Page 29 of Recipe for a Curse

“Sure,” Rio agreed. “That sounds amazing.”

“No problem.” I opened the chest with all the blankets and pulled them out, stacking them at the bottom of the bed, then made my way to the kitchen. “Remote is on the left side table. Power on, and the center round button will take you to a bunch of movie options.”

“You don’t want to choose?”

“Nah. I’m not picky. I can watch a sob fest chick flick or an action movie filled with explosions. It’s all good.” In the kitchen I pulled down the air popper from the top of the fridge and the largest bowl I could find. And in ten minutes I had a giant batch of fresh popcorn ready, salted and buttered.

Rio had chosenIron Manand was already sitting on the couch, curled up beneath a spread of the blankets.

“Tony Stark is hot, even if he’s a bit of an asshole,” I remarked.

“He is,” Rio agreed as I sat down beside him and handed him the bowl. “Combination of money and brains, gives him a god complex. But neither of those makes him infallible.”

“You’ve seen this before?” I asked, digging myself into the blankets and getting close to Rio, to share his body heat. Man, he was warm. Thankfully he didn’t pull away.

“When it first came out. Was recovering in a military hospital at the time.”

“The beginning sort of hits home then, right?” I motioned at the screen and the opening with Stark getting caught up in a bombing and kidnapped.

“A little,” Rio said. “Lots of dirt out there. At first you think you’ll see anything that moves, but the landscape is all the same, so your eyes begin to glaze over all of it. And you miss stuff. Not a fan of the desert.”

“The heat would be nice right now.”

Rio reached over, his arm wrapping around my waist and pulling me closer. His body heat beginning to ease the lingering chill in my bones instantly. “Warm enough?”

I sighed. “Yes. Wow, you’re so warm.”

“One positive at least.”

“Lots of things about you are good,” I promised.

“You barely know me.”

“Okay,” I agreed. “Do you have some sordid past I should worry about? Spousal abuse? Animal torture?”

“No,” Rio said, horrified.

“Then we’re good.”

He let out a long breath, like he was working on keeping control.

“You okay?” I hesitated. “I mean, with this. Me. Us. Close.”

“Yes.” He paused for a minute. “I just worry.”

“About?”

“My control.”

“Control? Like are you planning on jumping me? Cause I’d be on board with that.”

“You don’t know what you’re saying. I could hurt you.”

“Do you plan to?” I didn’t think for a minute that he did. Had my fair share of creepy guy encounters in my life, and I did not get that vibe from him.

“No.”

“We’re good then.”