CHAPTER 14
Emma
Ipressed my back against the wall next to the doorway through the kitchen of the Green Kobold.
Hans was at his prep station, his hands flying as he chopped, his lips pursed as he grinned in my direction.
“Still avoiding him?” he asked, not even glancing down as he pushed the cut vegetables into a bowl. He turned, folding his arms while still holding onto his knife. “Did he do something I should rough him up about?”
I snorted out a laugh, tipping my head up and squeezing my eyes shut. “Nope. He’s actually…” I released a rough breath before opening my eyes and nibbling on my lower lip. “He was talking to Lin about me,” I told him, having bared my soul about Krusk to him previously.
“And you checked with her?” Hans asked, narrowing his eyes with suspicion, his hand flexing on the knife. When I nodded, he relaxed his hand. “Good,” he said with a firm nod, pointing the knife in the direction of the door. “So stop being an idiot and go talk to him.”
I glared immediately. “I’m not an idiot,” I gasped, crossing my arms and glaring right back at him.
“There’s a male out there that you’re attracted to, who decided that he would throw himself at the mercy of your best friend and get tips from her to woo you and you’re in here with me, a happily mated kobold. Tell me, is that not idiot behavior?” he asked, with a shrug.
I scowled, not wanting to validate his statement or blatantly lie and deny it.
“Thought so,” he said, humming a cheerful song as he turned and started chopping something else—that I was certain was more for show than necessity.
“So what do I do?” I asked, in a voice low enough that no human could have heard. But he did. He didn’t indicate it, continuing what he was doing, but he spoke.
“You go out there and get to know the orc who’s pursuing you.
If he’s just as much of an idiot as you, then you set him free.
But if he’s worth the hassle of allowing him to chase you…
” he trailed off, turning to send a mischievous wink in my direction.
“Then you let yourself be chased. And maybe if he’s lucky, you’ll stop being an idiot long enough to let him catch you. ”
My face was flaming with heat as I spun around, huffing loudly and slamming my way out of the heavy doors of the kitchen.
I ignored the whole-hearted cackle of laughter that followed me out into the dining area.
Swallowing hard, I adjusted the tight skirt that I’d wiggled myself into for this shift.
I told myself that it was because I hadn’t done the laundry this week, but deep inside, I knew the truth. I looked good in this skirt. It enhanced some of my best assets and made me feel confident.
In that moment, I needed to feel confident. I was certain that I could walk right up to the male and tell him that I wasn’t interested. That I needed time and space so that I could handle my responsibility to my grandma—the only family that I had—first.
It was a Friday, which meant that I had two more days to go before I could go see her.
I counted down those days like clockwork every week.
If I had the time, I would spend all of her last days with her.
But I couldn’t, and every second in her presence would have to last me a lifetime after she was gone.
Straightening my spine, I focused on my section, noting that he was the only table occupied. I sent a glare in the direction of the kitchen where I was certain that Hans had manipulated this somehow.
I glanced in the direction of Rhondda, our beautiful Gwragedd Annwn hostess.
Her gown shimmered like sunlight on ripples, woven from fabric so fine it seemed to move before she did.
Drops of moisture clung to her hair—pale as river quartz.
Her eyes were the color of a deep pool at dusk, dark but alive with reflections that never stayed still.
The fact that she looked everywhere but at me told me everything that I needed to know. Rolling my eyes, I shoved aside my hesitation and focused on Krusk.
He’d previously been staring down at his menu with a bored expression but as soon as he’d noticed me, he sat up straight, a wide grin passing across his face. I strode toward him, ensuring that my stride was confident and didn’t reveal how anxious I was.
“Good evening, Zemar. Fancy seeing you here,” he said in a low, seductive voice that spread pleasant goosebumps over my skin.
I stopped in front of him, tilting my head in query. “What does that word mean? You’ve called me that twice now.”
He cleared his throat, shaking his head. “It’s just an endearment. No special meaning,” he said, but he was looking anywhere but at me, so I was fairly certain that was a lie.
With a shrug, I moved on, focusing on where he was holding the menu with a death grip. As it started coming apart at the seams, I bit back a grin, leaning closer. His lips parted and he moved to do the same right away.
It was a struggle to stop the smile from crossing my face, but I persevered, biting my lower lip as I whispered, “If you rip the menu, you’ll have to pay extra.”
His brow knitted for a long moment before realization flashed into his face and he glanced down. “Shit,” he swore, releasing the menu until it flopped onto the table in front of him. “Sorry.” He smoothed his hands down the face of it, but there wasn’t much that could be done to save it.
“It’s alright,” I told him, flipping it open and watching it fall apart at the seams. “I’ll put it on Hans’ tab.”
“Hans?” he asked, but it was more of a low breath of sound than anything else. I looked up in time to see his eyes glued on my breasts. I smothered a smile as I stood up.
“The owner. He’ll cover it for you. So don’t worry about it,” I added with a wink.
Krusk’s lips parted again and he stared at me in a long moment of silence before I glanced at the menu again indicating that I was waiting.
“Oh,” he gasped, flipping it open and watching in horror as the pages fluttered to the table. “I’ll have… Um…” he stared at the pages for a long moment before he looked up at me with a rueful smile. “I’ll have whatever you recommend.”
I pretended to cough to cover the second laugh of the night—certain that I hadn’t laughed this much in years—and I picked up his mangled menu. “Okay. Your appetite is in my hands,” I told him with a wink.
He nodded eagerly and I turned to head back to the kitchen, giddiness filling my stomach.
I hadn’t felt anything like that in ages.
Perhaps never. Once I was inside, I made sure that I was scowling instead of smiling as I found everyone in the kitchen turned around to look at me with matching grins.
“You’re paying for this,” I told him, my glare lethal.
“Yeah, yeah,” Hans scoffed, turning to face me with his arms crossed. “Now tell me what happened.”
I sighed, letting my head fall back onto the metal surface of the door, wishing I could knock myself out. Or wake myself up. This was a dream, right?
“Nothing happened,” I sighed, shaking my head as the entire staff groaned, going back to what they were doing now that there weren’t any juicy updates. “I tried to take his order and he said he’d have whatever I recommend.”
Eyes and bodies swung back in my direction, grins on their faces while Hans’ grin was filled with satisfaction. “I see,” he purred, rubbing his hands together. “Then we’ll just have to dazzle him, won’t we?”
I didn’t like the sound of that. And I especially didn’t like the look on his face.
“After all, the way to any male’s heart is through his stomach,” Rhondda said from where she was perched on the counter near the door.
I startled, pressing my hand to my chest before I scowled at her. “What are you even doing here?” I demanded. “You’re on the clock.”
“I’m on break,” she answered, waggling her eyebrows before lifting the can of soda next to her with her elegant blue hands and taking a sip. “And I’m invested.”
“Of course you are,” I sighed, rolling my eyes. She was a true romantic, believing that every date she went on would be the one.
“How much do you know about orcs?” Hans called from where he was gathering ingredients.
I frowned, shaking my head. “Not much. I know the basics, but not more than that,” I told him. “Why?”
“You should look into them then,” he told me, glancing back at me, his eyes glittering with amusement. “And see what this type of behavior would mean for a male.”
Suspicion filled me and I asked, “Do you speak orcish?” in a low enough voice that the only other being that heard was Rhondda. She leaned forward, intrigued, but I was still looking at Hans.
“Yep,” he said with a grin. “One of my best mates as a child was an orc. It was an odd pairing, but we still get together for a beer every week.”
“Do you…” I cleared my throat, uneasy with the question, but after a short hesitation, I decided to blurt it out. “Do you know what Zemar means?” I was definitely butchering the way he’d said it, the deep guttural intonation different in my mouth.
Hans’ grin was delighted as he turned to face me. “Oh, Em, you’re going to have to ask him that one on your own.”
“I did,” I defended, scuffing my comfortable shoes on the floor with embarrassment. “He said that it’s an endearment.”
“It is,” Hans said, grinning as he went back to prepping. “It means my heart.” He emphasized the last two words, hefting his pasta-maker to the countertop.
My eyes widened in shock at both the words as well as the appliance. Hans didn’t break out his Italian skills for just anyone. “Something special planned?” I asked, but my words were more of a gasp.
He’d called me his heart.
The thought was thrumming inside my brain, but I tried to focus on my boss instead.
“Something special for the special someone of my favorite waitress,” Hans called, grinning over at me. “Go get him the nice bottle of red I have in my office.”
Now my eyes were bugging out of my head. “Your wine?”
“It’s the only thing that I have that’ll pair with what I have planned,” he said with that mischievous smile of his. “Now go before I go out there myself and dig wedding details out of your male.”
I stumbled toward his office, grumbling, “He’s not my male.”
Hans’ laughter was loud in the open space of the kitchen.