Chapter Nineteen
Difficult Clients, Denied Feelings, and Dangerous Decisions
Elliot
The lunch swingbys, unfortunately, become a regular occurrence. I blame myself for not shutting it down right away. And now it’s too late. What was I even going to say, anyway? No, Nicholas, I don’t care how frustrated you are about not giving the best blow jobs in the entire world, letting you repeatedly practice on me, then feeding me a delicious meal goes against my principles?
Besides, I’m surprisingly okay with what we have going on right now, especially now that Nicholas’s diligent hard work is starting to pay off and he’s become freakily good at sucking me off. There’s no way I’m tellinghimthat. I refuse to be the roadblock against a man striving towards greatness.
Now, if only I could find a way to politely deny Natalie’s request to shift her appointments right before my tentative lunchtime, which has become permanent, barring surgeries or consults that go over scheduled time.
My only concern is that it ends up shortening my lunch hour. She just won’t take the hint and leave, so I have to rush with food before making myself presentable for the next appointment.
“What are you grumbling about? You have nothingscheduled for two hours. Seriously, dude, stop scowling at her. We need to keep this place functioning, remember?” Ashley reminds me.
I sigh. She’s right, and Nicholas can flirt with anyone he wants. I’m not stopping him. It’s not like we’re dating. It’s just… why can’t he leave my clients alone? It’s my place of work,goddamnit.
“I need to finish a paper. In fact, I’m gonna go do that now,” I inform Ashley and march down to my office, closing the door behind me. It slams shut. Huh, the hinges must be getting loose because I wasn’t angry. There’s nothing to be angry about.
It’s definitely the hinges because Nicholas constantly forgets his strength while dealing with things made for puny humans.
He yanks the door open as soon as I switch on my laptop. See what the door has to suffer through? The man has a perfectly mild smile on his face. “Why didn’t you tell me you were done discussing your schedule with Ashley? I was waiting for you to get done.”
“You seemed busy,” I say matter-of-factly. He really did. It would be rude to interrupt two people batting eyes at each other just to tell him I'm done talking about something I’d already discussed with Ashley in the morning.
He makes himself at home on one of the chairs. “Oh yeah, Nat’s father was in the force. She was telling me about his recent trip with one of my old captains,” he says, perfectly nicely.
Nat? Right. Well, they’ll make a good couple, I bet he only dates werewolves. His last girlfriend was one.Natwould be just perfect.
I snap my laptop shut. Nicholas startles.
“She sounds fun. I have my next appointment in fifteen minutes, so let’s just eat.”
He nods and takes out the containers from his bag. “I could have sworn I heard you have the next two hours clear,” he mentions casually.
Of course, he did. Stupid fucking super hearing. “Yeah, because I have a meeting about my paper before the next appointment,” I lie because saying I need to finish the paper would not be a good excuse to make him leave, since I may have already told him the deadline is too far away. But Ineedhim to leave.
“Right,” he says, handing me containers of Kung Pao Chicken and Vegetable Lo Mein, both my favorites.
I have no idea how he knows. I take them gingerly. It tastes heavenly. Of course, it does. Nicholas has a secret list of the best restaurants in the city that I clearly did not get when I moved here. I note the restaurant’s name on the container for future reference.
“So, Nat is nice, right? Must have a crazy workout routine with those muscles,” Nicholas says, like his shirt isn’t literally screaming trying to contain his.
“Sure,” I say. Her schedule can really become a problem, though, with the new changes she’s demanding. Maybe I’ll have to drop her altogether. Then Nicholas can go work out with her in the same super strength werewolf gym where she must be a regular.
Okay, maybe I’m jealous of their muscle mass. My gaze drifts to Nicholas’s arms, muscles flexing under his sleeves as he expertly handles the delicate chopsticks and takes another bite of chicken.
Nicholas tilts his head. “Do you think her muscles are freaky?”
“Oh my god, Nicholas, I don’t know. Why didn’t you spend more time outside to ask her about her workout routine? I didn’t ask you to come in here,” I say reasonably, but it comes out a bit annoyed. Well, Idon’twant to talk about muscles anymore.
His jaw hangs open. “Umm… yeah, you didn’t. Maybe I’ll ask her next time,” he says, his eyes narrowing a bit.
We eat silently after that. The only noise in the room is made by our chopsticks and chewing. When we’re done, I stand and start collecting the containers, hoping he gets thehints. I throw them in the small dustbin near the bathroom.
I turn and slam into Nicholas’s significant bulk.
What the fuck. I didn’t even hear him get up. How can someone this big be so quiet?
