Page 20 of Recipe for a Curse

Chapter 9

Iwoke to the chirping dance of my phone on the bedside table. Technically it was an end table, but whatever. I opened my eyes to glare at it a moment, too warm and sleepy to really want to reach for it. There was an arm around my waist, and a body tucked to mine, spooning me from behind in delightful warmth. My muscles felt like jelly, melted and gooey. I couldn’t contain my happy sigh.

No alarm. No anxiety. The idea that Rio had gotten a little clingy in his sleep didn’t bother me at all. I hoped it wouldn’t freak him out. Though when my phone stopped, then started again thirty seconds later, I began to wonder what the emergency was. Zach had said Ana could handle breakfast. And since I always had the next day’s meals prepped, she could have flown through it without help, easily.

Rio began to stir, arm tightening around me, breath hot on my neck. I rolled forward a bit to snatch up my phone and tried not to flinch when Rio seemed to stiffen as he awoke to realize he was holding me. The fact that he didn’t immediately jerk away and go flying off the bed made me wonder what was going through his head.

Breakfast outside your door,a text from Zach read.Make sure Rio eats.

There was a voicemail too, which I didn’t listen to, but thumbed through to the speech to text translation. It seemed to be a ramble from Zach about how food was very necessary for Rio right now. Like I would let anyone starve. Okay so it was after ten a.m., and I’d have to get up and work on lunch for the manor, but after the mass of food Rio had eaten last night, he couldn’t still be starving right?

The light through the blinds was bright enough to see the entire room and assure me that either the storm was over, or the sun had peeked through the trees. That meant it would be cold. A hot lunch would be a must.

I sent a text back to Zach letting him know we’d eat and be over soon, then put the phone back on the nightstand.

“You okay?” I asked softly.

Rio was silent for a minute or so, seeming to just breathe, but finally said. “I slept pretty well.”

“That’s good, right?”

“I can’t recall sleeping more than an hour at a time. Not in years.”

That sounded terrible. “I’m sorry.”

“No reason to be. Not your fault.” He sucked in another long breath of air. “I smell food.”

I sniffed but didn’t smell anything. “That’s a powerful sniffer you have. Zach says breakfast is outside the door. That’s what the noisy phone was about. I’ll have to get up and head over to start on lunch too.”

Neither of us moved for another minute or so.

“You okay?” I asked him.

“Thinking.”

“Is that good or bad?”

“Not sure yet.” Rio slowly pulled away. I instantly missed the warmth of him. I sat up and turned his way, not sure what to say, but he was staring at me with a bit of wonder.

“What?” I asked. He shook his head, though there was a bit of a curve to his lips, like he was trying not to smile. I reluctantly slid to the edge of the bed and got out, making my way to the door. Surprisingly the basket sitting on my welcome mat was huge. How much did Zach think we needed?

When I went to lift it, I discovered I needed two hands. “Wow, Zach must think we’re hungry,” I joked as I dragged the basket inside. In the kitchen, I began to unpack it, finding an entire container of the chicken I’d made yesterday, a dozen hardboiled eggs, an entire pound of fried bacon, and a dozen sausages, as well as a container of fresh cut strawberries and two thermoses of coffee. Wow that was a lot of food.

It was only as I was setting the empty basket beside the door, that I realized the two containers of cookies I’d left on the counter from the night before, were empty and sitting in the sink. Had Rio gotten up and eaten them all? He still hadn’t moved from the bed, though he wasn’t looking in my direction.

He said he hadn’t slept more than an hour at a time in years, I assumed until now, but had he slept much? “How long did you sleep?”

“Only got up once. Sorry I ate all your cookies.”

“I can make more. Come eat,” I told him. “Looks like they packed plenty of food. I sort of eat like a bird in the morning myself. Zach complains that I drink more coffee than someone my age should, but I tried tea in the morning, and it’s just not the same.” I glanced at the thermoses. “I can make you tea if you prefer. I have a lot of blends. Sean creates the blends himself.”

Rio rose slowly, stretching, which pulled his shirt up a bit and I tried to pretend it didn’t give me something to drool over. He made his way over, looking at the spread, which would have been enough food to feed the entire manor staff, and seemed to focus on the bacon. I pushed it his way.

“I’m going to jump in the shower. Eat. I’ll be out in a few, then you can have the bathroom, okay?”

“Are you going to eat any of this?” he asked.

I took a single piece of bacon. “Just leave me some coffee and I’m good.”