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Is his chest broader today? His pants a little more snug at the fly? Snapping myself out of those thoughts, I make myself sit up straight behind my desk.

My very own desk, at least for the next seven months. I try not to think about what comes after.

“So, Lily told you how I like things done last night,” he states in his deep, rumbly voice. It shouldn’t sound like innuendo, but for some reason it does.

“She did, yes.”

He nods, then says, “But you didn’t tell her about the layoffs?”

“No.” My brow furrows. “You said that was confidential. Besides, Lily has enough to worry about, right? And I assume her position is safe.”

Monty nods. “Of course, her job is safe.”

“Good.” Thinking about the other advice Lily gave me, I say, “If you’d like me to look over any expense reports to try to find ways to cut back before the layoffs, just let me know. I didn’t finish my degree, but I was majoring in accounting.”

I always planned to go back after my brother graduated and joined the Air Force, but by then I already had a job and bills, and it just didn’t feel like the right time anymore

“Right,” Monty says, then, “We’ll see.”

With that, he abruptly returns to his office. Once he shuts the door, my entire body relaxes, melting into my chair.

Only to have him return a second later, jolting me back into proper posture as Monty places a cylindrical-shaped item wrapped in pink and white paper on my desk.

“What’s this?” I ask.

“Your belated birthday present,” he replies.

He bought me a gift? When?

Before I can ask, he braces his hands on his hips, pushing his suit jacket back and accentuating the sharp lines of his suit pants—and everything beneath them, making my brain short-circuit.

“I was thinking,” he says, causing my eyes to lift back to his, which are surveying the administrative floor. “Could you put together a list of employee birthdays for each month? I’d like to get a cake and celebrate them all on the fifteenth.”

“Really?” I say in surprise. “I mean, yeah, I could compile a list, order the cake, whatever you need me to do.”

“Okay, good,” he says. Then he continues to stand there hovering above me like a dark, very sexy rain cloud.

Gorgeous, every brown hair on his head styled perfectly, his strong jaw clenched tight with his blue eyes the color of the ocean watching me, eyes I wouldn’t mind drowning in.

It takes me longer than it should to realize what he’s waiting for.

He wants to watch me open his gift, obviously, and I’ve just been staring up at him like an idiot for several seconds.

Now I’m all embarrassed, my face glowing a bright red as I pull the gift closer to tear into the pretty, girly paper.

“Did you wrap this yourself?” I ask him as I admire the perfectly folded and taped ends.

“Who else would wrap it?” he asks, like he’s not a gazillionaire who could pay someone to tie his shoes when he goes for a jog.

He bought me a present and wrapped it himself either late last night or early this morning?

It’s hard to fathom.

Once again, I’m surprised that he’s not the big grump I assumed he was yesterday.

And I’m not sure what I was expecting him to have bought me, but it sure as shit wasn’t the present I find inside.

“Oh. My. Gosh,” I exclaim when I read the box. I quickly open it to remove the Hello Kitty Bluetooth speaker. “It’s so cute!”