Rescuing His Captive Mate: Saving The Future Luna

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Star

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I would never forget that first sight of the beach, my first glimpse of the ocean. It was beautiful. The sun glittering off the bright blue water. The sheer size of it all. It was amazing and wonderful and I couldn\'t be happier that Artem had brought me here.

Then, he went and said something that made my heart race. 

"Artem, that is so beautiful. Is that the ocean?" I had leaned forward in my seat to look out at the glorious site.

"Yes, it is." His voice was soft, smooth, and made my stomach do funny things.

"We\'re at the ocean? This is where we were going?"

"I wanted to have a picnic on the beach with you and watch the sun as it sets over the water."

"That sounds beautiful." I turned to look at him then, a grin on my face and my eyes wide.

"Not nearly as beautiful as you." I felt like my heart was going to explode with how fast it was beating, I felt like my stomach was doing flips and jumps too.

"I\'m not." The words came out as a whisper, my lack of confidence in myself doing me in again.

"You\'re more beautiful than anything I have ever seen." I thought I was going to melt right then with how hot my body and face were feeling after those words.

After that Artem pulled the truck he was driving into the garage of the house and helped me to get down. He continued to hold my hand as he showed me around the inside of the house. He wanted to make sure that I knew where everything was in case I needed anything.

Once the tour was over he pulled me into the kitchen where I found a lot of things sitting out on the counter. 

"What is all this?" I asked him, confusion in my voice.

"We\'re going to make dinner." He smiled at me, a look that was sweet, full of love, and made my stomach drop with fear.

"We are?" I asked him, my voice thick with apprehension.

"Remember when I asked if you wanted me to teach you how to cook? I thought we could do that tonight. It\'s just the two of us, so if we mess up you won\'t have to worry."

"But, I don\'t want to mess up your dinner." I could hear the fear in my voice.

"I won\'t let that happen. You can do this, I know you can. Then maybe we can make breakfast together from now on."

"You really want me to help you?" 

I want anything that will give me more time with you." That look, that smile, I don\'t know how but it made my heart swell every time I saw them. 

"OK." I conceded and nodded at him. "I will make dinner with you."

The smile on his face only got bigger, wider, and brighter when I agreed to cook with him.

Artem pulled the rest of the ingredients out of the fridge to go with what was already on the counter. There was bacon, chicken, spinach, mushrooms, grape tomatoes, garlic, pasta and some kind of cream. He also had something he called ciabatta bread, but I don\'t know what made it different from other bread.

We were making something called Tuscan Chicken. The task before me looked daunting, but I was looking forward to doing this. Artem was right, I had wanted to try cooking with him, and it was something we were doing together so that made it even better. 

We set to work then. I followed all the instructions that Artem gave me, which he did softly and with precise detail so that I wasn\'t left guessing on what to do.

The first thing we did was set water to boil for the pasta. Artem had added a little bit of olive oil to the water as well, he said it would stop the noodles from sticking together. Then we peeled and did something called mincing the garlic. Basically it was now tiny little wet pieces that smelled very strong. Next we cut the already small tomatoes in half. The spinach was rinsed thoroughly after that. Lastly, we sliced the mushrooms up into thin pieces. 

I had never cut food like this before but Artem came around me and put his hands on mine, guiding me and showing me exactly what to do. I felt my heart quicken again when he touched me, but I didn\'t want him to stop.

Once we were done with the vegetables, it was time for us to focus on the meats. We sliced the bacon into small pieces before we even cooked it. Once it was all crispy and smelled delicious we drained the oil and set it aside. Next we took the chicken that we had also sliced into small chunks and cooked that until the chicken had gone from a peachy raw color to all white.

Now the pasta was boiling and we were preparing the bread to go into the oven. We put butter, garlic, and other seasonings on the slices of bread and put them into the oven. Now it was time to make the sauce. Artem put the garlic in a pan and cooked it for a second with the tomatoes and mushrooms. Next the cream, heavy whipping cream it was called, went into the pan on top of the garlic, tomatoes, and mushrooms with a spoonful of something called cornstarch. The spinach went next.

After the spinach had cooked down some we added the bacon and chicken. Once the pasta was drained and rinsed it was stirred into the sauce. Almost the exact same time we were done mixing it all together the oven\'s timer dinged. The bread was done.

All the food looked and smelled so good, and it was really easy cooking with Artem. I was happy, and proud of myself. I couldn\'t imagine a better night so far.

"So, what did you think of your first time cooking?" He was smiling at me, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"It was nice. I am glad I could do it with you?" I smiled at him but I noticed that his smile faltered for just a fraction of a second. Did I say something wrong? But he was back to normal almost immediately so I let it pass from my mind.

"Come on, let\'s go set up the blanket and then I will bring the food out." He was looking at me as if nothing had happened a moment ago, further cementing that I should just let it slide as well, which I had.