Up for Heir - Stella Starling Page 0,82

that he’d “let” Edvin give him a blowjob, and even though yes, once, that had been a thing between them, now the suggestion made Edvin want to retch.

So much for the lovely mood Edvin had been in all morning. He yanked his arm out of Hans’s grip. “That’s n-n-never going to happen again, Hans,” he said, refusing to let the way his tongue tried to tangle stop him from standing up to the jerk for once. “I’ve… I’ve got a… a fiancé now, and I d-d-didn’t promise to bring breakfast, and… and I’ve t-t-told you before, stop calling m-me Vinnie.”

He took a breath, forcing his hands to unclench as he tried to calm his racing heart. Honestly, Hans wasn’t worth getting so worked up about, and… and even though the restoration project was important, Edvin’s self-respect was, too.

“A fiancé, Vinnie?” Hans sneered. “You expect me to believe that someone actually wants to marry you? Sorry, babe, but I’ve been there, tapped that. You’ll have to come up with something more credible.”

He crossed his arms and stared Edvin down with a smug look.

Edvin straightened his glasses. Actually, he didn’t have to come up with anything at all, since he had the truth. And he also didn’t give a fig if Hans believed him or not. Hans’s opinion only mattered to Hans, and Edvin wasn’t going to waste any of his time or energy catering to it.

He lifted his chin. “For the l-l-last time, my name is Edvin,” he said, because Hans was definitely not invited to call him Eddie. That was reserved for people who loved him. Or… or at least for people who were love-adjacent, like Leo. “And I’m not… I’m not going to help here today if… if you can’t remember that, H-H-Hans.”

Hans’s face turned thunderous, no doubt over having his taunts ignored. Although it could just as easily have been about Edvin defying him. But he also wasn’t stupid. If Edvin didn’t help him, there was no way he’d ever manage the job on his own. Especially because, despite his presence here, he’d more than likely planned on having Edvin do the majority of the work. Technically, Hans must have been qualified for the position he held—at least, according to the degrees he displayed on his office walls—but Edvin had never seen any evidence that he employed those qualifications in a practical sense, especially not when there was someone else he could pass off the actual labor part of his job to.

Edvin didn’t back down, though. He hadn’t quite managed to get his heart rate back to normal, but he was done letting Hans walk all over him. He would walk out, if it came to that.

But it didn’t.

“You never fail to disappoint me, Edvin,” Hans finally spat, moving threateningly into Edvin’s personal space. But when Edvin failed to cower, he huffed out a breath, looking down at his watch. “I suppose I shouldn’t have expected anything more, but this does mean I’ll have to leave you to get started on your own so I can go find some breakfast.”

He pulled out the magnetic keycard required to enter and exit the restoration room, something he guarded like it was a national treasure, and tapped it against his thigh.

“I’ll be happy to,” Edvin said, biting back a smile as he held his hand out for the keycard. “In-in fact, you’re welcome to just leave me on my own all day if you’ve got other things to do, Hans.”

Hans gave a derisive snort. “I can’t leave the building unlocked all day.”

“That’s fine. I can just call you when I’m done. Or… or if it gets late, the cleaning crew can let me out tonight.”

Which he might just hold out for, actually, since it would mean not having to deal with Hans again. And if nothing else, Edvin knew Hans kept a spare set of keys in his office. Not that he’d mention that, of course, since he knew how prickly Hans could be.

A muscle ticked in Hans’s jaw, and for a moment, Edvin thought he might disagree solely as a display of his power over the archives. But Hans, sticking around for actual work? Of course not.

“Fine,” he said tightly, finally slapping the keycard into Edvin’s hand and adding a put-upon, dramatic sigh for effect. He turned on his heel and headed toward the restoration room. “Come on, then,” he threw impatiently over his shoulder. “Tick tock. These books aren’t going to restore themselves, and if I’m going to leave