[Carmen]The next day, I had an important call to make as soon as I got to the office. I’d reached out to the other women who applied for the job, but Viola was right. They didn’t really want it. They were answering half-heartedly through the entire interview and just weren’t interested. For a while, I wondered about asking Pyla if she wanted the job, but I didn’t know if it would be a good idea. Work was a safe place for Forrest to vent and ask for advice. It gave him a place where he could be himself and find out what he needed in order to be the mate he thought she deserved. I wouldn’t take that away from him. In the end, Viola was the only real option. Not that I didn’t think she was a good option. I understood that she was nervous when she came in and I hoped she would warm up as time went on. Rock would be working in the office today. I was looking forward to having him around. I found that I missed him a lot during the workday. The only solace I had was that the office had been his for so long that even having Gemma in there every day didn’t erase his scent. I put on my headset and Gemma dialed the number for Viola, that way I didn’t have to wait for my computer to boot up. The phone only rang twice before she picked up. I was expecting her to be as bristly as she was during the interview, but she sounded cheerful and like she was smiling. “Hello?” “Viola, this is Carmen Rosen from Beaumont Construction and Renovation. I was calling to offer you the job you applied for last week. Are you still interested?” I asked. “Oh, goddess! I thought I might have pissed you off. I’m trying to be better about how I interact with people, but when I get nervous, my warrior training comes out and I can be a bit of a bitch.”I laughed. “I am mated to a troll and most of my new friends are trolls. You were perfectly acceptable. Would you like to come in today and meet Rock? He’s the owner and he’s in the office today.” “That would be great. I have some things to take care of today. Can I come by after lunch?” Viola asked. “Sure. We are finished with our lunch break at one-thirty. When you come, we can get through the paperwork as well. I would like it if we could have you start on Monday, so you can meet everyone, but it might be better if we have you start tomorrow. We can do the official meeting with everyone on Monday,” I told her. “That sounds great. I’ll see you this afternoon. I appreciate you hiring me,” she said excitedly and hung up before I could reply. I took the headset off and shook my head. She might not have realized that most people would consider that rude, but she might also have realized it too late and was now stressing over it. I’d tell her it was all right when I saw her later. She was so excited that I knew I made the right choice. Viola really wanted the job and that was one of the things I really wanted in whoever I hired. “You picked your assistant, then?” Rock asked. “Yeah, her name is Viola Darkreach and she actually came in instead of turning in an application. She told me if the other women wanted it, they would have come to see me instead of applying and waiting. When I talked to them over the phone, they didn’t seem to really be interested,” I replied. “That makes sense. All of my fae employees came to me. The rogue wolves and bears did, too, but the others applied normally. Fae prefer straightforward interactions.” I nodded. I liked that about the fae. The more honest people were with me, the better I felt about trusting them. I hoped Viola would prove to be a person I could call a friend. “And Darkreach is a solid family name. They’re a warrior family who trains for the first twenty years of their lives, then takes ten years sabbatical where they explore the world and learn about things other than fighting, then they go back to do their service to the royals or their family until they’re about a hundred. They’ll go back to being a warrior from time to time, but once the females find their mate they are in charge of training the children,” Rock explained. “So they train their children from when they’re very little to be warriors?” I asked. “Yes. I’m happy we got a Darkreach for this. I don’t know who recommended her, but I’d love to give them something in return.” “That would be nice. Gemma, you want to find where we filed the paper she filled out? I better get to work. We have more scans and organization to get done.” He hummed a little, but I could tell he was getting back to work as well. Gemma had left information on his desk about the programs and tech that was needed, including price lists. I heard him chuckle when he saw it. Work went on as it normally did. Gemma and I had everything down. We were mostly getting files that were older scanned in the computer. If they were over five years old, we were keeping them in paper files.At lunchtime, Rock ordered something to be delivered for the four of us, plus the men working in the conference room. When it arrived, Gemma said it was a huge order from a local BBQ place. Rock went out to help the delivery guy carry the boxes into the office and gave him a big tip. Rock and Forrest sorted the food out while Gemma and I cleared up my desk. It had become our unofficial lunch spot. We all sat down together, eager to dig into the delicious-smelling food. Gemma started talking about her plans for the future, specifically her plans for attending the mating conference.“So what is this mating conference thing you two keep mentioning?” Rock asked. “Every three years, there is a national mating conference. It usually takes the place of regional mating conferences. All the single pack wolves in the country gather in the geographical center of the country, Belle Fourche, South Dakota. It’s a chance for wolves from other areas to find their mates,” I explained. “In the off years, we have regional conferences that normally cover several states. Our region covers Alaska, Washington, Idaho, Oregon, and parts of western Montana,” Gemma added. “We couldn’t go to the regional conferences outside of Oregon because of the curse, but the pack can now. I think next year’s conference is in Idaho. I don’t remember. It’s not important to me anymore,” I said as I ate some fries. Rock and Forrest were both intrigued by the concept of a mating conference and asked more questions. Gemma happily obliged, explaining the intricate details and traditions of the event.I liked listening to Gemma ramble about the conference and what would happen there. She was so excited about potentially finding her mate. I totally understood her eagerness. I was excited for the conference before I found Rock. Now that I had my mate, I didn’t have to deal with that. It would be crowded and hectic. People would be as excited as Gemma and I probably wouldn’t have had as much fun as the sighted wolves. That didn’t matter now. I’d found my mate. “Have you been to a mating conference before, Carmen?” Rock asked me. “Yes, but I didn’t have a good time. My parents insisted on coming to the only one I’ve been able to attend in the last three years. They practically had me on a leash. I didn’t get to have fun with my friends or really meet other wolves. They pestered the Alpha to give the three of us a room in the packhouse,” I grumbled. “If a bunch of trolls got together like that, there would be fucking.... A lot of fucking....” Forrest chuckled. Rock laughed along with him, but Gemma and I were silent. That happened at the conferences, too. If a wolf didn’t find their mate, sometimes they would end up hooking up with someone else who didn’t find their mate. I blushed as I ate more of my sandwich. It was hard to get away from my parents, but I did manage to hook up with a guy a couple times while I was at the conference. It was just what you do at a conference. “Seems like it’s the same for wolves,” Rock said to his friend. “Seems so. Don’t go getting knocked up at the conference, Gemma,” Forrest warned. She laughed, “I won’t.” Though he didn’t say anything, I did worry that Rock would be upset about me sleeping with other people. Some werewolves were offended if their mate had been with other people. Some were cool with it. Even though it was the distant past, I almost regretted not saving myself for Rock. I had for Jordan. It was after he rejected me that I gave in to my urges. I didn’t want to stay a virgin for goddess only knew how long. Werewolves from my pack weren’t interested, so I had to find a human who was into sleeping with a blind woman. After that, I mainly slept with humans. When I went to the conference, I hoped to find my mate or a werewolf who didn’t mind sleeping with a blind wolf. Sloan was from a pack in Montana and didn’t care that I couldn’t see. I remembered his name because he was the first werewolf I ever slept with. I hope he found his mate. He was a good guy and managed to make my parents feel confident enough in his ‘honor’ to let him escort me to things that were single wolves only. After lunch was over, Gemma helped Forrest clean up the containers from our meal while I went to the restroom and cleaned my desk. I was fastidious when it came to my workstation, even though I couldn’t see it. Rock came up behind me while I was wiping down my desk. He bent over me and kissed the rim of my ear. I forgot what I was doing for a moment and rubbed myself against his hardness. “Do you know how much I love it when you blush? And you do it so damned often that I have to work harder to maintain my calm. You drive me crazy with every little thing you do, Carmen,” Rock murmured as he ground himself against my behind. “You’re not mad at me?” I asked. “For what? Being so damned delicious all the time?” “For not waiting for you,” I said. He laughed. “Why would I be mad at you for not doing something that I didn’t do? I was in my twenties when you were born, Carmen. I’d been having sex since I was fifteen. The only troll I know of who has ever tried to save himself for his mate was Jett. He’s even gotten every female troll in the community to agree not to have sex with him no matter how charming he is when he comes of age.” Rock didn’t stop the movement of his hips the whole time we talked. It was driving me crazy. I couldn’t think well enough to keep the conversation going, not that he seemed to need it. “In a year and three months, Jett will have the most celibate coming-of-age anyone has ever seen. Even women from the troll village in the fae lands want to come just to see if anyone breaks their word.” I moaned as he wrapped a hand around my neck and gripped my hip with his other hand. Rock’s hands tightened as he continued to molest me in the office. Not that I entirely minded. “Hey guy– oh dear goddess!” Gemma squealed. “This is a place of business. No one wants to see that!” Rock let me go and moved away abruptly. “I was helping Carmen. She needed reassurance and I was providing it. Perhaps you should knock when the door is closed while we’re in the office together….” “Viola’s here. I’ll give you a few minutes to straighten yourselves out.” The doors closed again and I started laughing. That definitely needed to be a rule, because I couldn’t stop my mate if he wanted to do something with me in the office. Mostly because I didn’t want to stop him.