Ave Maria

Thirteen

Chapter 13

Maria groaned herself awake, head rolling back into the pillow. God, she thought, running her hands through her tangled hair to massage her throbbing skull, that is one hell of a hangover! She kept her eyes screwed shut against the sunlight that was inevitably blaring through the windows and tried to collect her thoughts. Flashes of last night echoed painfully in her head: the shots, the club, the music… just thinking about how loud the music had been made her head hurt!

Grimacing, she squirmed under the covers. Her hand roamed over the shirt that covered her body and she was relieved she'd had the sense to change out of the dress before she'd slept. She was less impressed with herself when she felt the smoothness of the stockings still clinging to her legs.

Knowing she'd have to get up sooner or later, she elbowed herself upright, leaning her heavy head back on the headboard, and tentatively peeled her eyes open.

They instantly dropped to a frown. Her lips parted in confusion as she scoured her gaze at her surroundings. She shouldn't be here. This was her room; Thor was meant to be here, not her. She glanced to her side in panic and was relieved to find the space beside her empty.

Still, something buzzed alarmingly in her head. Picking her gaze up, she stared around her again; over her curtains blocking the world outside (mercifully), over her wardrobe, over the pictures propped up on the bedside table, the god stood in the doorway with a breakfast tray in his hands…

Her jaw dropped at the last one.

A smile blossomed over Thor's face as Maria's eyes locked on him, the frown still etched deep in her features. He strode forward, crossing the room almost instantly, and perched on the edge of the bed, gently placing the breakfast tray over the barely awoken woman's lap.

He smiled at her softly, reaching forward to brush away the hair clinging to her cheek and resting his warm palm over her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

Maria seemed to snap out of her confused, gaping trance as her headache bit back with a vengeance. "Rough." She admitted sluggishly, bring her hand to her temple. "My head is killing me!"

A light chuckle escaped Thor's lips and he peeled Maria's hand from her head, pressing her knuckles tenderly to his lips.

A smirk tugged at the corners of Maria's mouth. "It's all your fault. You were the one who got me drunk again." She accused teasingly, sitting up straighter, careful not to unbalance the tray in her lap.

"You seemed to enjoy yourself regardless." Thor murmured against her skin, his hot breath tickling her hand.

Her smirk deepened and she dropped her eyes. "I can't deny that." Finally her gaze washed over the tray in her lap and the frown slowly eased its way back into existence. The tray was adorned with a glass of water, a glass of orange juice and a plate of scrambled eggs on toast. Her mouth dropped open for a silent second before any words came out. "What is this?"

She tried not to sound too suspicious, but it was impossible. Scrambled eggs required cooking. The sole reason Maria had done all the cooking up to that point was because, simply put, she didn't trust Thor alone with the oven, half afraid he'd end up burning the house to the ground! But by the look of it, he'd done a good job. It tasted like he'd done a good job too, Maria thought as she popped a forkful of eggs in her mouth.

"Breakfast." Thor answered smoothly, planting another kiss of her hand before releasing her and rising to stride around the edge of the bed.

Maria flinched as he moved to rip the curtains apart, fully prepared for sunlight to burn her eyes unbearably. She was pleasantly surprised then, when she saw the window was impenetrable for the torrents of rain outside, broken only by streaks of bright lightning that flashed over the village. She even managed a smile as Thor returned to her side.