Page 62 of Blood Bonds
Caro shook her head again. “No. His aura is calm.” She would feel his distress or pain if something nefarious had occurred.
“Will you have the same connection to our child?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “I already do.” Or the beginnings of it, anyway. “It’s faint, but peace radiates from her when you’re near.” Caro determined that to be the reason why she always felt at ease in Sethios’s presence, why she craved him as she did. Because he comforted Caro as well.
She set the precious box down and turned to loop her arms around his neck as he grasped her hips. “Take me to bed, please.”
He smiled. “Are you addicted to me or to pleasure?”
“Both.”
“Good.” He kissed her all too briefly. “I need something to eat first, then I will devour you for dessert.”
“What happened to demanding a reward for finishing your project?”
“Oh, I intended to collect, Caro—thoroughly—but I require sustenance first.” He slid his palms to her jeans and squeezed her ass. A promise of what was to come.
“I haven’t finished dinner yet, but I started it.”
“Do you mind working on it while I grab a shower?”
“Only if you join me in the kitchen afterward in just a towel.”
He tapped her nose with an index finger. “The student becomes the teacher.” She let go of him as he bent to pick up their new fancy daggers. “I’ll put these away as well.”
“For later?”
He grinned, stepping backward. “I’ll be down soon.” Innuendo thickened his voice, his eyes flashing with intent. She would enjoy seeing what he had in mind later.
“Okay.” Caro misted to the kitchen rather than taking the stairs and went about fixing dinner to the best of her ability. Chopping vegetables and grilling chicken breasts she could do. It was the seasoning bit that perplexed her. Hopefully, this combination would taste all right. She boiled some noodles, too, thinking this might be a decent Italian dish.
Sethios joined her with a towel wrapped loosely around his hips, just as she requested, and reviewed the items on the stove. “Hmm.”
“Did I do it wrong?” she asked, concerned.
“Well, normally, I would add a tomato sauce or something creamier to the noodles, not butter. But we’ll make this work.” He retrieved some cheese from the refrigerator and a grater and started shaving pieces onto the noodles. “Stir that in until it melts.”
She did as he requested while he chopped some garlic and basil behind her. Then he tossed that into the dish.
He kissed her shoulder. “Keep stirring.”
Sethios grabbed the plates holding their cooked veggies and chicken from the counter and started doing something on the cutting board. When he returned, the meat was finely diced. He dropped all of it into the noodle pan, as well as some more cheese. More butter came next, followed by cream.
“I’m pretty sure you just added a thousand calories to my dish,” she pointed out with a smile.
“Makeshift Alfredo.” His hips pressed against her as she mixed everything together over low heat. “Your taste buds will thank me for it.”
“Probably.” She gave up denying it a few weeks ago. “I want chocolate for dessert.”
“Sure. You can lick it off me later.”
“I…” Food in the bedroom? Like warm chocolate? “I might enjoy that.”
“On the contrary, darling, you’ll love it.” He drew his teeth along the column of her neck, and she hummed her approval just before his teeth broke the surface of her skin. His arm circled her waist to keep her against him while he indulged in her essence. The urge to return the favor and drink from him struck her hard in the chest, but she ignored the impulse.
Their relationship worked for now.
Eternity would need to be discussed later.
