Free Demon Seed by Jianne Carlo

cooking.
    “Don’t know. Didn’t check. I’m starving. Let’s eat, and then, woman, you are going to do a ton of talking.”
    “I enjoy conversation. There was not much of it in the cloister. Sometimes, I would climb to the top of our mountain and shout until I was hoarse.” He had halted, and Jacinta risked a quick peek. “It was foolish, no?”
    “No.” He framed her face. “You are amazing, Jacinta Nunez.”
    “Nunez?” She frowned. “My name is Jacinta Maria da Silva. Why would you call me Nunez?”
    “My bad.” He tugged her through the engine room and into the kitchen. “You’re on toast duty. I’ll get everything else. Why don’t you check the pantry and let me know what we have?”
    Nunez. She knew no one called Nunez. And he was not the type of man to mis-say his words.
    “The pantry?”
    “I am sorry. My mind wandered. The pantry is the larder, no?” She opened a cabinet that ran ceiling to floor, and scanned the top shelf. “Beans, many cans of beans. Peanut butter, I like that very much. Welch’s grape jelly. I have never had that.”
    “It goes with the peanut butter. Kind of an all-American snack. And today’s your lucky day; we’ve got bacon.”
    So he was American as she had suspected. And in the military. Or a mercenary? He knew guns and was fit enough to stay underwater for a long period. The navy? Maybe one of those SEALs that had killed Bin Laden?
    “That’s it? Nothing else?” Demon sorted pots and pans from under the sink cabinet. “See any salt or pepper?”
    “Yes.” Jacinta handed him salt and pepper shakers.
    “Is that rice in the salt?”
    “To keep the grains from becoming too moist. It’s the humidity. There are many cans of soup and fruit. Lard. Packets of milk.” Jacinta peered at a box she didn’t recognize and read the label out loud. “Lucky Charms breakfast cereal. I have heard of this. On Saturday mornings when we watched cartoons, they would advertise this.”
    “Au courant.” Demon shook his head. “You said au courage earlier, but the term is au courant.”
    “Au courant. A French phrase that has become English. So you have some knowledge of the jungle, then?” Jacinta picked up a bag and showed it to him. “Are these chocolates?”
    “Peanut M&M’s—chocolate-covered peanuts.”
    She clutched the bag to her chest. “I think I have died and gone to St. Peter’s gate. Peanuts covered by chocolate. I do not want any eggs. I will eat this bag.”
    “No, you don’t.” Demon snatched the bag. “You’re a definite chocoholic. I’ll hold onto this. For now.”
    “I will give you all my bacon for one handful of peanut M&M’s.”
    “Not buying.” He cracked an egg into the frying pan. “Bacon, eggs, and toast. You’ll have to earn the M&M’s.”
    He set the bag of chocolates on the top ledge. Jacinta decided not to say any more. He hadn’t slept and she had. While he was sleeping, she’d get the peanut M&M’s.
    “Earn?” She leaned a hip against the counter.
    “Yeah. Let’s see…ten kisses will get you one M&M.” He winked at her and cracked another egg. “Make yourself useful. Put the bacon in the other pan.”
    “Okay.” She liked this. Liked that he caressed her cheek, picked up her hand and kissed the palm, liked that he seemed to feel the need to touch her. “I should like to tell you something.”
    “Like I said before. You can tell me anything.” He tore open the plastic covering the sliced bread, and she knew he stared at her, because her cheeks warmed.
    “I do not regret that we had sex twice.” Jacinta kept her focus on the sizzling bacon strips. When his hands rested on her shoulders, she didn’t look up. “I know I should, but I cannot find it in my heart to regret something so wonderful.”
    He switched off the gas. “I’m glad you don’t regret us making love. And I’m glad you thought it was wonderful. I made a big mistake though, Jacinta. I didn’t use protection.”
    “Protection?” Before