His hand hit the empty bed. He pushed into sitting position and looked around the room. He was alone. Instantly his heart fell. Rubbing his eyes, he pushed from the bed and reached for a pair of jeans that lay discarded on the floor from the night before. The smell of freshly cooked food danced its way up the stairs causing Ronin to moan and hurriedly haul on his pants and zip up. He didn't know José could cook. Smiling, he descended the stairs and stopped at the kitchen door, folded his arms over his chest, and leant his shoulder against the doorframe. A steaming plate of scrambled eggs sat on the counter. Beside that was a plate of strawberries Ronin didn't even know he had. The coffeemaker was going and a pot sat on the stove with steam rising from it. "I had strawberries?" "Morning!" José cheered. "Thought you were going to sleep the day away. We have to go get your brother, remember? And no, you didn't have strawberries. I had Savaro run some over first thing this morning." José danced around the island in the kitchen, putting things away, then stopped to dip a fork into the boiling pot, mixed the contents, and reached for a bottle of pepper.
