Page 18 of Firethorne
“I’ll sort that. Lysander is very particular about his bacon.”
“Lysander is particular about everything,” a deep voice drawled from behind me, and I turned to see Damien strolling into the kitchen with that cocky swagger he always seemed to have. He grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl on the counter, and then, as he stared at me, he took a huge bite.
“That’s the Firethorne men for you,” Cora replied, as if Damien wasn’t one of them. “Impossible to satisfy.” And I found myself cringing inwardly, waiting for him to bite back.
But he didn’t.
Instead, he sauntered over to where she stood, leant down, and placed a kiss on her cheek that made her blush as he said, “But you manage to do it every day. And you do it so well. Where would we be without you?”
Cora scoffed, batting Damien away as she grinned to herself and replied, “Always the charmer. Just like your father.”
And I had to stop myself from blurting out, “Really? Him?” Because the last word I’d use to describe Damien or Mr Firethorne was ‘charmer’.
“Is there anything I can help you with?” I asked Cora, trying to ignore the Damien-shaped elephant in the room that seemed more than happy to linger in here and make me feel uncomfortable, glaring at me as he ate his apple. His countenance towards me was in stark contrast to the one he presented to Cora. She got the charmer; I got the snake.
Why was he in here?
Was it to find me and taunt me some more after what’d happened first thing this morning?
The darkness of his presence made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. But I knew he didn’t care. He revelled in it.
He stared at me with his piercing eyes, like he had the ability to make me burst into flames with one glance. The muscles of hisneck flexed as he swallowed. And then he stopped. And I realised I was staring a little too intently, so I looked away.
So much for ignoring him.
Now I looked like the stalker.
I focused all my energy on Cora, or tried to, and watched as she turned the heat on the hob down then wandered over to the tray of hot drinks she’d just laid out.
“Maya, for your first job this morning, you can take this tray to Mr Firethorne’s office for me,” she said. “He’s in a meeting at the moment, but he requested that coffee be brought up to him and his client.”
“Out of the question,” Damien snapped, butting in, and we both whipped our heads around to glare at him.
“Why do you say that?” Cora questioned as I furrowed my brow and stepped a little closer to her, ready to take the tray. I was here to do a job, after all.
“It’s her first day.” Damien strutted slowly to stand on the opposite side of the island, and he threw his apple into a bin to the side, before bracing his arms on the countertop and leaning forward, glaring across the kitchen at me. “And you’re going to send her into my father’s study to serve drinks at an important meeting, when she clearly isn’t up for that kind of responsibility yet?”
He spoke with such disdain, so much condescension, that I didn’t care if he was the boss’s son. I didn’t hold back as I snapped, “If pouring a cup of coffee is your idea of responsibility, you really need to aim higher in your aspirations in life.”
“Says thegirlemployed to wipe my father’s ass if he asks her to,” he spat back, emphasising the word ‘girl’ to try and put me down. He wanted to get a rise out of me, and he was succeeding.
“Better his ass than yours,” I retorted, and he snorted, a half-smile curling his lip like a fucking devil. He was loving this.
“Now, now,” Cora interrupted. “There’s no need for any of this. I’m sure Maya is quite capable of serving a few drinks. And you, Damien”—she lowered her gaze at him, peering through her lashes as if she were scolding him—“you must have better things to do with your time than be in here, intimidating my staff. Leave us alone and get on with your own work.”
I held my breath, waiting for Damien’s response, but he just huffed and then gave a wry smile. Cora had obviously worked here for a long time to have the courage to speak to Damien the way she did. I’d seen how he interacted with his brother, with me, with everyone else here. But in this kitchen, he seemed different. He didn’t go on the defensive or try to attack Cora. Instead, he just turned around and stalked towards the door, calling over his shoulder, “I take my coffee black. Let’s see if she has the mental capacity to remember that.”
I wanted to flip him off. I wanted to react so badly, but I reached out to take the tray, to give my hands something to do. A distraction. Because if I had my way, I’d be showing Damien Firethorne exactly how far my mental capacity could provoke him.
Cora breathed deeply, then smiled at me.
“Take the stairs to the second floor. Turn right, and head to the end of the corridor. Mr Firethorne’s office is the last door on the right. Don’t forget to knock before you enter.”
I nodded, smiled back, and then, keeping hold of the tray, I headed towards the door with my head held high.
“Second floor, go right, and the last door on the right,” I called out to show I knew what I was doing.
“And don’t forget to knock first,” Cora replied in a sing-song tone, humour evident in her voice.
