Page 6 of The Burnt
Declan glanced down at him and smirked. “I don’t want to sound like a self-absorbed asshole, but that sort of thing does happen on occasion.”
Charlie looked at the gorgeous guy. “Of course it does.”
There was a moment of silence before Declan said, “Don’t worry. I’ve got you, and that’s all I need.”
Charlie’s heart beat a little faster. He smiled and handed Declan the file. “So, I guess once you’ve reviewed this, we can send it off to the lawyers and let them deal with it?”
“Yes. Good work, Charlie. I’ll look at this now before we head out for dinner.”
Charlie watched Declan slowly walk back to his office.
Everything that man does is sexy.
Charlie stared at the stacks of mail, reports, photographs and statements which had all migrated from what had been neat piles into one inbreeding mass on his desk. There wasn’t even room for him to put a coffee—if he had one, which he desperately needed if he was going to make it through the evening. He went into the kitchen and made a latte, then sat back at his desk and placed it on the only clear surface—the floor.
Charlie looked at the pile of paperwork and put his hands on his head.
Where do I even begin?
Ever since he’d started working at Declan Hunt Investigations, business had increased. Declan had given the credit to him. Charlie knew better. It was just pure, dumb luck. That, and the high-profile cases they had been lucky enough to take on. Something had happened to the firm’s public image. When Charlie had first started working here, any mention of Declan in the press was accompanied by a stock picture of his ripped, soot-covered torso as he’d pulled a man from a burning car during a well-reported case. That image attracted clientele from the gay male and straight female community. Lately, however, there had been more images of the two of them. Granted, Charlie had been relegated to the role of ‘cute companion’, but Charlie liked the attention.
Then things had started to devolve. Since Charlie had begun working toward gaining his private investigator’s licence, little things had been falling through the cracks. Calls weren’t being returned in a timely manner, invoices weren’t being sent out promptly and paperwork wasn’t being submitted to their accountant, Mr Attwal. He had dropped by just yesterday to find out if he should remove them from his client roster since he hadn’t heard from anyone in a while. Declan had told Charlie not to worry about it. He’d said that these were just growing pains as Charlie transitioned into work in the field. Charlie wasn’t so sure.
Declan stepped out of his office and said, “Should we be heading out soon?”
As Charlie spun around to reply, he kicked over his coffee.
“God damn it!” he shouted as he dropped to the floor and began to mop up the mess with what he realised was an outgoing invoice. “Shit!”
“Hey, it’s okay,” Declan said. “It’s nothing that can’t be reprinted.”
“That’snotthe point!”
Declan came back from the kitchenette with a wad of paper towels. He joined Charlie on the floor and helped him sop up the coffee.
“There. All better,” Declan said.
Charlie muttered, “Not better.”
Declan gently took a hold of Charlie by the shoulders. “Okay. What’s wrong?”
“Just look,” Charlie said motioning to his desk. He fought back tears. “Between my coursework and taking on my own cases, I haven’t been doing my job. Nothing is getting done. If I don’t get invoices out, we won’t have any money coming in, and bills won’t get paid. We’ll end up on the street.”
“I don’t think that’s going to—”
“No!” Charlie snapped. “I’m not doing the company any favours working like this.”
“You’re right,” Declan said. “You can’t do all the admin work when you’re working on cases.”
Charlie crossed his arms. “I don’t know what to do.”
Declan stood up. “I do. I think you’re going to have to find us a new office manager—”
“No,” Charlie interrupted weakly.
“—so you can focus on the cases. Let’s call it a day. You can start fresh tomorrow morning and clear up any paperwork you can, then get an ad out there. Your next case, Mr Watts, is to find us an office manager. Just not one as cute as you. And while you’re at it, why don’t you set up a new workspace for yourself?”
“Where?” Charlie asked, looking around.
