"Then the final project came around," she continued. "We were supposed to show our personal creativity by coming up with our own recipe, something new and different. Thanks to Gramps, that was a breeze for me. He'd always encouraged me to experiment. I was used to it and quickly decided what I would do and experimented with it in my apartment ahead of time to get it perfect. I made Jack my taste tester. Big mistake it seems," she said dryly. "The day after the class when I had to create the dish, I was called in to school. It seems my recipe was an exact replica of another student's who had presented the same thing earlier in the day."
"Jack."
Alex nodded solemnly. "I said there must be some mistake, that Jack would never steal my recipe, and they began to ask me how I had come up with the recipe and why I had added this or that." She smiled wryly. "Somehow I ended up on the topic of Gramps and told them how he'd gotten me into cooking andexperimenting with recipes and so on. Then they asked me to wait in the outer office. When I walked out, Jack was just arriving, and they took him in at once."
Her mouth tightened. "I still thought it must be some kind of mistake. After all, Jack loved me. But the office door was very thin, and I heard every word said. He accused me of stealing the recipes from him. That floored me, and I hardly noticed that he couldn't answer the questions on how he'd come up with the recipe or why he'd added this or that. When they called me in to join them, I was terrified that they believed I really had stolen it."
"Of course they didn't," Cale said staunchly.
"No, they didn't," she agreed. "They said it was obvious Jack had stolen it. That he was a mediocre cook at best while I had shown the makings of a first-class chef from the start. He was tossed out of school in disgrace, and they apologized for having put me through their questions and sent us on our way."
"How did Jack take that?" Cale asked, suspecting he knew the answer.
"Oh, he wasn't pleased at all," she said with a grimace. "I waited until we were outside, and then asked why he'd done what he had when he'd said he loved me. He just exploded, shouting, 'Love you? How could anyone love you? You're a stupid ugly cow. The only reason I paid you any attention was because you're good at cooking and I wanted to graduate.' " She wrinkled her nose. "There was quite a bit more, but you get the idea. He was quite unpleasant."
"And he validated your inner feeling that you weren'tsupposed to have anyone love you," Cale said with understanding.
Alex nodded solemnly. "It was a new version of the old button. Anyone I loved left me, died, or didn't really love me at all and would betray me ..." She glanced away, and then admitted, "And while I know that's irrational, that God didn't take Gramps because he loved me, and I loved him, and that Jack was a big jerk ..." She shrugged helplessly. "It doesn't make me any less scared that if I let myself love and trust you, you won't ..."
Cale caught her hand in his and waited for her to look at him before saying, "Then don't trust me. Trust the nanos."
She blinked at him in confusion. "I don't understand."
"Didn't Marguerite explain about life mates to you when she explained everything else?" he asked with a frown.
Alex shook her head. "She said she would leave that to you."
Cale nodded, and then took a moment to arrange his thoughts, before saying, "A life mate is that one person that an immortal can live out his or her very long life with happily. Neither will ever stray from the other, never betray the other, never stop loving each other. An immortal would sooner cut out his own heart and eat it than cause harm to his life mate ... and you are mine."
Alex frowned. "How do you know I am? Maybe-"
"She explained our abilities to you? That we can read and control mortals?" he asked.
Alex nodded. "But she said you can't read or control me."
"Yes. That's right. That's how I know you're my life mate," he said firmly.
"That's it?" she asked with a frown.
"It's more important than it probably sounds to you," he said wryly. "You see, not only can we read and control mortals, we can also read the thoughts of other immortals if they aren't guarded. This means most immortals spend their time guarding their thoughts in the company of others. We never get to relax, we must always be on guard. But with a life mate, we can relax and not guard our thoughts."
"And you can't read or control me?" she asked slowly.
"No, I can't," he assured her.
Suspicion immediately filled her eyes. "Marguerite said that too, but I was thinking about it, and it seems to me someone did some controlling at the restaurant last night. I woke up on the couch that first time and started throwing my clothes on, preparing to make a quick escape, but then suddenly I was taking my clothes off and going for a shower."
"That was Bricker," Cale admitted apologetically. "I was feeding in the kitchen and he sent you for a shower so you wouldn't see."
Her eyes narrowed, but she merely said, "And the night you helped me out at the restaurant? I wasn't too sure about leaving you there and then all of a sudden I-"
"Bricker again. I really can't read or control you, Alex. I wouldn't lie about that. It wouldn't do either ofus any good," he assured her. "But you don't have to take my word on it. There are other signs of life mates."
"Like what?" she asked promptly.
"They are usually perfect for each other, suiting or complementing each other in temperament and taste. The nanos seem to recognize like souls and match them up. And we do complement each other, Alex. You're more creative to my more logical mind, we've worked together very well since I arrived."
She nodded reluctantly. "That's true enough. You handled the business side like a dream."