Gifted

Chapter Ten - Sage

I followed him through to the kitchen. I still couldn't believe he'd brought me here, to his home.

Nobody outside the family has ever been here.

Those words kept repeating over and over. And I could feel every single pound of my heart. Excitement and nerves fought between themselves.  My wolf on the other hand was in no doubt how she felt; clearly delighted. Hell, she would have been purring if she was a cat!

Calm down in there.  None of this meant anything – Did it?

As I took a seat at the kitchen bar, I watched him; it was hard not to. No matter what room he was in – he always seemed bigger than the room, his presence was all-consuming.  It made me feel small, but weirdly safe.

He removed his jacket, throwing in on a chair without a care.  He walked towards the stove, undoing  another button on his shirt and unclipped his cuffs, rolling his shirt sleeves up above both elbows. I'd seen no man cook in a dress shirt and trousers before. But then again I'd seen no man cook before and not for me.

Well, when I say 'cook' I meant looking inside some pots sitting on top of a huge aga stove. "It's a lovely home you have here Hunter." And it was, it was a classic beautiful design and nothing like I expected. It felt like a family home and I almost expected two little ones to come running through at any second.

He turned to face me, and my insides melted and down south, well let's say it was becoming warm, my underwear would need to be peeled from my body.  Bloody hell.  I clenched my thighs. That smile of his would be the ruin of me, of that I was sure.

"Thanks, it was my parents. I own the three neighbouring houses as well, for my staff. I like them close."

I nodded my head. "Sounds good, close but not too close."

"Yeah it gave me the extra land to roam around." He threw me a weird look, his eyebrows peaked – as if he knew something I didn't.

"Well, you can never have enough space. I loved living in France, On the property my gr-" I stopped. Crap. I shouldn't tell him anything – too many questions.

Stupid Sage.  He turned to listen,  "Yeah, it was great, I love space." Awkward Sage.  Good going, idioté.

He watched me intensely, as if hanging on my every word, waiting for me to continue – which I didn't. I looked down and fiddled with my fingers.

"Do you like Pasta, looks like spaghetti and meatballs?" I looked up as he turned and stirred the pot before looking back at me with a worried look. "Fuck! You're not a vegetarian, are you?"

"No." I let out a slight chuckle. "And it sounds yummy, I'm quite hungry." And I was, as I listened to my stomach it growled and gurgled.

He smiled again.  Clench!   I was sure to melt into a puddle at this rate.

"Yeah, I can hear it." He winked at me and looked thrilled with my reply,  like when you give a child a toffee.

I didn't honestly recognise him. He was behaving nothing like I expected, nothing like what was described in his file.

A few minutes later he'd prepped our table and placed the food down. I took a bite and surprisingly it was superb. "Compliments to the chef, this is quite something, delicious in fact."

He reached over and ran his thumb across my bottom lip removing a little excess sauce. I froze and swallowed, trying to ignore the crazy fluttery feeling around my core. Holy Wolfsbane, Pearl was so right, I'm screwed.