Stolen Desire (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #3) by Nova Raines, Mira Bailee Read Free Book Online

He does it slowly, showing me the right rhythm. I'm trying to focus on the task, but I'm too aware of how his skin feels against mine, the scent of him so close. Finally we're done. Mine looks as nice as the vegetables he chopped by himself, even if it took me longer to get there.
    “I see now,” I murmur and brush another tear from my eye. His hand hasn't left mine, and I lean into him. He's too close, the scent of him makes me want to resume our earlier activities. He presses closer to my back and nuzzles my neck, kissing me right below my ear.
    I let out a sigh and drop the knife to turn and look up at him. His eyes are dark with desire again, and I arch up to kiss his soft lips. I can tell he'd take it further by the way he wraps his hand around my lower back. But I pull away. “We're never going to finish dinner like this.”
    He drops his arms from around me, and I get out of his orbit. His allure is so powerful, it's like he's got his own gravity field sucking me in. I have to be physically a few feet away from him to break free.
    He holds himself up on the counter, his eyes combing me over like he's hungry for me . Then he relaxes and shakes his head like he's amused. “Okay, back to dinner.” He looks like he's forcing himself to finish the chopping.
    I sit back down on the stool and rest my chin in my hand. “So, Kaidan Stone. I want to know more about you. What's your favorite type of cuisine to eat and cook?”
    “I like a lot of foods. Every time I travel somewhere, I find something new to enjoy. Then I come home and learn to cook it.”
    “So you've probably traveled the world, right? My father took me to Europe a few times as a kid, and Hawaii, but he mostly traveled alone. I'm probably the least-well-traveled of everyone I went to school with.”
    “I actually went to an American boarding school in France as a teenager.”
    “How was that? What'd you do there?”
    He pauses, as if remembering. “I got into trouble with friends mostly, but my favorite thing to do was to take a book and wander Paris. I tried different cafés, wandered the shops and parks. Did the same thing when I went back to Europe during summers off in college. I found a lot of great hole-in-the-wall restaurants that way. That's where you get the most authentic food.”
    “You went alone?” I blurt it out and realize it's a dumb question. But Kaidan's seriously throwing me for a loop right now. Passion for cooking? Wandering the cafés of Paris, alone, with a book? He is nothing like I'm used to. Nothing like what I really expected.
    He doesn't answer right away. He looks at me with intensity, then averts his eyes and moves to the stove to drop noodles in the boiling water. He sets up the wok with some oil, and comes back for the vegetables.
    “Mostly alone,” he finally says. “But no one really knew who I was or cared back then. They focused on my father. I might never have that sort of privacy again.” His voice turns slightly bitter at that, and I reach over to lay a hand on his arm.
    “You know what? Screw the paps. I'm sure there are ways to travel under the radar, get away from them. We can't let them invade our lives.”
    “Yeah. I'm sure there are. It just seems impossible because LA's crawling with them.”
    He goes to the stove to drain the noodles and makes a little bowl of some kind of sauce. I follow, and he hands me the bowl and a little whisk.
    “Mix this, please.” Kaidan's happiness seems to have faded a bit, and his expression is serious as he adds the vegetables to the wok. “I've been working too much,” he says. “When this is all over, I think I'd like to get out of LA for a while.”
    When what's all over? It's like he's talking to himself, telling himself what he wants. My heart sinks a little. He's going to leave? He did call me his girlfriend… Are we together or not?
    He looks up from the vegetables, pensive. “Maybe you'll come with me?”
    “I'd love that.” His offer makes me giddy,