She jumped when he finally spoke. “How do you like your sausage?”
Aidan quirked a brow at her and shook his head. “I was just asking how you liked your breakfast sausage, sweetheart. For tomorrow morning’s breakfast. What a dirty mind you have, though. I like it.”
Sophia blushed crimson and didn’t reply.
“Come and have some supper. You must be hungry.”
She sure was, and the worst part was that she could have exactly what her heart desired if she just said the word. In a refusal to feed that appetite, Sophia slid into a wooden chair at the small table where he’d placed two steaming plates of food. He’d fried some potatoes and steaks on his propane stove, and he’d tossed up a salad. It would figure he’d also know how to cook.
Sophia concentrated on eating. However, no matter how much food she swallowed, her hunger didn’t abate. She wanted something else to devour, and she knew all she had to do was say the word, and he’d give her dessert.
The silence stretched between them, taut as a strung wire, and Sophia almost snapped with the tension. “Why are you doing this?”
“Doing what?”
Sophia made a frustrated sound. “This! Kidnapping me and keeping me prisoner. It isn’t going to work. I won’t change my mind.”
“And neither will I,” he said flatly. “I don’t know why you keep choosing to deny the connection between us, the rapport. Have you so quickly forgotten the trip to the inn, before you knew you were my mate? Have you forgotten everything we had in common, how well we got along?”
Sophia looked down at her plate where she absently twirled her fork in the leftover food. “It was different then.”
“Why?”
“Because then you weren’t trying to make me into your slave.”
Aidan slapped his hands down on the table, and Sophia jumped. “Stop using that word. Mating is not about ownership. It’s about two beings meant to come together. About sharing their life and love.”
Sophia laughed sarcastically. “Oh, please. You don’t love me. We’ve barely known each other two days.”
“And? Are you going to deny you didn’t want me from the first moment you saw me? I know I wanted you.”
“That’s lust,” she retorted, “not love.”
“Semantics. Most relationships start with lust and evolve into love.”
“And sometimes after the lust has faded, there’s nothing left, not even like. How can you be so sure that won’t happen?”
“Because I have faith.”
Sophia snorted. “That seems awfully risky.”
“Love is risky, no matter what.”
“Sorry, but I don’t think I’m ready to make that kind of commitment, especially knowing the repercussions.”
“Like what? More pleasure than you can imagine?”
His words made her shiver. She knew he spoke truth when he promised her pleasure, but pleasure was fleeting. “Stop doing that. You know what I’m talking about. The side effects to a witch mating with a shifter.”
He looked puzzled. “I’ve never heard of any so-called side effects. Then again, I’ve never actually met a witch- and-shifter pairing. Dracin didn’t have time to tell me much about his relationship.”
“Yeah, well, maybe you should get your facts straight first. I did learn about them, rare as they are, in my witch course. Things like the fact that any children we’d have would be shifters, not witches or warlocks like me.”
Aidan shrugged. “If you say so. I assume this knowledge is based in fact and not rumor.”
Sophia frowned at him. “Why would they print it in the course book if it was false? Even if I could accept that any children we’d have wouldn’t take after me, I’m more disturbed with the issue that while pregnant I wouldn’t be able to use magic at all.”
“And?”
Sophia growled. “I’d be powerless.”
Aidan rolled his eyes. “Ooh, for five months you couldn’t use your magic. The calamity, the horror.”
“Five months?”
“Shifter babies don’t take as long as human babies to mature.”
“Oh.” The books hadn’t mentioned that, not that it mattered.
“What do you need your magic for, might I ask, that you can’t go without for a few months?”
Sophia’s mind drew a blank. “Well, nothing usually, but you never know. What if someone tried to attack me for being a witch or something?”
Aidan’s eyes went dark. He got up from his chair, his body taut, and pulled her up into his arms. Sophia, in shock from the multitude of pleasurable sensations racing through her, didn’t protest. She did, however, shiver at his next words.
“I will never allow anybody or anything to hurt you. I will protect you with my life.”
Then his mouth came down hard on hers.
Chapter Eight
He honestly hadn’t intended to kiss her. He’d meant to make her think about some of her arguments and then go to bed, but when she’d talked about needing magic to keep herself from harm, a raging protective instinct took over. Only a fool would dare to lay a finger on her. He would kill to keep her safe.
He’d only meant to reassure her when he pulled her into his arms, but his libido took over and his mouth claimed hers in a fiery kiss. With an expectation that she’d bite his lip or stomp on his insole, he was surprised when instead he felt her hands reach up to clutch at his head, drawing him down further so that she might return his embrace with an enthusiastic groan.
She was everything he’d ever dreamed of in a woman-stubborn, intelligent, passionate, and even better, she fit perfectly against him. Her curvy frame tucked into his as if made for size. Her full breasts pushed against his chest, her rounded ass filled the palms of his hands lusciously, and her sex pulsed against the thigh he inserted between her legs.
Her mouth parted under the pressure of his, and he inserted his tongue into her warm recess, almost losing control when she daringly sent her tongue to twine with his. The heady sensations that swirled through his body were unlike anything he’d ever experienced. And he wanted more.
As he gripped her buttocks, he slid her up and down on his muscled thigh and was rewarded with a gasp whose sound he swallowed. Even through the thickness of the clothes that separated them-he’d almost chuckled at her attempt to hide her shape under her bulky sweatshirt-she was so wet and ready for him. His lips left hers to taste the soft skin of her neck and here his wolf finally jumped in, forcing his canines down and ramping up his instinct to bite her.
But an ounce of sanity prevailed.
Cursing himself for an idiot but knowing he’d be stupider to go on without her permission, he pulled away from her and took a step back.
She swayed on her feet, with her eyes closed dreamily, and her lips swelled with passion. She mewled like a lost kitten, and he took another step back even as his wolf and heart screamed at him to scoop her up and take her now.
Finally, she opened her eyes, confusion quickly clearing. A red stain bloomed across her cheeks, and a torrent of emotions crossed her face. Before she could speak, Aidan did.
“There’s blankets in the closet if you want some. I’ll be in the bed if you change your mind about becoming my
