“I don’t like that you’re having to do the lion’s share of the work in the kitchen.” He didn’t. He wasn’t that kind of man. “Why don’t we make a meal together and see how that works out.” He liked the idea of the two of them in the kitchen. It seemed intimate to him.
She smiled at him and then washed her hands. He couldn’t help but notice that her weapons were never far from her. “I like that idea. Do you know what you’d like for dinner? They’ve given us fresh produce.”
“Anything but those rations Whitney sent with you. Are you absolutely positive that he isn’t trying to slowly torture and kill you with that stuff? Because it’s nasty.”
She burst out laughing, the sound filling the little cabin. Something in him settled, something he hadn’t known was tense, knotting his gut and leaving him edgy. She had already washed and was deftly slicing two chicken breasts before indicating he wash vegetables.
“Do you have any favorite recipes?”
Her voice slipped over him, soft and mellow, making him even more comfortable. Being with Shylah was soothing in any situation. This one, doubly so. “You’re a miracle, woman.” Draden meant it. He couldn’t imagine most people reacting the way she was in the circumstances.
“So everyone tells me.” There was a note of teasing laughter in her voice.
He felt those intimate notes slipping under his skin settling around the area of his heart. He let her direct him how to cut up the potatoes and then grill the vegetables while she worked with the chicken, stuffing it with thin-sliced cheese and long strips of red pepper. Soon, the room was filled with the aroma of cooking food.
Draden found himself wondering what childhood would have been like for her. “Who cooked for you?”
“We had a series of cooks in the kitchen. Some let us come in, others not so much.” She shot him a mischievous smirk, her dark eyes dancing at him. “The ones who didn’t allow us in the kitchen didn’t last long. We weren’t shy about playing pranks on them. The meaner they were, the worse the pranks.”
He leaned against the counter and watched her hands as she worked. He liked her hands. They looked almost delicate. Every movement was graceful. Looking at her, one would never suspect her lethal training, or the way she could get the job done so efficiently. He liked that. He liked that he was the only one who saw her. Who knew her.
She was so adaptable. She fit into any environment as if it were her home. Draden had seen her moving fast in the forest. He’d come across the men she’d killed. Now, in the kitchen, she was all feminine, soft and graceful, laughing intimately and making him feel as if he had a home for the first time in his life.
“Is that where you learned to cook?”
“I only can make a few special dishes. Zara is the one who really can cook. She excels at it. She really likes it. I wanted to know how it all worked. From there, I learned how to make a few dishes and that sort of satisfied me. I actually don’t mind the rations when I’m out in the field.”
He could understand that now that he’d spent some time with her. She was all about efficiency. The rations Whitney provided were fast, efficient and nutritious. She needed fuel when she was hunting. She needed to concentrate and focus on the hunt. He liked that about her as well.
“Have you ever thought much about the traits you’d want in a man if you were going to settle down and get married?”
She frowned at him as she put chicken on each of two plates. “It never occurred to me I would ever have the chance to find a man. Whitney always plants the capsules in us before we leave for a mission. If we don’t return to him, we’re dead. Luckily I’ve been given several weeks in order to track these men down. In his world, we can go into a breeding program to make him a little supersoldier, but we never thought in terms of settling down and getting married or anything remotely resembling that. What about you?”
He watched her add vegetables and the potatoes to the plates before placing them on the table. He liked having her there. Just her movements were soft, with no hard edges. That graceful, fluid motion she had that resembled a cat was all feminine now, not at all reminding him of that hunter in the forest. The more he was around her, the more the demons in him quieted.
“I’ve never even entertained the idea of having a home and family until I met you. As a rule, I don’t like spending too much time with anyone. I think being at Wyatt’s home helped with that. If not for him and Nonny, I probably still wouldn’t have any idea of what a home should be.”
They both sat at the extremely small table. “This looks delicious, Shylah. And it makes the house smell really good.”
“I’m not guaranteeing anything but that it looks, smells and tastes better than rations.”
He gave a little smirk of derision. “That’s not much of an endorsement. Anything would taste better than that crap.”
She laughed, just like he knew she would. “Tell me about the home you went to.”
“The Fontenots. Wyatt Fontenot is a member of our team. He grew up with several brothers out in the swamps of Louisiana. His grandmother raised them. We all call her Nonny, and she’s incredible. I didn’t have a clue that women like Nonny existed.”
Shylah was like Nonny. She would stand with her man, carving out a home and fighting by his side when necessary in the worst of circumstances.
“Nonny took all of us in when she didn’t have to. When you’re with her, you feel welcome. You feel like you have a home. I didn’t even know I was missing that until I walked into her house. For the first time something reminded me of being with Eliza when I was a kid. Nonny’s kitchen smelled like this place does. Filled with warmth. With welcoming. That house is like that because of Nonny. This one is like it because of you. I really want to thank you for giving me this experience.”
She sent him a small smile. “I can’t say I haven’t had fantasies, Draden.”
His cock jerked unexpectedly at that word. Fantasies. She’d given him a few of his own. “Those would be? Because you have to know, I’d be willing to fulfill every single one of them.”
She threw her head back and laughed. Her hair went everywhere, falling around her face in soft waves. Her eyes danced and that generous mouth of hers drew his attention. He was dying, and he felt more alive than he ever had. Every cell in his body was alert and focused entirely on the woman seated across from him.
With her head thrown back, the graceful line of her neck was exposed. Her small white teeth flashed at him and amusement danced in her eyes. He had the sudden, mad desire to stand up, sweep all the plates and food off the table and lay her down right there like some primitive caveman. “You’re giving me ideas best left alone, sweetheart.” He put a bite of chicken in his mouth to keep from doing anything crazy.
“I’m glad I’m not the only inappropriate one,” she said.
That was another thing he loved about her. She always made him feel as if they both were in the same boat. That if he was suffering for want of physical intimacy, so was she. She didn’t take offense at his thoughts, admissions or actions. There was such freedom in that. He found Shylah Cosmos amazing. The fact that he’d been given such a gift at the end of his life both angered him and appeased him.
“I like this, Draden,” she continued. “I’m going to pretend that we’re living together.”
“You don’t have to pretend, sweetheart. We are.”
“You know what I mean. I’m letting myself fall for you. All the way. I want that. You’re definitely the kind of man I would want.”
His heart clenched so hard it was a physical pain. He chewed, taking his time. “What do you mean?” He did his best to sound matter-of-fact, matching the conversational way she was being so honest. Neither had anything to lose. What was the possible use of hiding or misleading each other?
“If I was going to choose one man to spend my life with, it would be you. I like everything about you.”
He liked that a hell of a lot. More than he realized. “I feel the same way about y