Ernest has always been pretty good to me. And with his straight-arrow military background, he probably won't treat Deborah differently. Pondering over it, I still waited a good twenty minutes before heading to Ernest's room., He'd asked me to wait ten minutes, probably to freshen up and change his clothes., As expected, when Ernest opened the door, his hair was still damp, he was in some comfy clothes, and wearing those hotel slippers on his feet.

"Come in,

" was all he said., Right away, I noticed his laptop was open. Walking over, I dove straight into the matter at hand,

"So, what's the new issue?

",

"It's in the document on the desktop, just open it and see,

" Ernest spoke, just as the kettle he'd put on boiled., Sitting down, I opened his laptop expecting a tidy desktop, typical of his personality, but I was wrong. His desktop was cluttered with documents., Luckily, I'm not claustrophobic, otherwise, I'd have been overwhelmed on the spot., Faced with all these files, I had to ask,

"Which one is it? Your desktop's a mess.

", Ernest:

"The one named YLC.

", I started scanning the screen for it, thinking maybe my binge-watching sessions had finally taken their toll on my eyes, because I couldn't find it after a thorough look.

"Ernest, it's not here,

" I turned to him., He was making coffee.,

"Let me take a look,

" he said, ready to come over, but then his phone rang. Glancing at the caller ID, he told me,

"Just a sec.

", I took the opportunity to search the desktop again., Listening to him take the call, I couldn't make out the other side but heard him say,

"We had an agreement, I won't accept changes, and compensation's off the table... Yeah, non-negotiable.

" The call was brief, so quick that I hadn't even finished scanning all his documents., The real challenge wasn't the sheer number of files, but that they were all named with just letters., Ernest came back with the coffee, placing it beside me,

"Here you go.

",

"Thanks,

" I replied, and just then felt a tightening behind me, followed by Ernest's arm reaching around in a semi-embrace, pointing at a file on the screen.

"Here it is.

", His voice was deep and soothing, and he was so close I could nearly feel his chin on my forehead, a slight move and I'd touch him., The worst part was his scent, a mix of soap and shampoo, exceptionally fresh and appealing., In a flash, it felt like my blood was warmed, heating up, boiling..., I felt trapped, stiff, my mind blank...,

"Open it, let me explain,

" Ernest prompted, seeing me freeze., My hand rushed to click the file he pointed out, but in that moment, I lost it again.,

"Here,

" his hand covered mine, guiding it to the file and swiftly clicking the mouse twice., The file opened, but everything blurred before my eyes as if Ernest had erased all my senses, and I didn't catch a word he said. Until he asked,

"Got it?

",

"No,

" I replied, shifting away,

"Mr. Collins, you're too close.

", Search the website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.