A Pinch of Kitchen Magic Read Online Free Page A

Of course. Heaven forbid
you actually gave magic a hundred percent of your attention.”
Clearing his throat, Matteus cocked an eyebrow in her direction.
“Think of the Universe as a swimming pool. When you swim laps, you
only occupy one lane. Your lane is your own reality or plane of
existence. You may be doing the backstroke, and the guy in the next
lane is doing the freestyle. You’re both totally independent of
each other, but you move at different speeds at the same time but
through a different plane. Many planes exist, independent of each
other but each with their own timelines. Reality is much the same
way. When I disappear from here, I slip into a different
plane.”
    “ That’s… confusing.” Aidan
closed her mouth with an audible click of her teeth. “Unless… Oh, I
get it. You time travel.” She grinned, curiosity pinging around her
brain. “Can you take me with you?”
    “ That wouldn’t be
advisable.”
    Yup, tall, dark and stubborn. “Okay.
Will that be part of my training?” Prickles of awareness lifted the
hairs on the back of her neck when he smiled. He should do it more
often. “It sounds interesting, and you did say you’re here to teach
me everything I’ll need to know if I want to use my magic
responsibly. You wouldn’t want me flying willy-nilly all over town,
would you?”
    His grin widened. “Ah, no, not at this
time. I’m here to teach you to use your magic in a practical
manner. Once you’ve mastered that, then you can start on the more
difficult practices.” He reached out a hand to her. “Let’s move on
to lesson two.”
    Aidan slipped her fingers into his.
Tiny barbs of electricity danced from their clasped hands and along
her arm. “Why did you say I cheated before?” She yanked her fingers
free, wary of him but very aware of him at the same
time.
    “ You can’t just make up a
pretty rhyme, ask an object to do your bidding then skate away
without consequences.” The aggravation she associated with him
flowed through his voice. “You need to determine why the dough
exploded in the first place.”
    “ I have no idea. You lifted the
towel. You bumped
the table. I was nowhere near the area when the dough grew in
size.”
    “ Interesting.”
    “ Annoying.” She wondered
why he was exasperated with the dough incident. “What’s the big
deal? I cleaned up the mess.”
    “ I’ll overlook it since it
was your first time.” His lips pressed into a tight line. “Now, I
want you to change the pattern on your rug.”
    She shot him what she hoped was an
incredulous look. “Why? I like the rug like it is now.”
    Matteus made a sound of exasperation
in his throat. “I don’t care. Just change the pattern.” His fingers
flexed at his sides.
    “ What’s the point?” Aidan
glanced at the blue-green paisley rug then met his tempestuous
gaze. The air between them reverberated with a low-pitched hum. “I
mean, what am I supposed to learn from messing with the
rug?”
    “ Must you be impossible?”
He raked his fingers through his hair. “Just do what I ask!
Please.”
    “ Fine. No need to get your
boxers in a bunch.” Which opened an interesting question: did we
wear boxers or briefs? Aidan let her eyes relax as she stared at
one of the paisley forms in the pattern. No matter how hard she
tried, she couldn’t convince the fibers of the yarn to reorder
themselves. She told the rug it would be happier displaying a
peacock instead of the paisleys, but still nothing happened. “I
don’t understand why it’s not working.” She raised her gaze to his,
her breath dying in her throat at the intense look he bestowed on
her. A storm at sea could never be as turbulent and tossed as his
eyes were now.
    “ Forget about anything
that’s distracting you and try again.”
    “ I’m not
distracted.” Much. It was his fault for
being so drool-worthy. She dutifully
stared at the rug again. “Come on, you stupid rug, just change your
pattern so my big, scary magic teacher will