magic to sharpen that knife you stole from me.” This line of conversation seemed safe enough. “It’s used for cooking, not killing.”
“It was not used for killing before.”
Great. Just freaking great.
“I have commandeered other weapons from your household, as well,” he added. As if he were speaking about something as tame as bunny slippers, he nonchalantly turned back to the fridge.
Dread slithered down her spine, chilling and oppressive. The morning had started off badly and was now progressively growing worse. “Want to tell me exactly what else you’ve commandeered?”
He’d found an old pair of Gray’s shoes, she saw as he showed her the pair of scissors strapped to his left ankle, the knife on his right ankle, the metal spatula at his hip and the rolling pin at his back, anchored by the waist of his pants.
“What are you going to do with that?” She motioned to the rolling pin with a wave of her hand.
“Do the talons fail me, I will strike my enemy into submission.”
“And the spatula?”
“I am not sure, but surely such a design is intended for severe torture.”
Torture was right. “You can’t just go around killing and torturing people, no matter what planet you’re on.” She said the words with enough force to let him know she meant business. “Put everything back right now.”
“Nay.” A hard glint darkened his eyes, and he shook his head. “In this I will not relent. When entering an unknown situation, a man must be prepared for the worst.”
He’s right, Katie thought, but she would never make such an admission aloud. Being prepared for the worst was the first lesson in self-defense. Yet none of her classes had mentioned defeating an attacker with a spatula. A pencil, maybe. Even keys.
Really, though, what harm was there in letting him have some of the “weapons”? She never used them, anyway. And if they made him feel safer, well, that was all that mattered. She couldn’t fathom being stuck on another world, alone and destitute.
“Why don’t we compromise?” she suggested. “You can keep the scissors and the spatula—” and look like an idiot, she silently added “—but the knives and rolling pin stay here.”
Silence filled the room as he considered her proposal.
Finally, he nodded. “I accept your compromise. Do you not see how reasonable and willing to negotiate I am?”
“Yeah, you’re a regular kiss-ass.” His face brightened, and she added, “You’re not getting a quarter, nor are you kissing my…Well, you’re just not!”
His eyes twinkled with mirth, making the pale blue irises sparkle like diamonds in the night sky. “I will not take you to task for your impertinence—unless, of course, you desire punishment in bed. There is still time ere we visit the sorcerer.”
She rolled her eyes, trying to appear cool and unaffected on the outside. On the inside, however, her body was screaming hip, hip hooray, there’s still time. “Make sure the weapons are hidden when we leave the house, okay?”
“I am not an untrained youth.” His mirth was quickly replaced with ire. “I know weapons must remain concealed when not engaged in battle.”
O-kay. With every word he’d spoken, his irritation had grown. Right now he looked ready to attack her with the knives for daring to insult his intelligence. Time to change the subject. “Did you find anything good to eat?”
“Nay.” His expression lost most of its heat. “You did not show me how to prepare this.” He held up a Tupperware bowl filled with pasta. A thin layer of mayonnaise and cheese coated the surface.
Ew, she thought. He’d tried to make a sandwich out of it.
“’Tis unseasoned and tasteless and hard and quite the worst morsel I have ever eaten.”
Katie noticed several bite marks around the corners of the bowl. Laughter threatened to bubble past her throat, but she swallowed it back. “That’s the container, silly. The real food is inside.” She pried the bowl from his fingers. The action caused her palm to brush his, sending a jolt of electricity up her arm. Shaky now, she set the plastic aside. “You don’t want what’s inside that for breakfast, anyway.”
“But I am starved, and you have no more supplies.” He stroked his fingers over his jaw.
Geez, housing an alien was more expensive than she had envisioned. “I’ll take you to this little café about fifteen minutes away. They make the best protein shakes. We can be in and out in less than an hour.”
Delight glimmered in his expression a split second before panic settled there. A heartbeat later, he grew pensive. He gave a small shake of his head. “Nay.” His tone held no hint of his emotions. “We will go to the sorcerer first. I am eager to meet the one who will take me home. After that, I will concentrate on you. And I will win you, katya. Doubt it not.” The last was added with an ominous edge, daring her to contradict him.
She gulped. “You may be willing to skip breakfast, but I’m not. The café has a cheese omelet that—”
“Nay. I have decided.”
“But—”
“Nay, katya.”
“Fine.” Grumbling under her breath, she grabbed the phone book from the shelf under the microwave. “We have time to visit one psychic. One. If this one doesn’t work, you’re out of luck for today. I’m hungry and have work to do, and I only promised to take you to one place.” She just prayed he understood how many one equaled.
“If you wish to convince me to dine first, such antics are not necessary. I have decided I will allow you to convince me…in bed.”
Always he returned to this subject. “You know, there’s a chance you could give me a million orgasms and I still wouldn’t fall in love with you. For your own sake, you might want to rethink your strategy.” Ha! Take that, she thought, flipping through the yellow pages.
“The only way to know for sure is to let me give you one million orgasms.”
Without glancing up, she answered, “No.”
How had he ever been foolish enough to think of a challenge as fun? Jorlan wondered. The woman was driving him insane with her denials. Do not touch me. Do not please me. Do not make me quiver with delight.
If only he wanted her simply because of the curse, mayhap hearing her say “no” wouldn’t bother him so much. But nay, each time he saw her, spoke with her, thought of her, Katie raised emotions inside of him he’d rather not encounter. She was slowly but surely worming her way under his skin, and he did not like it. She was supposed to fall for him, not the other way around. He knew only too well that romantic sensibilities were dangerous.
He could not fathom how she was getting to him so quickly and so expertly. Did she wield some sort of magic he could not sense? Mayhap. Aye, mayhap. ’Twould explain many of his feelings for her. Curse it, he’d thought his defenses were in place, both magically and emotionally.
