One Last Prowl: BBW Were Mountain Lion Shapeshifter Mail Order Bride Romance (Shifter Grove Brides Book 6) by Anya Nowlan

Author:Anya Nowlan [Nowlan, Anya]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-11-14T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

Austin

Though Austin had no idea by the end of his cooking session if he’d made the right recipes—considering how damned distracted he was by Dahlia—in about twenty minutes the dining room table was set and waiting for them. A candle was lit in the middle of it, one of those squat, fat ones instead of the fancy long ones, since he was a simple man and favored function in all things. Austin carried in two plates loaded heavy with steaks and mashed potatoes with gravy and vegetable sides.

“Voila!” he said, placing the plate in front of Dahlia and falling into his own seat with a satisfied thud.

“A man of many talents, I see,” Dahlia said, peering at him over the glass of Merlot, her ocean blue eyes so inviting that Austin was more than willing to go and drown in them at the drop of a hat.

“I have my secrets,” he tossed out casually, though the look she gave him made him immediately regret it.

“Do you now? Well, you know mine, show me yours,” Dahlia said, cocking a brow as she cut the first piece of her juicy steak. “Austin! This is amazing!” she cheered, digging in for another bite.

Austin watched with revered interest as the piece of meat disappeared behind her ruby lips, and he wished to be that fork for a moment in time. That train of thought was quickly cut short by his stomach growling at him as if he had just hiked the Appalachian Trail without a snack in sight.

“Glad you like it, Dahlia. I figured we were overdue for some home cooking that didn’t include warming up leftovers from the diner,” he said, chuckling.

At the same time, his mind was roiling about uncontrollably, trying to formulate sentences. His dark past clung to him like a cape he couldn’t take off and he knew from past experience that whenever he tried to explain it or himself, he ran out of words far faster than he liked to.

How do you tell someone that you’re perfectly broken and might never be whole again, especially if that someone’s a woman you desperately want?

The grim thoughts were not given much time to take hold. He got another bite or two in before he found Dahlia peering at him through lowered lashes, expecting him to spill the beans.

“Come on, Austin. You know I don’t like secrets,” she said, beginning to lose her appetite as worry engulfed her now as well.

“Okay,” he started, pouring himself some more wine. “You were curious why I was still single, right? I don’t need to tell you about fated mates and the way we find the ones we must be with. You’ve gone through it all; you know as well as I do. But I… I lost mine,” he said, pausing to wash the lump forming in his throat down with some wine.

“What do you mean?” Dahlia asked carefully, forgetting about the meal altogether.

With a sigh, Austin let it flow out of him like the frayed edges of a bad dream.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.