Page 44 of Living with Fire
I’m pleased when I see her eyes slide down the length of my body, taking in my choice of attire. It’s the same way she looked at me in the elevator, and the other night when I caught her staring. Full of appreciation, and it makes my dick twitch.
Crossing my arms over my chest, I lean against the doorframe and grin at her. “Couldn’t help it. I’m a little in awe right now. Where did my office go?”
Now she gives me a full laugh. My pulse races at the sound, my stomach clenching with anticipation. I’ve never heard such a beautiful sound. I’m really hoping I’ll hear a lot more of it tonight, and the rest of the weekend.
“Don’t let the organization fool you. It might look better, but there is still so much to do.” Savanna glances at the wall full of boxes. “I’m only three boxes into all the data, and I need to be a lot further than that, but I couldn’t work in the chaos anymore so I may have gone a little overboard in cleaning yesterday.”
“No, not at all. This place looks amazing, Sav. It looks like you,” I tell her, my eyes dancing along her face. Warm, inviting, beautiful. Effortlessly beautiful. I’ve never seen her with much makeup on, but she doesn’t need it, and I like that about her. I like a low-maintenance kind of woman, and Savanna is definitely that. “I like the plant addition, but you don’t think they’re going to die in here? That window doesn’t offer a lot of sunlight.”
“Oh, Nate,” she giggles, shaking her head at me, and damn it if I can’t help but grin wider at her. “So much to learn. You’ve got to pick plants that don’t need sunlight.”
She points at one of the plants on the filing cabinet. I think she’s referring to the one that looks viny and has big green and yellow leaves attached to it. It’s pretty nice and looks good with the vines hanging over the side. “That’s a devil’s ivy. It doesn’t need much sunlight. The one beside it is a snake plant, doesn’t need a bunch of light, and it purifies the air.”
“Then this guy,” she says, pointing to the one on the desk, and I realize there’s actually more than one plant in the big bowl that it’s in and looks more like a miniature garden than a plant, “is a succulent. Or a few different succulents all mixed together, and they’re okay without the light. I like him on the desk because it adds some life to it.”
She glances at the big round pot on the desk then lifts her gray eyes to me, looking like she’s about to frown. Instead she starts picking at her nail. “You don’t mind they’re here, do you?”
“Not at all. I think they’re perfect.” Pushing off the doorframe, I move to take a seat at the visitor’s chair across from her. To see her talking about the plants, watching her eyes light up as she explained each of them to me, makes me light up inside. She loves her plants far more than I realized, and I’m glad that Liam and I saved them from her apartment. “I like that you’re making it your own in here. Maybe I’ll get lucky and you’ll want to stick around once all of this is done.”
Savanna grins back at me. “You haven’t scared me off yet.”
Leaning back in the chair, I cross an ankle over one knee and clasp my hands in front of my stomach, quietly studying her for a moment. Her skin is kissed by the California summer with all the time she spent at the beach over the last few months. It looks silky smooth, and it’s not the first time I’ve noticed. There have been more than a few nights this week that we’ve sat on the couch together, watching movies or just talking, her at one end and me at the other, her legs sprawled out for my eyes to enjoy. I try not to stare, I swear, but I’ve got a thing for a set of toned legs and hers are as perfect as those beautiful breasts.
“Nate?”
“Hmm?” I mumble, lazily looking back up to her face.
“You’re staring.”
I jolt upright, realizing she’s right, my neck and face immediately heating. “Sorry. You just look nice today. Your hair is different.”
Savanna smirks and I feel my face redden further. “You weren’t looking at my hair, Nate.”
“Sure I was,” I say, gesturing towards the ends of her hair where they tickle the tops of her breasts and grin. “I was looking at where your hair is.”
And thinking about how nice it would be to touch you there.
It’s her turn to blush. I love the way her cheeks tinge pink, and that I caused it. I’ve realized it’s not hard to do, and it makes my chest swell with pride.
“Well, you look nice too,” she states, waving a hand at me. “Hot date?” I don’t miss the cringe before she adds, “Sorry, that’s none of my business.”
Dropping my foot from my knee, I lean forward in the chair and cross my arms over the desk. A week ago I wouldn’t be taking the step I’m about to take, but I’ve had a lot of time to think about how this might work, or not work. After weighing the pros and cons, I’ve decided I need to go for it. I know Savanna is my employee, but I just don’t give a damn anymore.
I want to take her out. I want to kiss her. I want to touch all that gorgeous skin. I want to be able to pull her across the couch when we’re laying at opposite ends and have her body rest on top of mine while we make out for a while.
I want a hell of a lot more than that, but I’ll take what I can get to begin with. If she’ll let me.
“I’m giving you tomorrow off,” I say instead of answering her. “And Sunday.”
Savanna balks at me. “What? Nate, no! I can’t take tomorrow off, let alone Sunday too. I have so much to do here.”
“Are you saying that if you took the next two days off you wouldn’t be done by your deadline?”
She glances at the computer screen then narrows her eyes at me. “I would make sure I’m done.”
That’s what I was counting on. “Then as your boss, I’m giving you tomorrow and Sunday off, Savanna. You’ve been working non-stop the last week; I don’t need you burning yourself out. You can come back on Monday refreshed and ready to keep going.”
Sitting back in her chair, she crosses her arms over her chest. I swear to god she does it just to taunt me because her breasts rise higher and I’m finding it almost impossible not to look. But this is about work and if I’m going to do this, if we’re going to do this, we need to keep things separate.