Page 4 of Susie's Orc

Nevermind that she’s so far out of my league it’s laughable to even consider asking her out, and nevermind that I’m only beginning to develop some actual confidence after all the work I’ve been doing on myself the last couple years.

It’s impossible, this crush I have on her, but I’ve been carrying it around for the last two years anyway.

Only… the ghost of Susie’s scent still lingers in my nose, and the sight of her pretty face as she glanced up at me like she just got caught doing something very, very naughty is seared into my retinas.

I can’t forget it, can’t get it out of my mind, can’t stop wondering if it means that she might feel—

From the corner of my eye, I catch sight of a flash of soft brown hair, the curve of a sweater-clad shoulder near the elevators.

Susie steps inside a moment later, and the sight of those doors sliding shut, the sight of her leaving, snaps something in me.

Deep in my bones—unfamiliar but undeniable—instinct bursts into life.

I fire off the last report I owe Kingston.

It’s half-assed, sloppy, and I can almost imagine the fierce scowl on his beaked face when he opens it, but I can’t stop myself.

Piling all my stuff in my backpack, I swing it over my shoulders and head for the stairs. I’m not taking the chance of waiting on the elevators, and I doubt my racing pulse and the restlessness in all my limbs would let me do so, anyway.

Not when it’s imperative that I speak to Susie before she leaves.

Why? I’m not exactly sure. I can’t pause my racing thoughts long enough for it to make any kind of sense.

What am I going to say when I catch up to her? I have no idea.

But I can’t stop now that I’ve started, not with that instinct coursing through me. Not when every single cell in my body is yelling at me to go after her, lay eyes on her, speak to her.

And sure, I guess I could try to catch her on Monday, but if I don’t talk to her now I might lose my nerve. Or she might spend all weekend feeling as embarrassed as she looked right before she high-tailed it out of the meeting room. She won’t know that embarrassed is the very last thing I want her to feel around me, that there’s nothing on earth I want more than for her to—

Those thoughts draw up short as I jog out of the building and catch sight of her about to reach a dark blue sedan on the second level of the parking garage.

My heart lurches in my chest and relief washes over me in a deluge. I made it. I’m not too late.

“Susie, wait up.”

Chapter 3

Susie

“Susie. Wait up.”

Jonah walks toward me across the parking garage in long strides, his too-big khakis swinging around his legs. Now that we’re out of the office fluorescents and standing in the early spring sunlight filtering in through the garage’s open walls, I’m reminded again why I’ve had such an enormous crush on him this whole time.

Besides the big sexy orc thing, he has a sort of boyishness about him, something open and friendly and maybe a little nervous as he walks over to where I’m standing next to my car. His long black hair hangs loose around his shoulders, and he has two sharp, gleaming white tusks jutting up from under his bottom lip. The rest of his face is all chiseled jaw and high cheekbones, softened a bit by hair that’s tousled enough to make me want to run my hand through it and mess it up a bit more.

Get it together, Susie.

“Uh, hi Jonah,” I say, trying and failing to sound normal. “What’s up?”

For a moment, he looks completely uncertain, like maybe he’s misread the whole situation.

“So, about what happened earlier—”

“Back in the meeting room, that was—”

We both speak at the same time, laugh a little awkwardly, and fall silent again. A few uncomfortable seconds pass. He looks back over his shoulder, shifts nervously, and for a terrible moment I think he’s about to leave.

He can’t leave.

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