Fairytale Ambrosia (The Knead to Know Series Book 2) Read Free

wouldn’t be completely repugnant and utterly failed. “What do you want?”
    “Now that’s a good question. Take off the apron.”
    I stared at him a moment finally did as he said. I was fully clothed underneath, so why did it feel like I was baring myself to him? I hung my apron on the hook by the door. “What happened?” I repeated.
    “I’m not quite finished.” He didn’t move toward me, but he slowly placed one hand on the doorknob behind him, a not so subtle threat. “Kiss me.”
    “I’m not—” He started to open the door. I went to him and put my hand gently on his shoulder, stood on my tiptoes and pecked my lips against his with tight control over my abilities. “Happy?”
    “That was an insult to kisses everywhere,” he said, opening the door a little wider.
    I turned my head, needing to look away from him. This guy was impossible. He didn’t want a kiss because I had feelings for him or even because he had feelings for me. This was a power play. My control was already slipping and dollars to donuts, he knew it. If I kissed him, really kissed him, I would feed, and that would awaken the hunger in me, which would make it much harder to say no to whatever it was he wanted. And he wouldn’t be here now, if he didn’t want something from me. I was exactly where he wanted me to be.
    “Five, four, three,” he counted down slowly, his voice caressing my mind.
    I slid my fingers into his long-ish black hair and pulled him down, kissing him without reserve. Deep, slow pulls of dark energy clouded my judgment as his tongue caressed mine. The soft click of the door behind him barely registered as I backed him against it. He pulled me tighter against himself, his hands slipping beneath the back of my shirt, connecting with even more skin. He groaned, nipping at my lower lip.
    The timer went off and my eyes snapped open. I wrenched myself away and headed to the oven automatically, my lips kiss-swollen and my legs wobbly. My head was too cloudy to think about how big a mistake I was making. I opened the oven and reached in, grabbing both pans.
    Pain, instant searing pain, snapped me out of my fog. The pans burned away my flesh. I yelped, but didn’t drop them until they were over the counter. I tore my hands away, tears rolling down my cheeks—but the pain was already fading, and my skin was slowly returning to normal. Another benefit to being immortal—super healing.
    Phoenix was there, blue flames dancing in his eyes. “You should be more careful.”
    Whether he was talking about the kiss or the oven, I didn’t know. Both were equally dumb.
    “Reconsider the deal, Maggie. I can split this world wide open for you.”
    I ran my fingers over my lips. Maybe an arrangement with Phoenix wouldn’t be that bad. “What happened that night?”
    He shook his head, his dark flaming eyes not quite meeting mine. “Nothing.”
    “We both know that isn’t true.” I pressed my hand flat against his chest, itching for just one more pull.
    He gave a half laugh. “It’s entirely true. I took you inside and you fed until your heart was content, then I took you home. That was all. Nothing else happened.”
    Usually when I fed I just grabbed the demon or vampire or whatever, and as soon as I had skin-to-skin contact, I drained the soul. Phoenix, though, was my only jinni, and with him, it was never as easy as just taking his hand. Things always ended up much more intimate and connected on a deeper level. That night the effects of feeding stayed with me a lot longer than normal. A terrible thought made me want to cover my face. The image of me running around the bar kissing every evil person in sight wasn’t a pretty picture—even worse, what if I hadn’t stopped at making out? “Who did I feed on?”
    “A demon, and I assure you, he deserved it. You have nothing to feel guilty about. You shook his hand and didn’t let go. After that you were …effervescent. It was a good night.”
    How could everything have