Caught by Emma Louise
Chapter Three
"Tell me this is a fucking joke.”
“Why would I do that?” Crew crosses his arms over his chest and pushes himself back in his chair. The grin on his face is a cocky one, almost begging for me to reach over and slap it off his face. “I told you that I’d take care of it if you didn’t.”
“And I told you I would do it when I had time.”
“Well, now you don’t have to,” he announces, pushing himself up out of the chair. “It needed to be done, Max. The guys are sick of doing the paperwork by themselves. Felix was threatening to quit again.”
“He quits at least twice a month. Fucking baby,” I mutter sullenly.
“Well, he’s a baby who has had enough of doing paperwork. We all are.”
“One month.” I ignore his comments. “That’s how long she has to prove herself useful. If she fucks up. She's gone.”
“Whatever you say, boss.” He smirks, giving me a mock salute.
“Get the fuck out.” I shake my head at his antics. He calls me boss to get a rise out of knowing full well this place is as much his as it mine. Crew isn’t just my business partner here at Elite. We’ve been best friends since high school, enlisted together, went through BUD/s together. He’s been with me through every high and every low for more than twenty years.
With all the shit we’d seen while stationed overseas, both of us were ready to come home and try to put all of that behind us.
The grin he gives me as he walks out lets me know that he’s aware that I'm not really pissed at him. I might be acting like an ungrateful dickhead, but really, I’m happy he took the job off my to-do list. I hate to ever admit he’s right, but the piles of files and unpaid invoices on my desk proves that we really do need a decent office manager. It’s been six months since the last one walked out, crying over something I’d said to her. I just pray this one has more of a backbone.
I’m signing off on the last report when I hear the voices outside my office. The very last thing I want to do today is go out there and pretend that I’m not a jerk to the new receptionist, but I know I have to. The guys will murder me if I run off their new helper before she even has a chance to meet them all.
The building we purchased for Elite is not huge. The ground floor holds offices for Crew and me, a small meeting room, and the reception area. The basement is finished and holds a gym and showers. Upstairs is an open plan space, holding desks for the guys to get their reports finished and a comfortable break area.
When I make it into the reception area, I find Crew standing next to a tiny brunette. Even in the spike heels she’s wearing, she hardly reaches his shoulder.
They’re standing in front of the desk, their backs to me as they go over some papers. Her dark hair is scrapped up into one of those bun things that women seem to wear all the time. I can’t see much of her from here, but her clothes are conservative. Her thin black long-sleeve sweater is tucked into a pair of black and white plaid trousers. Having zero skin on show does nothing to hide her curves, though. Taking advantage of the fact they haven’t noticed me standing here, I take my time looking her over from head to toe. She’s small but perfectly proportioned with curves in all the right places. Especially that ass.
My eyes finally land on the bright red spike heeled shoes on her tiny feet.
Fuck.
I feel my dick twitch at the thought of her wearing only those shoes.
Crew says something that makes her giggle. It's a light tinkle of a sound that does nothing to help the issue I currently have going on in my jeans. Something about that sound has me stepping closer. I want to see if her face is as pretty as I think it will be, as pretty as her voice is.
“I’m sure I’ll cope just fine,” she says softly. My steps falter when I hear that voice, one that has featured in my dreams more than once over the last few nights. She shifts just enough for me to see her face in profile.
It’s her. What the hell is she doing here?
Did she really think she could get away with this shit? Rage boils through me, and my mouth moves before I can think better of it.
“Get your shit, and get the fuck out of here.”