Page 13 of Marked By the Wild Orc

“You’re funny.” She picks up Cole, walks away and feeds my cats.

I stomp into my office and lock the door behind me.

By the endof our shift I’m proud of the fact that I’ve managed to stay away from her the whole day. And then, at the exact same moment Krissy and I both leave the shop, the snow picks up and turns into an actual storm. She obviously needs to be driven home. And both Oreg and Doril are busy with a group of loud humans who’ve arrived for “orc tattoos.”

“I’m driving you home,” I growl.

She zips up her puffy coat that drops to her mid-calf. “I can walk. I’ve got good snowshoes. Walking, despite the weather, to my apartment each day is my favorite form of exercise. This is why I only go to the gym on my days off.”

“Get in the car,” I order.

“No, really I’m?—”

“Get. In.”

“Okay, okay, no need to get grouchy.”

Krissy pushes two cats aside and takes the front passenger seat and clicks in.

When we arrive at her apartment complex, which is really across the street, I can’t help the insistent need to walk her to the door. I must inspect her living quarters to see if they are an acceptable place to leave my bride.

Bride?

“You don’t need to come inside. I am perfectly capable of walking the short distance from this car to my front door, by myself.”

“I’m coming with you.”

I hold Ink and Cole in my arms and Krissy carries Shadow. They seem as interested in viewing her living quarters as I am.

We trudge through the falling snow and enter the smallest apartment known to humankind. Krissy lives in an apartment that is much too small and overfilled with large leather furniture. There isn’t even a proper bedroom. I place both cats down so they can explore and sniff. “This is where you live?”

“Yes. It’s called a studio apartment. This is all I need.”

There is a small, extremely clean kitchen and a door that I assume leads to a bathroom. The couch is much too big for the space, but it looks very inviting. “You live alone and don’t have a roommate?”

“No, I’m not the type who had lots of local friends or could easily live with strangers. I wanted to live alone.”

Yes, she’s told me many times that she spends her free time writing a romance novel and that her friends are online. “Why aren’t you living with Kavin?”

“As I already said, I wanted to live alone.”

I hear the vibration of a lie in her voice. I will find out the answer to his later. “This is your furniture?”

“It was my grandmother’s furniture. I inherited it.”

I blink with surprise. “She’s gone? How did I not know this? We’ve been having dinner together for the last two months and you’ve never told me this?”

“You never asked. Yes, my grandmother passed away three months ago. I took care of her when she had cancer. My car was also hers. I’m here in Spokane because when she passed our house was sold to pay her debts. I’m here, starting over.”

Shadow jumps onto her bed and sniffs at the pillows. The bed does indeed look very inviting. It is big enough to fit my large form, as well as my bride. “But you’re good with money. I let you take care of my finances nowadays and we’re not related. Why wouldn’t she let you take care of her accounts?”

“Well, apparently my father, her son, had stolen from her when he was in the throes of his drug addiction. So…”

“She had trust problems?”

“Yeah.”

“But you’re not your father.”

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