Chapter 15 #2
“Hm,” Sierra replied. “Well, none of this is meat, as I also don’t eat animals.”
It was Aodhan’s turn to look confused. “I thought all humans liked eating animals?”
“Not anymore. Many in our—” Realizing Aodhan was born over 100 years before, she quickly edited her statement, “—my generation have chosen not to, either for health or environmental reasons.”
“Makes sense.” Sierra’s eyes widened as Aodhan began making his fourth taco.
“There are many Fae who believe that the mother earth is mad at the Fae for the increased meat consumption, and that has also contributed to our shorter life span. It is generally not legal to hunt in Sidhe, so Fae who want to eat meat must do so illegally or import it from the human world, which is expensive and challenging.”
“It doesn’t sound like eating meat in Sidhe is a good idea.” Sierra had studied vegetarianism and its longevity benefits as part of her master’s program, but she had become vegetarian even before moving to Dublin because of the health concerns associated with eating meat.
Sierra finished her second taco, sitting back as Aodhan again devoured his fourth in just a few bites. She had only bought eight tortillas, and now she was wondering if she should have bought a second package. Aodhan reached to make his fifth taco, suddenly realizing Sierra had stopped eating.
“You’re done?”
Sierra looked at the dwindling stack of tortillas. “I think I’ll eat one more. But I want to make sure you have enough. I only bought eight tortillas.”
Aodhan looked at the tortilla half-filled in his hand. “Do you want this one? So we each have four?”
Sierra held up her hand. “No, you eat that one; I just didn’t know if you would want one more.”
“No, you eat the last one. I don’t need anymore.”
They finished the last of the tacos quickly, and Sierra began to clean. As she picked up all the dishes and moved to carry them to the sink, they suddenly disappeared from her hands.
“What the…” She looked at the table, aghast to find it was also empty. She spun to the sink to find Aodhan leaning against it, a smug smirk occupying his face. “What did you do?”
“I shifted the dishes.”
Sierra felt her mouth drop open. “To where?”
“Where I’m staying. The servants there can do them, and then they’ll shift them back when they are done.”
Sierra was aghast. “Aodhan. You can’t just be having other people do my dishes for me. I—”
Before she could say anything else, his lips were on hers, and he was pressing her up against the wall.
Unlike before, when his kiss had been entirely unwelcome outside of the pizza restaurant, Sierra felt her body come alive as their lips touched.
Her arms came up to settle on his shoulders of their own accord as his hand came to rest on her waist, and their lips moved in a comforting rhythm.
Aodhan braced his other hand against the wall behind her, keeping his weight off Sierra as he pressed his body to hers.
After a few seconds, Aodhan broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers. They were both breathing heavily. Before Sierra could say anything, his lips were on hers once again.
She wasn’t sure how long they kissed, but at some point, he pulled her to the couch, settling her in his lap.
Sierra slipped her hands beneath his shirt, resting them against his firm abdomen.
She could feel him toying with the edge of her sweater, and somehow, she knew he was waiting for her permission to remove it.
Sierra was torn; on the one hand, she was really enjoying this make-out session, as was her body, which was on fire at the idea of a sexual encounter after so long of having gone without, but on the other hand, she wasn’t sure if she was ready to show him everything.
While her condition affected most of her body, it was at its worst on her back and stomach, and she was severely self-conscious about it.
After all, this was basically only their second date.
Just as she was forcing herself to come to a decision, a clatter reached her ears, and Sierra broke the kiss to see what had happened.
Her eyes connected with a stack of dishes on the counter, all clean and dry.
“Dishes are done,” Aodhan whispered against her neck as he began to apply a soft line of kisses down her neck to the edge of her sweater.
“I—er…” Sierra didn’t get to finish that question as her phone began buzzing on the counter. With a sigh, she detached herself from Aodhan’s embrace and went to see who it was. Considering she had no real friends in Dublin, it was either her family or someone from work.
Sierra groaned as she saw ‘Mama’ on the screen.
Aodhan’s arms wrapped around her waist from behind as he rested his chin on her shoulder, lightly nuzzling the crook of her neck. “Do you need to answer that?” he whispered in her ear in a way that shot a shiver down Sierra’s spine.
Sierra knew that she should answer the call, but she also really wanted to see where this was going.
Sensing her indecision, Aodhan took a step back. “I should go anyway. I don’t know that I can keep acting like a gentleman if I stay here much longer.” Sierra’s insides warmed at his words. “But I’ll see you tomorrow?”
Sierra bit her lip. “Sure. I’m off work tomorrow.”
“Me too.” He smiled as he played with a loose curl which had fallen from behind Sierra’s ear to hang in her face. “Shall I come over?”
Sierra’s phone stopped buzzing but started again soon after. Her mom wasn’t going to let this go. “Why don’t we go to your place? I’d like to see it,” she suggested.
Aodhan nodded. “We can do that. I’ll come to collect you at 10?”
“Sounds good.”
Aodhan leaned in, placing a single, chaste kiss on Sierra’s lips. “Tomorrow.”
Before she could say anything else, he disappeared, leaving Sierra looking at her phone, which was still buzzing. Running her hand through her hair and letting out a breath to calm her heart, Sierra pressed the green button and put the phone to her ear. “Hola, mama.”