Page 73 of Enticing the Elf
Dáithí gestures impatiently, and I worry my lower lip with my teeth. There’s a very slim chance this isn’t going to go my way.
“She is, but what did you mean, Eoin arranged for her to be there?”
All eyes turn to me, and I shrug awkwardly. “She’s your favorite.”
He gapes. “You…how? Iknewshe wasn’t supposed to be in town! How did you do this?”
“It’s better if we don’t talk about that.” Ethically, I’m not supposed to use my position at the DEA for personal benefit. I don’t think the king or Brandt—especially Brandt—will care in this case, but some of the calls I made to arrange it were to professional contacts, not personal ones, even though I made it clear the event wasn’t DEA sponsored and paid for it myself.
Dáithí gives me the heart eyes I love so much. “You did all that just so I could have my favorite DJ?”
“I’d do anything within my power for you.”
A chorus of “Aww” goes around the table, everyone smiling fatuously.
Then Hagen shouts, “Time!” and the conversation restarts.
“Any negatives from the club?” Caolan demands, barely pausing for a response before continuing, “Date three: the hike.”
“It wasn’t just a hike,” Brayan reminds them. “There was an overnight stay in a cabin too.”
Noah perks up. “Yeah, about that. Why didn’t you just camp? Camping under the stars in the middle of nature… I thought you elves would love that.”
“I’m off camping at the moment,” Dáithí replies. “Eoin did the exact right thing by finding an off-grid cabin for us instead.”
“Not much difference between off-grid and camping, especially when it’s just for one night,” Jared muses, but Dáithí doesn’t offer more information, and Jared’s too polite to pry.
There’s a short discussion about the good points of the date, but I lose some metaphorical points because Dáithí didn’t like being away from Elsking and also missed an episode of a show he’s been watching. Personally, I think that last one doesn’t count because the show’s on a streaming service and he watched it when we got home, but Brandt insisted the timing was important.
Caolan looks to Dáithí. “Task one: pass or fail?”
“Pass.”
A cheer goes up. If I wasn’t basking in victory, I might think our friends and colleagues are way too invested in this. Ari even puts aside his sulk to grin at me.
The celebration is cut short when Steffen announces, “I’ve reset the timer.”
“You make it very hard to like you,” Andrew tells him, and gets a blank look in response.
“Why do you think I want you to like me?”
Brandt sighs, but the rest of us, especially those who’ve known Steffen a long time, stifle laughter. I don’t care if he doesn’t want to be my friend—he’s a solid colleague and a good man. His quirks are his business, including his identical twin brother who tried to steal his identity a few years back.
“Next task,” Alistair says. “Caolan?”
Click goes the dildo, and the next bulleted list appears. “I think we can all agree that Eoin’s shift as a receptionist was… unique.”
Noah smirks. “Entertaining, you mean. I saw the security footage and heard the stories.”
“I did my best,” I defend, then turn to Dáithí. “Did I fuck it up too badly?”
He shakes his head. “You didn’t fuck it up at all. I’d never normally leave someone who doesn’t have experience in the jobalone to manage things like that on their first day, but you coped fine.”
Traces of guilt force me to admit, “I ignored the phones a few times.”
My boyfriend shrugs. “So? I do that sometimes too, if I’ve got a lot of people waiting. You didn’t yell at any visitors, didn’t mess up the booking system, didn’t accidentally take the whole phone system down, didn’t destroy the printer… and there wasn’t a huge backlog of work waiting for me when I got in the next day. You even left the desk clean and tidy. As far as I’m concerned, this task is a pass.”
“Hey!” Hagen snaps. “Don’t you want our feedback?”
