Chapter 57
“I’m surprised you don’t have a personal chef or something, Mr. President,” I remark, sliding onto one of the barstools at the kitchen island as I watch him line up the ingredients and put a pot of water on the stove to boil.
Arthur shoots me a sidelong glance, then gestures around the kitchen with his knife. “You don’t see any staff around here, do you?”
Indeed, I don’t. Not so much as a housekeeper, in fact. Aside from Cliff monitoring the front door downstairs, which is for the entire apartment building and not just us, there doesn’t seem to be any staff on sight.
“What about security?” I ask, furrowing my brow.
“When I first got elected, they followed me everywhere,” Arthur replies as he works. “I got sick of it pretty quick, though. Now, I just keep a couple posted undercover outside the apartment building, and allow them to follow at a distance when I’m out. I only have a full security detail for events and the like. It’s not really necessary, anyway.”
I can’t help but agree. Ordan is a pretty peaceful city, and werewolves‘ natural hierarchy instincts keep them from doing things like trying to attack the wolf at the top of the food chain. Arthur is definitely at the top of the food chain right now. As for humans, we would never dream of attacking a werewolf anyway, especially not an Alpha.
“And housekeepers?”
Arthur shrugs. “Selina thinks I should have one. But since it’s just me here, I haven’t felt the need. I can clean up after myself.”
He’s right, of course. Arthur was always pretty fastidious with his belongings when we were together. I was probably the messier out of the two of us.
Once dinner is ready–decadent mashed potatoes, medium rare steak, and roasted carrots and broccoli–we sit at the dining room table and begin to eat.
I suppress a moan as I bite into the steak. It’s perfectly cooked, and melts on my tongue like butter. I forgot just how good of a cook Arthur is.
Miles, for his part, digs in with more gusto than I think I’ve ever seen him eat. He’s practically halfway through his small steak already, and his mashed potatoes are completely gone. He’s even eating his broccoli, which is a surprise. He usually hates broccoli.
“Did you put drugs in the food or something?” I joke, picking up my glass of red wine and looking at Arthur.
He looks almost confused. I gesture to Miles, whose face is completely stuffed right now. Miles flashes us both a toothy grin around an enormous bite of steak, nearly spilling his milk as he goes for a big gulp.
Arthurshrugs. “I just prepared a high protein meal,” he remarks. “Werewolves thrive on red meat, too.”
Now, I’m the one who’s a little confused. Miles is a human the test I had done when I found out I was pregnant said so. Personally, I’ve always cooked us balanced meals, but humans aren’t really supposed to consume more than eighteen ounces of red meat per week, so I’ve always kept it under that limit.
But Miles is a growing boy, I suppose. I make a mental note to increase his protein intake from now on. After dinner, I give Miles a bath and then put him to bed. He knocks out pretty much as soon as his head hits the pillow, exhausted from a long couple of days.
I’m not tired at all, though. I make my way back to my studio and get back to work on my painting.
The flow returns almost as soon as I pick up the brush, and before I know it, hours have passed. I hardly even notice the moon rising high in the sky or the heavy feeling in my eyelids. All that exists right now is the palette in
+25 BONUS
Chapter 57
my hand and the paint streaking across the canvas.
Suddenly, though, I feel a warm hand on my shoulder that early makes me drop my brush. I gasp, looking up, to see Arthur staring down at me.
When I turn my head to look at him, our noses nearly bump each other.
And on instinct, this proximity makes me want to kiss
