A Touch of Darkness (Hades & Persephone 1)

Lexa blushed.

Damn, the Lord of the Underworld was charming.

Persephone took Hades into her kitchen. It was small for her and Lexa, even tinier with him. His head practically touched the ceiling, but his height came in handy, as much of what Persephone needed was on the top shelf in her cabinets.

“Why do you put everything up so high?” he asked as he helped retrieve her supplies.

“It’s the only place it will fit. In case you haven’t noticed, I don’t live in a palace.”

He gave her a look as if to say, I could change that.

When everything was on the counter, Hades turned to look at her. “What would you do without me?”

“Get it myself,” she said simply.

Hades snorted. She turned to face him, and found he was leaning against the counter, arms crossed over his chest. He was absolutely breathtaking, and she wanted to laugh because he was standing in her ugly kitchen making cookies.

“Well, get over here. You can’t learn from there.”

Hades raised a brow, smirking, and approached. She hadn’t expected him to stand so close, but he came up behind her, cradling her body with his, hands braced on either side of her.

His mouth touched her ear, warm and honeyed. “Please, instruct.”

She took a breath and cleared her throat. “The most important thing to remember when baking is that the ingredients have to be measured and mixed right or it could mean disaster.”

His lips brushed along her neck and then her shoulder. Her breath caught, and she cleared her throat.

“Scratch that. The most important thing to remember is to pay attention.”

She glared at him over her shoulder while he tried to look innocent. She reached for the measuring cup and handed it to him.

“First, flour,” she said.

Hades took the cup and measured out the required amount of flour. He kept his arms around her, working almost as if she weren’t there. Except she knew he was aware of her because she could feel his body hardening against hers.

“Next?”

Concentrate, she commanded herself. She cleared her throat.

“Baking soda.”

He continued like that until all the ingredients were in the bowl and mixed. Persephone took that opportunity to duck under his arm, reaching for a cookie sheet and a spoon. She instructed Hades to form the dough into balls no more than an inch in diameter and place them on the sheet.

After the cookies were in the oven, Hades turned to her, expectantly, but she was already prepared for him.

“We make icing.” She rubbed her hands together. This was the best part. Hades raised a brow, clearly amused.

Persephone began to instruct again, and Hades listened, mixing ingredients. The fun came when they divided the icing into separate bowls and mixed food coloring into it. Persephone was not the cleanest baker, and by the time they finished incorporating all the colors, her fingers were covered in icing.

Hades noticed and reached for her hand.

“How does it taste?” he asked, and drew her fingers deep into his mouth, sucking it clean. He groaned, “Delicious.”

She flushed and drew her hand away.

There was a long pause, and Hades asked, “Now what?”

Their eyes met.