How she felt like home to him.
She melted against him.
And he melted too.
The rest of the night belonged to them.
Time was a funny thing.
It seemed like yesterday that Cass was storming into The Amber Howl to have some choice words with her bestie. But it had been almost two weeks since the night she met the sexiest wolf, the first tumble into bed, then running away like her butt was on fire.
Now, she was getting ready for a date with Trick.
And she’d never been so ready for a date in her life.
Trick said he had a special night planned for them, and the only thing she knew was that he suggested she wear something nice and that he’d pick her up at six thirty.
He knocked on the door just as she was smoothing the neckline of her pretty short-sleeved wrap dress.
Smiling at her reflection, she tucked her hair behind her ears and headed for the door.
“Hey beautiful,” he said when she opened the door and held out a bouquet of flowers.
“Oh, they’re lovely! Thank you.” She kissed him and took the flowers.
“You can bring them to the house if you want. I might even have a vase for you.”
“Oh, fancy.” She smiled at him. “I will, then. Where are we going?”
“It’s a surprise.” He gave her a secret smile, then offered her his arm. She took it and pulled the door shut behind them.
When they crossed the bridge over the Pine Run River and turned toward The Howl, she said, “I thought we were going out?”
“We are. Kind of.” He stopped in front of his house and got out. He came around to her door and opened it, then said, “Come on, sweetheart.”
Inside, the house smelled incredible. Garlic and herbs and warm bread. Electric candles flickered on the kitchen table, and as he’d promised, an empty vase sat in the center. She unwrapped the flowers while he gathered things in the kitchen and placed the flowers in the vase.
She sat and watched as he put plates down, then filled two wine glasses, and sat across from her.
She looked at the platter of lasagna, green beans, and fresh rolls, and then at him. “You ordered in?”
“I did. I wanted you all to myself tonight.”
“I’m always all yours.”
The words struck a chord in her and she knew they were the truth. Somewhere along the way, she’d gone from being worried they’d jumped into bed too fast, to not being able to picture her life without him in it.
They ate the lasagna, talking and laughing over their days. It was such an ordinary thing, but it felt intimate all the same.
Flowers, candles. A meal he picked out himself for them.
She was… swooning like a damsel in an old movie.
Falling hard for her wolf.
It wasn’t his blue eyes, or strong jaw, or the way he could kiss her and make her forget everything. It was how kind he was, how protective of the people he cared about. How much she liked to be around him. He was warmth personified. The very definition ofhome.
After dinner, he took her out to the back porch.
