Page 30 of Should Our Hearts Catch Fire

“You know…coffee. Massages. The occasional spanking.”

“Amanda...”

“Figuratively speaking, of course."

“Of course.” He rubs his temples. “Go home, Amanda. There’s no point in both of us being here.”

At first, Amanda doesn’t move, and when she does, it’s to lean further over the desk and reach for Ellis’ face. He freezes in surprise, hoping he’s hiding his spooked expression well when her manicured fingers trail across his cheek.

She smacks her lips, making a disappointed sound. “Damn, I could slap those cheeks.”

Ellis swallows. “No, thank you.”

“Such a waste.” She hums and pulls away. “Don’t stay too long. See you tomorrow.”

“See you,” he replies to her retreating form, fighting a sudden urge to take a very hot shower. He knows Amanda was just jerking him around—okay, maybe that’s not the best choice of words. But the interaction has left him feeling kind of…filthy. Not that he’s a prude. At least, he doesn’t think so, and Amanda, despite being almost a decade older, is a ridiculously attractive woman. Just a tad intense.

Who is he kidding? She’swaytoo intense and Ellis is…mellow. And he likes mellow. Some of his ex-girlfriends have called him boring, but what’s so wrong about wanting things to be easy and uncomplicated?

He checks the time, deciding to give it until seven before going home.

He almost makes it. It’s only 7:34 when he gets into his car, the thought of his fluffy mattress and hot shower extracting tension from his body.

The shrill sound of his phone ringing pulls him out of his reverie. It’s unlikely the call is work-related, which leaves Dawson or Cal. Hopefully, it’s nothing serious. Cal said everything was okay.

Ellis huffs when the name that flashes across the screen doesn’t belong to his brother or brother-in-law. Taking a calming breath, he picks up.

“Erika?”

“Hey, Ellis,” she says in a sweet voice, as if she didn’t scream her lungs out at Ellis the last time they spoke. As ifhewas the one who got caught blowing a guy from the customer service department in the bathroom during the last company event. “It’s been a while, huh?”

“It has.”

“How are you?”

“Fine. Why are you calling, Erika?” He’s so not in the mood for this.

“Um…well. Okay,” she lowers her voice, pretending to be bashful. “There’s no easy way to say this. My pill must’ve failed because I…I’m pregnant.”

Ellis wasn’t in love with her or anything, but theyhaddated for almost half a year. And while seeing his girlfriend with another guy’s dick down her throat is irrefutable proof that she cheated on him, the reminder still stings.

“Congratulations.” What else is she expecting him to say?

Erika giggles, like the situation is funny. He supposes it’s a good thing she’s not freaking out about being a future mum. “Likewise. You’re the baby daddy, dummy.”

Right. He should’ve seen that coming. “Am I, now?”

“Yes, of course!” She laughs. “Who else would it be?”

“You tell me.” He’s under no illusions that the guy at the function was a one-off.

“Jesus, are you still upset about Brian? It was just a blowjob, come on. I never slept with him.”

Ellis isn’t going to dive into a long-winded, pointless discussion about what officially counts as sleeping with somebody.

“If not with him, then with someone else. Because it’s not mine.”

“Of course it is! I’m twelve weeks along.”