Page 24 of Vanished in Vegas

“I appreciate that,” I whispered. “Um… may I…”

“May you what?” he asked with his eyebrow raised.

“Um… I was woken up by the door. Can I freshen up before I eat?” I asked, slightly mortified. Guess it was better than sayingI have to pee.

“Oh.” His eyes widened. “By all means,” he gestured at a door.

I quickly hopped off the bed and scurried off to the bathroom. A few minutes later, I walked back into the room feeling a thousand times better. Antonio was sitting in the recliner in the corner of the room. The tray of food was at the foot of the bed.

“Hey,” I said, causing myself to groan internally. I sounded like a fucking idiot.

“Hey,” he chuckled, then stood. “Hungry?”

“Mmhmm,” I nodded, climbing onto the bed carefully.

Antonio walked over to the bed and picked up the tray. Once I was settled with my back against the headboard, he placed the tray on my lap. He took the lid off the food. Everything looked and smelled like heaven.

“Are you going to eat?” I asked, looking up at him.

“I usually only drink a cup of coffee.”

“Oh.”

“But if you don’t want to eat alone, I’ll have them bring something up for me to eat.”

“No,” I shook my head. “I don’t want to interrupt your routine.”

“I assure you, you aren’t interrupting anything, Sofia,” he smiled. “Want me to eat with you?”

“No. It’s okay,” I replied, picking up a piece of bacon and taking a small bite out of it. The taste was just how it looked and smelled. “Mmm. This tastes so good.” I took another bite.

“When’s the last time you ate?” Antonio chuckled. I shrugged at his words.

“Yesterday around breakfast time. I didn’t get a chance to eat lunch because I was packing my stuff to come to this God-forsaken city. For dinner, I was on a plane and not in the mood to eat, and then I was picked up by your goons and brought here where…. Well, food was the last thing on my mind,” I admitted.

“Yeah, sorry about that. I should have been a better host.”

“Oh, you were,” I smirked, making him chuckle.

“You weren’t fed; therefore, I was a pretty shitty host, Sofia.”

“You fed me in other ways.”

“Naughty ass,” he grinned.

“Going to sit next to me or just keep standing over me?” I asked, patting the spot beside me.

Antonio laughed then took off his jacket and draped it over the recliner. I ate another piece of bacon while he made his way around the bed. He climbed into bed and sat next to me, facing me.

“Food tastes okay?” he asked, glancing at the tray.

“Bacon is delish,” I replied, taking another bite.

“What about the other stuff?” he looked down at the food.

“How’d you know I loved strawberries?” I grabbed the fork and stabbed a strawberry. I took a bite of the strawberry and melted. It wasn’t too sweet or too sour.

“I didn’t. They’re my favorite fruit so I tend to assume everyone loves them,” he admitted with a chuckle.

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