126. A gift

Erica

As I walked to Antonio’s office, Thor followed after me but I had to pause and instruct him to stay put to stop him from entering his office. Even though he had brought the dog for me, I had noticed every time he’d stiffened just because Thor got too close to him. Thor gave a cute little whine but stayed still as I knocked on the door. Antonio’s deep voice filtered through the thick wooden door, “Come in.”

I pushed the door open and entered. Antonio was sitting behind his desk as he wrote something on the ledger opened in front of him. The fire was burning low in the hearth, keeping the room warm as the temperature outside dropped with each day that passed. For a brief moment, I took him in in his shirt sleeves that were rolled up to his forearms and the way his shoulders looked, strong and wide. Even here sitting in his office, engrossed in his work he looked the most handsome man I had ever laid my eyes on. And believe me, I knew most of them.

And then he looked up and paused,