"How do you know about aloe?" she asked.

"Its curative powers were known even before I was born," he said.

Chills swept up her spine and coiled around her stomach as he rubbed the gooey gel over her finger. "Better?"

She nodded.

His gaze warm, he stared longingly at her lips as if he could already taste them. "I think I'll let you handle the oven from now on," he said.

"Probably for the best."

She moved past him and took the bread out just before it was too cooked to eat.

Grace made them plates, then led Julian into the living room to eat on the floor by the sofa while they watched The Matrix.

"I love this movie," she said as it began.

Julian set his plate on the coffee table, then sat next to her. "Do you always eat on the floor?" he asked, before placing a piece of bread in his mouth.

Fascinated by the symphony of movement of his body, she watched the way his jaw flexed as he chewed.

Was there any part of his body not mouth-wateringly gorgeous? She was beginning to understand why his other summoners had treated him the way they had.

The idea of keeping him locked in a bedroom for a month was seriously starting to appeal to her.

And they did have those handcuffs…

"Well," she said, forcing her thoughts away from what all that glorious golden skin would look like if he were indeed spread out naked on her mattress. "I have the dining room table, but since it's just me most nights, I pretty much do a cup of soup on the couch."

He twirled his fork expertly in the bowl of his spoon until the noodles were wrapped around the tines. "You need someone to take care of you," he said before he bit into it.

Grace shrugged. "I have myself for that."

"It's not the same."

She frowned at him. There was an underlying note to his voice that told her he wasn't taking a shot at her being a woman. He was speaking from his heart and experience.

"I guess we all need someone to take care of us, don't we?" she whispered.

He looked back toward the TV, but not before she caught the flash of longing in his eyes.

Grace watched him watch the movie for several minutes. Even while distracted, he had the most impeccable table manners she'd ever seen.

She had spaghetti sauce flying everywhere while he never splashed one single drop. "Show me how you do that," she said.

He looked at her curiously. "Do what?"

"That whole spoon thing you're doing. It's making me crazy. I can never get my noodles to stick to the tines of my fork. They flop all around and make a giant mess."

"Well, we certainly can't have giant noodles flopping around making a mess, now can we?"

Grace laughed at his words, knowing he wasn't talking about the spaghetti. "Anyway, how do you do that?"

He took a drink of wine, then set it aside. "Here, it'll be easier for me to show you this way."

He squeezed himself in between her and the couch.

"Julian…" she said in warning.

"I'm just showing you what you wanted to know."

"Um-hum," she said doubtfully.

Still, she couldn't help but feel him all the way to her bones, to her very soul. The warmth of his chest invaded her back as he surrounded her with his marvelous arms.

He had his legs bent on each side of her. And as he leaned forward, she felt his erection against the back of her hip. For once it didn't shock her. Oddly enough, she was growing accustomed to it.

As his lithe, toned body moved around her, she felt his power, his strength. It left her breathless and unsure.

Unfamiliar feelings washed over her with an intensity she had never known before. What was it about Julian that made her feel so happy and safe?

If this was the curse, then it should be renamed, because there was nothing malevolent about the sensations spiraling through her.

"Okay," he breathed in her ear, sending electric waves through her. He picked her hands up in his and, together, they held her silverware.

Julian closed his eyes as he inhaled the sweet, pleasant floral scent of her hair. It took every ounce of his willpower to focus on the task and not on how badly he wanted to make love to her.

Her fingers slid provocatively between his, heightening his awareness of her warm, soft skin. A new kind of desperation seized him. One he couldn't name. He knew what he wanted from her, and it wasn't just her body.

But he dared not think those thoughts.

Dared not hope.

She was beyond his grasp. He knew it in his heart, and in his soul. And all the longing in the world would never change the one basic fact that he wasn't worthy of a woman like this.

He had never been worthy…

Opening his eyes, Julian showed her how to use the spoon as a bowl for the fork to tuck the noodles together.

"See," he whispered, bringing the fork to her lips. "It's simple."

She opened her mouth and he gently placed the noodles on her tongue. As they slid the fork slowly back out, between her lips, he felt as though he had been spread out on a torture rack.

His heart pounded in a wild, frenzied rhythm as his common sense told him to move away from her.

But he couldn't. He'd been so long without a companion. So long without a friend…

He couldn't let go right now. He didn't know how.

So, he continued to feed her.

Grace leaned back into the shelter of his arms. She dropped her hands from his and just let him take control. As she swallowed the next bite, she reached for the bread and fed a piece of it to Julian. He nipped her fingers with his teeth as she placed it in his mouth.

Smiling, she ran her hand down the line of his jaw as he chewed. Oh, the way that muscle flexed beneath her hand. She just loved the way his body moved, the way it rippled with every activity no matter how large or small.

A woman would never get tired of watching this man.

While she took a drink of wine, Julian snuck a bite of her spaghetti.

"Hey, now," she said teasingly. "That's mine."

His celestial blue eyes glowed as he smiled, then fed her another bite.

While she chewed, she gave him a drink of her wine.

Unfortunately, she misjudged her timing and pulled back too soon, spilling a bit down his chin and the front of his shirt. "I'm sorry!" she said, wiping his chin with her fingers. His whiskers scraped gently against her flesh. "Jeez, I stink at this."

He didn't seem to mind. Taking her hand in his, he sucked the wine from her fingertips.

Grace moaned low in her throat. A million ribbons of pleasure spread through her body as his tongue slid the entire length of her fingers while his teeth gently nipped her flesh.

One by one, he slowly cleaned them all. And when he was done, he tilted her chin up and captured her lips with his.

But this wasn't the fiercely demanding kiss she was used to from him. The one he used to seduce and devour her.

This one was gentle, quiet. Soft. His lips were feather-light and questing.

He pulled back. "Still hungry?" he asked.

"Yes," she breathed, not really talking about the food, but more about the aching of her body for his.

He fed her another bite of spaghetti.

And the next time she sought to quench his thirst, he covered her hand with his while his eyes teased her.

They stayed like that, gently feeding each other and just reveling in one another's company, until the end of the movie, when Julian became suddenly interested in the final fight scenes.

"Your guns are fascinating," he said as he watched it.

"I guess a general would think so."

He glanced at her, then back to the movie. "What do you like most about this play?"

'The allegories."

He nodded. "I see a lot of Plato in it."

"You know of Plato?" she asked in surprise.

"I studied him when I was young."

"Really?"

He looked less than amused. 'They did manage to teach us a few things while they were knocking us around."