Chapter 2
The job fair had somewhat been a success, Maria didn’t really want to be a maid but she also didn’t want to starve or sell her body to someone who may turn her into a skin suit, honestly she liked cooking a cleaning, but she wanted to do it for someone that not only compensated her time and effort but respected her as a person. Michael had somehow scraped together more money to get her a uniform and she was determined to start paying him back, she was not his wife, even though she knew he would offer in a heartbeat if he thought she would say yes. She trudged up the stairs behind the two other women, she hadn’t eaten in two days but after this job she would have some money to get something to fill her stomach, as the double doors opened to the luxury villa Maria held back a groan. The women in front of her gasped and whispered between themselves, of course, just her luck, it had to be that bloody American, he grinned at the women, “Hola señoritas” he purred gaining more excited clucks, oh come on he wasn’t that attractive.
She just kept her gaze averted in the hopes he didn’t remember her but of course he spotted her, “Maria, oh Maria, light of my life” he grinned, smug son of a bitch, “hola señor, me alegro de verte de nuevo” she politely responds nodding before entering the biggest dwelling she had ever seen in her entire life. Maria couldn’t help but look around in awe, the place was massive, it would be hard work to clean just the three of them but it would keep her busy, when she turned around the stupid American was handing the other two women their pay, before she could warn him the women were out the door. A shocked look on his stupidly attractive face, “¿Qué estás haciendo idiota?”, it was too late though so Maria sighed, “now I’m going to have to do the whole villa by myself”, “what why, I just paid them” Tony frowned. “No you gave them money, you pay after the job is done, otherwise people will just...” Maria gestured to the door with her free hand “leave”, “oh, ahh I’ll call the office to send more people, I don’t expect you to do the whole place” he answers sheepishly.
She rolls her eyes and heads upstairs, powering through vacuuming and mopping, doing bathrooms, she was listening to the radio when the distinct smell of something burning filled her nostrils, rushing downstairs Tony stood wide eyed in front of a flaming pan. “¡Que estas haciendo!” Maria cried out and “Cristo, las sangrientas americanas no saben hacer nada” she swore pushing him away and placing a lid of the pan to smother the fire as she moved it off the heat, “I’m hungry, I was trying to make an omelet and then it just ... fire” Tony explained. “estúpido estadounidense, por supuesto que no puedes cocinar, ¿cómo te alimentas?” Maria growled, “I know one of those words and I’ll have you know many people consider me a genius” Tony states unbothered by her ranting. “eres un maldito, Idiota!, Podrías haber quemado este hermoso lugar conmigo dentro” she barked knowing he couldn’t understand her, she was glaring at him, chest heaving, hair messy, face flushed from the heat of the kitchen. And he was looking at her like, well like a man would a woman, so it didn’t take her by surprise when he surged forward to claim her blushed lips, Maria simply took a step to the side rolling her eyes and began clean up his mess, Tony pouted and sat down to watch her.
It wasn’t long, seconds really, before he realised he rather liked where he was sitting, he had an excellent view as she went back and forth between to messy bench top, sink, pantry, fridge, he wasn’t really paying attention to what she was doing, just the hypnotising movement of her body. Her hips had a flow, a liquid movement that made his mouth dry, he didn’t even know she had been cooking until there was a large plate of some sort of fritters placed on the table along with a beer and a smaller plate of what looked like banana chips. “Bacalaitos, Tostones” Maria nodded and then she was making her way upstairs again, Tony cautiously took a fritter from the plate and bit into it while it was still warm, he groaned loudly, this was amazing, much better than the street stalls in the upper quarter. He was about to go watch Maria work when Happy and Rhodey came in, “are the cleaners still here” Happy asked and Tony’s eyes bulged, “fuck, shit, I was meant to call them, oh god damnit” he cursed, Maria was well aware he hadn’t called but he was due some payback for his attempted kiss. She stood at the base of the stairs, hands on hips, a fed up look on her face and cleared her throat, Tony looked over along with his friend and manservant, “I was kinda distracted and then you made me food” he excuses, “continuaré aquí abajo, señor” she nods walking off, sufficiently happy with his embarrassment.
“Oh my god” Rhodey gasps when Maria is out of sight, “yep” Tony smirks, “she looks just like...” Happy exclaims eyes wide, “yeah, feisty to, she was the one I met the other day” Tony grins passing the plates and getting up, he can hear the two men commenting on how good the food is while he walks away. He finds her in the downstairs laundry on her hands and knees, well this is a view he could certainly get used to, she obviously didn’t know he was there and he used the time to look her over, while she was certainly very beautiful the more he observed the skinnier she looked. In fact now he thought about it there was other things to, dry hair and skin, her nails were brittle and she was wearing a old cardigan on an overly warm day, she had a scowl on her face as well making her look irritable and tired. “Did you eat anything when you cooked for me” he asked and she flinched, freezing her actions, “no sir” Maria answered keeping her head down, did he think she stole food, “I didn’t take anything I promise” she adds.
If she doesn’t behave he may beat her, or worse not pay her, she peers up at him and his lips are pursed, “answer me honestly, when did you last eat”, she can’t answer him, what would he think if she says days ago, “that long hmm” he mutters and then he leaves. Maria scrubs harder and faster, he’s gonna think she is not worth his money, oh god she yelled at him before, all her bravado is gone, is he going to call up and report her, she needs this job desperately, she hears his footsteps coming back and keeps her head down. “Here, take a break, eat something” he says, “I’m ok sir, I’ll keep working” she answers and he sighs “Maria, Kitten, look at me, I want you to stop, take a break” he says, she looks up and he is holding a plate, slices of cut papaya, half of a bacalaíto, some bread, nuts and what looks like a glass of very milky coffee. Is this a test, he is smiling at her softly, “I can’t pay for this” she mutters looking down, “nah don’t worry about that, the money means nothing to me” he smirks and her eyes flick up in surprise, “take it please, I don’t want you fainting” he directs. Ahh that’s why he is feeding her, he thinks her not eating will affect her work, Maria nods “thank you sir”, “stop with this sir stuff Kitten, Tony, call me Tony” he huffs, “that’s not very professional sir”, “I don’t care, I’m not really a sir” he retorts.
Maria pauses to think, “patrón, jefe, el capitán” she suggests and he chuckles, “Kitten you can call me whatever you want, although the actual Captain might not like you calling me the last one” he teases, “señor Tony” she states looking at him with those beautiful brown eyes. Tony feels his mouth go dry and promptly gets up, “ahh alright I’ll leave you to your break” he says quickly before almost running away, Maria watches him confused, she eats quickly, the drink turns out to be chocolate milk not coffee but her belly is very full. She washes the plate and glass in the laundry sink and continues working, she definitely feels much better after all that food and speeds through the rest of the cleaning, the house is very big and the sun is starting to go down when she finished. She takes her glass and plate from the laundry and returns it to the kitchen, given a quick wipe down while she is there, now she just needs to find Tony and tell him she is done, she turns around and he is standing right there, she jumps and lets out a little squeal before quickly regaining her composure. “Sorry Kitten, didn’t mean to scare you” he smirks, Maria smiles shyly, “are you finished” he asks and she nods “sí señor Tony”, “will you stay for dinner, we like your food, it is better that the restaurants here, I’ll pay you for your time” he asks.
“You want me to cook?” she asks and he nods, it wouldn’t take he long, and she should probably get home, she is not sure, “hey you don’t have to it’s ok, you probably want to get out of here, I’ll pay you and you can leave if you want” he smiles, “no I cook” Maria interrupts. “Really” he smiles, “Yes” she nods, “you have no wife here and will burn down the casa” she states and he laughs, “ok fair, but I will still pay you for the cleaning now” he grins pulling out a wallet, he opens it then rolls his eyes a little annoyed and tosses it on the bench before digging a second, fat wallet. They both look expensive and her eyes bulge as Tony pulls out a big wad of cash, it’s the most money she has ever seen in her life, “tens ok or do you want smaller bills than that” he asks, “ahh that’s fine” Maria manages to squeak out. His fingers move so fast and she is hypnotised by the cash, he pauses and looks at her, her eyes glued to the money, he smiles softly and keeps counting, tapping the bills on the bench when he is done and fastening them with a rubber band before handing her the fat wad.
Maria looks at the bundle in confusion he owes her fifty dollars, this is way more than that, “¿señor?” she questions, “I’m sorry I forgot to call more cleaners, the fact that you did it all by yourself is pretty amazing, so I paid you accordingly” he states. Her eyes are wide and she shakes her head “no no no señor, I can’t take, this too much” she states, “I would pay a lot more a home for not even half that amount of work, you earned it”, “señor”, “take it, I want you to have it, I like you Kitten” Tony says with a cocky smile. Ohhh that’s what he wants Maria thinks, “Tony, you can’t say it like that” his manservant sighs but she doesn’t care about the audience, “what, why?” Tony questions as Maria drops to her knees, her hands going to his belt, “that’s why” the black man responds. “Oh shit, baby no” Tony exclaims quickly pulling her up, “The money is just for the cleaning, he doesn’t pay for stuff like that” the man says and Maria looks between them confused, “he just likes giving money to pretty girls” Tony’s friend calls from the couch. “Uhh, I-I go cook” she says and Tony smiles, the men watch curiously as she walks down the hall and out the back door, “annnd she is running away” Rhodey states, “yep” Happy calls getting up from the couch to join them, “she is not running away, all her stuff is still here” Tony grumbles.
Tony is right and Maria returns after a minute, with two live chickens, “oh nope” the white man states backing away and Tony chuckles, “it’s just a bird Happy” he says laughing until she grabs a massive cleaver and he backs away as well, “is she going to” the black man states cut off by the chop of the blade. She efficiently ties the dispatched birds feet and hangs them over the tap to bleed out over the sink, unbothered but the gawking American men, she cleans the kitchen of any blood and preps a large pot of boiling water and another of ice water. Maria retrieves two beers from the fridge and directs Tony and his friend to the couch, “get your own beer Rhodey” Tony laughs, but the man instead walks into the kitchen curious the see what the attractive young woman would do. He watches as she expertly scalds then shocks the chickens before draining the pots, refilling one and quickly plucking the birds, placing the carcasses in front of him, handing him a large knife, the men watch curiously from the couch, “you do realise I’m not his servant right” he says and Tony spits out his beer. Maria’s eyes go big and she gasps in a breath, oh my god this man is not Tony’s manservant, she has been treating him like he is, she looks at Tony “no majordomo” she states and Tony shakes his head “no love he is a friend”, her hands shake and her eyes water.
“lo siento, lo siento, por favor perdóneme señor, no sabía, lo siento” she cries getting on her knees and begging for his forgiveness, he puts the knife down immediately and pulls her up into his arms as she sobs, “hey no it’s ok, you didn’t know, it’s ok” he comforts. “Also I’m just like the other two useless Americans and have no idea what to do with the chickens” he states and she lets out a small laugh through the tears, “you must have patient wives” she chuckles, “no wives but our meat comes ready to go all wrapped in plastic” the man states. “No wives” Maria gasps, “he lit the kitchen on fire burning an egg” she says gesturing to Tony as she gets another beer out and leads Rhodey to the couch, “well Tony Had a wife” Happy mutters, “can we not talk about Pepper please, it’s been months” Tony groans. Maria goes back to the kitchen leaving the men to talk, she skilfully guts the chickens before giving them a wash and breaking the carcasses down, the parts go into two bowls while the third section of white meat she wraps in plastic so it’s ready to go. She preps lots of vegetables and herbs too, putting a large amount in the pot of boiling water along with the remains of the chicken carcasses, off cuts and anything that is not the dark meat for the main meal, she leaves the stock simmering and starts on the main dish.