Chapter Twenty-Two
Penelope
Pen: I called the bank Friday and I think everything should be sorted with the mortgage.
I tapped away at my phone, realizing that I’d forgotten to give my best friend the amazing news. She worried about me more than I worried about myself and I loved her for it.
Becca: Yay! We should celebrate!
Pen: You’d need to be here in order to do that. When are you moving to the city?
Becca: When that big, beautiful library hires me!
Pen: I’m sending you the application as we speak.
Becca: I love you! Now, give me the real dirt. How’re things with your hot boss?
I glanced around guiltily, as if Dristan would be summoned, peering over my shoulder, because I was talking about him. When I saw no one, I breathed a sigh of relief and replied to my best friend.
Pen: He might be hot, but he’s still my boss.
Becca: That just makes it sexier.
Pen: Get your head out of those romance novels and back into reality.
Becca: I like it better here! I’m staying!
I chuckled, sending her a kissy face emoji because she was my absolute favorite, even when she drove me insane. I was still grinning when I saw the tall shadow of someone entering the room. I’d gone down to the break room on the floor under Dristan’s, deciding that the distance would give me some much needed perspective when it came to taming myself. It had been a confusing weekend for me. Dristan hadn’t pushed me for more, seeming to understand that I needed time.
I didn’t need to remember the other night, and the wonderful things his tongue had done. Every time I inhaled his scent—which was often, since he sat next to me—the memory replayed in my mind. I sighed, picking up the mug of heavenly coffee that I’d made with the expensive machine in the corner. The first time I’d spotted it, I’d drooled helplessly over it. It was shiny, gleaming and smelled faintly of the beans that I loved.
Tapping my fingernail against the outside of the mug, I remembered the way Dristan had sighed when I brought a cup of the heavenly liquid up to him. I already had plans to brew him another, just to watch his eyes go droopy with pleasure.
I shook my head, biting my lip to bring myself back to reality. I needed to focus on the job and not the male I was working for.
I was still figuring out a way of getting myself out of this obsession that was growing inside of me. It might help if I could get a desk next to Fionel instead of Dristan without giving him an aneurysm.
Dristan was determined to hold a grudge against the male for whatever reason he’d made up in his grumpy head and I was apparently supposed to be on his side and not speak to him at all.
I tensed when I saw a tall shadow coming through the door. When I glanced up, I smiled as I spotted Garrett.
I raised my hand with a cheerful wave. “Hi, Garrett,” I called. “Great presentation. I’m so glad we were able to find that time slot for you that morning. Mr. Everlock wasn’t feeling so well the last time you came into his office.” I held strong to the blatant lie, even as Garrett’s eyebrows swung up in disbelief.
“Right,” he replied, snorting out a laugh. “I really wanted to thank you for that. I’ve been trying to meet with him since I started here, but it’s never worked out.”
I nodded in understanding. After seeing Dristan’s schedule, I could sympathize. The male barely had a second to spare in his day to eat. And now that he’d shortened his days to leave early and take the weekends off, he was booked solid for months in advance.
“He had a cancellation,” I lied again, leaning against the counter and inhaling from my mug again.
He hummed, his disbelief clear. “I was wondering,” he started, ducking his head and scuffing a huge hoof against the floor, “if you wanted to go have lunch with me?”
I almost choked on the sip of coffee that I’d taken. Staring up at his bashful face, I waited for the burst of excitement that would usually come if a handsome male asked me out on a date. When I’d imagined myself moving to the big city, this had been part of the plan.
Meet a nice male. Fall in love. Live happily ever after.
In every fantasy I’d ever had, the male had been very much like Garrett. Sweet, approachable and handsome. I should be flying high and screaming yes. I should be spinning circles of joy. I should be doing anything except imagining what Dristan’s yellow gaze had looked like as he’d stared up at me from between my thighs.
“Penelope?” Garrett’s voice ripped me out of the memory and I jostled so hard that I spilled the hot liquid from my mug onto my hand.
I hissed, putting it down and rushing to the sink, putting my hand under the water. Garrett was right behind me, hovering and apologizing when he wasn’t at fault at all. I peered up at him and he ducked his head again, stepping back to stand a respectful distance away.
This is the kind of male I should be getting involved with. Not Dristan .
Even as I thought it, my heart screamed an angry protest, closing its doors against any male who wasn’t the towering, dramatic orc that sat in the office upstairs, probably counting down the minutes of my lunch time. And I didn’t want to lead Garrett on.
“Thanks so much for the invite,” I told him with a weak smile, “but I’m not really interested in seeing anyone right now.” I rushed to explain, “I just moved here, you see, and I need time to settle before I even think about dating.”
He nodded with understanding before a sweet smile spread across his face. “We could make it a friendly lunch.”
Warning bells were screaming in my head, but the polite small-town girl in me opened her mouth and spewed the first thing that came out. “Sure.”
His victorious smile should have been all the warning I needed that this was a terrible idea. But it seemed as though I didn’t have much concern for my own sanity anyway.
Garrett led me out of the break room, telling me about all of the best spots he knew near the office. I eyed everyone as we passed, praying that none would be Dristan. There was something deep inside of me that knew he would not approve of me going anywhere with Garrett.
“I don’t have much time left for lunch,” I told him, “so something quick would be perfect.”
“I know just the place,” he said, his smile beaming in the sun as we stepped outside the building. I relaxed in increments as we made our way toward a small deli. Garrett was pleasant company, telling me all about how he moved from the farm he’d grown up on after he finished school. He was the first of his generation to get a college education and his two younger siblings were hoping to follow in his footsteps.
“Your parents must be so proud,” I grinned up at him while we took our seats at the tiny tables stuck as close to the glass front of the building as they could be. I hid a smile as Garrett bundled himself into the tiny seat, and an image of Dristan doing the same thing in the visitor’s chair, so I could be comfortable and have his own, flashed into my mind.
I pushed the memory away, struggling to stay focused on Garrett instead. He was animated now, relaying stories of when he’d lived on the farm and how different he was finding life out here.
“I’d give anything for one of my mom’s casseroles,” he groaned, “but these aren’t so bad. He took a bite of his vegetarian sandwich. I bit into mine too, sighing with appreciation. My eyes were wide as I looked up at him, trying to tell him how great the sandwich was. His own gaze was twinkling back at me.
That was when I spotted a huge form behind him. The smile dropped off of my face and my eyes went up and up until I was looking at Dristan’s face, a familiar menacing scowl firmly in place.
Uh oh.