He pretended not to notice her staring, but as much as she tried, Cara couldn’t help herself. She wanted to touch his hard face and see gentleness, see desire in his eyes, which were always void of any emotion.
Although the gods and goddesses were well known for their sexual exploits, Fate had kept Cara and her sisters away from the excesses. Cara had never been tempted even by the most handsome of the gods, yet Jericho made her want him with no encouragement. This was hard for a woman to admit when her father was a Saint.
“Are you hungry?”
Cara jumped when Jericho spoke from the kitchen. She hadn’t even heard him walk through the room.
Blushing, Cara nodded her head.
Jericho gave her a hard look. “Is spaghetti, okay?”
“I’ve never had it before, but I’ve been enjoying trying new things.” Cara walked into the kitchen and watched as he cooked. It was very interesting watching him work around the kitchen because he was unselfconscious about his movements.
She watched as he put long strands of something into a steaming pot while an appetizing smell came from the pan of red sauce.
When her stomach growled, Cara put a hand on it and laughed.
“You should’ve told me you were so hungry.” He reached toward the counter and pulled a large piece of bread off the loaf sitting there.
“I did not realize that I was. Everything smells so good.” Cara watched as Jericho moved the sauce to the counter.
Thinking to help him, she reached out and touched the steaming pot, wanting to move it to the counter. Searing pain in her hands was instantaneous.
“What the hell have you done?” Deftly, he moved the pot away from the counter back to the stove then quickly grabbed her hands, pulling her toward the sink where he turned on the water to run it over her red palms. The cold water soothed the pain, but not for long. “Dammit, why did you touch it without a towel?”
“I didn’t know,” Cara’s voice trembled. It was everything she could do not to howl in pain. Tears filled her eyes.
When she was immortal, she would have been unable to hurt herself. She had to learn caution now.
“Haven’t you cooked food before?”
“No, my mother’s servants prepare our meals.”
“Must be nice.” Cara could tell by his look of disgust that he was being sarcastic. Her shoulders drooped. Now he thought that she was not only crazy, but helpless, as well.
“Stay still. I’ll be right back.”
Within minutes, he was back, turning off the water then drying her hands with a clean towel. Afterward, he rubbed a soothing lotion on her burning hands. He was gentle and careful not to hurt her. When he was done, he wrapped them in gauze.
“Take these,” he instructed, holding two tablets in his hands. Cara looked at them quizzically. “Just aspirin for the pain. I’m sorry, I don’t have anything stronger.”
Cara took them with the glass of water he handed her.
“Now sit down while I see if I can save our dinner.”
Cara sat at the table, feeling useless as she watched him fix their plates.
It took only a few minutes before he slid a plate of pasta in front of her. Cara could only think of one thing as she dug into her plate of food—Heaven, pure Heaven. It was the most delicious dish she had ever tasted.
At first, she had trouble eating the stringy mess, but after watching Jericho twirl it onto his fork, she followed suit. The taste was exquisite, and she cleaned her plate using a chunk of bread to sop up the remains of the tangy sauce, imitating Jericho.
“Would you like some more?”
For the first time, Cara actually saw a small smile on his face, and she was struck dumb. She took it back; if Venus or Aphrodite saw him, they would never let him leave their bed.
Cara suddenly wished she had watched their maneuvering with the opposite sex. Maybe then she wouldn’t feel so inept at how to act.
At his questioning look, Cara realized he was still waiting for her answer.