Page 41 of Prey

“No,” she stammered, clasping her shaking hands together, refusing to move away from the door.

I sat down, gestured for her to take them to the other side of the desk, opened my drawer, and took out a clean fork. “You take that fork, and I’ll have this one.”

“I’m…not hungry,” she trembled.

“Look, if you’re worried about Betty, I can message her to say you’ll be down in ten minutes after this meeting. Ten minutes, okay. That’s all I’m asking from you.”

“Meeting?” her rosy, full lips quivered, and I found it difficult to pull my gaze away from them because the urge to snatch her in my arms and kiss those lips was profound.

But I was a man with good control, so I will not be touching her today. Tomorrow, on the other hand, might be a different story as there was only so long a man can keep his hands to himself. The motivation was to draw out Selkie because she was a force to reckon with.

“Yeah, meeting. I normally have a short meeting with new staff to make sure we’re on the same page and you’re in the right job,” I was so convincing that I almost fooled myself.

She swallowed as her thumb began scratching the palm of her other hand. The nerves were getting to her.

“Take a seat,” I urged her, using a more officious tone so she’d move away from the door.

Finally, she stepped forward and dragged out the chair opposite, and parked her sweet ass down. I took the cover off the plate to find mushroom risotto underneath and gestured to Selkie. “You like risotto?”

“Um, I haven’t tried it,” she replied as her fingers twitched toward the fork. Her nostrils flared, and I suspected that she was genuinely hungry.

I beckoned her to pick up the fork and take a scoop while I messaged Betty to thank her for the little surprise and tell her she’d be down in ten minutes after I chatted with her.

Betty: Be gentle. She’s a sweetie.

Me: I promise.

“So, how’s your schooling going?” I asked her as she took tiny, polite bites of rice, then bashfully pressed her fingers against her lips as if she were worried that an escaped grain of rice would land on her chin.

Under my stare, she fiddled with her glasses nervously before answering, “I just started, and it’s good…hmm.” A slight hum exuded from her lips, and my heart stirred.

“What are you studying?” I pressed, eager to know what her interests and career plans were.

“Um,” hummed again, “Marine biology.”

“Oh, okay, that’s interesting.” That was very interesting. My selkie seemed comfortable in the water because she studied it while I studied her. “Are you a good swimmer?”

She nodded and hummed again. That cute little noise caused havoc in my chest and pants. She’s trouble, oh, yes, she was trouble.

“Do you like wild swimming, like in the ocean, lake, or whatever?” I kept pressing, getting closer to the crux of my cause.

“Um, I only just moved here, but we’ll be going on ocean trips as part of the school curriculum to study sea organisms,” she smiled for the first time since she walked in, and a skyrocket exploded against my ribcage. What a pretty smile.

When she glanced up under those glasses, she noticed me watching her closely, and that smile vanished, replaced with fear. I thought she didn’t have much experience with men, but then she was probably only nineteen or twenty. Some girls took longer to feel comfortable in their own skin to allow them to touch them.

“Sounds interesting,” I replied.

“You mean, it sounds boring,” she argued, revealing a touch of a fiery nature, which was welcomed.

“Not at all. I like to head out to the forest and get lost sometimes to forget all my problems,” I explained. She stopped midstream, holding her rice-loaded fork in the air, entranced by every word I spoke.

“Do you have problems?” she asked a peculiar question, but I guess she looked at my surroundings and assumed I came from money.

“Yeah, I got problems,” I told her.

“Like what?” she asked.

I paused for a second. “Let's play a game. I’ll tell you one problem I have, and you tell me one problem you have,” I suggested.

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