Dinner with Cage’s family was less of a trauma then one might suspect. After Cage announced his family was coming over, Sophie went into panic mode and called out her emergency troops Namely Amos, and managed to throw everything together for the dinner. Amos just had to watch the timers and pull everything out when it was done.

Then she rushed to Cage’s house and raided his pantry trying to figure out what to cook. Trying to assure her that this wasn’t a formal gathering, Cage told her to pick something simple because they were more interested in meeting her then her cooking. Sophie tried not to take offense at that, but as most people knew, chefs were sensitive about their art.

She decided on heaping pots of chicken cacciatore with fresh greens and herbed rolls, after Cage assured Sophie his mother would be bringing at least three pies for dessert.

“Three? What do we need three for?” she asked aghast.

“Easy, half for me and half dad, same for Conner and Wyatt, and you and mom can share the last one,” he explained like this was simple math.

“You guys eat like horses,” she muttered.

“Not quite,” he said laughing back at her.

Dinner actually went off rather well. Giant hugs and cheek kisses Sophie could suffer through after meeting his mom and dad. Both of his brothers opted to pick her up and swing her around. Wyatt they liked to call runt at six foot two, but he still managed to spin her after giving her a loud noisy kiss. This had clearly annoyed Cage since he dragged his brother off his girl.

Throughout the meal, Cage’s mom kept up a happy banter, telling stories about the boys getting into mischief. She could tell they were a handful, but their parents adored them. She mentioned she was surprised that they were all still single.

“Oh, my boys aren’t ones to treat a girl lightly. They are all waiting for The One,” Edward assured her. Looking over at his wife with stars in his eyes, he gave the back of her hand a loud kiss.

Sighing at this declaration of love, Sophie wasn’t surprised when Cage took her hand and repeated the gesture.

Once the boys had stopped tormenting each other with embarrassing stories, Sophie got up to start clearing the table. Cage jumped up and smacked both of his brothers as a hint to help clean up. “You cooked, darlin’, we got this.”

Sophie sat with his mom and talked quietly, while the men made a ruckus in the kitchen.

“Sweetheart, I know it’s not my place,” Cage’s mom started, she grabbed Sophie’s hand in hers and squeezed it. “My boy is one hundred percent head over heels for you. Don’t worry about how long you’ve known each other or someone else’s rules on dating. Trust your instincts; because I can see in your eyes, he already has your heart in his hands. My boy is a good one, believe me. He’ll never do you wrong and he will cherish you until the day he dies if you let him,” she finished tears gleaming in her eyes.

“I do care about him, I can barely breathe when he isn’t around. It’s scary though, feeling this much so fast,” she admitted.

“I know, pretty girl, but trust in love. Trust in him and it will all work out,” she said, giving her hand a final pat.

The men came back from the kitchen with dessert and Cage’s eyes scanned between his mother’s teary eyes and Sophie’s. Sophie gave him a small smile letting him know it was all okay.

Cage was right, the men all ate half a pie each. It was amazing to watch them put away that much food after stuffing themselves with her dinner.

Sitting around the living room, the evening winding down, Cage’s dad lit a fire in the big fireplace and Sophie was feeling sleepy and happy.

Cage’s parents excused themselves and walked back to their house. Wyatt started harassing his brothers about going out for a late night swim in the lake, which unknown to Sophie, was code for the brothers to head out into the woods and let their bears run and stretch.

“I don’t mind Cage, really. I think you’re crazy swimming in a freezing lake, but to each their own,” she said laughing.

“Come on, bro, your old lady says you can go play,” Wyatt teased.

Growling at his brother, Cage leaned down and gave Sophie a kiss that left her breathless and blushing in front of his brothers. “You sure you’ll be okay?” he asked, clearly wanting to spend some time with his brothers.

“I’m sure. Go. Swim. Freeze,” she commanded.

Another quick kiss and the boys headed out the door whooping and hollering. Sophie was comfy on the couch, so she laid back and stared at the fire until she fell asleep, content and happy.

Sophie woke to a noise. The fire was still burning, but it was small and needed to be stoked. Listening, she tried to figure out where the noise had come from. Clearly Cage wasn’t back yet since she was still on the couch. He would have moved her to bed, she was sure.

The sound came again, this time causing Sophie to whip her head toward the dark windows on the front of the house. She couldn’t tell if the door was locked or not and she was afraid to get up and check. The noise sounded closer and she realized it was footsteps squeaking along the porch. Slowly, the steps came closer to the door.

Sophie couldn’t breathe. It wasn’t any of the family, they wouldn’t need to sneak. It was too loud to be an animal. Who would be this far out in the woods this late at night? Bile was rising in her throat, looking around for something she could use as a weapon, the handle on the front door turned and rattled, finding it locked the person on the other side gave it a harder twist.

Barely awake and terrified, Sophie did the only thing her body would allow at the moment. She let out a blood-curdling scream.