Page 90 of The Wounded Warrior

“I’m going to beat you, babe. I swear to God.” Luke scowled.

Miss Bonnie started cackling, just busting out with it.

“Yeah, yeah, promises.” He winked at Luke’s mom. “He’s so tough.”

“He’s a stud.”

Rory knew that. “He is. I’m damn fond.”

“Good. Good.” She sighed. “Now, if I could just find a nice boy for Matthew.”

“Leave Matty alone, Momma. He’s fine.”

Rory knew better than to get into that. Matt LeBlanc had threatened to castrate him when he suggested setting Matt up with one of his friends in Austin. The man had some issues, and it wasn’t up to him to solve them.

All he could do was set a good example with Luke, right?

Soon the kitchen smelled like cornmeal cakes and pork roast and they were all nipping up meatballs.

“You have a lovely house, Rory. It’s so homey and warm.”

“It’s a little goofy, but I love it.”

“I like it.” Bonnie shot Luke a fond smile. “Luke seems to like it, too.”

“Pushing,” Luke murmured while pullingarepasout of the machine.

“Moi?” Bonnie popped another meatball in her mouth. She’d already asked for the recipe, so that was excellent progress.

Rory splitarepasand Luke filled them. They served them with the pickled onions and cilantro rice and Miss Bonnie laughed her happy trill of a laugh again.

“Look at that!” she said. “So pretty. Luke on KP duty. I love it.”

“Momma, be nice or I’ll not let Rory invite you over again.”

“Now, honey. She did show up in a bad situation. I think we have to make amends.”

“Don’t give her an inch—she’ll take a mile.” The fond look Luke shot his momma spoke volumes about the fact that he was joking.

His mom would adore Bonnie.

Was he thinking of introducing his mom to Luke’s? Holy shit.

Luke grabbed his hand. “You okay?”

“Glorious.” He’d just keep that to himself now, wouldn’t he?

“Cool.” Luke dug into his food, humming.

Thearepaswere good, spicy and the pickled onions? Hell yeah. Given that Luke’s momma was in a robe and Luke was in sweats, he thought it was a fab way to have lunch.

They all got to giggling over Luke when he lost an onion and had to dig it out of his shirt. The coffee helped warm everyone, and the dryer thumped away, providing background noise.

“I’m full unto death,” Miz Bonnie said finally, patting her belly. “Someone refill my coffee and give me the tour. Also, I need to meet that cat.”

“Which one?” he teased. “I locked them in the office. I wasn’t sure how you felt about kitties.”

“The one who’s yowling like he’s dying.”

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