I shook my head. “No. I forget sometimes how small actions can add up. Evie constantly has to remind me to put my recycling out.”
“As long as you are conscious of such things and do your best, you are doing better than many in your population.”
“And I have you around to remind me when I’m a slacker.” I set my tea down and got up to rummage through my cabinets for a pan. “Let’s get you properly fueled before you go home.”
Cernunnos watched me for a long moment, his gaze lingering on my face before dragging down my throat and lower. My cheeks turned crimson before I snorted and turned away.
He did that sometimes, stared at me so intensely I got uncomfortable. Not because he frightened me. I turned away because his scrutiny made me feel cherished, and I wasn’t sure how to handle that. He made me feel like I mattered, a feeling unlike anything I’d ever experienced. Cernunnos saw me.
I only hoped I did the same for him.
“Moira.”
I went to the fridge and grabbed onions, garlic, cilantro, and a few other things.
“Want to help me chop?” I asked.
Cernunnos rose and stalked toward me. He took all the veggies out of my hand and set them on the counter, backing me up into the kitchen island. His warm body pressed against mine.
“I will help you do anything you desire,” he murmured. He tilted my chin up with his index finger. “Why do you hide from me?”
I swallowed hard and tried to look down, but he held me firm.
“Moira.”
I sighed. “No one looks at me like you do. I feel…unmoored when I see how you watch me. Like I am unworthy.”
A furrow appeared between his brows. “You are the most unique and stunning thing I’ve met in my long life. If there is anyone unworthy in this kitchen, it is I.”
I laughed. “And then you say things like that and make it worse.”
He held me firm when I tried to turn away and bent to press a scorching kiss to my lips. My knees almost buckled when he hauled me onto the counter against my muffled protests.
“This is where we make food!”
“And that’s why you humans make disinfectant spray,” he murmured against my neck as his fingers deftly untied my joggers.
“You’re an animal,” I said breathlessly.
Cernunnos’s hands slid down my body. “Let me show you why I watch you so.”
An hour later, after a very thorough cleaning of my kitchen island and the replacement of the first round of veggies, Cernunnos and I, far more rumpled than we’d been when we started, made tacos.
The rhythmic sound of chopping and the hiss and pop of the ground beef as it cooked, on top of the mind-blowing sex I’d just had, made me feel more relaxed than I had in ages.
I watched his tan hands work the knife deftly, his muscles flexing as he chopped.
Cernunnos, as odd as we were together, was good for me.
Good in a way I thought I’d never have.
“Now you’re watching me,” he murmured, never looking away from the onion.
“Just thinking,” I said.
“Good or bad?”
“Good.”
