Chapter 3
When he returned, he paused just inside the doorway and sniffed, breathing deep.
“Bacon,” I smiled at him. “Almost as divine as fresh bread. I’m assuming you’re not vegan?”
“No,” he said, “not vegan at all. I eat a lot of rabbit in the winter. Sometimes deer.”
It made sense that he’d hunt for food, though I didn’t see a gun anywhere. Maybe it was in one of the locked rooms. Odd how normally guns made me nervous, but I didn’t feel at all uneasy about being in his space. “How do you hunt when you don’t like blood?”
“Rabbits don’t have much. Deer… sometimes when I’m hungry, it doesn’t matter.” He brought over the bowl and it was filled with snow, fresh and clean looking.
“Thank you. Sit, get warm. It’s freezing out there. It will just take a few minutes to get the meat going and then I can add everything else.”
“How long does it take to cook?” Rio perched on the other side of the fireplace.
“Depends on the fire. Once everything is in the pot, it will have to come to a boil and cook for a half an hour or so. As long as I cut the veggies small, they will cook fast. Hungry?”
He looked away again, but licked his lips. I really hoped he wasn’t out of food already, but the small glimpse I’d seen of his cupboards, there hadn’t been much. “Yes,” he admitted. He glanced toward the window. “Think your boss will be here before dark? You said you told him where you’d be?”
I nodded. “I did tell him. He might look for me before then. Dinner for the manor is already done. Ana would finish it if I’m not there to pop it in the oven. So, maybe not? Depends on if he’s distracted by Sean. Zach doesn’t always come to the manor for dinner and right now everyone is on winter break. He doesn’t really have a reason to.”
“Sean?”
“Zach’s lover? Partner? I think you met him at the holiday dinner. Pretty Asian man?”
“There were lots of pretty Asian men at the manor…” Rio remarked.
There had been. And that he noticed, made me hopeful, even if I wasn’t one of those pretty Asian men. “Long white hair. Usually in a braid.”
Rio thought for a moment, then nodded. “He was unusual.”
That was an odd comment as I didn’t find Sean all that unusual. Pretty. Insanely talented when it came to crafts and anything handmade. Resourceful, as he could recreate any recipe I showed him, even if it meant changing half the ingredients around because we were out of things. But unusual? Huh.
“How so?” I inquired.
“Just seems different…” Rio said.
I wondered briefly if it was because Sean was Asian? I’d never sensed that from Rio before, but racism hid in a lot of small ways I’d only recently begun to notice. “He’s amazing. Smart, sweet, and madly in love with Zach.”
“People in town don’t mind that?” Rio said after a few minutes of watching me work. I added the water and vegetables before putting the lid on to let the soup cook.
“Mind what? That Zach is gay or that he has an Asian lover?”
Rio seemed to think on that for a few minutes. “Both, maybe? Gay mostly. Lots of Asian people in town. Though I guess the world has been sort of crazy this year.”
“I’ve never noticed anyone in town say anything. Zach is sort of a big guy, so…” The handful of the hateful, as I called them, had been pretty silent since early fall when the businesses on the small Main street had gotten together and been very forceful with their rules. Safety had been key. That meant anyone giving one business crap was banned from all of them. So gay, Asian, or even vegan, it didn’t matter. I’d been afraid to go to the grocery store for a few weeks. When I’d mentioned it to my boss, he’d accompanied me and had a long conversation with the owners that had put the entire business community of our small town on the same page.
The manor brought tourism, money, jobs, and renewed interest in our cold, sleepy area even during the winter. Only a handful of months and the dying town had become a thriving community. No one wanted on Zach’s bad side. “I feel pretty safe wherever I go,” I added.
“Even here in the middle of nowhere?” Rio grumbled. “There could be monsters out here.”
Weird choice of words. “Like bears and mountain lions?” I asked, not really thinking of them as monsters, but I knew that some people did.
He shrugged.
“Animals hunt to eat. As long as I stay out of their way, I’m fine. I’d be more worried about getting lost in the woods than some critter getting me.” I held out my arms. “I’m sort of stringy, can’t imagine there’s enough meat on me to satisfy the smallest predator.”
Rio’s gaze roamed over me, like he was really assessing whether or not I’d taste good, and oddly it felt more than just physically hungry. The edges of predatory, really. I don’t know why his attention suddenly made me warm, but the tiny trickles of danger made my heart beat a little faster, and my cock harden. The idea of Rio’s mouth on me turned me on. Okay, so maybe I was a little masochistic and hadn’t known it.
I licked my lips, swallowing hard and Rio’s gaze came up, eyes softening as he seemed to look at my mouth and then meet my eyes. He gave me a soft smile and looked away shyly. Like he’d been thinking of tasting me in other ways. I let out a long breath, trying to rein in the attraction. The guy was obviously hungry. No need to get all hot and bothered while his tummy was growling.
“There is pumpkin bread in the foil wrap,” I pointed toward the last unpacked bag on the counter. “If you’re hungry and want to nibble. There’s also a jar of honey somewhere.”
Rio glanced toward the kitchen, swallowing visibly as he stared at the bag, like he wanted to leap toward it and eat everything. But he didn’t move.
“It’s okay,” I said. “Get the bread. I’d love a slice too, if you don’t mind.”
Only then did he move, almost deliberately slow, getting off the hearth of the fireplace and heading to the kitchen. He unpacked the last bag, full of canned chicken, tuna, and even beef, then finding the container full of mincemeat mini pies and finally the bread and honey.
I pretended to poke at the stew while he tried to stealthily eat a couple of mini pies. How long had he been without food? I was determined now to fill his pantry this winter, even if it meant daily trips into the woods. When he finally returned with the bread and honey, I retrieved the cutting board to slice thick chunks and slather them with honey.
“Eat,” I commanded him, handing over four giant slabs of bread and honey. “My pumpkin bread is divine.”
He devoured them, licking the honey off his fingers as he went. I pretended not to watch, but couldn’t help being thrilled he liked it. Either that or he was so hungry he’d eat anything. Odd how he did look a bit thinner than he had over the holidays. It had only been a few weeks.
Once the stew was up to a boil and smelling heavenly, I poked at the potatoes to make sure they were tender. “Looks like the stew is ready. Do you have some bowls?”
Rio headed to the kitchen again, returning with some thick stoneware bowls and a couple of big spoons. I filled his bowl to the top and handed it over, before adding a much smaller amount to mine. The stew tasted a bit like a bacon burger. Too bad I hadn’t thought to bring cheese.