Epilogue

The New New Guy

Larkin

TWO MONTHS LATER

"So this is your office…" I opened the door and stepped aside so the new guy could go in. "The marketing manager, Taylor, is just across the hall."

Rafe—Goliaths' newly hired IT guy—headed inside without saying anything. I crossed my arms and leaned a shoulder on the doorframe, watching him with mild interest as he looked around.

He was a ghoul, like Vince, but aside from the same sickly grey skin tone, there weren't many other similarities. Rafe was short and wiry, and his long hair was a washed-out blue that was turning green at the ends. A dye job that needed redoing, I figured, especially after I'd noticed him peeking at my hair enviously.

There was a barbell in his right eyebrow, rings in each nostril, and a round silver stud just above his Cupid's bow. I was pretty sure that piercing was called a medusa. I'd ask Mads to see if I was right.

Holt had interviewed a few people for the position, and I'd been a little shocked when he'd told me he was going with Rafe. Not because of the guy's appearance—who gave a shit about piercings and stuff?—but because he hadn't seemed overly… friendly. He was pretty quiet, but not in a shy way. Honestly, he seemed like he could be a little judgy or possibly arrogant to me, but maybe I was wrong. I liked to think I was good at picking up on people's vibes though, like my mom.

Deciding to test it, I made my tone lightly teasing and said, "You don't look like a typical IT nerd."

His pierced brow quirked as he glanced over at me. "Not all IT guys are nerds."

No laugh. Not even a smile. Well, this guy was going to be fun to have around.

I pushed up off the doorframe and gestured at the office. "Like it?"

"It's fine."

Holt admittedly hadn't bothered making it anywhere near as nice as Taylor's—was that what nepotism was?—but we'd still made it comfortable and inviting for him. It had the obligatory neon Goliaths of Wrestling sign on the wall, and there were a couple of bright purple velvet armchairs in the corner with a coffee table. The desk was a decent size, with two brand-new monitors. Why didn't I get two monitors? I could game and work at the same time. I was going to bring it up with Holt as soon as possible.

I kind of wanted to abandon this guy here and go find Seb, but Holt had asked me to introduce him to everyone. Holding back a sigh, I said, "I'll show you around."

Rafe shrugged as he took off his suit jacket and draped it over the back of his desk chair. "Okay."

He unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled his sleeves up to the elbows, revealing forearms completely covered in tattoos. Well, someone was getting comfortable straight away. Although, I couldn't really say anything. I never bothered to look all that neat and tidy at work.

Sliding his hands into his pants pockets, he looked at me expectantly. Well, kind of. He looked like he didn't care one way or another, but was waiting for me to move.

"Uh, have you met Taylor?" I glanced at the closed door opposite as we made our way back into the hall.

I'd decided that it was never, ever safe to enter Taylor's office if I didn't already know exactly where Holt was, but he was in his upstairs office with Seb doing what he called his "boring work"—whatever it was he needed to do to maintain the buildings he owned. I always zoned out and stopped listening if he talked about it.

"No," Rafe said shortly.

Holding back another exasperated sigh, I walked over to the door and knocked. "Taylor? Our new IT guy is here. Taylor's human, by the way," I added to Rafe, who finally displayed a hint of true emotion as his pale green eyes flared with intrigue.

But then he just nodded once, still standing with his hands in his pockets.

Oh my god, this guy sucks.

Taylor opened the door a couple seconds later, already smiling cheerfully. "Hi, Lark. Hi," he added to Rafe, taking a step forward and holding out his hand. "Taylor. The marketing guy. Nice to meet you."

Rafe pulled a hand out of his pocket to briefly grasp Taylor's, then immediately tucked it back in. "Rafe. Nice to meet you."

"I think you've got your work cut out for you." Taylor chuckled. "Right now, we still take all our bookings over the phone. It's through a third party company—run by lampyrs, I think. So it'll be good to bring everything in-house."

"I can handle it," Rafe said smoothly. "Won't take long to get a secure online booking system up and running."

Taylor nodded. "Holt talked to you in the interview about his concerns, right? Like keeping a website from being discovered by humans and stuff."

"I know what I'm doing," Rafe said, his tone only somewhat polite.

I tried not to frown at him as Taylor paused, looking a little taken aback by his curt tone. But he just nodded and smiled, this time hesitantly.

"Great. I'm sure you do. Well, I better get back to work." He and I shared a brief look. I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.

"See you later, T-bone," I said cheerfully, then pointedly asked, "What time are you and Holt heading home tonight? He mentioned earlier that you're cooking something nice for him for dinner."

Rafe stiffened almost imperceptibly beside me, and I fought back a smirk. Yeah, that's right. You were just rude to the boss's boyfriend, broseph. Better watch that d-bag tone in the future.

Taylor chuckled. "Usual time, I think. I'm making him moussaka."

"Noice," I said, even though I didn't know what that was. "Well, I'm gonna show Rafe around and introduce him to everyone."

Taylor looked at him, fighting back a smile. "You haven't met the wrestlers yet?"

Rafe tensed a little more, no doubt wondering what that expression meant. "No."

Taylor and I exchanged another look. Then he cheerfully said, "Well, have fun. Bye, guys."

Rafe silently followed as I started heading down the corridor after Taylor shut his office door. Keeping my tone light, I said, "Taylor is Holt's boyfriend. Madly in love, dude. Don't ever just burst into Taylor's office unannounced. Trust."

After a pause, he muttered, "I won't."

My face lit up when we reached the end of the corridor and I saw Seb making his way toward us, no doubt heading for the office.

"Hey." I strode forward to meet him, resting a hand on his stomach as I leaned up to give him a firm kiss.

"Friendly office," I heard Rafe comment flatly behind me, making me spin around. "Am I expected to do that?"

I barely managed to stop myself from scowling at him as I wrapped a possessive arm around Seb's waist.

"No," I said a little tersely. "Seb's my boyfriend. He's Holt's bodyguard."

Rafe's eyes flickered. "Holt needs a bodyguard?" he asked slowly.

Fighting back a smirk, I nodded. "Uh-huh. Something to do with the mob, I think. Holt's, like, involved in some shit, dude."

He'd probably realise pretty soon that I was talking complete bullshit. Holt was the least threatening or intimidating person ever. I'd caught him in his office the other day using a foot spa and eating a fruit cup while watching videos of people building miniature houses.

"Lark," Seb said with a hint of sternness that made my belly swoop. To Rafe, he politely said, "Nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah. You too." Rafe was still eyeing him with mild curiosity.

Now that Seb was back, I really wanted to get this over and done with so I could hang out with him in the office, so I gave him another quick kiss and said, "Just gonna show Rafe around."

"Alright." Seb pressed a kiss to my temple. "See you later. See you around, Rafe."

He continued on toward the office while we went in the other direction. After a few moments of silence, Rafe cleared his throat and dryly asked, "Any other office couples I should know about?"

I cocked my head. "Gabe and Biff have a thing."

"And they are…"

Uuuuugggh, this guy suuuuucks.

"Nunhallowed Pound and Bedrock Biff Clawstin." I glanced over at him. "You been to watch the wrestling before?"

"Only once." He still had his hands in his pockets, looking casual and at ease as we headed down the corridor that led to the backstage area. It kinda bugged me, to be honest. Why wasn't he nervous? I'd been hella nervous on my first day.

I shrugged, shoving my hands into my own pockets. "Well, now you can watch it every week if you want. Perk of the job. The atmosphere's always pretty cool in the arena."

I didn't extend an invite to Holt's private box. That was inner circle only shit.

"I'll have to watch every show," Rafe said flatly. "Seeing as we'll be streaming them online. Which is my job."

Jeez, what was with this guy? Why was he so… I didn't even know what he was, but he was getting on my nerves a little, which was rare—I usually liked everyone.

I kind of wanted to push him through the door to the backstage area and leave him to it. The wrestlers, especially all together in their own space, could be… a lot. I remembered how they'd all reacted to Taylor the first time they'd met him, practically salivating like a pack of hungry wolves.

But I wasn't a d-bag. Unlike some people. So I wasn't just going to throw him to said wolves.

After introducing Rafe to the wrestlers—which was as entertaining as expected—I deposited him back in his office and left with a hasty, "Later, bro."

Seb was sitting on the couch doing a crossword when I got back. He looked up and grinned. "How was it?"

"I'm not sure about him." I draped myself over his lap, wrapping an arm around his wide shoulders to play with his hair. "He seems kinda cocky. Or like he thinks he's too cool to show any freaking emotion. Makes me suspicious, dude."

Seb chuckled, slipping his hand under my suit jacket to smooth up my back. "I don't think you need to be suspicious. He just seems like an introvert, maybe."

"Mm." I wasn't at all interested in talking about Rafe, so I cupped Seb's face and drew him into a deep kiss.

He kissed me back eagerly, dipping his tongue into my mouth, but drew back after several long seconds and warned, "Holt's in his office."

"Meh." I shrugged. I didn't care if Holt caught us. It wasn't like he could say anything about me innocently sitting on Seb's lap. Not after that under-the-desk blowie incident that I wasn't letting Holt forget.

"You're still coming for dinner tonight, right?" I asked. Seb had spent a lot of evenings with my family, which made me, like, ridiculously happy. Nolan wasn't even an awkward dork around him anymore. He'd actually asked Seb for advice about the werewolf girl in his class that he had a huge crush on.

"Of course." Seb grinned at me. "Your dad texted me earlier saying he's already made the buns for his turkey burgers."

"Cool." I carded my fingers through his short hair and lightly scratched at his scalp, because I knew how much he loved it. If I did it when we were in bed or lounging on the couch, I could sometimes even get him to purr. "And you're staying over, right?"

We were usually at Seb's—there weren't many nights over the last couple of months that I hadn't spent there, to be honest—but he'd stayed at my parents' place a few times too.

"Of course I am." Seb gave me a tiny smirk, which I returned with an excited grin.

"Noice. That means one of your super slow BJs that makes my head nearly explode."

We obviously had to be quiet when we were at my place, which limited our bedroom activities a little, because I struggled to stay quiet when Seb was fucking me or riding my dick. Or touching me in any way, really. My bed was also super creaky, so we couldn't move around too much. A few times, when I'd been desperate to have him inside me, we'd ended up on the floor with Seb's hand clamped over my mouth while he fucked me from behind.

We'd ticked off pretty much everything I wanted to try sex-wise by now, and it was so, so much better experiencing it all with someone I loved than I suspected it would've been if I'd had all those firsts with people who, yeah, I liked and cared about, but not in the same way. Not in such an intense but comforting way.

Nothing embarrassed me with Seb. Not even when I almost threw up after trying to deepthroat his dick and had to take a brief intermission while I heaved and tried to calm my gag reflex. Or the time I was attempting to be all sexy by crawling seductively onto the bed while he waited for me naked, but misjudged the distance and faceplanted the edge of the mattress as I toppled onto the floor. He'd tried his hardest not to laugh as he scrambled up to make sure I was okay.

There was also the time I sneezed just after he came in my mouth and his cum shot out of my nose. And that other time I somehow managed to get his cum directly up my nose. And in my eye.

That had burned like hell, but Seb had spent the rest of the night being extra attentive and doting, so it was totally worth it.

Besides, it was nice to laugh with him during sex. When I'd pictured it before doing anything sexual at all, my assumption about sex was that it was always all, like, intense and full of porn-style dirty talk. And while I did love Seb's brand of dirty talk, sex with him felt real. There were funny, awkward moments when we attempted new positions. Many, many times when I came way too soon. That one time I jabbed him in the eye with my dick because I got too excited as he was leaning down to suck me off.

And it was all the stuff around the sex that I loved so much too. Sleeping in late with him at the weekends, when we didn't have to get to work so early. The nights we went to bed and just cuddled, Seb's big body spooning me until I fell asleep. Going grocery shopping with him before we spent a lazy evening together, with Seb cooking us dinner before we curled up on the couch and watched a movie.

He'd met Hans a few weeks back, when we went to a bar with Taylor and Holt after work for a drink. My best buddy had been way too excited, and basically hogged Seb all night, dragging him over to the pool table. Seb had obviously beaten him, but Hans didn't care. Neither of us were competitive, which tended to piss our teammates off when we were gaming online, because we just fucked around and didn't take it too seriously.

Hans had eagerly asked him to start gaming with us, but Seb said it wasn't really his thing. He didn't mind at all, though, when I took my laptop over to his place to spend an hour gaming and catching up with my buddies. I usually did it at the kitchen island while he got dinner ready, though I constantly interrupted him by telling him to come and watch, which he dutifully did every time.

I eventually ended up just leaving my laptop at his place. Then some of my clothes, so I always had PJs and clean underwear for when I stayed over. He'd mentioned liking my old tie-dye sheets, so I got my mom to make a new set and brought them over. I hadn't expected him to actually use them, but he'd immediately remade his bed with them.

Then I'd brought over my favourite mug—a lopsided pink one my mom had made—because Seb made the best hot chocolate, so I had to drink it from my favourite mug. That was, like, the law or something.

He didn't seem to mind that I was slowly infiltrating his house with my stuff. In fact, he seemed to really like it. I could tell it made him happy. And my literal favourite thing was making Seb happy, so I figured he also wouldn't mind when I commandeered one of his giant sweaters to wear while we were at home. He definitely didn't. He even cut wing slits into the back of it for me.

I hated the nights we had to spend apart. They weren't often, but I did have to go home sometimes to do laundry, plus I liked spending time with my family. We'd visited Seb's parents several more times, and I'd met both his sisters plus Maeve's two kids. Emma and Jack were planning on coming down to have dinner at my parents' house soon. I was sure our moms would get on great, but I had no idea what my dad and Jack would talk about. Maybe trees or something.

I was still curled up on Seb's lap, absently watching him do a crossword with the book balanced on my leg, when Holt's office door opened. He rolled his eyes when he saw us, but a tiny smile tilted his mouth.

"Is the new guy settled in?"

"Yeah." I made a face. "Not sure about him, bro."

Holt frowned. "What do you mean?"

I sat up and reluctantly shifted off Seb's lap. "He's, like, not in the least bit nervous."

After a pause, Holt chuckled. "That's not necessarily a bad thing. He's good. He knows what he's doing. That's why I hired him."

"Just seems kinda cocky, if you ask me," I muttered, but bit my tongue when I considered telling Holt how curt Rafe had been to Taylor. I didn't want to actually, like, fuck up his chances on his first day. I was sure Taylor would relay some version of the conversation to Holt later, anyway.

Holt shook his head with another chuckle as he made his way to the door. "I'll go see how he's settling in."

"Enjoy," I deadpanned, because talking to that guy had been the least fun thing I'd ever experienced in the office. Picking up Cora's giant dumps was more exciting than a conversation with Rafe.

Seb laughed as the door closed behind Holt. "You really don't like him, huh? That's not like you."

"It's not that I don't like him. He just seems like he sucks. But I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt."

Still laughing, Seb shook his head and tugged me closer into his side as he scrawled a word on his crossword.

"And I didn't really like when he asked if he was expected to kiss you too," I piped up, lips twisting into an irritated pout. "Like, fuck that. Who says that? You're clearly my boyfriend. We should go fuck in his office after he goes home. Like a dominance thing. That seems like something werewolves might do, right?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Seb sounded amused. "And no, Lark, we're not going to fuck in the new guy's office."

I huffed. "Fine. He might put little spy cams in there anyway, to protect his precious computer shit. What if he puts them everywhere and spies on us like a perv? Taylor and Holt should probably start being more careful. They were definitely messing around in Taylor's office last week. Holt came back in here with fuck knots in his hair."

"I'll keep an eye out for any suspicious new objects that might contain hidden cameras," Seb said solemnly, "seeing as my job is to protect the boss."

"And me, right?" I batted my eyelashes at him. "I remember you saying before that you'd take someone down if they were coming at me with a crowbar."

Seb laughed. "So now the new guy has gone from potentially spying on us to attacking you with a weapon? But yes." With complete calmness, he added, "Sweetheart, if someone was coming at you with a crowbar, I'd beat the living shit out of them."

My eyes grew hooded. "That's way hotter than it should be."

He quirked a brow at me, lips curved into a tiny, crooked smile, before returning his gaze to his crossword. Just as he started filling in a word, I flung my arms around his neck and pressed my lips to his cheek.

"I love you," I mumbled, trailing more kisses along his jaw and down to his neck, where I paused to inhale the scent of his skin. He smelled like happiness. Just filled my belly with all the warm fuzzies.

Seb turned his head, so I looked up and smiled at him. He smiled back, that big grin that was just for me.

"I love you too, Larkin." He pressed his lips to mine, pulling me back onto his lap. I melted into the kiss, knowing without a doubt that I would never, ever get tired of this.

I couldn't be the only guy to have fallen madly in love with my fuckletics instructor, could I?