A Pinch of Kitchen Magic by Sandra Sookoo

Matteus. Why do you run?”
    He headed for unchartered
territory but he ignored the warning signs. The temptation she
presented was too much. He slid his arms around her waist and
pulled her against him. “You wouldn’t understand, and it would
definitely change your opinion of me.” His lips barely brushed hers
before she pulled away. He groaned with frustration: at her, at his
paralyzed feet, at the whole situation. Why can I never have it all?
    “ No kisses until I get
some answers.” Aidan brushed her fingers against his cheek. “Tell
me why you left.”
    “ My position with the
Institute for Magical Instruction is in flux at the moment.” He
considered his options and decided he didn’t have many since he was
stuck to the floor. “I’m being considered for a promotion to the
Director Liaison for Universal Intelligence.” He swallowed around
the lump of dread lodged in his throat. “If I get the promotion,
the rules state relationships with novices are strictly prohibited.
Security could be compromised. Even if I weren’t in the running for
the promotion, I couldn’t become involved with you.”
    “ Why?”
    He thought he’d die from
need when she dropped a chaste kiss to the corner of his
mouth. I want so much more. “As an employee of the Institute, I’m banned from
forming attachments or relationships with any student of magic I’m
tutoring or testing.”
    Aidan shrugged. “I don’t understand
what the big deal is. I’m not a minor and we’re two consenting
adults. Plus, once I have my license, you won’t be my teacher any
longer.”
    Matteus took a deep breath. It was now
or never. At least she’d be kept safe this way. “The Institute is
my life. I won’t jeopardize my whole career for a woman who may or
may not want to enter a new relationship. You said yourself you’d
choose magic over a man.”
    “ Just as you’ve apparently
done the same.” She cocked an eyebrow.
    “ True, but I’ve worked too
hard to get to where I’m at to throw it away for something as
fleeting as a few sexual encounters.” Loathing sliced through him
when she stepped away, anger stirring her gaze into a molten
chocolate torrent.
    “ Is that all I am to you,
then? A potential one night stand?” Her cheeks were stained red
from humiliation or fury, he couldn’t tell. Her chest heaved. “You
wouldn’t think that something between us might deepen?”
    “ I—” What to say when he
didn’t know for sure?
    “ Why did you kiss me? Was
that a game too?”
    He stared at her, the only woman to
crack his arrogant, mocking barricade and make him feel wanted as a
man. He needed to make sure she forgot about him. It was better
this way. It was the only way to keep her safe. “I never could say
no to a beautiful woman. A few stolen kisses isn’t that high of a
price to pay.” He knew it was coming but he wasn’t prepared for the
force of her slap. Pain ebbed across his cheek and into his jaw.
His ears rang with the blow.
    “ Bastard.” She spat the
word at him as if it were a poison-tipped dart. “Get out.” She
pointed a forefinger at him, her eyes flat and lifeless as he
stumbled backward, his feet immediately releasing from the binding
spell. “If I catch you here again, I won’t be responsible for my
actions.”
    Self-disgust churned in his gut as he
stared at her. It was on the tip of his tongue to tell her the
truth, but her next words stayed his confession.
    “ I thought you were
different from all the rest, but I was wrong. No wonder Aunt Hettie
never married. It’s too hard to separate romantic feelings from
magical energies.” She wrapped her fingers around the handle of her
chef’s knife. “I could have cared for you, but you turned out to be
no better than a snake.”
    “ Aidan, I…” The sorrow in
her voice ripped through him.
    “ Get out!”
    His last act of magic in her home was
to halt the chef’s knife she threw at him. As it fell to the tiled
floor with a metallic clatter, he