Page 71 of The Billionaire's Bride

"Keep that up and I promise I’ll bend you over the table right now and…"

The sound of someone clearing their throat reaches me. I glance up to find Baron in the doorway. He takes in the scene, winks at me—bastard, then saunters over to the table. He bends his head, kisses Eve on the lips. "Good morning, beautiful," he rumbles.

Her cheeks tinge pink. Fucking adorable. She glances at me, then at Baron, who wanders over to get three cups from the shelf; then he proceeds to pour coffee into them. He slides a cup over to me, then doctors one of the remaining two with sugar and cream, before walking over to the dining table. He hands a cup to Ava, places one at the setting next to her, before turning back to pull out plates and other utensils.

I turn back to the pancakes, pour the batter over the sizzling butter in the skillet. Behind me, I hear Baron bustling around as he sets the table.

By the time I walk to the table with a stack of pancakes, he’s set three places, and also placed other condiments on the table. I plate out the pancakes, seat myself.

"Can you please pass me the maple syrup?" Ava murmurs.

Baron slides the bottle over to her, as I pour honey over the stack on my plate.

"This place is certainly well-stocked," she muses. "How did you manage to get a hold of all this?" She gestures to the table.

"When I realized that the Mafia was targeting you, I mentioned to Baron the possibility of using this place as a hideaway."

"You did?"

I nod, "We both agreed that the only way to keep you safe would be to bring you here until the danger had passed."

"That’s when I reached out to Archer and had the place stocked up," Baron adds.

"Hang on," she scowls, "so you guys have been planning this for a while?"

"Just over the last week." I raise a shoulder.

"And I thought you two didn’t get along?"

"Oh, we don’t." I glare at Baron, who scowls back. "But when it comes to your safety, we agreed that we won’t compromise."

"It’s annoying how the two of you gang up on me when it suits you." She rakes her hair back from her face.

"Only because the one thing we both agree on is that we’d do anything to keep you safe," I offer

She snorts, then glances between us, "And that includes cooking up an elaborate dinner?"

Baron frowns. "You mean yesterday’s Indian food?" He jerks his chin at Edward, "That was all him."

She narrows her gaze on me, "Really? You cooked yesterday’s dinner?"

"Are you doubting my talents?"

She purses her lips.

"You don’t think I could whip up a lavish Indian meal for you?"

"Well," she blinks, " I mean—"

"Relax." I smirk. "I had a chef cook meals and freeze them for us."

"You did?"

"Of course, not." I grin. "I didn’t have enough time for that, but I did ask Archer to stock up on a bunch of frozen lunches and dinners. All of the best quality, of course."

"Of course," she echoes. "So, all that time, when the three of us were discussing the best way forward, while I was trying to be fair to both of you, you two were secretly plotting a way to get me here?"

She scowls at me and I raise my hands, "And we were right in having a plan."