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  When Baird came back Liv saw with dismay that he hadn’t cut the oozing monstrosity into wedges like a normal pizza—not that anything about it was normal of course. Instead he’d sliced it in two, right down the middle and put each huge piece on a long red metal platter.

  “Here you go.” He put one of the platters in front of Liv, forcing her to get up-close and personal with his dinner creation. It looked even worse on her plate than it had from a distance. Liv was glad she had a strong stomach. She’d seen some fairly disgusting things during nursing school, especially during her surgery rotation and in the burn unit, but none of them were quite as nasty as Baird’s “pizza.”

  “Well, go ahead. I thought you were starving.”

  She looked up to see him watching her, black eyebrows raised in anticipation. Oh my God, I’m actually going to have to eat it! Her stomach rolled at the thought.

  “You, uh, gave me so much I don’t know where to begin,” she lied weakly.

  “Only one piece.” He frowned. “Is it too much?”

  “It’s just a little more than I’m used to. Uh, on Earth we cut a pizza into eight or ten wedges.” And we don’t top it with fruit cocktail!

  “I can cut it into smaller pieces if you want,” he offered.

  “No, no. That’s okay. I’ll make do.” There was no putting it off anymore. Taking a deep breath, Liv lifted the huge sloppy slice and forced herself to take a bite.

  “You like it?” Baird stared at her suspiciously.

  “Mmm, delicious,” Liv mumbled, fighting her gag reflex. Inside her mouth the flavors of canned salmon, lima beans, and fruit cocktail were fighting and she wondered how in the world she would swallow without throwing up. But the big warrior was still watching her carefully for her reaction and she didn’t want to insult him. With a monumental effort she choked down the mess and prayed it wouldn’t come back up.

  “So it’s good?” he asked again.

  “Unforgettable,” Liv assured him which for once was the absolute truth.

  “Glad you like it.” Baird lifted his own piece of pizza and, keeping his eyes on her the entire time, took a huge bite. But when he started to chew, his face turned a peculiar shade of red. “Gods!” Getting up from the table in a hurry, he ran to the sink and spat out the mouthful. Then he turned back to Liv. “That was fuckin’ horrible. Why didn’t you tell me?”

  Liv shrugged, not sure if she should laugh or feel sorry for him. “I didn’t want to hurt your feelings.”

  “I’d rather have my feelings hurt than eat that slop.” Baird frowned. “I don’t understand what you humans see in that dish anyway.”

  “Well…” Liv tried to think of a way to put it tactfully. “We don’t always make it exactly like that.” She nodded at the half a pizza she’d put back down on the metal serving tray.

  “But I did everything the clerk told me to,” Baird protested. “He said it was mistake proof. That anyone could do it.”

  “Anyone can do it. You just put a little too much on it, that’s all.”

  “Damn it to hell.” Baird sighed. “I’m sorry, Olivia. I wanted to make all your favorites—the things I saw you eating in my dreams. It was between this and that other stuff you like with the raw sea creatures rolled in the white grains. I thought this would be easier.”

  “Sushi?” Liv bit her lip to keep from laughing. “You were going to try and make me sushi?” As badly as he’d screwed up the pizza, she couldn’t imagine what his version of sushi would look like. Visions of a whole dead fish coated in sticky rice and rolled in peas and carrots instead of roe rose to mind. Ugh.

  Baird shrugged. “I wanted to. I wanted to make you something special every night. But I guess I’m not very good at cooking human food. Sorry.” He sounded so crestfallen and his broad shoulders slumped so sadly that Liv couldn’t help but feel sorry for him.

  She rose and went to put a hand lightly on his arm. “Hey, don’t worry about it. I’m sure if I tried to make Kindred cuisine I wouldn’t do any better.”

  Baird shook his head. “I’ve failed. Part of the claiming period is knowing how to prepare the foods your bride craves.”

  “Well right now what I’m craving is pizza,” Liv said firmly. “Do you still have any of the ingredients left?”

  “Of course.” Baird nodded at the table. “I got enough to make five or six like that.”

  “Five or six?” Liv stared at him, wide-eyed. “To eat all at once?”

  He shrugged. “I didn’t know how hungry you might be.”

  “Not hungry enough to eat five or six large pizzas,” Liv assured him. “But one might be nice if it’s made right. Come on, get out the stuff and I’ll show you.”

  Working together, they had a new pizza that consisted only of crust, sauce and cheese assembled in no time. Liv tactfully steered Baird away from the fruit cocktail, which he thought might be good as a single topping, explaining that she liked her pizza plain. Very, very plain. She watched with interest as he demonstrated how to work his version of an oven and explained that it got hot enough to burn off a hand and had to be used with care. When it only took about three seconds to cook the new pizza Liv was amazed but she couldn’t help noticing that Baird was frowning and shaking his head.

  “What’s wrong?” she asked as he removed the piping hot pie and started slicing it into wedges.

  “Nothing. Just that it got all gooey and runny again,” he muttered, pointing at the oozing cheese. “I thought maybe it wouldn’t this time without the other crap on top.”

  “That’s cheese,” Liv explained as they took the new pizza to the table. Baird had already scraped the old one down the sink which was equipped with a powerful suction attachment that put any garbage disposal she’d ever seen to shame. “It’s supposed to do that. It melts—that’s what makes it so good.”

  “You sure about that or are you just trying not to hurt my feelings again?” Baird eyed her suspiciously.

  “I’m positive.” Liv smiled at him and took a bite out of her pizza. As the cheese spread out in a long, thin string between her mouth and the slice she was holding she pointed at it. “See? Delicious.”

  “We’ll see about that.” Dubiously he picked up a slice of his own and took a bite. Liv watched as the look on his face turned from doubt to excitement. He chewed, swallowed, and took another bite. Then another. Then he was on to his next slice.

  “Hey, hang on. Don’t make yourself sick!” Liv cautioned.

  He grinned at her. “You’re right. This is really good—especially the cheese stuff. Looks horrible but tastes fuckin’ amazing.”

  Suddenly Liv thought of something that made her grin. “You like the cheese, huh?”

  “Mm-hmm.” Nodding, he dived into another slice eagerly. “It’s great.”

  “You want to know what it’s made of?” Liv asked, still grinning.

  He swallowed and looked at her suspiciously. “I don’t know. Do I?”

  “Sure.” Deliberately, Liv picked a stray piece of cheese off her plate and popped it in her mouth. “It’s made with milk. Lots and lots of milk.”

  “Milk? Really?”

  “Yup. You know—cow squeezings?”

  For a moment Baird looked horrified. Then the corners of his mouth began to twitch and that deep rumbling laugh Liv was beginning to find so attractive came pouring out. He sounded so happy she couldn’t help laughing with him and soon they were both roaring while Baird pounded the table until the red metal serving trays jingled and clattered.

  Finally they tapered off to giggles and snorts. Liv’s stomach actually hurt and she realized she couldn’t remember the last time she’d laughed so hard.

  “Gods.” Baird wiped at his eyes and smiled at her. “I want to thank you, Olivia.”

  She grinned. “What for? Feeding you cow squeezings?”

  “No.” He was suddenly serious. “I was in a pretty bad place before I met you—before we met outside our dreams, I mean. It was dark and cold and the pain…” He shook