Page 25 of Four Firemen For Christmas

It was no worse than letting Samuel and Alex watch me have sex, I told myself while scooping pages into my arms. It didn’t feel wrong. And if I’d had time, I would’ve accepted an offer for a threesome or foursome. If one of them had asked. That simple fact startled me, and I gasped while sitting back on my heels.

Henry watched me. One elbow rested on the table as he stroked a finger over his upper lip, going back and forth in a slow, methodical move. “Problem?” He’d nailed the thoughtful pose, but I spotted his foot bouncing up and down beneath the desk.

What had him riled up this morning? My ineptitude or something else? It was impossible to tell with Henry. He kept everything hidden behind that stoic mask of indifference.

I wanted to take a sledgehammer to his mask and shatter it into a million pieces. Who was he when no one was looking? I shook my head and clutched the papers to my stomach. “No.” My heart raced. I hadn’t gotten all the papers yet, but the thought of moving closer to Henry, to running my hand beneath his desk again, caused my breathing to hitch. I’d never know him, not like I could get to know Derek, Samuel, and maybe even Alex.

They hadn’t outright offered a foursome this morning. But the implication was there that they were open to it… if I was. My body flushed so hot I might as well be a supernova. I was being ridiculous. They didn’t all want to share me. It was a crazy idea. Alex’s words were meant to shock me, and they had. Samuel’s offer to let me go to any one of them for sex made more sense but still…

Guys didn’t really share like that. From my experience, guys wanted a woman to think about no one else but them. Even if they were seeing multiple women at the same time. Like my ex. The bastard. I didn’t share well. The thought of any of them with another woman annoyed me more than I thought possible. I barely knew them. I didn’t have any reason whatsoever to feel so protective.

“Are you going to stay there all day?” Henry’s voice held a hint of amusement but mostly annoyance.

I shouldn’t be able to tell the difference already, but I could. I looked up and caught him staring at me. Specifically, at my shirt’s scooped neck. I’d chosen the royal blue shirt and a matching flowy skirt because they were comfortable, businesslike, and they made me feel sexy. But the scooped neck tended to dip a little too low in certain situations. This one was a perfect example.

I didn’t have to look down to know that I was flashing him a good amount of cleavage. “No.” I held the papers higher, covering my chest, and stood.

The clock behind him ticked down the time. I’d only been here half an hour? Damn. How was I going to make it another eleven and a half hours? My shifts didn’t run exactly like Henry’s. He was on twenty-four-hour shifts that sometimes ran over. Like today.

“Are you going to say anything to me other thanno?” He lowered his hand to his thigh and rubbed it briefly.

I took note of the position, which was awfully close to his dick. “No?” I looked away from him and sat gingerly on the edge of my seat. Lowering the pages to the desk, I sorted them into order. I was still missing several, but I wasn’t going back for them until I had myself under control.

The tiny space Henry had made for me in his office shrank with each tick of the clock until my skin prickled every time he took a breath. I crossed my legs and squeezed them together. The man had barely looked at me and hadn’t touched me in any kind of sexual way, so why was I so turned on?

Still ignoring him, I yanked the binder off the wall and shoved the papers inside. Henry reached down and grabbed the remaining ones from the floor near his feet. “You forgot these.”

“Thanks.” My throat worked as I wrenched the pages away from him and added them to the mess. “I’ll sort them out later when I have a chance.” Like when he wasn’t staring at me every second like he was making a list of all the things I was doing wrong. Nervous energy zipped through me. I stood and paced to the door, glancing through the blinds. “What else do you need me to do?”

Derek, Samuel, and Alex were out in the bay, doing something near the truck. I watched them work and some of the tension eased out of me. They could get a call any second, and I’d be left alone in the office. My mind and body argued over which would be better. Sharing space with Henry for hour after agonizing hour, or sitting there with nothing to do.

“Do you know anything about writing grants?” His voice sounded too close.

I swore I felt his breath whisper over the back of my neck, and I whirled around. “I’ve written a few.”

He nodded, still seated at his desk. “Good. That’s the next thing I need done.” He picked up a blue file and tossed it onto my desk. “Everything you need is in there.”

“You can’t do them yourself?” The question slipped out between breaths.

Henry arched his eyebrow again. “I hired you to be an assistant, not to backtalk. If you can’t do the job,” he paused and shrugged, but the move was too jerky to be nonchalant. “You said you’re capable of writing grants. I hate them. So, you do them.”

He said it like his word was law. It reminded me of what Derek said this morning about Henry. He did have a tendency to bark orders and expect them to be obeyed without question. Did that have anything to do with what he’d said yesterday?

I crossed my arms over my chest and made my way slowly back to my desk. The close quarters forced me to edge past Henry’s desk. I turned to avoid him and bumped the corner of his desk with my thigh. It scraped across the floor with a screech. His coffee cup wobbled and rocked side to side, steam rising from the freshly poured cup, before giving in to gravity and toppling over.

He jumped to his feet and leaped away from the scalding liquid. Dark stains spilled over the desk and soaked the remaining papers.

“Damn it.” I grabbed the nearest thing and threw it onto his desk to try and soak up the liquid. The heavy towel turned from white to pale brown, but it worked.

Henry smoothed a hand down his chest and then pinched the bridge of his nose.

I’d fucked up big time. He’d probably fire me now. “Sorry,” I muttered under my breath while continuing to sop up the hot coffee.

Henry’s hands covered mine. “I’ll get it.”

I tightened my grip on the towel and shook my head. “It’s my fault. I’ll clean it up.”

“Emma, stop.” His fingers wrapped around my wrists, freezing me in place. “You’ve done enough this morning.”

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