Page 8 of Howl You Doin?
“Shit,” I groan inwardly, when I realize my bedroom is now halfway across the castle.
Two days ago, disaster struck, but thankfully there were other rooms available with how waterlogged mine is. One leaky pipe and my bed was completely ruined. My only complaint is that it took ages to track down Allan, the castle manager, to let him know, and another hour for him to figure out where to put me.
I’m the only staff that stays on at the castle, as everyone else lives in the village, but with the way Allan acts, the castle only has a handful of rooms and not half a hundred. Men make no sense.
I glance around the old kitchen, making sure I’ve not left anything out that will spoil overnight. It took ages to clean—next time I will rethink agreeing to scrub it by myself. I’m glad Maria at least got another night out with her boyfriend, and I don’t really mind helping her when it comes to my own workspace. Castle Tepesh is massive and equally ridiculous with the number of old things lying around the place. It’s like a museum.
And this kitchen... I really do love the exposed brick coupled with stainless steel, and how the green-and-blue hues of the mosaic backsplash glitter in the lights, but they are actual glass and a pain in the ass to clean.
A grandfather clock chimes deep and loud twice from elsewhere in the castle, its echo reminding me of how late it is. I flick off the lights and wait for my eyes to adjust to the darkness before moving toward the dining room door.
“Snacks and a movie will be just the thing,” I say under my breath.
The movie will be on my phone, but whatever. Clean bed beats no television. Insomnia can suck it, but I guess I should feel lucky I haven’t had issues sleeping up until now. The last month should have been an adjustment with a new time zone and creepy castle, but almost from the start I have slept like a baby.
When I first arrived, I was so spooked by the architecture that I contemplated begging the cabbie to take me back to the airport. Not that I have anywhere else to go at the moment. The place has grown on me since and isn’t as scary now that I know about the animatronics. I smile to myself at how I thought I saw something move in the moat on the walk up. The only issue I have is I haven’t been able to sleep the last two nights since being moved to the new wing.
Food will help. It’s hard to get in a good meal when I’m always busy making them.
I push open the wooden door to the dining room, and my attention immediately snags on the chandelier that gleams overhead. The crystals glitter from the soft orange glow of the lamplight, giving the room a cozy feel.
I wince and suck air through my teeth when I take a step wrong, putting pressure on the sole of my foot, and the tray jostles, clattering a bit. My feet throb, reminding me of my shitty shoe situation as I make my way toward the door leading to the grand staircase, once again cursing the choice to not pack my broken-in sneakers before I left home. My black work shoes have almost had it and I really need to buy new ones.
It will be fine; I just need some snacks and Mr. Darcy to send me off to dream land.Pride and Prejudiceplus carbs are the perfect tonic to a shit day, which I am in dire need of because of Allan. The castle manager loves to speak to everyone as if they are a five-year-old with hearing problems. Needless to say, as soon as everyone discovered Mr. O’Doyle had left, a parade of people came through the kitchen with me apparently shoved into the leadership position to stand up to Allan. The weasel.
I thought I couldn’t dislike anyone more than Connor, but Allan could tempt a saint to murder.
“Come on,” I groan.
My face twists up at the fact that there are important items missing from my tray: the cutlery I need to ensure I don’t leave crumbs all over my bed. I sigh and whirl back around. It is like I am doomed to always forget the one thing I need. While cooking in the kitchen, I rarely misplace anything, but ask me to get an item from one place to the other and I’m hopeless.
I always forget something—at home, movie theatres, the grocery store. Ugh. I push at the wooden door and meet resistance.Oh no. The tray wobbles, and I fail to keep it balanced as someone shoves the door in the opposite direction, right into me.
I scream, plates shatter as they hit the floor, food explodes around the room as scalding hot cocoa pours across my chest, saturating the thin blue nightrobe I am wearing.
My screech echoes around the castle walls and I can just imagine my skin is going to look like Anakin Skywalker’s after his walk on the dark side.
“Owww! What the hell, dude?!” I stare down at the red streaks forming across my breasts and pull my shirt away from my skin.
“What the bloody hell are you doing?” comes a distinct male voice from behind me.
Connor.
My body prickles with awareness from his nearness and my back straightens. My nostrils flare, filling with the scent of chocolate—my freaking cocoa.
“Me?! You shoved the door into me!”
I resist the urge to pout about the ruined food and instead direct my fury at him. It doesn’t help that I’ve secretly relived our kiss the night of the ball every day since then, and now here he is, ruining my night after a long day yet again.
“I’m sorry. I thought the stopper was stuck,” he says almost sweetly, and I have to do a double take before he scowls. “Whatthe bloody hell are you doing skulking around at two in the morning?”
Ah. There’s the prick I know.
The sight of his bare feet gives me pause, and I trail my gaze up over gray sweatpants.Oh, nope not going there... But the tanned, muscled chest without a shirt on and his bedhead hair do something strange to my stomach.
Clearly, a few days away from the castle have done him plenty of favors, not that I give a shit. The last I saw him I was hurling a cupcake at his head, hoping it would annihilate him.
“Is there a curfew rule for the staff that I don’t know about?”
