Read Valhalla Cupcakes for Free Online Page A

she said. “I guess if I say stay put or something like that, it really means move freely about the house. Except for my room,” she quickly amended.
    Being in command of someone was turning out to be more difficult than she thought. She instructed him to hold out his arms and measured him around the chest and waist, not bothering to pretend she didn’t like getting up close to him again. As she knelt down to measure his inseam, he stroked the back of her hair and chuckled. She blushed at whatever thoughts he might have been having and tried to ignore what was directly in front of her.
    “Can you just hold it?” she sputtered. “I can’t reach your ankle.”
    He took the end of the measuring tape, continuing his laughter while she finished.
    “You’re really big,” she said, leaning back on her heels to look up at him, miles away. “Quit making that face,” she said at his suggestive leer. “Now, don’t use any of the kitchen appliances, but you can eat or drink whatever’s in the fridge. Don’t answer the phone or the door. Stay inside, unless of course there’s a fire, but there shouldn’t be.” She paused to think if there was anything else she needed to put into her command, to make sure he stayed out of trouble while not risking his safety. “Don’t start a fire,” she said, feeling stupid but unable to keep from adding it, just in case he got any wise ideas.
    He looked gravely offended and she quickly apologized, promising to be back soon.
    She felt like a kid in a candy store, shopping for clothes for him as if he were a new, prized doll. Remembering her money woes, she ended up putting most of her carefully chosen outfits back, settling on a few plain t-shirts, two pairs of jeans and some undies and sweats for him to sleep in. Knowing she shouldn’t, she bought him some novelty Thor boxers, hoping to make him laugh, and thinking he’d look adorably sexy in them.
    Except, you’re never going to see him in his underwear, she reminded herself. Still, she tossed them onto the counter, strangely giddy to be buying him things. At the grocery store, she bought some thick steaks and salad fixings, and after a lot of hesitation, added a nice six pack of beer. It wouldn’t get them dangerously drunk, and she knew that Vikings liked their ale, so hopefully it would make him happy.
    As she drove home, she tried to decipher why she cared so much about his state of mind, when he really should have just been a means to an end. She felt sorry for him for the curse he’d endured, and guilty that she was now bossing him around, and guiltier still for partly enjoying it. If only she could figure out what to do about the huge sum of money she had to come up with, she could let him be on his way to seek his revenge.
    She’d even offer to help, though she didn’t think it was possible to get revenge on someone who had to be long, long since dead. What did she know about it, though? She never would have thought it possible to trap someone in a painting, but she now lived with proof that it was. She smiled from ear to ear as she pulled into her parking space, eager to lay eyes on him again.
    As he sat dejectedly in the glow of the cake display light, she felt awful for forgetting to show him how things worked. It seemed like he knew so much about modern living from observing and listening from the painting, but he explained he had a very small range of vision in it, and could only see directly in front of him. Many long stretches he’d been forced to stare at blank walls, or other portraits, leaving him to wonder if there were other sad souls trapped as he was. Once he was hung directly across from a mirror, making it the worst ten years of his life, as he had to stare at the mockery the witch made of him.
    She listened to his story as she pan seared the steaks and tossed the salad, presenting him his dinner with a flourish, and watching eagerly as he took the first bite. As a cook, she loved watching people