accountable?”
“You don’t get held accountable for anything else, so why not start there,” Riley drawled, still looking at her phone.
“That’s enough,” Rupert said mildly before the bickering could really start.
Rowan hid under the cover of it, peeking back over the tables—
“What are you doing?” Raina asked. “Why are you acting so weird? You were supposed to be lying low tonight.”
“I am lying low. I’m not even saying anything!” he grumbled back.
