“Then Sage brings home a freaking cheerleader wearing just enough clothes not to be arrested, and you say hi and send them out the door!” Prue looked at Piper for help, but luckily, my wife didn’t desert me completely.
She shook her head. “I’m staying out of this tonight. You two have to work it out.” Then she moved to one of the recliners and settled into it, watching us avidly as if we were the new movie to watch.
“Et tu, baby?” I groused. Piper just grinned, so I sighed and turned back to Prue. “I can’t help it if none of the boys at your school are good enough for you. And we didn’t mean to scare him that bad—”
“Bull crap, Daddy! Don’t you think Lana told me about what Uncle Merrick and Kohen did to her date? He gave you the idea, didn’t he? I bet Kohen told Sage everything to say.”
I stifled another smile. She wasn’t wrong.
“Am I going to have to bring Kohen on my dates as a chaperone?” she snapped.
“Now there’s an idea,” I said, my grin slipping out a little.
“Argh!” Prue stomped her foot. “Are you trying to tell me only someone like Kohen will ever get your approval to date me? Because that’s ridiculous!”
Oh, baby girl...she didn’t even realize she’d just given me the win. “Yup,” I replied. “If you can find a stand-up guy like Kohen, I will let him take you on a date without any intimidation tactics.”
Her eyes narrowed, and she studied me as if trying to ferret out any deception. “You won’t say more than ‘Hi’ and ‘Have a nice time’?”
“Absolutely.”
“Do you promise?”
I nodded. “Hooyah.”
To my shock, Prue’s entire countenance shifted in a single second. She smiled brightly, and her eyes danced with triumph.
Something was wrong here. I glanced at Piper cautiously, and she was holding a hand over her mouth, stifling giggles. Something was definitely very, very wrong.
What the fuck?
Before I could say another word, the doorbell rang. “I’ll get it!” Prue sing-songed before spinning on her heel and practically dancing out of the room.
I marched over to Piper and glared at her. “Why do I have the feeling I just got played?”
“Because you have excellent instincts,” she quipped before dissolving into a fit of giggles.
“Okay, Daddy. I’m heading out on my date!”
I spun around and froze in shock.
“You said if I found someone like Kohen...I figured I couldn’t get any closer than the real thing,” she chirped.
Kohen Ashford was standing at the entrance of my living room. He nodded to me respectfully, and it didn’t escape my notice that he wasn’t even touching Prue. But I didn’t miss the way his expression went soft when he looked at my daughter. He leaned in and whispered something in Prue’s ear, but she shook her head.
“Nope. Daddy promised.” Then she looked at me expectantly.
I swallowed hard and grunted, “Hi.”
“Sir,” Kohen replied. “May I speak—”
“It would be a pretty boring conversation,” Prue announced. “He can only say one other thing.” Then she looked at me once more and raised a single eyebrow.
Piper was outright laughing now, and I threw her a look that promised retribution.
“Daddy?”
I clenched my jaw and ground my teeth before gritting out, “Have a nice time.”
“Baby, wait,” Kohen said, taking her hand.
Did he just call her baby? The effort it was taking to hold back was going to make my head explode. But I would never break a promise to Prue.
“I owe it to him.” He kissed the back and let it go, then walked a few steps forward to face me with squared shoulders and his head held high.
I had to give the kid credit and hated that I couldn’t be all that angry. Kohen was a good man, on his way to being a SEAL, and I knew I could trust him with my daughter. That didn’t mean I had to like it, though.
“I would never do anything to break your trust, sir,” he started. “I respect you and will treat Prue the way I’d ask any man to treat my sisters. With your permission, I’d like to take her to dinner and a movie.”
Fuck. Kohen was probably one of the few men on this earth I would be comfortable with taking my daughter out on a date. But that shouldn’t make him exempt from...wait…a loophole started flashing in my head. A smile curled my lips, and I nodded.
“Thank you, sir,” Kohen replied, giving me a salute. “I’ll have her home by ten.”
“You’re both adults, Kohen,” Piper said, earning an incredulous glare from me. Just because Prue was eighteen and had graduated high school last weekend didn’t make her an adult! “Stay out as long as you’d like. Just keep us updated so we know when to expect her. And wake us up when you get home, honey.”