Page 7 of His Christmas Gift

I held back a chuckle. She was so defiant now, but I was going to get her to warm up to me. I didn’t know how, but I would figure something out.

“Because I’m not doing what you want?” I asked her, tilting my head at her. “What can I do to put a smile back on your pretty face?”

Autumn’s face flushed red for a moment as her eyes widened. She then quickly looked away from me.

“Whatever. I have to do some paperwork,” she muttered under her breath. She lowered her head to avoid my gaze and hurried out of the studio.

I lifted an eyebrow as I watched her rush away. It seemed like I could make her bashful. Admittedly, seeing her blush and rush off was cute. I meant it when I said she had a pretty face, and I wouldn’t mind seeing her actually smile at me. I would have to work for that, though.

There was already tension between us. I just had to build on that, which meant running into her more. I had an idea for that, but I didn’t think that she was going to like it. Then again, she didn’t seem to like anything that I had been doing lately. I impeded on her territory, but whether she liked it or not, I was here to stay.

When there was an hour left of the workday, I grabbed a stack of papers from my office and carried them over to her office, not even bothering to knock as I strode inside. I dropped the stack of papers onto her desk in front of her.

“I need you to scan all of these forms and put them in our filing system,” I told her.

Autumn stared at the pile of papers with confusion.

“Right now?” she asked me before glancing over at the clock on her desktop. “It’s almost time to go home for the day.”

“It’s urgent,” I replied with a small grin on my face, feeling the tension in the room increase. It was almost addicting at this point.

“Filing forms is urgent?” Autumn said as she gradually narrowed her eyes.

“Yep. I’ll be across the hall if you need anything,” I told her. I doubted that she would take me up on that, but the offer was there. She could always ask for some company while she stayed behind to get her work done. “Got it?”

“Yes, sir,” Autumn bit out before tightening her jaw in annoyance.

I smiled to myself as I left her office to go to mine. I didn’t know how things were going to be between us tomorrow, the next week, or the next year. However, I looked forward to seeing what happened next for us and what could possibly come out of our little rivalry.

---