Page 75 of Moon Tamed

I blinked. “Pardon?”

“You’re the reason he’s wearing suits all the time right now. You love the look of him in a suit, and he knows it. So, he’s dressing to what he knows you like. Men are peacocks. He’s showing off his feathers. Come on, Coraline. Men do not just follow women around like puppies without being annoying about it unless they’re serious, and anyone with a functioning set of eyes can see he’s doing his best not to be annoying about it.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Workplace relationships tend to be a problem.”

Sarai waved off my concern, and she even laughed at me. “Not in the Hunters. Calden’s mother used to run the show while his father just looked like he ran the show. When she died, he did everything she used to. Let’s just say we were all shocked when he moved you up the chain. Your office used to be hers. Nobody has used it since she died, and we’d just assumed that was how it would be until he retired. But he’s working to hand the reins over to Calden, and how better than to make sure his son has his partner settled into the job? And you’re taking to it like a duck to water. Everyone is already noticing how much more smoothly things are going.”

I thought back on the work I’d been doing in the past few days, which had mostly involved conquering my invoice pile and fighting with the faction’s ridiculous scheduling problem. I’d only interacted with Mr. Stephans when needed, glaring at him until he did what I needed. “I’m just making sure things are organized.”

“We’re about as organized as an unassembled thousand piece puzzle around here most days of the week. Mr. Stephans wouldn’t put anyone in your position until now, so we haven’t had access to a singular entity to organize everything. We do our best, but it’s hard when we can’t funnel everything to anyone before asking Mr. Stephans about it. And he knows he crippled our operations refusing to get an executive secretary. Honestly, we were worried about the dating scheme he did to earn money, but it should be okay. I guess he finally decided it was time to let go and move on.”

Or he held some confidence Calden wouldn’t be lost in the shadow of his mother’s death. “I had no idea.”

“You don’t have the history we do. I wasn’t here when Calden’s mother died, but a lot were. Calden has always been emotionally crippled. He fears what happened to his father will happen to him. And the entire idea of killing the woman he loves just from existing sickens him. So, he’d only date people who tested negative. Forget dating, he wouldn’t even spend more than a few minutes with untested women. He can’t handle the thought of being the reason she might die.”

“I don’t think that means he’s crippled. It means he cares, though.”

“That he does. So, now you know the situation. I figured he’d be a typical wolf, sniffing at your turf without being obvious about it. If you like him sniffing around your turf, just keep doing what you’re doing. The wolves eventually go in for the kill, but they like the long approach. Since you don’t kiss on the first date, I don’t expect you’ll have any problems with the pacing. If you want him to hurry it up, you’ll have to tell him.”

Well, the conversation hadn’t gone in the direction I thought it would, but if she was feeling chatty, I’d take advantage of the opportunity. “Thanks for the warning. Anything else I should know?”

“As a matter of fact, yes. No matter how that tricky man phrases things, he’s so afraid of what he might cause he doesn’t sleep around casually. If you want him in your bed, you’re going to have to get rings to go with that negative gene test. Those of us who have dated him pull a charade for his sake. I’m sure he’ll be a beast in bed once he gets there.”

My mouth dropped open. “He’s a virgin?”

“Did you really think someone so profoundly hurt by his mother’s death like that would sleep with anyone other than his one and only? Oh, Coraline. He doesn’t care about who sleeps with who, but I can promise you that in our few years together, there were no romps between the sheets. And I figured it out fairly quickly we were never going to be a real couple. But he needed someone. I decided to be that someone for a while. Did I actually want bunnies? Yes. But what I needed was for him to be ready to take that last big risk. I wasn’t the woman for that. From everything we’ve seen, you are.”

“He needs therapy,” I muttered.

“That he does. And no, we don’t think you’re his therapy plan. He’s just finally learned what it means to love someone enough to take that chance, even if it means having to go at it alone if it all falls apart. He’s not stupid. He knows you could be in a car accident tomorrow. But you fit with him, and he was willing to take the risk, even with you untested. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have given you the time of day. He’s been doing a lot more than give you the time of day. Mr. Stephans had to drive him away from your place when you were sick so he wouldn’t end up making himself ill from stress and failing to get enough sleep. The way I see it? He doesn’t really understand yet what he’s experiencing, so you’re going to need to have a great deal of patience while he figures it out. But you’re patient. Anyone who deals with the Stephans must have patience in spades.”

“Well, I can say this was not the conversation I was expecting when I came in here.”

Sarai giggled. “We all wear armor. Mine is just assumptions and expectations. They’re my weapons, too. I think you’ll find most of us aren’t as we seem on the surface. And Coraline?”

“Yes?”

“I’m going to be taking you out like a baby deer with two broken legs on the hunt when it starts. Do your best. If you somehow manage to best me, you’ll have nothing to prove to anyone here, that’s for certain. Good luck. I recommend skittering off to wherever you normally go this time of night before the worrywart starts worrying.”

Puzzled over the whole thing, I thanked her, left her office, and headed in the general direction of home, wondering what else I had missed by looking at only the surface.

SEVENTEEN

Was this ever in doubt?

For ten whole minutes, using one of the lobby’s potted plants near the elevator bank as cover, I observed Calden prowl around the lobby. Every time he made it a few steps in the direction of the elevators, someone ambushed him needing something. As though sensing he wanted something from someone who wasn’t them, the other Hunters toyed with him, taking turns keeping him busy.

I suspected Sarai had put her charms to use to keep Calden out of her hair while she worked to defend her chance at love.

The Hunters really would drive me crazy within a month, and I ran a high risk of enjoying the ride.

I waited for one of the older men to corner Calden, his back facing me. I crept out of my chosen spot, tip toed close, and prepared to bolt in case two sharp pokes of my fingers to his ribs sent him into orbit. I jabbed him, and he yelped, jumped, and spun. Had the floors been a little less polished or he’d been on one of the rugs, he might have stayed upright, but his dress shoes slid out from beneath him, and he went down in a heap.

I covered my mouth with my hands, but to no avail. A laugh escaped before I could stop it.

The glare Calden shot me promised some form of retribution.

The same part of me that found a thrill in hunting rabbits and putting food on my table hoped for a great deal of retribution. If he played, I’d play back, and I could use a little more fun in my life.

---