Page 38 of Bossed By the Orc

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.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Dristan

My female is on a date with another male.

The words were burning in my brain, my blunted claws as extended as they could be as my chest heaved with the need to bellow in the fucker’s face. I struggled hard, reining in the primal reaction I was having, but it was hard.

Harder than it had ever been before. When she looked at me over the prick’s shoulder, her eyes widened. She hadn’t expected to see me.

Of course she hadn’t. She was too busy laughing with this fucking fuckhead.

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