Chapter Thirteen
Kat bit her lip softly as she stared in the mirror. The truth was, she wasbored.No matter how much she tried to fill her days, she couldn’t stop this horrible sensation of one minute bleeding into the next until the day was just over.
The men tried to entertain her, made sure she had books and everything else she could want available, but nothing worked.
And Kat figured out why easily enough.
It wasn’t normal boredom. It wasthatsort of ache, the one deep inside her when she wanted to push boundaries, when she wanted to play.
Bradley was so busy with the ranch and Dean worked constantly and Olin seemed to give her space that she didn’t actually need nor want. Basically?
She wanted attention and was not getting it.
Which was the point of her little plan.
She grinned, feeling a bit like her old self, before she headed into the kitchen for some fun. She had started dinner in a slow cooker that morning.
Kat didn’t mind cooking, and given the fact she hadn’t had much to do, she’d taken over a lot of it after Dean had ordered food each night the first week or so. A hearty beef soup currently simmered in the slow cooker, filling the house with a delicious scent.
The men filed into the kitchen around six at night, though Bradley showed up slightly earlier to jump in the shower before sitting down at the table. The action made her laugh and wonder if his mother’s voice played in his head.
“Smells great,” Olin said as he took a seat at the large, country style table.
“Your cooking beats takeout, that’s for sure,” Dean agreed.
“Need any help?” Bradley asked as he peered toward the kitchen.
“Nope,” Kat said cheerfully. “I’ve got it!”
Bradley narrowed his eyes, as if he could tell just by that response that she was up to something. Then again, he knew her pretty well…
His suspicion only made her all the more excited, however. What fun was bratting when no one expected or knew how to deal with it? One of her favorite parts was when someone watched her like that, when they were justwaitingto see what she’d pull next.
Which they were about to find out.
Kat balanced three bowls in her arms, the work easy after having waitressed to put herself through school. She set them in front of each of the men with the flourishes of some butler in a movie. “Oh, silverware!” she said as though she’d forgotten it entirely.
She returned to the kitchen, grabbed the items, then set them down in front of each man.
“A fork?” Bradley asked, his dark eyebrow raised.
Dean snorted but picked up the fork and used it to spear a piece of meat.
Olin said nothing, just watching Kat as if he wasn’t sure where it would go.
“Silly me,” Kat said with a grin, as though it was an absurd mistake. She went back into the kitchen to grab the next item.
“Kat…” Bradley said, his tone full of warning.
A warning Kat wouldnotbe listening to, of course.
Instead, she handed out the tiny baby spoons she’d found in Bradley’s pantry—probably a holdover from having his nieces and nephews visit. Kat hadn’t wondered too hard—she counted it as great luck.
Smiling as if she were being the most helpful person in the world, Kat sat at the table at her spot.
Dean’s lips were quirked into a grin still, though Olin and Bradley lookedfarless amused by the whole thing. Which was just perfect for her. In fact, she found she enjoyed the way they reacted differently.
Sometimes behaving as she did got exhausting when the Dom either seemed angry all the time or when she couldn’t get a rise out of another. With the three men there, they all reacted differently.