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"Ah, Delores. You're fired." Dave looked at Tommy. "Make sure she gathers up all of her belongings. I'll call Charlotte in payroll and have her check drawn up immediately. Don't leave her side."

“B-but Mr. Youngblood, I didn’t realize—”

“No,” he answered. “You didn’t. Miss Leon is one of my dearest friends. If you’d have looked at the digital planner we use here, you’d have seen my schedule for the afternoon was cleared specifically for her.”

“I-I’m sorry, sir.”

“No, you’re not. You’re sorry you got caught. There’s a difference.” He glanced at the second receptionist. “Denisha, call over to HR and ask them to post for a receptionist job. Let them know it’s a rush.”

The woman nodded. “Right away, sir.”

With everything settled, Dave returned to Scarlett’s side and they continued to his office. “Sorry about that.”

“It is what it is,” she answered then introduced Edward. “I don’t know if you know who Edward is, but he’s one of our workers at the sanctuary.”

“I know, Ed,” Dave said.

She glanced at Kenny then to Edward. “You do?”

"Uh-huh," Dave answered. "We have boys' weekends sometimes."

“He knows my Pops,” Edward said with a roll of his shoulders.

“Small world we’re living in,” she muttered. “Anything else the three of you want to tell me before we get to work?”

Dave, Kenny, and Edward looked at each other.

“Yeah,” Dave said. “We intend to make you ours, Scarlett Leon.”

She took a step back. “What?”

Kenny came up behind her. “You heard the man. Last night was just the beginning of what we have in store for you.”

She laughed. “You’re all crazy. Good one. You got me.” The aroused determination in Dave’s blue eyes matched the same look in Edward’s. “Oh fuck off, the three of you. What the hell are you getting at here?”

Dave lifted his head in the direction of his office. “Come along Scarlett. There’s much to discuss over this working lunch and we’re already losing valuable time.”

She gazed at the office, not but a few feet from where she stood then at the men surrounding her. None of them made a lick of sense. Make her theirs? What the hell? Had she gone to bed and woke in some alternate universe? "You're all freaking me out a little." She motioned to Edward. "We barely know each other."

"I hope to change that, Miss Scarlett. Please have lunch with us. I don't want to continue this conversation out in the open."

She frowned. No, neither did she. “Fine. Lunch.” She glared at Dave. “We have business to discuss and not this tripe of being in a relationship. Scarlett Leon doesn’t do relationships.”

Kenny chuckled, easing her toward Dave’s office. “Not before, but you will now.”

She snorted.Bet me.

Chapter Three

Dave chose the conference table to the right of his desk. It gave them room to eat while they went over whatever Scarlett had found. Once their lunch arrived, they dug into it and when they were halfway done, Scarlett opened the folder and pulled out a contract, one he’d never seen before.

“Where did you get this?” he asked, taking the folded-up paperwork from her.

“Accidentally found it last night,” she said. The pink tinging her cheeks told him a whole different story.

“Might have taken advantage of the situation,” Kenny added.

“You were like a tom cat looking to score, more like it,” she quipped.