Page 33 of Horn in My Side
“Let you—” Her breath hitched as he reached out to her, the soft pads of his fingers brushing her cheek as he tucked back the annoying lock of loose hair behind her ear.Her heart stopped at the contact, and she couldn’t help but stare up at his indigo eyes.
“There,” he said, his voice so gentle, it made shivers crawl up the back of her knees.
“Jasmine, Mal, thank you so much,” Mrs.Howard called from behind.
Spell broken, she turned to face the principal.“You’re welcome, Mrs.Howard.I hope that was okay.I’m no Vrig, after all.”
“No, and you don’t have to be.You did wonderfully.I’m sure Vrig would have been proud.”
“Jasmine, ma’am,” Mal interrupted.“If you’ll excuse me, I have to load up the truck and return the cart to Coach Jennings.”
“Of course, Mal, go ahead.”
The orc gave her a curt nod, then went back to pushing the cart toward the exit that led out to the parking lot.
“Thank you again,” Mrs.Howard repeated.“The children and parents were thrilled.”
“You’re welcome.”Jasmine especially hoped the latter truly were thrilled enough to visit the shop.
“By the way, a few of the parents and teachers sent me photos they took during your presentation and have also shared them on their social media and tagged you.”
“They have?”Taking her phone out, she saw notifications lighting up the screen.“Oh wow.”
Fantastic Tails didn’t have much of a social-media following.Vrig never set them up, and so it was up to Jasmine to create and maintain the accounts.With her being so busy managing the shop, she only had time to post a few photos and flyers for sales here and there, and to answer direct messages when they did come.Kap had been bugging her to do more, but she didn’t really see the point.
But now that some accounts had tagged Fantastic Tails, several photos began appearing on their feed.There were a few of the animals, but she noticed something else—a lot were of Mal.One was of him catching Cora, the laelaps looking majestic as it leapt into the air.It already had fifty hearts.Another one, of him with the sleeping Felix snuggled against him, had a hundred hearts.
“That’s amazing,” she said.“I should thank the parents.”
“They’re eager to meet you and Mal.Some of the teachers too, especially the women.”Her eyes darted toward the exit.“He is a fine specimen, if you don’t mind me saying.”
“Er ...”
“If only I was ten years younger.”She sighed.“Anyway, can I bring out a couple people to say hi?”
“Uh, sure.We’ll be in the parking lot.”
“Thanks, Jasmine.”
As Jasmine scrolled through her feed, she had to agree.Mal was, indeed, averyfine specimen.The one with Felix in his arms showed off those muscled forearms she’d been ogling herself, not to mention that the top button of his shirt had come undone and gave a little peek of a well-formed pec.The top comment on the photo was three fire emojis.
She put the phone away before she started drooling.Besides, she had to focus on what was important—all those eyes on their accounts.While she didn’t know much about social media, she knew enough that this had the potential to becomebig.
“Mal.”She jogged toward him.“Wait.”
Done loading the truck, Mal latched the gate with a firmclick.“What is it?I need to wheel the cart back to the gym then we can head back to the shop.”
“Uhm, about that.We can stay a couple minutes, right?”
“Why?”
“Well, some of the parents and some teachers want to meet with you.”
“Me?Why can’t you do it?”
“It’s just for a little bit.They want to thank you,” she reasoned.“Oh look, here they come.”A group of about ten people was approaching them.“Just say hello, please?Parents are one of our biggest customers.You said you’d help me, right?”
“I guess?”He let out what sounded like a half-grunt, half-sigh.“Fine.”
