“Hello, Thoren,” I greet him, dipping my head and shoulders in a shallow bow to hide the fact that my cheeks are turning pink again.
“‘Morning, Dec. What’s your name short for?” he asks in that ridiculous baritone of his.
“Straight to it then?”
We’ve been through this every day, and for some unfathomable reason I keep playing along. I’ve actually had to look up words with the letters D-E-C in that order in them. Fortunately, scrabble word finders exist and are helpful.
“Oh you know, my mother just loved the holiday season and snow. December was the highlight of her year.” I snort at my own comment and shake my head. The best Christmas gift she ever gave me was signing away her parental rights.
Thoren, unsurprisingly, doesn’t believe me, and he arches a brow, looking past me at the floor behind me. “You missed something.”
His stupidly deep voice does eye-rolling things to me, and I’m not sure if it’s because I think my reaction is over the top or because my reaction is nearly orgasmic every damn time he speaks. I had no idea my penis was voice activated until I started working here. In fact, there’s more than a few kinks I’ve randomly unlocked since my arrival.
I spin around to hide my reaction and find another card on the floor just behind me. I could refuse, but my stupid brain listens to my tingly dick and I bend over, subtly arching my back to present my assets in the most attractive form.
“Hmm,” I hum, unsurprised to see The Fool again.
I think Thoren throws it because I showed him the one I keep in my jacket. As I straighten up, I touch the card in my pocket. I keep it with me as a reminder of the incredible circumstances that brought me to this point.
Turning, I offer Thoren the card again, catching him staring at my ass again. My cheeks burn, of course, but my dick goes from interested to keen, and I realize I might have a problem happening in my pants.
He steps way too close to peer at the cards in my hand, flustering me further—I’ve struggled with this attraction from a distance, but this close? Holy smokes! I need to get away from—oh god, he smells like a fucking orange grove. Why would a person ever choose to smell like that? It reminds me of summers spent running through my uncle’s orange grove, and the first time I kissed a boy: the best memory I have about my sexuality,and this guy smells like summer kisses under trees full of small green oranges; like excitement and joy; like first love and shared orgasms.
I might not have many good memories related to my love life, but the first ones are all covered in a haze of nostalgic joy, and smelling that on Thoren is as potent as love potion number nine, and I lean in closer to him, catching myself from doing something completely foolish when he comments, “The Fool and the Two of Cups. Bad luck.”
“B-bad luck?” I stutter as he takes the cards, and I tell myself to back my horny ass up.
His deep voice rumbling through me as he answers keeps me frozen in place. “The optimist and adventurer and a change in your romantic relationship status. Might be you’re about to have a break up.”
Too close. Way, way too close. I take a couple of steps backward, finding my way to the door of the broom closet that we use for storing paper products. “I—I don’t have a boyfriend.”
“Then you’re about to have one,” he responds, stepping with me.
Oh my god. I want to kiss him so much.No, Dec. Bad! Bad Dec!
What am I? A dog?
We are not unlocking puppy play kink today.
“I, uh—” I swallow, forgetting what we were talking about for a moment.
I immediately remember when the next hit of orange grove reminds me of boyfriends, happiness, and love. I don’t have a single prospect in this house. No, I am not going to even think about Thoren like that, and I’m unlikely to find someone safe to date on my next day off since I don’t leave the house unless it’s absolutely necessary. The drive up the mountain is a really good deterrent against leaving. The only person in the house I’m evenremotely attracted to is the one crowding my personal space right now, but again,no.
“Um. I’ve got to just...” I trail off, grabbing the knob of the broom closet. I need to not be in the same space as him asap! He’s turning my brain to mush, and I didn’t have much to spare to begin with.
Quickly, to save my sanity and decorum, I open the closet door and fall in, shutting it behind me before I even flick the switch for the light. As soon as the door is closed, I take a deep breath, telling my racing heart to stop.
Damn. That was intense. I thought it was just attraction, but the butterflies racing around in my stomach, the heart rate through the roof, and the scent of summer?
I’m going to have to avoid him. This is becoming an actual crush, and I can’t let that happen. Fuck. “No, absolutely not, Dec. No one is worth losing this job over.” I love being here, and letting this crush on Thoren grow is a recipe for disaster.
I genuinely, sincerely, earnestly love being a butler in this house. I’m not going to risk it just because Thoren shows me a couple of tarot cards, smells like the best summer of my life, and turns my brains to mush with his voice.
Taking a deep breath, I give myself to the count of ten before slipping out of the broom closet, thankful that Thoren decided to step away. As soon as I see he’s gone, I make a dash for the kitchen, only slowing as I turn through the doorway into the divine-smelling kitchen.
Jax’s cheeks are rosy from the heat of her kitchen as she turns her big brown eyes on me. She wears a traditional chef’s coat and hat because she loves her uniform, but today she's sporting green fairy wings and a matching fairy skirt.
She scowls at me, pointing to the corner of the kitchen where Mr. Simms sits with what looks like a smile on his face. She doesn’t really like having him in the kitchen, but this is wherehe’s used to eating, and I haven’t decided if we really need to feed him elsewhere since the entire family eats at the kitchen table for most of their meals.
