Unexpected Sting by Viola Grace (free reads .TXT) 📕

He had been holding her and admiring thetexture of her skin and the rapid response of her nipple when hisphone went off. Stinger was sleeping soundly as he snuck away toanswer the call.

“Hey, boss.”

“Arthur, are you going to bein the office today?”

“I wasn’t planning on it.Why?”

“I need your signature on theMadison proposal.”

“I don’t have my computer withme. Can’t Surell put it on?”

“She’s not in today, and therest of the admins are occupied. Can you come in for an hour andfinish the proposal so we can submit it?”

“Fine.” He ran his hand throughhis hair. “I will need to use the staff entrance.”

“No problem. See you inten?”

“Five. I want to get this overwith.”

He used magic to dress himselfand created a portal. He would be back before Stinger woke. He hadplans for the rest of the day, and they involved that smooth skinof hers and the soft sounds she made. Damn. Just rememberingit got him hard.

He stepped through the portaland opened the door, walking past Mr. Twilight’s assistant’s desk.“Morning, Ms. Orvis.”

“Morning, Mr. Orion. Theproposal is on your desk; if there are any changes, let me know,and I will fix it and reprint it. If it is good to go, sign it, andwe will scan it.”

He nodded. “I will. Thankyou.”

He stomped to his office onefloor down and went through the proposal for acquiring a largeparcel of land in South America. It was an elf habitat and neededprotection.

When he found the first typo, hewinced and opened up the computer that IT had refreshed and pulledthe file up. He had hoped that it would be a quick in and out, butthat was not the case. Damn.

He had a thought and sent aquery to Orvis. Do you have Stinger’s phone number?

I am not giving out privateinformation, Mr. Orion.

He grimaced until a reply camein, I can’t answer it, but ask Meredith. Stinger is one of hercousins.

He smiled and contactedMeredith. She replied with the number swiftly. Arthur thanked herand tapped out the number.

* * * *

Stiila was leaving the florist shop andjuggled everything to answer the phone. She didn’t recognize thenumber, but she thought she knew who it was. “Um, hello?”

“You aren’t at the hotelanymore.” Arthur’s voice was a growl.

She smiled. “Nope. I had my nap,and I have things to do. It was nice while it lasted, and thank youagain for your help last night.”

“Are you dismissingme?”

“No. I wouldn’t dare.” Sheleaned against the wall next to the display window. “Got calledinto work?”

“An acquisition proposal hasto be gone over before the offer can be generated. Very boringstuff.”

“Well, I will leave you to it. Ihave my own errands to attend to. You have a nice day with yourpaperwork. You do, literally, have my number. How do you have mynumber?”

“Your cousin works here. Shewas very helpful after Orvis refused to be parted from theinformation.”

“Oh. Right. Meredith. Yeah, shewould totally do that. Okay. Well, I have to do my running around,so I suppose I will talk to you later.”

“Stiila, wait.”

“What?”

“I want to see youagain.”

She chuckled. “That’s a shocker.I thought you were living the dream here.”

“Not being in bed with you isa nightmare.”

She sighed. “And yet, here weare. Well, I have to go visit an old friend, so I will talk to youlater.”

“You are blowing meoff?”

She chuckled. “I never got thatfar.” There was a weird growl on the other end of the line.

“You enjoy your proposal, I amgoing to enjoy visiting a friend, and maybe, we can get backtogether for dinner or something.”

He growled at her, and shegrinned and disconnected the call.

She muted her phone for a fewhours and wandered over to the nearest cell company and got a newnumber and sim card. She got into her car and set it to transferthe contact data to the new card.

Stinger drove to Nana Baker’swith the huge bouquet as her co-pilot and prepared to spend therest of the day in mindless work.

She pulled up at her friend’shouse and came out with the armload of flowers. She walked up tothe farmhouse and knocked on the door. The older woman with thethick white braid looked at her. “You are late, and you lookexhausted.”

Stinger handed her the bouquet.“Shut up, Nana Baker. Do you have the list?”

Nana took the bundle of flowers,greenery, and crinkly paper. “You do bring the best flowers,Stinger.”

“I know. I love you most. Now,the list?”

Nana Baker lifted her hand, andthe list was in her grip. “Here you go, Stinger. Lunch is in ninetyminutes.”

Stinger took the list, nodded.“I will get my belt.”

“Ladder is in the hallcloset.”

“Yes, Nana.”

Stinger hugged her and then gotto work. She and her mom had lived with Nana Baker for her firstten years when she was growing up. Nana had family, but they werenever there, and Nana had travelled to visit them.

Stinger went to her car and gotout her tool belt and steel-toed shoes, as well as her roofingsneakers. All the jobs around Nana’s place were saved up for her,from leaky sinks to loose shingles. She was going to spend the restof the day driving nails, turning wrenches, and screwing things. Itwas just the thing to take the aches and pains out of her body andreplace them with new ones.

She started with the outsidechores—straightened fences and put in wire fasteners to keep thebarbed wire where it was supposed to be.

Nana brought out a basin andpitcher. Stinger grinned. It was Nana’s way of saying lunch wasready.

Stinger finished the post,tacked in the extra length, and holstered her hammer, walking backto the house while removing her gloves. She washed her hands andface with the soap provided and noted that there was another car onthe side. Nana had a guest.

She dried her hands and facebefore stepping up onto the porch. The voices inside were odd. Shehad never heard Nana use that loving tone on anyone else.

Nana was hugging someone seatedat the kitchen table. “Stiila, come and meet my grandson.”

Arthur looked at her, and shewas aware of her tank top, filthy jeans, and work boots. “We havemet.”

Chapter Five

Stinger looked at the amusement in hiseyes, and she went to sit at the chair