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My manager grins. “I know what’s wrong.”
“Shut up,” I snarl.
Mica walks away and bends down to slide on her protective foot coverings. I have trouble keeping my gaze off her shapely, thick thighs and her dainty ankles. “Do you need help?” I question.
“No, I feel surprisingly okay.” She wrinkles her nose. “I just wish I wasn’t so dirty and smelly.”
“I will take you to my domicile. You can have a guest room there with its own bathroom so you can rest and use the cleansing unit.”
She places a palm against her chest. “Oh, is that what you want? Will I be interfering by living so close? Maybe you want me to stay in a cabin near the barracks…?”
“No,” I growl. “You’ll stay with me.”
Her eyes widen.
My voice gentles. “Only as my employee. You are a human and defenseless. I want to see with my own eyes each diurnal that you are treated correctly. Also, your duties are to provide human food for me so it makes sense for you to live there too, it will make performing your duties easier.”
“I’m cooking only for you? Not for the other workers on the ranch?”
“Mainly for me.”
Burl rolls his eyes and mutters under his breath. Yes, I’m being unreasonable my not wanting to share her cooking with the others on the ranch, but I somehow cannot help this possessive streak concerning Mica Roberts.
She shrugs. “If that’s what you want then I agree.”
I smile, happy to learn I’ve now got her living in my domicile with me.
The three of us walk out of the mobile med lab I’ve paid outrageous sums of credit to have just so no one on my ranch can say they are not treated correctly. Also, I built this for a future mate and offspring. No one under my care will be hurt when care can be offered.
We step outside to find a gathering of all my ranch hands. They mill about as a group, dirty and sweaty and yet standing properly in a semi-circle.
“News travels fast,” I grumble.
“They want to meet her,” Burl murmurs. “None of them have met a human before.”
Mica swiftly hides behind me, her hands touching the skin of my back. This makes me happy, knowing she views me as her protector. “Do not be worried,” I explain. “These are all the other males that work on this ranch. We don’t get many visitors, so they are curious. We’re all rough out here but we’d never hurt a being in need.”
“I get so scared sometimes, especially in large groups of Hyrrokin. Also, I’m still so dirty and smelly. I look terrible. Are you sure…?”
I place a claw on the small of her back and guide her forward. “All of us are dirty and smelly out here. We work in the wildlands and with the animals. Believe me, they will love your appearance as much as I do.”
Her eyebrow lifts.
I exhale because that was a wrong move. I need to keep my attraction hidden because it is improper now that she’s my employee. And I still do not scent attraction from her. One day she’ll leave and continue her life elsewhere. I need to be able to accept that inevitability.
Burl steps forward and calmly introduces Mica to all the ranch hands and takes the time to tell her the name of each of them. I assume she’ll never remember so many names, but she is very kind to each of my employees, making eye contact with each male who grins back and some even flush, their cheeks turning a deep red.
They are all going to greatly enjoy having this enchanting human in our midst and I think very soon she’ll have them all eating out of her soft hand.
“What’s she here for?” Percut, a younger male who’s been with me since this last year, questions. “Is she working or visiting?”
I open my mouth to say visiting, but Mica boldly cuts me off and announces, “Working. I was hired to be the new cook.”
The men let out a chorus of cheers.
Newl, the present cook, lets out a growl of anger.
“Oh,” she says. “Sorry. I promise I’m not the head cook. And I can only cook human food. I’m not here to take over anyone’s job.”
