Page 85 of Why Cheese?
He chuckles at my panic and shakes his head. “No. It’s not a food.” Roq glances over to me and his voice softens. “Brie mentioned that you were under the impression we’d been trapped in that cellar for three months.”
“I assume you found some way out or else you’d starve,” I say.
“What if I told you it was twenty years?”
“That’s not possible,” I say to the man who turns into cheese.
“We can enter a dormant state, a hibernation if you will, where we remain in cheese form. Un-aging and unaware of the world around us.”
“How?” I sputter. His open eyes narrow to slits and he glares at me. “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me. Unless it involves garlic, then I’ll… You know what, I’ll just throw the whole head away to be sure.”
Roq’s death stare lightens and he smiles ever so slightly. “Mateo was good on his word. Every sunset we’d rise to greet another night of work. And every day we’d slumber soundly knowing no one would eat us. For thirty-odd years we worked in tangent with the other, making his store a coveted cheese destination.”
“What happened?” falls from my lips. “I mean, if you want to tell me.”
“I do,” Roq assures me. A flutter dances against my hand. I glance down in shock to find he’s brushing his pinkie finger over my skin. “Your uncle came to me with a problem. A request. He said that he’d have a visitor soon. Someone staying in the shop, someone who he didn’t want to stumble upon our nightly antics by mistake. He asked if we would slumber for three months and awaken once she left.”
Three months? Does he mean…?“Me?” I squeak out.
Roq bobs his head. Two more fingers swoop over the back of my hand. “I trusted him to honor his deal. That early May morning we returned to our…usual spot. Dawn came, trapping us in our cheese form. When we woke it was to find you in a broken down, dusty shop.”
“That’s….quite the mind fuck,” I whisper.
“I don’t know what happened that summer…?” He takes my hand in his and stares into my eyes with a question.
“I’m sorry. I don’t know. I was so young.”
He nods as if he didn’t expect me to answer. “My trust is hard-earned and easily broken. But I never thought Mateo would shatter it like this.”
“I can’t believe he would either. We…we lost touch years ago. My mother, she said it wasn’t proper for a young lady to spend her time in a cheese shop with an old man. I stopped going when I turned nine.”
Roq snorts and closes his eyes. “It’s not your fault. If anything, you freed us when he could not, he would not. I am sorry for being so standoffish. I will work on that.”
“I mean don’t lose all of that cold, stoic stuff. It’s scary but also hot.” I smirk at the thought, then Roq stares at me with a look that drops my heart into my panties. “Did I say that too?”
He answers with a chortle and stands. “We should return. Dawn will be here soon, and the whole place needs cleaning.”
I follow him. Without the fear that he might go nuclear on me, I grow sickeningly aware of the eggplant congealing on my tits. “I should probably wash up. This is gonna smell.”
“I forgot to try it,” Roq says. He picks a piece of eggplant right up off of my cleavage and bites down. “Mmm, you’re a much better cook than your uncle.”
I can’t stop the stupid burn riding up my arms and across my eggplant-smeared breasts. Roq licks off his fingers, then he dangles his hand in front of me. Holding my breath, I take it.
“Would you mind not sharing any of this with the others? I never told them about the deal I made with Mateo, thinking it’d be easier to explain after we woke.”
You’re asking the world’s worst liar to hide something from three men.“Sure.” I nod.Don’t fuck this up, Vi.
“If I may escort you to your apartment.” Roq leads with his head, and I follow until we’re both trailing down the sidewalk toward the shop. In the distance, I spot two of the drunks with their faces plastered to the glass ogling the cheese.
“Tomorrow night.” Roq raises his head and smiles.Yeah, okay, warm and cuddly works for him too.“Why don’t you join us in the cellar?”
“Really?”
“The curd requires cutting, molding, and pressing.”
“Yes! I’ll…I’d love to.”
Roq releases my hand and bows dramatically. “Until the morrow, Miss Violette,” he says before slipping back into the store. Burning so hot I’ve got to be recooking the lasagna, I rush up the ladder and lock the apartment door.
