Free The Fly House (The UtopYA Collection) by Misty Provencher

Burtman."
    "I'm..."
    "Maeve Aypotu," he said it like a breeze off his tongue.  "It's a beautiful name.  I read it a million times on your chamber tag."
    Ok, that was a little creepy too.  Maeve noticed the chair she was sitting on and the proximity of it to the chamber she'd just climbed out of.  He noticed her noticing.
    "I was hoping you'd wake up," he stammered.  "I watched over you until you did."
    "What did you do to make it happen?"
    "Unfortunately, nothing."  He relaxed a little, dragging a hand over his face.  "I wish I knew.  I just watched over you."
    She glanced at the enormous room, a quarter full of chambers.  "Why me?"
    "Because," he said, nibbling his lip, "you're beautiful."
    Oh great. 
    Slowly, Maeve was coming back to herself, her wits climbing back into her skin, her invisible wall scaling back up.  Something was stuck to her chest.  She reached into her neckline and peeled the plastic key Casper Bergen had given her from her skin, but she left it dangling around her neck by the string.
    She rested her back against the chair, looking at all the other chambers, at the walls, at the dimly lit door that led into Supply.  Oh yes, there was a place to eat.  She remembered the dining room.  Her belly grumbled, remembering too.
    "Is there food?" she asked.
    "Yes, yes, there is." He pointed as he stumbled toward the door to Supply.  He paused at the door, holding it open.  "Can you stand?"
    "Yes," Maeve lied.  She didn't expect to have to do it so quickly, and the last thing she wanted was him stumbling back over and wrapping his arms around her to help.  Everything about waking up in this dark room with Mister I-saw-you-sleeping-and-know-your-name gave her the willies.  In a burst of determination, she pushed herself to her feet and rocked, flattening her soles to the floor.  Steven hustled back to support her, slithering a hand beneath her breast.  He pushed it up a little in his palm as he pressed the edge of his thumb against the firm globe.  Maeve knew perv when it touched her.
    "Hands off," she said. 
    "Oh, uh," Steven loosened his grip, smoothing down her arm before he finally released her.  "I didn't mean..."
    "Steven?  You said Steven, right?"
    "Yeah."
    "Steven, you might actually be the last man on Earth.  It doesn't mean you can be weird, so quit it."
    He stood back, surprise lifting his eyebrows. "How am I being weird?"
    "Reading my name tag, staring into my time capsule...the way you copped a feel just now." 
    Steven's jaw pumped. "I...I apologize if..."
    "Look, Steve, it's just you and me for now, so keep your hands away from my boobs, and let's just try to be normal, alright?"
     
    ***
     
    Steven leaned forward on his elbows, beside Maeve, at the round, banquet table.  In the brochure the linens were white.  Now they were yellow. 
    To eat, Maeve picked up the edge of one cloth and flapped off a cloud of dust.  Steven laid a stack of cans on the table and Maeve took a seat so the cans would be between them.  He took a can off the top and used the opener to twist the top off.   She ate like an animal, and even though he'd done the same himself, he watched her with arms crossed and the edge of his lip cocking unconsciously.  She ignored him until she wiped the back of her hand across her mouth.
    "What do you have for dessert?" she asked.  Disgusted or not, he was a gentleman and hoped she would soon remember she was a lady.  He helped her search for something else to eat.
    She found a plastic box stuffed with Twinkies.  Maeve wasn't as excited about the pantry stock as Steven had been. 
    "Most of this stuff isn't good anymore," Maeve said as she rifled the cabinets.  She slammed and banged the doors and the sound of it spiked Steven's anxiety.  He rubbed his ring finger, thinking of his dead wife.  She would have known what to do.  Chloe wouldn't have slammed the cupboards.  She would've shoved Steven down onto a chair, given him something to eat while she