Page 31 of Code Mages & Empty Pages
I needed more caffeine to settle my nerves.
Luc: Can I come with you?
I suppressed a smile.
Dawn: Oh yeah, absolutely, Comte
He snorted, grabbed his wallet, and got up. Desmond motioned at his headset when Luc approached. He was on a call but wrote his order on a sticky note.
“Are you sure you want to take the lift?” I asked when he pressed the button on the wall.
Luc entered ahead of me, waited for the doors to slide shut behind us, and then caged me against the wall.
“Oh yeah, Roe,” he whispered in my ear. “At least this time we’d have something to do if we got stuck again.” He kissed me long and hard right up until we arrived on the fourth floor and the doors opened again. “Come on.”
I followed him on wobbly knees.
A cool breeze greeted us as we stepped out on the rooftop terrace. It cleared my head, at least a bit.
Goodness, Comte, what are you doing to me?
Haldan had the morning shift today. He greeted us in his barely noticeable Scandinavian lilt. I’d looked his kind up on Kraken because he intrigued me and found out he was a Frost Giant. I’d considered making my MMC into one, but in the end, I’d gone back to my original idea with the Dragon.
I’d been able to adjust my spreadsheet by over two thousand words this morning. My brain had itched with the need to write when I’d woken up, and my fingers hadn’t been able to keep up with the speed of my thoughts again. I’d resorted to dictating in my bed in a low voice. The world building and meet-cute had just flown out of me and onto the little screen.
“Hey, Haldan, how are you?” The tall, good-looking man gave me a charming smile.
“Great, thank you, Dawn. What about you?”
“Oh, I’m grand, thanks.” I returned his smile, perhaps a little too teasing. It was so hard to turn off and sometimes, when it made people uncomfortable, I wanted to kick myself for my naturally flirty character.
Luc grumbled something under his breath. I didn’t quite catch exactly what he said but I could have sworn it was something along the lines of “The server room is waiting.”
“Hello. Can I get the Flat Whiteout and a Blizzard Buzz. Are you having the Snow Day Latte, Roe?”
Oh, Comte, look at you pissing on the cafe floor to mark me as your territory.
I tried hard not to let my amusement show.
“Yeah,” I confirmed and bit my lip so I wouldn’t smile like a lovesick teenager.
“What was that about?” I asked him when we stepped back into the lift. Luc carried his Flat Whiteout and the Blizzard Buzzfor Desmond. They had gone all out on the wintery theme, which was a little odd for a rooftop terrace, especially now that summer was on our doorstep. It fit the generally weird vibe of Frostfire, though. I found it charming.
“What do you mean?” He asked me with one furry eyebrow raised.
“Luc, you basically pissed on the doormat up there.” I inched my head at the lift ceiling to indicate I meant the café.
“I didn’t piss…Moon Goddess. What?”
I knew it was the deity Lupinians worshipped, but I absolutely loved it and pretended it was him calling me a goddess.
“You wanted to mark me as your territory because I flirted with Haldan a bit, didn’t you?” I asked slyly. Before Luc could answer, the doors slid open. I turned around, confused, because the lift always took ages to get from the fourth floor down to the basement and my inner clock—shoddy as it was thanks to my time blindness—noted that it had been too short a ride.
Sure enough, a hulking figure stood outside the lift, waiting on the posh, expensive navy blue carpet of the third floor. Carson wanted only the best for our realtors, and the best meant carpet in the colour of his skin.
“Hello,” rumbled the Gargoyle, his voice like granite grinding on granite. “Room for one more in there?”
I recognised him. Alaric Dunmere, “The Closer,” was legendary for never letting a deal slip through his talons.
