Hybrid

FOURTEEN

⫷ JAMES ⫸

Something pokes my shoulder. I groan at the disturbance and clutch the pillow closer to my chest. The poking persists until I blink my eyes open. I frown at the small, button nose in front of me.

"What?" I grumble.

"If you held me any tighter, I think my back may break." The smooth tone of Aria's voice eases away the annoyance of being woken up.

Peering down, I see my arm is bound around her body, which is basically smushed up against my chest. "Oh. Sorry." I loosen only a fraction and smile when I feel her struggle, and fail, to pull away from me. "Hey, you said I could hold you."

Her cheeks turn pink. I can't help but feel lucky, having such a beautiful mate, and she's all mine. "Yeah, I guess I did say that."

"Mhm." I snuggle her closer to me, pressing my lips on her shoulder. "How do you feel about waffles?"

Little by little, she relaxes in my arms. "I love them." Aria rests her head closer to me, and I breathe in her scent.

Holding onto the moment, I don't let her out of my grasp, though she doesn't try again. It's when her stomach makes a loud growl that I decide its time to feed my girl. Still clad in pyjamas, we both head down to the kitchen while she tries to explain why continuing to watch Game of Thrones will make it less confusing.

Aria insists on helping make the waffles, but it doesn't take me long to realize she isn't much of a cook.

"One tablespoon of sugar," she mumbles, holding the recipe in front of her with narrowed eyes. "Where are the tablespoons?"

Leaning on the island, I raise my eyebrows at her. "Can't you just eye measure it?"

Aria blanches as she sets down the recipe. "Are you serious?"

"Very serious."

After a moment of silence, she shoves the recipe away from her. "Okay. You do the measuring. I'll get the stuff out." Peering at the list of ingredients, she starts muttering, "Okay. Flour. Flour. Flour."

I point at the shelf above her. "Top cupboard to your right."

"Gotchya. Thanks." Aria opens the cupboard door and eyes the flour on the top shelf. Reaching up on her tip toes, she tries to reach it but is unable to grasp it, no matter how hard she tries. "Who would make a shelf that high up, anyway?" When Aria jumps, she smacks her head on the cabinet door. "Ow."

I press my fisted hand against my mouth to suppress laughter, especially after she shoots daggers at me. "Here. Let me help." Taking her by surprise, I grab her hips and hoist her up, causing her to squeak in protest.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping you get the flour. Hurry up; I'm hungry."

Aria mumbles more complaints as she snatches the flour. I drop her down, purposely close to me. She doesn't realize this until she spins around and is inches away with only the bag of flour in between us. I keep my hands on her waist and smile at her.

"Flour," Aria blurts out and thrusts it upward, accidentally smacking me with the bag. It explodes all over the both of us. "Oh... Shoot... I'm so sorry." She lets the rest of the bag slip through her fingers and fall to the floor.

The smile dares to show on my face, but I manage to press my lips into a thin line. "Aria," I grumble. "Look at this mess."

Her pretty brown eyes widen at my low tone. She looks like a fish out of water. "I'll clean it up!" She's about to move away from me, but I'm quick to cage her in against the counter.