"Now it's your turn, Valian, isn't it?"

Val cursed to herself, then looked up at Spheirat. More precisely, she first looked at his impeccably ironed dark trousers, and then began to rise, flooded with paint, higher and higher and higher, until she reached his face and eyes with damn sparks in them. He looked at her again with a smile in his bright eyes.

“That's right, Valian Backwoods,” she confirmed, setting her napkin aside. “You already know my name.

“That was an excuse to start a conversation,” the man replied, and, obviously enjoying her embarrassment, added. “Not to pay outrageous compliments on impossibly beautiful legs.

Spheirath Hell walked along the edge, taking advantage of his official position. It seemed that he was achieving something or recalling the moment of their real acquaintance.

“The moment is lost, but it was necessary to start with it,” she blurted out and almost closed her eyes in annoyance.

Her boss had done it again, sneaking up on her in the most discreet way. Her elven hearing failed her again. The nose did not catch the smell of men's perfume, confused by the sharp aroma of detergents. She herself let her guard down as she brooded over what had happened in the conference room. The results did not please her. She saw a very subtle manipulation.

"You could just call me," she remarked, realizing she couldn't get up and show off the contents of her cleavage.

Previously, this was not a problem, but now the viewing angle has changed, and with excellent vision, he will be able to read the brand of her underwear.

- It turned out, how it turned out, - he answered, looking at her bare feet covered with nylon.

Mr. Hull held out his hand to help her up.

“Thank you,” Val said, shuddering at the touch.

Goosebumps were born somewhere in the back of the head, rushed into loose ...

- Everything is fine? they asked over her head. - Valian?

“I just realized I was cold.

Her boss was hotter than herself and was in no hurry to let her fingers out of his. He did this only after Val put on shoes in boats that had been dumped nearby.

What do you mean, "Now it's your turn"? she asked, standing next to him and barely reaching the bridge of his nose.

This time, equanimity was given to her with great difficulty.

“I want you to stay and work for me,” the man said, disarming with his directness. - I think how to convince you of this.

“Where did Miss Coach go?”

Val raised an eyebrow in response. Sfirerat must understand that she will not stay after Christina left. But once he offers, then there are two conclusions - everything is not so simple and she has an ace up her sleeve, or he is stupid and wants to get under her skirt.

“Going home to sort things out before moving to York,” said Mr. Hull, leaning on the edge of the table. - She asked me to send things, but I think that you would have done it anyway.

She would do more than just that. For example, she asked how Christine was going to deal with her mother and would offer her help in organizing the move, and maybe even contracted to visit her from time to time if she decided to leave her in London. People are so lonely in their stone forests.

- Why do you need me? Val asked, not taking her eyes off him. The market is crowded with people of my profession.

She wanted to see and understand everything until he opened his mouth and said something.

“I am convinced that the success of a business depends on the people who are engaged in it,” said Hull, without changing his previous mood. “To lose someone is to lose your luck.

“You don't talk like a Westerner.

“Because I’m not from there,” the man responded in the same benevolent manner.

However, Val despite getting rid of the feeling that he was hiding and waiting. As if waiting for her to approach the trap and grab her. So she replied:

- No.

- No?

Now she saw the real him. It seems that his dark eyes darkened and something flashed in them. It didn't last even a moment.

“I will not work for you if you set your subordinates on me, as you did in the glass.

His first feelings - indignation and surprise, could be touched by hand. It seemed that they filled the room and began to put pressure on her. She shrugged her shoulders, throwing off the obsession. It is clear that among the ancestors of this man there was someone with pronounced magical abilities or ... Until she can see his real one.

- What do you mean incited? he asked, sitting on the edge of the table. “I wasn't there.

Val, after a pause, nodded in agreement. She should stay here and find out who he is.

“Not at the last minute when we stood and watched them.

She was not going to explain everything she saw, felt and thought after. Sfirerat Hell did not make a fool out of her, deny and insist on his own. She generally got the impression that all this was another test. Which added points to her annoyance scale.

“I need the job that I took. But not an irregular working day with a suppressed desire that haunts me to ruin the shirt of the new boss with very strong, hot and unwashable coffee.

At the words "repressed desire," Sfirat Hull raised an eyebrow, but Val could see that this earnestness cost him the effort.

“It won't happen again, Valian,” he said, but in his mind he chuckled at something.

She saw the latter in his expressive eyes. Still, she had not yet met such people ... Only not people. But it is unlikely that His Majesty Eswandil decided to have fun in such an ornate way.

- Deal?

- While we are "on the shore" I want to say one more thing.

Sfirerat Hull holds her hand, waits, and... Val thinks that now she can ask for an elephant to graze in the waiting room, and even then he won't let her go.

- I don't work in the evenings. Never and not under any circumstances. I don't stay late and I don't take work home. This applies to the office, mine and your home.

– Has this happened before?

Val shakes his chin from side to side.

"Then why are you asking me about it?"

“I think you're even more of a workaholic than Miss Coach.

***

Maybe she is right, because Sfayrat built his empire himself, and did not steal it and inherit it. But, despite this commendable circumstance, he does not welcome the value system of Japan, where he lived for a long time.

“Dragon,” the girl added with only lips with cheerful sparks in her eyes.

The charming Tinker Bell fairy again appeared to him, her dark eyes shone merrily and immediately hid behind the mask of an impeccable image of a balanced and very pretty secretary.

“Agreed,” Hull replied, exhaling along with the huge beast inside clattering with pleasure.

Spheirath released her hand, not without some inexplicable regret.

"Let's get back to business then, shall we?" He forced himself to shake himself and get back to business. What about the new office?

He nodded towards the detergents to stop looking at her.

I didn't ask for this one to be removed.

People and Valian have already noticed his interest. The latter misinterpreted him, thinking that he set Bezos and everyone else on her. It wasn't true. He just took advantage of the situation, observed and made conclusions about everyone present in that room.

“Today you will have to make an effort on yourself and work on it,” the girl said, not a little embarrassed at her first mistake. - The premises on the fortieth are freed from everything that belonged to the previous owner.

- Will it last all day?

- No - the girl sat down near his table, picking up a pack of tissues and a spray bottle of detergent from the floor. - In the afternoon, IT people, electricians, plumbers and guys from the cleaning service will conjure over it.

Sfairat listens to her, unable to tear his eyes away from a very appetizing round skirt covered with a light skirt ...

“Tomorrow morning it will be entirely yours,” the girl said, straightening up.

Several dark strands escaped from the bun intricately folded at the back of her head, fell on her face, but she brushed them away with a completely light and smooth, even if not beautiful, movement.

"Good," Sfirerat said as he walked over to the table. – Call the departments and arrange a meeting with their leaders.

The girl looked up at him, giving him an incredibly sharp and expressive look, in which there was a promise of an early reprisal.

"That's the thing!"

The dragon demanded to catch up with her when Val suddenly turned around and left the office, leaving him alone with the displeased dragon.

"Well, aren't you stupid? We must protect our own skin, and not think about everyone individually.

Valian returned a couple of seconds later. In her hands was a pen and a brand new glider.

“I'll start recording at ten twenty-five,” she said, glancing at the tiny watch on her hand. - That is, in an hour.

- Fine.

The dragon suddenly demanded that he release a couple of spells in her direction.

"Let's see how she reacts!"

Sfirat didn't want to do it. He was curious to know what kind of creature was hiding behind the hidden charms.

"She might be ugly," the dragon hissed again, forcing him to take a step toward her. - Rare!

The ancient giant wants to breathe in her scent a little deeper in order to dig through the depths of memory and remember every creature he has met in his long life, to oppose and find the answer.

“I need to know when you prefer to have dinner, and if you are allergic to anything else.

“What about calling my ex-secretary?”

Val keeps his eyes on him and smiles at something, but only to himself. He already wants to know what these sparks in the eyes are dedicated to.

"Very well, sir," the girl replies with trembling lips. “I will.

“I have lunch from one to two and I can’t stand plant-based milk.”

Valian Backwoods writes after him, and he keeps looking and looking at her, connecting-straining his magical vision. But she sees nothing but the threads of power that, like a Venetian mask, cover the upper part of her face.

“See! She's not human!"

An impeccably woven spell hangs on the girl's face like outlandish makeup. However, this is not a reason to suspect her of something.

"Seriously?! She can be a spy!"

Can not. She did not seek meetings with him and would have fled if he had not stopped her. Doesn't mean anything - because it could be someone else's spell and...

“You are interested in her riddle,” the dragon finishes for him, but there is no aggression in his intonations. “Who will make a beauty out of an ugly woman?”

The one who wishes her well.

– Book a conference room, please.

She nodded again and tucked the fallen strand behind her ear.

Will you have forty minutes? Val asks, pulling his smartphone out from under the glider.

Sfirerat Hell was finally alone. Not that he really wanted to. He just can't get rid of the feeling that he's fallen into some kind of trap, again and again stopping his eyes on this woman.

"She's really good! From head to toe! And that ass! Runs like a Ferrari piston.

Good comparison. But why so many emotions?

“Have you seen how she behaves? – continued voice, not wanting to calm down. “Never backed down!”

Sfairat saw everything and even compared her to Christina Koch and even Miranda. He remembered the displeasure he felt when Valian left and how immediately Miss Koch became worried. The memories were fresh, and he could still see how Christina Koch reacted to every change in his moods, getting more and more drawn in as she did so.

How was her heart beating? What does she smell like?

Unfortunately, he did not feel the latter. In the car, he was confused by a new fragrance; in the conference room, a lot of people interfered; and here, the pungent smell of detergents.