Page 83 of Her Tempting Protector

Cullen looked up from his plate. “Good to know.”

“Well, I can, a little. I mean grilled cheese sandwiches. I could cook spaghetti, but not the sauce, unless it came from a jar. Did it?”

Cullen shook his head.

“It didn’t? How’d you make it?”

“Mom’s recipe. It’s really pretty simple. You put the first set of ingredients from Mom’s recipe in a thick pot on the stove until the meat is browned and the vegetables are tender, then you stir in the rest of the stuff on the recipe and bring to a boil. You really can’t fuck it up.”

Carys set down her fork and stared at Cullen in amazement. “You do realize you’re scaring the heck out of me. I’ve screwed up every single recipe that Sarah or Peter has ever had me try to make. I’ve managed to screw up boxed macaroni and cheese. Apparently, you’re not supposed to put in the entire packet of cheese because then it gets too cheesy. Tell me, why would they give you that much cheese, if you’re not supposed to use it?”

Cullen laughed. “So, you’re telling me that while you’re visiting, you’re not going to be cooking?”

“I can do laundry. I like things very clean. I use a lot of bleach.”

“That would be the doctor in you coming out,” he teased. “Do you use bleach on your unmentionables?”

Carys blushed thinking about the new underwear that Sarah had talked her into purchasing. She sure wasn’t going to bleach all those lacy bits of froth, not after what she spent on them.

“Tell me why you’re blushing,” Cullen prompted.

“It must be that I’m suffering from low blood sugar. I need to eat.” She forked in some asparagus, so she didn’t have to answer. Cullen continued to laugh.

“Carys, why are you worried about not being able to cook and saying you can do laundry. This isn’t a competition.”

“I just want to be able to pull my weight.”

“Well, first of all, you weigh a hell of a lot less than I do, so you don’t have to pull as much.”

She glared at him.

“Second, you’re staying at my place as my guest, so right now, I’m doing things for you.”

She continued to glare at him.

“Third, I like doing for you.”

“Cullen, I’d like to do things for you too. We would need to be equal in this, if this relationship were to work.”

“Hot damn, you said relationship!” he shouted.

Aries stood up and barked.

“Oh God, you’re both against me,” Carys moaned and covered her face. She couldn’t decide if it was funny or scary or both.

“Nope, we’re both on your side.”

She heard the scrape of a chair, and Cullen was beside her pulling down her hands. “Look at me, Sweetheart.”

She looked up at him and smiled. He really was a wonderful man. “I did say relationship, didn’t I?”

* * *

She was such a dichotomy, Cullen thought to himself. Shy sometimes, and balls-out gutsy at other times. He never knew what he was going to get with this woman. But apparently, he wasn’t going to get a cook.

“You’re smiling. Why are you smiling?” she asked.

“I’m trying to take things slow, Carys, but it’s damn hard. Literally.”