The Project

CHAPTER7

“What the hell are you doing, Miss Dawson?” Devyn asked, sighing heavily as he watched the small woman that refused to leave as she reached for his shirt and-

Manhandled him!

“You were taking too long,” Andi murmured absently as she made quick work of unbuttoning his shirt and pulled it off him before he could do more than wince.

When she was done with that, she reached down and-

“I think I can handle that, Miss Dawson,” Devyn drawled as he gently pulled her hands away from his belt.

“And yet, you haven’t done it in two days,” Andi said with a sad shake of her head as she straightened up and gestured for him to get on with it.

Because it hurt just to fucking breathe. He hadn’t been able to do more than pass out from the pain when the pain meds didn’t kick in fast enough, and through it all, she’d been there, doing everything that she could to help him get through this, held his hand, rubbed his back while he’d held on to her when the pain became too fucking much to bear and-

He liked falling asleep with her in his arms more than he should.

“I’m doing it now,” Devyn said with a pointed look at the bathroom door.

“Then I’ll go take care of the bed,” Andi said, making him sigh.

“You don’t need to do that, Miss Dawson. I can take care of it when I’m done here,” Devyn said, pulling his belt loose only to bite back a groan when the move caused pain to tear through his ribs.

“Already started,” the little pain in the ass that refused to listen said over her shoulder as she left.

Keeping one hand pressed against his side, Devyn unsnapped his fly and pulled his zipper down before he moved to stand back up, only to sit back down when the move caused his head to spin and threatened to knock him on his ass. For a moment, he considered trying to make his way back to his room so that he could pass back out on his bed, but the thought of soaking in a hot bath sounded really fucking good at the moment.

Working his pants and boxers down with one hand, Devyn managed to shove them off before he carefully turned around and lowered himself into the tub, unable to help but groan when the hot water began working the aches that had been plaguing him for the last two days out of his sore muscles as he closed his eyes and-

“What the hell are you doing, Miss Dawson?” Devyn found himself asking when he felt her small fingers carefully removing the fresh bandage that she’d wrapped around his head this morning after she made a quick run to the pharmacy to get more supplies.

“Cleaning the dried blood from your scalp,” came the absently mumbled words as he opened his eyes, only to wince when the soft candlelight caused sharp pain to slam into the back of his eyes as he reached for the hand towel that she’d placed on the side of the tub and draped it over his lap.

“I can do that myself, Miss Dawson,” Devyn bit out.

“You should probably call me Andi at this point, otherwise this will get awkward.”

“Miss Dawson,” Devyn bit out, enunciating every fucking syllable before adding, “Get. Out,” as he was forced to grab on to the side of the tub when a wave of dizziness threatened to knock him out.

“I wanted to ask you something,” she said conversationally, ignoring him as she removed the last of the gauze covering his stitches. “Did you by any chance go back to the office the other night after you walked me home?”

“Why?” Devyn managed to get out, slowly exhaling as he waited for his world to right itself again, only to go still when she said, “Because some of the files were missing.”

“What?” he snapped, turning his head to look at her only to have her gently grab hold of his head and whisper, “Shhh, not while I’m working,” making him roll his eyes as he dropped his head forward so that the little bully could work. “What happened to the files?”

“Some of them are missing,” Andi said, not really sounding all that concerned as she grabbed the cup that she’d placed on the side of the tub and leaned down next to him, the soft material of her “Pi Makes Everything Better” tee-shirt where it covered the generous curves of her breasts brushed against his shoulder as several strands of her hair teased his skin, forcing him to bite back a groan.

God, he really didn’t need this right now, Devyn thought as he felt his cock twitch beneath the hand towel. It had been a long fucking time since he’d been with a woman and the last fucking thing he needed right now was to notice just how fucking good it felt when his assistant touched him. For the last five years, he’d focused on doing his job, refusing to let anyone or anything get in his way, and now…

“I need those files, Miss Dawson,” he said, reminding himself that he had a job to do.

“Which is why I contacted Hillshire Hotels and asked them to send the files again when I let them know that you weren’t going to be able to make it to New York to meet with their CEO. They won’t be able to get them out before the meeting, but I did manage to contact Lucas’s team and they were able to send the electronic copies they had, which I’ve already downloaded on my iPad,” Andi explained as she carefully pressed a folded facecloth against his stitches to protect them as she poured water over his head, washing away the rest of the dried blood.

“I’m going to need those files sent to me, Miss Dawson,” Devyn said, relieved that she’d managed to get her hands on another copy. He’d worry about the missing files later. Right now, he needed to go over every detail in those files and make sure that this deal wasn’t going to end up biting him in the ass.

“That might be a problem,” she murmured absently as he felt shampoo poured onto his head seconds before she was gently running her fingers through his hair and-

God, that felt so fucking good.

“Why is that?” Devyn managed to get out as he felt his entire body begin to relax.

“Because you can barely handle candlelight, how are you supposed to manage reading through thousands of documents, graphs, and financial reports?” came the question that had him grinding his teeth, knowing that she was right and fucking hating it.

“Miss Dawson, I-” he began only to bite back a sigh when she corrected him.

“Andi.”

“I’m afraid that I’m going to need your help,” Devyn said, the words feeling wrong on his tongue. He didn’t need anyone, hadn’t in a long time, and now, he was forced to ask for help.

“That’s what I figured, but there’s just one problem with that,” Andi explained as she stopped running her fingers through his hair so that she could grab the cup.

“What’s that?” Devyn asked, unable to help but groan when the hot water that she poured over his head ran down his neck and back.

“I’m really going to need you to start calling me Andi,” Andi said with a heartfelt sigh, making him frown.

“That’s not happening, Miss Dawson,” he informed her, needing the reminder that she was just another employee to get his focus back where it needed to be.

“Then we have a problem because I don’t think that I can help you unless you do.”

“You really can, Miss Dawson,” Devyn said even as his head started pounding again.

There was a heavy sigh as she said, “I wish that I could, I really do, but it just wouldn’t feel right doing that for someone that I’m not on a first-name basis with.”

“You’ll do it anyway,” Devyn said, squeezing his eyes shut as he willed the pain that was starting to tear his head apart away.

“Will I, though?” came the curious question that had him wondering how he’d missed the fact that his new assistant was a pain in the ass.

“I could just fire you,” Devyn pointed out.

“You could. You really could, but then, you’d still need someone to read the files for you,” Andi said, giving him no other choice but to give in to the little bully’s demands.

* * *