A Pinch of Kitchen Magic (7 page)

“
Perhaps you should try
the small chicken?” Matteus’s lips twitched. Would he actually
unbend enough to laugh? “Even from my vantage point, it resembles a
magazine picture.” He narrowed his eyes. “I’m going to assume it
didn’t come right out of a magazine.”

Aidan’s cheeks heated with
indignation. “Of course not! I made it myself, without magic.” She
shoved the spoon back into her apron pocket. Moving to the opposite
end of the butcher-block island, she hesitated before the chicken
in question. She took the carving knife and fork in hand then
frowned. “I can’t do it. I don’t want to know.”

“
Allow me.”

“
Be my guest but don’t be
surprised by what you find.” She surrendered the utensils, her
fingers tingling as they brushed his. The knife easily cut through
the herb-speckled skin into the white meat of the chicken breast as
he carved. To her eyes, it looked fine, but she had been
disappointed before. “What do you think?” The savory fragrance that
wafted up made her stomach rumble with hunger.

Matteus cut out a bite-sized piece.
“Why don’t you try it and see?” He offered the meat to
her.

She met his twinkling gray eyes with
trepidation. Sliding the morsel from the knife blade, she took a
first, tentative bite. “It’s good.” She popped the rest of the
sample into her mouth, chewing. Moist and succulent, she tasted the
lemons and oranges she had stuffed the bird with. She detected the
bright, verdant taste of the herbal rub but it didn’t overpower the
meat itself. “It’s very good.”

“
You sound surprised.
Why?”

She shrugged. “I never get anything
right. It’s nice.”

“
I knew you would succeed
eventually. You just needed confidence.” He sliced another piece
from the bird. “Would you like to indulge a second time, just to
make sure?”

“
Definitely, but you have
to at least try it.” Aidan’s smile felt genuine.
Maybe there’s hope for me yet.
“You can give me a second opinion.” She stifled a
giggle at his sudden look of discomfort.
What’s he afraid of—chicken or me?
“Come on.” She batted her eyelashes. “Please?”

He laid the carving set on the
platter. “Fine.” He reached for a piece.

“
Wait. Let me.” Snagging a
choice bit, she closed the short distance between them. As she
steeled herself against his signature scent, she cocked a brow.
“Close your eyes.”

“
It’s not necessary. If
you just—”

Aidan shook her head. “Close your
eyes. I want you to get the full effect.” She waited until he
finally complied. Nervous butterflies fluttered through her stomach
as she took advantage of the opportunity to gaze at him,
unobserved. Dark lashes lay against his lightly tanned cheeks. He
had exactly three freckles sprinkled over his nose. The unexpected,
whimsical touch made her heart race a bit faster. It made him seem
more human and less magical assessor.

“
I’m not getting any
younger, Aidan.”

She smirked at the chiding tone in his
voice. “Okay, here comes the chicken. Open your mouth but keep your
eyes closed.” She placed the chicken bit on his tongue then waited.
“Tell me what you taste.”

He chewed and swallowed. His face
underwent a series of quick emotions ranging from surprise to
admiration. He kept his eyes closed. “I taste citrus.” He
obediently opened his mouth when she tapped his lips with another
morsel. “There’s some sort of basil or oregano.” He ingested yet
another piece. “Maybe butter too?”

Aidan nodded, even though she knew he
couldn’t see the gesture. “You’re right.” When he licked his lips,
she groaned. Why’d he have to be so darned sexy?

“
Is your experiment
over?”

The food tasting
experience, yes, but I want to taste him now.
“One more thing.” Before she could lose her nerve, Aidan
leaned in, pressing her lips to his. With a gasp, she pulled back,
her cheeks burning, even more so when he opened his eyes and
regarded her with lazy amusement. Tiny pulsing slivers of
excitement and anticipation coursed through her, the same thing
that always happened when she came into close contact with Matteus.
It hadn’t been a fluke the first couple of times. “I’ve got to
clean up the kitchen.”

“
Are you sure?” His voice
became a warm cocoon, flowing over her, blocking out all else and
soothing her frazzled emotions. “I don’t mind being a guinea pig if
you’re still curious.” His lips tilted in a half-smile. “Unless
you’ve changed your mind?”

She took exception to his raised
eyebrow, not the teasing tone. “Is that a challenge?” She took a
deep breath then blew it out again, her hands firmly planted on her
hips.

He shrugged. “If that’s what it takes
to see you live up to your full potential.”

Aidan glared at him.
“Whether I live up to my potential is none of your business. Aren’t
you here to assess my
magical
skill level not my kissing ability?” She didn’t
have time to analyze her annoyance with him. Maybe it was the smug,
purely male expression on his face. Maybe it was the casual way he
leaned a slim hip against the butcher block. Maybe it was the way
he could make her body burn with a single glance. Whatever it was,
he got under her skin as no one else ever could.

It bothered her and intrigued her at
the same time.

“
I
have
assessed your skills, and from
the little I’ve seen, no matter the passion behind them, they need
work.”

She didn’t know if he was referring to
her magic or her kissing. “I’ll show you just how much work I
need.” Stepping into the space between them, she cupped his face in
her hands and drew his mouth to hers.

Liquid fire coursed through her veins.
She pushed her tongue into his mouth the second he parted his lips,
pleasure curling in her stomach when it met his. She drew her hands
from his face and ran them along the hard planes of his chest. His
rapid pulse fluttered under her fingertips. She smiled against his
mouth. Obviously, she had the same effect on him that he had on
her. Pressing tiny kisses to the shadow of hair peeking from the
top of his shirt, a sound of satisfaction escaped her when he
emitted a soft moan.

“
Aidan…”

She stepped away from him,
breathless. “I think I’ve proved my point.”
How do you like me now?

He ran a hand through his hair,
upsetting the chestnut curls into a sculpture of disarray. “Only
too well, now let’s see if you can handle the extra
credit.”

* * * *

With a low growl, Matteus swept her
into his arms, covering his mouth with hers. Need built within him,
expanding until it filled every particle of his being with blinding
white light and overwhelming heat. He nibbled her lush bottom lip
then traced that same lip with the tip of his tongue. Her unique
vanilla scent teased his nostrils, mingling with the smell of
savory spices, to dull his brain. Twin hungers invaded him—both for
dinner and for her. Between them, needing Aidan was the stronger
pull: the softness of her skin beneath his hands, the resistance of
her thick mass of hair as his fingers tangled there, the way her
full breasts pressed against his chest.

At some point, he raised his head to
glance into her eyes, dark with the same desire raging in him. He
drew in a deep, shuddering breath. “Aidan…”

“
Oh no you don’t. I’m not
done with you yet.” She leaned her backside against the
refrigerator, a sly grin sliding over her lips. “I want at least
one more kiss before you vanish into thin air. You do that way too
much and usually when something’s bothering you. Most of the time
it’s me.”

Matteus gazed at her as his pulse
raced. A flush spread over her cheeks and crept down to cover the
ivory expanse of chest revealed by her v-neck t-shirt. His gaze
roved to her hardened nipples, taut beneath the thin fabric. When
his burgeoning arousal pressed against his fly, he stifled a groan.
“As you wish.” He wrapped his arms around her waist and trapped her
body between his and the refrigerator, claiming her lips once
more.

With just one embrace, this woman had
the power to vanquish his common sense. His head spun as he felt
the familiar stirring in his groin. He would promise her anything
for one touch of her exquisite lips. As she sucked his bottom lip
into her mouth, he traced her ribcage, drifting his fingers up to
skim her nipples. She moaned. He pressed her more firmly against
the refrigerator, determined not to let her pull away this
time.

That’s right. Surrender
into my care and I’ll make you sing with pleasure.
Women were like musical instruments. Matteus
smiled with satisfaction. A man didn’t necessarily need to be
brimming with talent; he simply needed to know where to touch them
to invoke the right chords. And with Aidan, he was indeed the
finest musician. He played his hands down her ribcage to rest on
the curve of her hip. Dear heavens, he wished for one glimpse of
that flesh, needed a brief moment to explore it with his lips and
tongue. Just as he was about to pitch them both to the floor, a
cloud of white blinded him.

He couldn’t see. He couldn’t breathe
as powder filled the air.

“
What the hell?” He sprang
away from her, rubbing at his eyes. When he could see properly, he
glanced around, coughing.

Fine white particles covered the
checkered floor and every surface nearby. Running his fingers
quickly through his hair, the powder dispersed into the air.
“Aidan, would you mind explaining why I’m covered with…” His gaze
fell to a purple paper sack upended on top of the refrigerator.
“Flour? Why do I suddenly feel like auditioning for the part of
Hamlet’s father?”

She stifled a giggle, failed
miserably, as her tinkling laughter erupted around them. “I store
my baking supplies up there because I have no room in the pantry
and my cabinets are filled with pots and pans.” She brushed at his
shoulders. “I’m so sorry. The flour bag must have been knocked
loose by our, ah, activity.”

Matteus narrowed his eyes. “How
interesting you have virtually no flour on yourself.” He sneezed
twice before he caught the state of the rest of the kitchen. A
metallic din invaded his ears. “Obviously, magic and arousal do not
play well together in your mind.” Pots, pans and serving platters
whizzed merrily inside a miniature tornado in the middle of the
kitchen. As flour slowly became sucked into the torrent, the
whirlwind turned a weird off-white color. His lips twitched as a
few carving knives flew by. “Looks like Casper met Freddy in
there.” Despite the levity of the situation, having knives flying
willy-nilly through the kitchen bordered on dangerous. “You vex me,
girl.”

“
Again, I’m sorry. I can’t
grasp the concept of controlling both energies together. It’s
either one or the other, and as you know, I’m not good at keeping
them under control.”

“
I am aware.” With the
simple crook of his finger, he put the kitchen to rights. “Never
mind. Perhaps you should nail down anything bigger than a frying
pan and put the rest in locked cabinets. Otherwise, you’ll terrify
the poor man you eventually marry or hook up with.”

“
Right.”

He lost his ability to speak when she
gently blew in his ear. “Ack!” When he cocked an eyebrow, she
blinked. “Must you persist in catching me off guard?”

“
I must. Also, you had
flour in your ear.” Shrugging, she moved to her chicken and began
picking at it, eating small pieces. “I may never find anyone I like
well enough to marry, but we’ve already discussed this.”

“
Then forget the forever.
Why not look for a happy-for-now scenario?”
With me. For one night and let us both become lost in a
pleasure deeper than the ages…

“
We’ll see. My track
record with the males of the species isn’t a good one. I don’t want
to keep repeating my mistakes. Especially those that happen when
the physical aspects of being with a man are involved.”

“
I think most of those
so-called mistakes were made on the part of the males in your
life.” Needing space to think, Matteus moved to the opposite side
of the kitchen. The sight of her slightly kiss-swollen lips sent
desire tumbling through his insides again. “Or, you could find a
magically inclined man. Then you wouldn’t need to worry about
carefully controlling your energies. With the right sort of man, he
could counter-act any magical mistakes that might occur.” He argued
with his consciousness. Why had he suggested such a thing, even if
it was true? It would put her in danger right along with
him.

Aidan undid the apron strings at her
waist then wadded the fabric into a tight ball. “Maybe, but you
know how rare those sort of men are.” She chucked the apron into a
corner. “Aunt Hettie said if I were fortunate to find a man like
that, I should hang onto him.”

He drew in a deep breath and let it
out slowly. “I agree. Your aunt is very wise when it comes to
advice.”

“
Too bad I haven’t found
that guy, huh?” Her gaze contained no guile, only a slight
longing.

He cleared his
throat.
Should I press my case even though
it violates everything I believe in?
“I
envy your future man.” His smile felt forced.
Better to create a divide between us. At least then she’ll
remain safe as will my sanity.
“But then,
I’ve seen your destructive force in action, so perhaps I don’t envy
him all that much. You’d drive me crazy with your untried
powers.”