They got back to Duke’s office with three minutes to spare. Nat rushed around, flapping his hands at Duke so he would get to his meeting faster.
“Oh?” Duke grinned. “You’re chasing me to the next meeting?”
“It’s my job!”
“It’snotyour job to flap your hands at me,” Duke pointed out, but he looked amused anyway.
“I’ll do whatever it takes, to make sure you get there on time,” Nat said firmly.
Duke cocked an eyebrow. “Whateverit takes?”
That sounded like a come-on. Nat froze, his cheeks growing hot. “Um. Yes. If I have to.”
“Hmm.” Duke’s mouth twitched. He nodded at Nat, then headed into his meeting room.
Nat placed Wanda back in her playpen. He sent Uriel a photo of it for some protective spells; gods knew he didn’t feel safe leaving her there by herself, even if Duke’s staff needed special security clearance to reach this floor.
With Duke at his meeting, Nat did more practice tasks that Hubrie assigned him.
He looked up after he’d completed one such task, only to notice the butler snickering. Nat watched him warily. “What’s are you laughing about?”
Hubrie beamed. “Hell Master found out about the ad.”
Bewildered, Nat said, “You’re happy about it?”
“Well, yeah. At some point he really needs to unload.” Hubrie clucked his tongue. “You’ve seen his schedule. He doesn’t even have time to jerk off.”
Nat blinked hard. “That’s not something I should know, right?”
Hubrie shrugged. “I’m just giving you some perspective on why it was included in your job scope. Whether he wants to act on it is his choice.”
Nat thought about it. Yeah, he could imagine Duke falling into bed exhausted every night, instead of taking some time for himself. “Hang on. How am I supposed to help him with... unloading, when he doesn’t have time?”
“He’ll make time if he’s interested.” Hubrie waggled his eyebrows. “He’s been checking out your butt ever since you got back.”
Nat flushed. He hadn’t even noticed; he had been so focused on doing his job. “Because of the clothes?”
Hubrie sighed dramatically. “Rolled-up sleeves and pants that actually hug your butt? Yeah, he’s all over that. Mark my words, he’ll make sure the meeting ends early.”
“How early—”
The door to the meeting room opened, and Duke walked out.
Nat stared.
Hubrie gave him finger guns.
“What are those supposed to mean?” Nat hissed.
“Get ready for some shooting action,” Hubrie whispered back.
Nat hid his face in his hands. “Oh, gods.”
He straightened and faced his laptop, trying to work even though he could see Duke approaching from the corner of his eye.
“Nat,” Duke said smoothly when he was close enough. “I’d like to discuss something with you in my office.”
Nat’s insides grew hot.
