Page 63 of Bound By the Sleeper’s Harp

I laughed. “Not at all! God, it’s so underrated.”

He grunted in agreement, then grabbed a fork and broke off a piece. A tendril of steam rose into the air. He blew on it to cool it, then brought it over. “Open up, baby girl.”

A swarm of butterflies broke out in my stomach.

I opened and his eyes fixed on my lips, lingering as he placed the fork on my tongue and slid it out. Flavor exploded in my mouth, with hints of sage and tomato. “Oh mah gah,” I managed through the steaming bite. “Delicious!”

He chuckled. “Thought so. Had the recipe since…the fifties? Improved on it here and there.”

“Shit, what’s your secret?”

“Wouldn’t be a secret if I told you…”

“Fine. But I need more of that.” I caught my bottom lip between my teeth. “Are you going to hand feed me here, or can I get down and eat.”

He laughed. The deep and rumbling sound had my heart fluttering. I stared at him, an infectious smile spreading over my lips. He lifted me down off the counter. In my stiletto heeled boots, I stood close to six feet tall and could have slipped down myself.

We settled at the island and I dug in. Meatloaf and sautéed green beans. My mouth remained too full to speak until I slowed down. “How do you decide what to cook?”

“Just whatever comes to me, I suppose? I do a grocery run twice a week, usually. Grab whatever I’m in the mood for.”

“You don’t just summon your ingredients out of thin air?”

“Doesn’t quite work that way, sugar. They gotta come from somewhere.” He took another bite, then swallowed. “I guess technically I could steal it all from the store. But I can easily afford it, so should I?”

“You mean, you’ve never been missing an ingredient? Like oregano? And just, you know, summoned it?” He threw me a wicked smirk. “Hah! I knew it. So naughty.”

“Very naughty. Perhaps I need⁠—”

“Don’t you dare!” I warned, knowing exactly where this conversation was heading. I ate the rest of the food on my plate, glancing at the clock. It was 8:45pm.

“You cool with taking the bike again?”

“You mean, no fancy sports car?” I pouted, wondering when I was going to get to take that thing for a spin.

He lifted a shoulder. “We could, technically. You’d be more comfortable. The bike is easier to get through traffic, and if we have to leave like we did last night, I’m not wasting magic to summon a whole car back here. That thing’s way too damn heavy to move around. All the horsepower and whatnot…”

“But you could?” I lifted my brows in challenge.

“Oh, I could, sugar. I could do a lot of things. I simply spend wisely.”

I hummed. “Reckless motorcycle it is.”

Truth was, I liked it more than I should have, especially getting to wrap myself around him.

He scoffed. “It’s not reckless. You forget what I am? I won’t let any harm come to you.”

My stomach dipped. Yep. There he went again making me feel safe. I was finding it harder and harder to keep my emotions separate from whatever was happening between us. He just made it too…easy.

Thirty minutes later, after I’d insisted on doing the dishes and cleaning Teddy’s litter box, we were racing through Kentwood toward the city. I wrapped my arms around Bastian’s torso. Soon enough, my fingers were creeping beneath his black T-shirt. His only response was a low chuckle, heard through my helmet’s audio. It made my insides drip with heat.

We arrived at Vortex to find a line snaking around the front. Bastian parked his bike on the sidewalk like he owned the place, and the next time I turned around, it was gone. “Won’t someone notice you just did that?” I asked.

“Nope. People aren’t too observant, and my magic makes sure they miss it.”

“Huh.” I pulled off my helmet and handed it over, running my fingers through my loose curls.

“Ready, sugar?”