Beauty and the Assassin

I clear my throat. “I’m supposed to be working.”

He gives me a mildly assessing look. Why does that make him seem like a candy-house witch trying to decide how much fattening she needs to do to Hansel and Gretel? “Who’s your supervisor?”

“Mina.”

He pulls out his phone and taps on the screen a few times. Then he flips it so I can read it.

–Me: I’m borrowing one of your employees for half an hour. Angelika’s her name.

–Mina: Sure, that’s fine.

Of course she’d say it’s fine. She told me how important the foundation’s business is.

“Now your next thirty minutes belong to me.” He arches an eyebrow, daring me to argue, but I’m not arguing with a man my boss prefers to suck up to. He gestures at the plate.

“Thank you,” I say.

“Understood. Now eat.”

“It’s a lot of food, though,” I say, in case he expects me to finish this giant manwich.

“Toss whatever you don’t eat.”

“No way! I haven’t had beef in months! I’m going to take the leftovers home and eat them for lunch tomorrow.” Crap. I shut my mouth, too late, of course. He doesn’t care about my grocery situation!

Tolyan gives me an odd look, then shrugs.

But you know what? Who cares? I shove aside my embarrassment and start gobbling up the sandwich. It’s so, so good. The bacon is amazing with the beef. And I swear, this hotel has the best bread, too. And the fries are so hot, so perfect.

As I continue to eat, tears fill my eyes. I can’t remember a time when I had food this delicious and filling. And all because this man noticed my belly growling and decided to do something about it.

The food fuels my optimism and courage. The third time really is the charm. And if him feeding me when I’m starving isn’t it, I don’t know what more sign I need.

“I think you’re a nice man,” I say, after I swallow a bite.

A corner of his lips quirks up, but his eyes remain unreadable.

“You helped me earlier, and now this, too.”

“The foundation’s paying for it,” he says flatly.

“Yeah, but it didn’t give me this sandwich. That was you.”

Something I can’t make out flickers in his eyes. “For a little fawn, you like to argue.”

“Huh?” Did he just call me a little fawn?

Tolyan doesn’t respond. A small frown appears on his face as he checks his phone and reads whatever’s on the screen. He puts it back in his pocket and starts to walk away.

“Wait! Where are you going?” I haven’t said a word about my proposal!

He stops, then looks at me over a shoulder, like he can’t believe I asked him that question. Or maybe he can’t believe I think he’s going to answer me.

“I have something to ask you,” I say quickly.

“Unfortunately, I don’t have the time. There’s an urgent matter to attend to.”

“But—”