“I don’t know what any of those things are but I trust you.” Her wings unfurled, sending his blood pulsing in his veins again and filling up his tiny kitchen with feathers. One landed in the pan, and he picked it out with his fingers.
“Sorry,” she said.
He chuckled. “It’s fine.”
As soon as everything was browned, he slid it all into the oven and set the timer.
“How did you learn to cook?” she asked.
He shrugged. “You pick it up living alone as long as I have. But I wouldn’t say it’s my strong suit. I have about ten dishes I can make without setting off the smoke alarm.”
“I’ve never cooked my own food,” she said sadly.
He did a double take. “Really? Never? Not even a scrambled egg?”
She shook her head.
“Hmm. Well, today is the day.” He reached into one of his cabinets and produced a glass bowl.
“What’s that for?”
“While the chicken is cooking, we’re going to make chocolate chip cookies. I cannot have you thinking those monstrosities we produced in Paragon are anything like the real thing.
“Those cookies were an insult to the word cookie.”
“That just means we know how not to do it. There’s no place to go but up.” He grabbed the bag of chocolate chips and the butter he’d picked up and the sugar and the flour from the cabinet.
Together, they followed the instructions, but he let her do all the work. She packed the brown sugar, beat in the eggs, measured the vanilla. When the dough was done, he scooped some onto his finger and held it out to her.
“Aren’t we supposed to cook it first?”
“You recently reminded me that you can’t get sick, so trust me, you don’t want to miss this.”
She leaned forward and sucked it off his finger, making him forget all about how hungry he was.
“Mmm.”
“Yeah.” God, if he weren’t half-starved, he’d bend her over the counter.
It grew silent for a second as he warred with his fantasies and decided to be a decent human being and feed her before he tried to get her back in bed. Sighing, he opened a bottle of prosecco and poured them both a glass.
“Liam, is it okay that I’m here?”
He took a sip of his wine and then handed her the other glass. “Yeah, it’s okay.”
“But what about what you said about not being someone who can do relationships? I’m completely in your space here.”
He frowned. “How long were you intending to stay?”
She chewed her lip. “I don’t want to be there anymore. I felt like a prisoner. The way my father treated you the morning he found us, it just made me see how little he respects me as an adult. I felt suffocated. But I left before I considered your feelings. I’m sure I can stay with my uncle Tobias if you don’t want me here.”
He took another sip of his drink, knowing what he wanted to say but afraid to say it. It was crazy. This was all crazy. “I’m glad you came. Maybe we should take it one day at a time though. For both our sakes.”
She nodded. “Right. Of course.”
“What do you think the odds are that your dad will bust down my door and dangle me out the window by my neck?”
“Zero for the next two weeks. I traveled through time to get here. His reality is two weeks in the future. And while my mother would be able to reach me using magic if she had any, he can’t, and she won’t have her powers back for at least fourteen more days. That’s part of the spell they’re doing in Darnuith. It would be a lot to explain.”
