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Ryneth sniffed. “Mm. Smells good.”
“That’s because I made it.”
“Show-off.”
Daven lifted one dark brow. “You forced your way into my kitchen.”
Ryneth turned toward him. “That is not what happened.”
“No?”
“You made me help.”
Daven gave the pan another stir. “I offered you a deal.”
Ryneth folded his arms. “You blackmailed me.”
“That’s dramatic.”
“You said if I wanted dinner, I had to earn it.”
“I said if you wanted dinner and my attention, you had options.”
Ryneth stared at him for a beat, then shook his head. “You’re impossible.”
Daven looked at him then and smiled. “And yet you’re still here.”
He watched Ryneth at the counter and felt something warm settle in his chest. He’d spent enough nights in this kitchen now to know what it did to him. The quiet. The routine. The control of it. And having Ryneth here, crowding his space, stealing bites, arguing over nothing, then sitting across from him at the table while the world moved around them, had become one of the best parts of his day.
Daven didn’t pull away once the herbs were cut. Instead, he leaned in, pressing his forehead to Ryneth’s temple. His breath moved over Ryneth’s ear, close enough to feel the answering charge in the air.
“My beautiful storm,” Ryneth murmured. “You became everything I was afraid to want.”
“Despite cooking duty?”
Ryneth chuckled. “Despite cooking duty. But with reward.”
The words made something in Daven tighten.
Ryneth always did that. Dropped the softest things into the middle of nothing and left Daven standing there with them.
Leaning in, Daven nibbled at Ryneth’s throat, lingering there long enough to feel Ryneth soften against him. “You taste like the lightning I’m trying to tame. Think I’ll ever manage?”
Ryneth smiled and tipped his head, giving him more.
Daven took it, sucking a mark low on his throat before dragging his mouth up to the corner of Ryneth’s lips and pressing a kiss there. “There was a delivery for you.”
“For me?”
“Hm. Go and check it out. I put it on the table.”
As Ryneth turned away, Daven gave his ass a quick slap.
“Ouch!” Ryneth glared, but there was amusement in those silver eyes. “You pig.”
“Your ass is too sexy, baby.”
Following Ryneth to the table, Daven watched as his aethera carefully opened the package that had arrived from Düren.
