Page 36 of Pursued By the Orc
“That’s all I’m going to accept from you from now on,” she told him, her tone admonishing, but her grin was huge.
“Understood, Grandma,” Krusk said with a smile of his own, standing in front of her.
Grandma waved toward one of the chairs. Krusk eyed it for a long moment before he sucked in a deep breath and took a seat.
I wondered if he thought the extra air would make him lighter. I covered my mouth to smother another laugh as I took my own seat. Krusk’s chair creaked ominously under him, and he was perfectly still, bracing himself for it to be crushed under him but after a few long moments of waiting, it seemed fine.
“I made these cookies,” Grandma said with a smile, pointing toward a tray of delicate almond cookies. I perked up at once, recognizing them. “They’re Emma’s favorite,” she explained to Krusk. “And I hope you like them too. They’re not as good as the ones I used to make, I’m sure,”she added with a sigh. “These hands just aren’t what they used to be.” She held them out to him to see them.
They were beautiful to me. Wrinkled and knobby, but the strongest ones I knew. They’d held me, comforted me and raised me. There was no other way to see them. I held my breath as I waited for Krusk’s response.
He grinned, nodding with enthusiasm as he reached out to tap one of her fingers with one of his. “They still look like they could take me if we went against each other.”
Grandma mirrored his grin, leaning closer to look him dead in the eye. “If you break her heart, I’ll break your kneecaps. Not both—just enough to make a point,” she told him and I slapped my palm against my face.
Krusk’s expression was a mix of both terror and honor. “Yes, Grandma.”
“Good,” she harrumphed with a nod. “Now try a cookie.”
He reached out to the plate and attempted to lift one but it crumbled between his fingers. I was certain he hadn’t meant to do it. But it was as if his fingers were tiny trash compactors made of kindness. With each cookie he attempted to pick up, the same thing happened until Grandma slapped the top of his hand with hers.
He pulled away, ducking his head with shame and she lifted a cookie, gesturing for him to hold out his hand. He did and she dropped the cookie into his palm with a satisfied nod. He gave her an embarrassed smile before tilting his palm so the cookieslid into his mouth without him having to touch it again.
The rest of the tray looked like a war memorial of broken cookies, but I grabbed a piece of one anyway. I moaned as it melted in my mouth, seeing Krusk staring at me out of thecorner of my eye, but I ignored him. I couldn’t be caught having amomentwith someone who was supposed to be my friend andonlya friend.
I didn’t bother to listen to the part of my brain that was telling me that I shouldn’t be havingmomentswith anyone. I’d take that into consideration later. For now, I was just going to try to keep my head above water while Krusk and my grandma met.
She was smiling at him. “I like you. You’re a bit of a disaster, but you mean well. Like my late husband, bless him. He once tried to unclog the toilet with a ladle.”
Krusk blinked at her. “Did it work?”
“No. But we got a new bathroom out of it.”
She offered him another new cookie—one of the survivors—and he took it with two fingers like it might explode.
“Now stay here before you accidentally cook yourself on the induction stove.”
CHAPTER 23
Emma
This is getting ridiculous.
Every day with Krusk was making it harder and harder to stay apart from him. It didn’t help that he’d been single-handedly giving her more than a month’s income as a tip every single night he came to see her at the restaurant.
And it wasveryobvious he was there to see her and for no other reason. While he ate the food, he never knew what he wanted and always left it up to her. He stayed past closing every night, tipping heroutrageouslyand then driving her home afterward.
He attended every single yoga class, attempting to bend himself in ways that didn’t seem natural to him and sometimes ended up with her having to rescue him from himself. And now,nowshe couldn’t believe he was standing in the mail room of the Magickal Bureau.
Every single other male in the room was wearing a polo shirttucked into slacks, but this gorgeous bastard was sporting a full suit with glimmering ruby cufflinks that probably cost more than the entire sorting machine. All I could do was blink as my boss lifted his hand toward Krusk, as unsure as everyone else standing here.
“So… we have a new hire,” he sounded out in a slow, quizzical tone. “And his name is Krusk Everlock. He worked as a VP of outreach at Everlock Securities previously.” He clearly had no idea why he would go from a job like that to themailroom.
I looked away, not interested in knowing the answer. After all, we’d talked about where he’d come from.Hellplaneis what they called it and when he’d explained the differences between our planes I’d been shocked that he’d come from somewhere sounlikeours.
He’d adapted so well to this world, it was amazing. I couldn’t imagine that I could have done the same. Different languages were one thing, but going somewhere much more technologically advanced had to be disconcerting.
And they weren’t just here, existing on this plane. They werethriving.He and his brothers had joined a clan and had even brought over their treasures, converting them into currency.
