Page 59 of Pursued By the Orc
“You implied it,” she hissed, peeking around me at where our manager was still flipping through his clipboard but sending suspicious looks in my direction.
“He just thinks I’m areallydedicated worker,” I explained, jabbing my thumb in our manager’s direction and she swatted at my hand until I dropped it.
“Don’tpoint at him,” she gasped, pressing her fingers to her eyes before releasing a long breath. “You’reimpossible. We’re supposed to be keeping this a secret at work.”
It was my turn to lose my smile, frowning down at her. “Keep what a secret?”
She looked up at me with wary eyes, as if realizing that my mood had shifted. She nibbled on her lower lip before she said, “Us. Wework together. It wouldn’t be right.”
“Then I quit,” I told her with a frown. “I’m not going to hide the fact that I love you.”
CHAPTER 39
Emma
At this point, I shouldn’t be surprised by anything that Krusk said to me anymore, but that one threw me for a loop. After my dad had died and we’d lost everything, I’d realized that people treated you completely different from everyone else when you didn’t have a penny to your name.
It made me rethink my actions, scouring my memories to see if I’d been that way when I’d been blessed with well-off parents. I didn’t think so, but the disparity of treatment was unavoidable when you were on the receiving end of it.
Now that I was settling into the understanding about my new role in society, being hit with the fact that not only did this male love me, but hewantedto be seen with me—he wantedother people to knowthat we were together—was an entirely different reality from what I’d come to accept as my norm. I blinked at him, praying that tears didn’t gather in my eyes again.
I’d been crying in front of him too much. He didn’t need thatfrom me. Instead, he needed what he’d been asking for this entire time. Acceptance that he was in my life now and he wasn’t going anywhere.
Swallowing hard, I nodded. “Okay,” I whispered, reaching forward to smooth my fingers down his shirt, swallowing hard. “Let’s go get the cart.”
Our manager was still eyeing us as we did just that, wheeling it around until we were exiting to the elevator area. I leaned back against the wall and he moved so he was leaning over me, pressing a kiss to my forehead.
I closed my eyes, running my fingers up and down his massive, muscular chest, savoring the feel of him. The safety he was coming to represent to me. In his arms, against his skin, I was untouchable.
“I love you,” I whispered, peeking up at him, but he just grinned down at me, secure in himself. Inus.
“Good,” he said, with smugness and I scoffed, kicking him in the shin.
“Smug bastard,” I joked, looping my arms around him as much as I could, pressing my face to his chest to breathe in his scent.
The elevator dinged and I pulled away so we could enter, but froze when I saw Lin coming through the doors.
“Why hello there,” she purred at us, blinking her enviably long lashes. “I see we’re getting cozy in the corner while the rest of us have to go through the daywithoutsignificant others who work with us.”
She tittered and I rolled my eyes, grinning. I hadn’t been able to see her or chat with her for more than a few words, and I didn’t want to explain everything to her over text.
“You,” she said, narrowing her eyes at me. “Have some explaining to do.”
“I do,” I agreed with a grin, hugging her as she got closer. “And I promise I will!”
“I even went to the Kobold to look for you,” she complained, pointing her finger at where Krusk was beaming at us. “But Hans told me that you were distracted withthishunk.”
Heat flooded my face and I couldn’t do anything but squeak as she clapped her hands happily. “Oh and it’strue? I thought he was being his usual ridiculous self, weaving tall tales of the old country or whatever.”
“He’sfrom here,” I laughed, shooing her into the elevator with us. “But yes, I’ve gotten some really good tips lately,” I said, biting my lower lip before glancing at Krusk andcompletelygiving away the source of those tips. “So I took some time off from the other jobs.”
Her smile was pleased as she pressed herself into the corner, pointing at Krusk again. “I see you took my advice then,” she said, her voice smug.
“I did,” he agreed. “And I owe you a favor. Thank you.” The last was said with such sincerity that I had to look away. I was becoming the weepiest, most ridiculous female alive where this male was concerned.
“No favor necessary,” she said with a grin before sobering and narrowing her eyes. “Unless you hurt her. In that case, I’ll need your address.”
My eyes almost bugged out of my head at her words. I’d never seen Lin be anything but cheerful and sweet. Then, after she kept her expression stern for a few more seconds, she nodded and turned to smile at me, reverting to her usual self.
