Page 2 of Enticing the Elf
“I swear, I would have been there if I could,” he says earnestly, putting his wallet away.
“Got kidnapped, did you? Locked in someone’s basement?” I look him up and down. “Pity they didn’t keep you for a while longer. Maybe hit you with a pipe a few times.”
There’s a sharp inhalation, and we both spin to see a wide-eyed woman in a business suit standing on the other side of the reception desk. I didn’t even hear her come in.
“Good morning,” I greet with a professional smile. “Welcome to the DEA. How can I help you today?”
She looks from me to Eoin and back again. I think she’s a shifter, but she could be a succubus. Sometimes I can’t tell right away. “I… uh… I don’t want to interrupt.”
I wave off her concern. “Oh, don’t worry about him. He was just about to explain why he led me on, asked me out, and then stood me up at a fancy restaurant.”
Her eyes narrow. “Forget the pipe, someone needs to hit him with a car.”
Shifter, then. Probably a hellhound. They tend to overreact. Eoin clears his throat uncomfortably.
“I bought new clothes and everything,” I tell her, and because she’s clearly on my wavelength, she instantly understands what “everything” entails.
“Oh, honey,” she commiserates. “A man like that isnotworth your time. No matter how pretty he looks, you can do so much better. I have some cousins with good jobs and all their hair—they’d bow down and worship me if I set them up with a guy like you.”
I bask in the compliment—and a little in Eoin’s growl.That’s right, buddy—I haveoptions. I am a hot commodity.
“That’s so sweet of you. Stop by on your way out, and I’ll make sure you have my number,” I promise. “But for now, I don’t want to make you late.”
She smirks at Eoin—who glowers back—before saying, “I have an appointment with Maire in accounting.”
“Let me just— Oh, here she is.” I take my finger off the switchboard as Maire comes through the security gate.
“I thought you might be chatting to Dáithí,” she says. “He’s so easy to talk to, isn’t he?”
“A complete delight,” my new friend agrees, and I smile at them both. Iamdelightful.
They go off toward the meeting rooms, and I turn back to Eoin. “You were saying how you were chained up by a madman and beaten with a pipe.”
A tiny smile teases his lips. “Not quite. I got called to work.”
I wait, but that seems to be it. “You got called to work.”
“Yes.”
“And a dog ate your phone so you couldn’t call me? And then it ate all the phones of everyone on your team, so you couldn’t borrow one?” I understand that being in charge of the king’s personal security is complicated, and I know he often gets called in unexpectedly. I’ve seen him and others on his team coming back into the office after leaving for the day, or I’ve gotten here in the morning and found them straggling in after an emergency kept them busy all night. It’s part of why I keep the break room so well-stocked. If he’d called to tell me he had to work and needed a rain check, it would have been fine. Disappointing, sure, but I would have just changed clothes and ordered takeout.After all, despite all the flirting and sweet words, it’s not like I expected this to turn into anything more than a few hot nights.
Leaving me sitting at the restaurant, though? Not okay.
“I couldn’t.” He grimaces. “It sounds like I’m making excuses, but I swear, Dáithí, I’m not. There are times when we get a call and immediately have to go offline. If I’d already been with you when the call came, I would have had to leave without explaining why. It doesn’t happen a lot, but it does happen sometimes. It was just shitty luck that Saturday was one of those times.” He runs his hand through his silky dark hair. He cut it super short not long after we moved here, but that didn’t last long. Since then, it’s been a gorgeous, touchable chin-length. “I couldn’t even tell you this much until today.”
I eye his repentant, pleading expression. He seems genuine. And fuck knows, I want to relent and give him another chance,ifhe’s telling the truth.
“You know there are ways for me to check on this story? I have sources.”
He nods. “I know. And I fully expect you to. If you need time to think about it, I’m okay with that. But please, please believe there is no way I would ever have stood you up if I didn’t have to.” He leans forward. “I’ve been waiting months to taste you. I’mstarvingfor you.”
Well, now. That’s more like it.
“Get to work. I need to think this over.”
“But you believe me?”
“I believe that I’m going to ask around and confirm your story.”
