He nods. “Then that’s what you’ll have.”
VINCENT
There is still the matter of Rosette working as my assistant. We both know this can’t persist while we’re in a relationship of this magnitude—one that I intend to make permanent.
Which will, unfortunately, require a trip to my home. I will have to introduce her to the family, as one does with a new mate, and perform the mating rituals with her there. If that’s still what she wants after three months.
That was her timeline.Let’s try it for three months. If it works out, then yes. I’ll be whatever you want.
I am more than happy to wait as long as she needs until I get to keep her at my side.
Yes, I have asked her to move in. No, she has not agreed yet. She is keeping her apartment until after we get “married”—her human word for the mating rituals. Legal marriage will be a separate issue, one that I’mnot looking forward to, as it means a human wedding with her friends and family.
I roll my eyes thinking about it, but I will pay for whatever affair she wants. Now, I find I live only to please her, to grant her wishes wherever and whenever they call for me.
Despite the mating exception, human resources will insist on separating us. We both know this, and so right away, after attending to our paperwork, Rosette sets to finding a replacement. I’m loath to see her go, because I have had many other assistants in the past, and none have been so smart and capable as she is.
“Don’t worry,” she says, squeezing my arm. “I’ll find you someone.”
And she does manage to find someone—a young man fresh out of school, someone I would never have selected for myself. He’s small but surprisingly fiery.
“His boyfriend goes to my gym,” she explains. “I think he’ll be perfect for you. He’s also anal retentive.”
I don’t like the implication, but I agree to try him out, anyway.
He talks much more than Rosette did, but otherwise I find Collin to be attentive and insightful. Rosette trains him on her job, and Ilearn much about how she did her work just by overhearing them.
“Always pay attention to what the clientwon’tsay,” she explains. “When Mr. Roth asks a pointed question and they dodge it, it’s almost always something we want to watch out for. Usually a hole in their projections.”
But now that she’s on her way out, where does that leave Rosette? This question gets under my skin. I want the best for her, but it likely means moving to a different department or another firm entirely. I also need her close to me, and I certainly don’t want to imagine some other boss of hers looking at her the way I did.
On her last week training Collin, I finally broach the subject.
“We haven’t yet discussed what you’re doing after this,” I say to her one night, while she lies in my bed naked and sweating. It’s silly that she hasn’t moved in here when she’s over every night. I insist on sleeping next to my mate.
She gives me a quizzical look. “Oh. Naomi hired me.”
I blanch. “What? How did you?—?”
“She approached me right after the gala. She hasn’t had a good assistant in years and always thought I did a good job for you.”
And here I was, worried about nothing.
“Don’t you want a dog, though?” I ask. I had so hoped I could bribe her into staying home with a new pet.
She thinks about that for a moment. “Well, maybe we can hire a dog nanny?”
I bark out a laugh, and she smiles widely. I like seeing Rosette when she comes out. I love her, actually.
I really, really do.
EPILOGUE
ROSETTE
One of my less bright moves was not looking up orcish mating rituals before I agreed to them. It wasn’t until Vincent explained it to me that I learned we would need to wash each other in an ancestral pool in front of all of Vincent’s friends and family—and his entire clan.
Oh, and also? Vincent isn’t even his real name. It’sGorak.
