A Pinch of Kitchen Magic (3 page)

“
But…”

“
No.” He quickly cut off
her objection. “I’ll teach you the essentials you need to know, but
mark my words, if you use it to grow your own ego, you will sign
your death warrant. Don’t disappoint me and be that
person.”

“
Matteus.”

He refused to listen to
her argument, he refused to look at the tip of her pink tongue as
it traced her full, lush lips to wet them and leave them glossy.
And he most certainly refused to go over there and kiss those lips
even though every fiber of his being urged him to. “I’m serious.
It’s my job to protect you from yourself.”
But who will protect me from her
?

“
Good grief, you’re so
annoying!” As she vehemently shook her head, a few more tendrils of
hair drifted down to curl about her neck. “There’s something I need
to tell you.”

“
No more discussion on
this topic.”

She emitted a sound of frustration.
“The pizza dough is about to blow up and if you don’t move
away—”

An explosion rocked the
kitchen.

Matteus lifted an eyebrow as globs of
sticky, yeasty dough dropped from the ceiling to land over every
available surface with soft plops. “You could have warned me.” He
removed a wad of dough from his shoulder then threw it to the
floor, exasperation warring for dominance over desire in his mind.
The woman is much too volatile for magic of any kind. This incident
would definitely end up in his report.

She planted her hands on her hips. “I
tried but you kept on talking. A big bunch of blah, blah, blah on
how I’ll destroy myself and the world with magic. Please, give me a
little credit. I’m light years away from becoming the next super
villain, all right?”

“
I’ll give you that.” He
couldn’t defend himself against the truth. He removed a mushy mass
from his hair, not reassured when he spied the sparkle in her eyes
or her laughing countenance. “I’m leaving to change clothes. I
expect this mess to be cleaned up by the time I return.”

With a snap of his fingers, he was
gone.

* * * *

Aidan frowned at the empty
space where Matteus had formerly stood. How did he do that?
Will I be able to do that too?

More importantly, how could she expel
the runaway pizza dough from her kitchen? Remembering Matteus’s
words regarding living things, she spoke directly to the
yeast.

“
You’ve had your day,
you’ve had your fun, now form a ball, before I run.” Giggling at
her lame attempt at a rhyme, she huffed her annoyance when nothing
happened. A bit of dough dropped from the ceiling onto her arm.
“Just pull yourself into a dang ball before he gets back. I’m not
in the mood for a lecture.”

Two seconds later, the bits of dough
pulsed and throbbed with life. A medium sized glob jumped from the
island onto the floor. It paused, quivered for a moment, and then
rolled around the checkered tiles, collecting smaller bits as it
went. As the mass moved about the floor, other pieces of dough
became absorbed into the larger wad until it was as big as a
basketball. It crawled over the walls, moved along the ceiling,
skimmed through the cracks and crevices of the kitchen until it
incorporated every renegade bit of dough into itself.

The resulting dough formed a round
before her. Now a good four feet in circumference, the dough ball
shuddered, before slumping, its movement finished. “What am I
supposed to do with it?”

She tapped a fingernail
against her front teeth as she contemplated the giant mass of
dirty, dusty pizza dough. The tip of a pencil even poked through a
portion of the dough. She tried to concentrate on the ball but it
refused to move. Annoyed and embarrassed, Aidan yanked an
industrial-strength garbage bag from underneath the counter. “Fine.
If you won’t move, I’ll just throw you out. It’s not like I can use
you now.” Especially after it had briefly been alive. She
shivered.
This magic stuff is going to
take a while to get used to.
After
grabbing the chef’s knife from her board, she hacked the dough mass
into smaller, manageable sections. Finished with the task, she
chucked the pieces into the garbage bag, tied it off, and threw it
into the trash bin in her garage.

A tick over her left eyebrow
superseded her feeling of accomplishment.

When she returned to the kitchen, her
gaze alighted on the bored face of Matteus as he sat perched on the
now clean countertop.

“
I’ll give you points for
cleverness, but as a general rule, that was cheating. We’ll begin
again.”

With a strangled sound of frustration
in her throat, Aidan untied her apron, threw it in his general
direction, and fled to the living room.

Chapter Two

Kill more flies with
honey

Aidan sensed Matteus’s presence behind
her long before she saw him. The slight crackle of energy in the
air confirmed his identity as did the tingling sensations rushing
over her skin. “Why do you do that?” She inhaled his scent then bit
her lip to suppress a sigh. Only he had the power to make her feel
turned inside out. Why was that?

“
Do what?”

Annoyed, she danced out of his
gravitational pull, dropped onto a plum colored suede sofa and
crossed her arms. “Popping in and out of the air. Why can’t you
just walk through the house like a normal person?” She resented his
spotless, clean clothes since her own faded jeans and t-shirt
sported questionable bits of crusty food and stains. She hadn’t
wanted to change into something else for fear he’d pop in on her
while she was halfway through.

“
Using magic is more fun
and a great way to exercise the mind.” Matteus shrugged. “And
normal is subjective anyway.”

She frowned. As he drifted through the
sparsely furnished room, his gaze swept the purple and turquoise
hued rug as well as the glass topped coffee table. “Where do you go
when you disappear?”

“
Home or back to the
Institute. It depends.”

Obviously the man didn’t buy into the
theory that conversation was a necessary part of successful
civilizations. “Why the disappearing act?” She picked at a splotch
of tomato sauce on her jeans. “Is it even a form of
transportation?”

“
It is—at least for our
kind.” His lips twitched. “I maintain a property on the island of
Santorini as well as a townhouse in New York.” He stared at her.
“Surely your Aunt Hettie explained to you the basic premise
regarding Astral Projection?”

“
She did, but I wasn’t
very interested at the time. Can’t you just tell me the crib notes
version?” She settled in for what was most likely going to be a
boring lecture. Is that all he was capable of?

“
Of course. Heaven forbid
you actually gave magic a hundred percent of your attention.”
Clearing his throat, Matteus cocked an eyebrow in her direction.
“Think of the Universe as a swimming pool. When you swim laps, you
only occupy one lane. Your lane is your own reality or plane of
existence. You may be doing the backstroke, and the guy in the next
lane is doing the freestyle. You’re both totally independent of
each other, but you move at different speeds at the same time but
through a different plane. Many planes exist, independent of each
other but each with their own timelines. Reality is much the same
way. When I disappear from here, I slip into a different
plane.”

“
That’s… confusing.” Aidan
closed her mouth with an audible click of her teeth. “Unless… Oh, I
get it. You time travel.” She grinned, curiosity pinging around her
brain. “Can you take me with you?”

“
That wouldn’t be
advisable.”

Yup, tall, dark and stubborn. “Okay.
Will that be part of my training?” Prickles of awareness lifted the
hairs on the back of her neck when he smiled. He should do it more
often. “It sounds interesting, and you did say you’re here to teach
me everything I’ll need to know if I want to use my magic
responsibly. You wouldn’t want me flying willy-nilly all over town,
would you?”

His grin widened. “Ah, no, not at this
time. I’m here to teach you to use your magic in a practical
manner. Once you’ve mastered that, then you can start on the more
difficult practices.” He reached out a hand to her. “Let’s move on
to lesson two.”

Aidan slipped her fingers into his.
Tiny barbs of electricity danced from their clasped hands and along
her arm. “Why did you say I cheated before?” She yanked her fingers
free, wary of him but very aware of him at the same
time.

“
You can’t just make up a
pretty rhyme, ask an object to do your bidding then skate away
without consequences.” The aggravation she associated with him
flowed through his voice. “You need to determine why the dough
exploded in the first place.”

“
I have no idea.
You
lifted the
towel.
You
bumped
the table. I was nowhere near the area when the dough grew in
size.”

“
Interesting.”

“
Annoying.” She wondered
why he was exasperated with the dough incident. “What’s the big
deal? I cleaned up the mess.”

“
I’ll overlook it since it
was your first time.” His lips pressed into a tight line. “Now, I
want you to change the pattern on your rug.”

She shot him what she hoped was an
incredulous look. “Why? I like the rug like it is now.”

Matteus made a sound of exasperation
in his throat. “I don’t care. Just change the pattern.” His fingers
flexed at his sides.

“
What’s the point?” Aidan
glanced at the blue-green paisley rug then met his tempestuous
gaze. The air between them reverberated with a low-pitched hum. “I
mean, what am I supposed to learn from messing with the
rug?”

“
Must you be impossible?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “Just do what I ask!
Please.”

“
Fine. No need to get your
boxers in a bunch.” Which opened an interesting question: did we
wear boxers or briefs? Aidan let her eyes relax as she stared at
one of the paisley forms in the pattern. No matter how hard she
tried, she couldn’t convince the fibers of the yarn to reorder
themselves. She told the rug it would be happier displaying a
peacock instead of the paisleys, but still nothing happened. “I
don’t understand why it’s not working.” She raised her gaze to his,
her breath dying in her throat at the intense look he bestowed on
her. A storm at sea could never be as turbulent and tossed as his
eyes were now.

“
Forget about anything
that’s distracting you and try again.”

“
I’m not
distracted.”
Much. It was his fault for
being so drool-worthy.
She dutifully
stared at the rug again. “Come on, you stupid rug, just change your
pattern so my big, scary magic teacher will stop badgering
me.”

“
If you insist on being
irreverent about this, there’s no point in my being here. If you
don’t want to learn to control your powers, I’ll just go ahead and
drain them from you and I’ll be on my way.” Matteus raised his
hand, his fingers poised to snap. “My time is more valuable to
someone else.”

Panic gathered in her throat at the
thought of his leaving. “All right, I’m sorry. I get snarky when
I’m frustrated or embarrassed.” She laid a hand on his arm, again
caught off guard by the curious tingling sensation in her fingers.
Her cheeks warmed when me her gaze. “But I’m telling you the truth.
I can’t make the rug change patterns.” Disappointment sat like a
lump in her stomach. She really wanted to impress him, to see his
eyes light with pleasure because of her.

Slowly, Matteus lowered his hand. “I
believe you, but I’m having trouble understanding this new
phenomenon. Why could you use your energies earlier on the tomatoes
and not now?” He wrinkled his nose and then sneezed. “Do you smell
smoke?”

“
My sauce!” Aidan sprinted
into the kitchen and skidded to a halt in front of the stove. A
potholder near the flame under the burner caught fire and wisps of
gray smoke rapidly filled the kitchen. “Find me something to put
the fire out!” When he didn’t follow her instructions, she cursed
under her breath. Typical man. Absolutely useless in a
crisis.

The pot of tomato sauce bubbled madly
over the sides to dribble onto the floor. Aidan gagged at the sharp
smell of burning fabric. “A little help would be appreciated.”
Irritation warred with fear as she grabbed the smoldering potholder
with a pair of kitchen tongs and dropped it into the
sink.

“
You seem to have things
under control.”

Rolling her eyes at the smug
instructor, she glared at the pot, daring it to continue to bubble.
With a tiny crook of her finger, the angry, roiling red sauce
evened off, then finally became still. “Take that, you Italian
menace.” Transferring her glare to the tap, she cocked an eyebrow.
Water poured into the sink. There was a hiss, and then a plume of
black smoke curled toward the ceiling.

“
Impressive.” Matteus
moved further into the kitchen just as the smoke alarm began to
peal. “You managed to contain two threats at once while controlling
your magic so nothing dire could occur.”