Bringing his mouth down to hers in a bruising kiss, Cage tasted the sweet chocolate she’d been cutting and sampling. “I don’t like it either, honey. That’s why we need to talk,” he said, setting her down on her feet.
Just then his stomach growled, announcing he’d skipped breakfast. Laughing Sophie plated up some leftover biscuits from breakfast and slathered them in butter and honey and set them on the counter.
Cage picked her up and set her ass down next to the plate. He grabbed a biscuit and shoved the entire thing into this mouth. Sophie’s eyes got huge and she started to laugh. He looked like a greedy chipmunk with his cheeks stuffed full of biscuit.
Smiling back Cage gave her a sticky kiss and finished chewing and swallowing.
“Okay, what do we need to talk about?” She was distracted by the strong muscles in his jaw as he chewed, her eyes trailing down his throat as he swallowed. For some reason, it made her hot.
Sniffing, Cage groaned, “We don’t have time for that, darlin’, we do need to talk.”
Sophie dragged her eyes from his amazing throat and met his gaze. “About what?”
“I’m fairly confident that you are as interested in me as I am in you. What we have is rare and I’m not willing to pussyfoot around and play games with you. I’m yours and you’re mine, our rules, our lives. I want you closer, as close as I can keep you. Which means I don’t want you spending eighteen hours a day in this kitchen.”
“Cage, I love to cook! That’s the whole reason I moved here. I didn’t plan on meeting you, but it’s still my dream to be that chef, to cook and feed people. Are you firing me?” It dawned on her this was not what she had expected they were going to discuss.
“Of course not, darlin’, I’m asking for a compromise. I want to hire another cook so you can split the time here and we can spend more time together. I know it’s fast, but I want you to move in with me. I work long hours and I want any free time I have to be with you. You can cook here or at home. We can build a life here, you and I. If that is something you want, that is,” he finished looking worried for the first time.
“Of course, Cage. I wouldn’t have stormed into your office last night and demanded we have sex if I wasn’t sure I wanted to be with you. I do want to keep cooking, but I admit, if I keep getting distracted thinking of you, I’ll end up burning this place down eventually,” she said laughing.
“You can’t imagine how much that means to me, honey. That you would be willing to share your kitchen and give up a little bit of your dream to spend more time with me,” he said kissing the tip of her nose.
“I’m not giving up all of my dreams, Cage. You are a dream come true that I didn’t know I had until now,” she said quietly, opening herself up to him.
“Ahh, baby,” he said wrapping her in his arms, “You are more precious to me than I can say.”
Sitting there for a moment, soaking each other in, Sophie broke the silence, “So what now?”
Sighing, Cage pulled back and with a very serious face said, “Tonight, dinner with the family.”
Chapter 20
Dinner with Cage’s family was less of a trauma than one might suspect. After Cage announced his family was coming over, Sophie went into panic mode and called out her emergency troops, namely Amos, and managed to throw everything together for the dinner. Amos just had to watch the timers and pull everything out when it was done.
Then she rushed to Cage’s house and raided his pantry trying to figure out what to cook. Trying to assure her that this wasn’t a formal gathering, Cage told her to pick something simple because they were more interested in meeting her then her cooking. Sophie tried not to take offense at that, but as most people knew, chefs were sensitive about their art.
She decided on heaping pots of chicken cacciatore with fresh greens and herbed rolls, after Cage assured Sophie his mother would be bringing at least three pies for dessert.
“Three? What do we need three for,” she asked aghast.
“Easy, half for me and half dad, same for Conner and Wyatt, and you and mom can share the last one,” he explained like this was simple math.
“You guys eat like horses,” she muttered.
“Not quite,” he said laughing back at her.
Dinner actually went off rather well. Giant hugs and kisses on the cheeks that Sophie suffered through after meeting his mom and dad. Both of his brothers opted to pick her up and swing her around. Wyatt they liked to call runt at six foot two, but he still managed to spin her after giving her a loud noisy kiss. This had a clearly annoyed Cage dragging his brother off his girl.