Page 5 of Alpha Bear Accountant

“Yeah. I’m looking for Niam.”

“That’s me.” He waved me in. “Come on up.”

I climbed the metal stairs to my new project, ready to dig in.

Niam waited in the doorway, giving me a good look at him. He was obviously omega, and by the way his eyes widened when he looked me up and down, I wondered if he was afraid to be alone with me. He wouldn’t be the first of my clients to be caught off guard by my large size. For some reason, people expected people good at numbers to be scrawny nerds with glasses. It was weird.

“I won’t be offended if you’d rather not work closely with an unmated alpha.” I stopped a few steps from the landing andraised my hands to express that I wasn’t a threat. I figured it was best to put it all out there from the get-go. “If you’d prefer that I work alone, you can just point me in the right direction, and I’ll be fine from there. I’m happy to call you with any questions or concerns.”

Niam’s head tilted and his shoulders relaxed. “No, it’s fine. I’m just generally stressed out. Please don’t take it personally.”

With a nod, I continued up the stairs and followed the man into the spacious office. Well, it was spacious in square footage but cluttered with boxes and filing cabinets and papers and ledgers. “Wow.”

“Sorry for the mess.” He sighed heavily and dropped into the chair behind the avocado-green desk. “I just took over last week, and I’ve been trying to figure all this out myself, but…” Tears filled his eyes, and he threw his head back to keep them from falling. “Sorry…”

“Don’t apologize. I see this all the time. That’s why I’m here.” I took another look around and then sat in the chair on the other side of his desk after setting the box that was on it on the floor beside me. I’d seen my share of disasters, but this outshone them all. “In fact, I kinda love this stuff.” That part was true.

His eyes snapped to mine, and he raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

I chuckled at the surprised look on his face. “Yeah, of course. There’s something cathartic about walking into a…challenge like this and getting it all sorted into a system that you can easily maintain. It’s like a huge puzzle.”

Niam was exactly my type, with light hair and light eyes and a small build. My bear rumbled his approval too.

“How about you tell me what you know so far and what you need to know next, and I’ll jump in from there.”

A chuckle that could have just as easily been mistaken for a sob fell from Niam’s lips. “I don’t know. Nothing’s online, and if it’s on the computer, I don’t know where. There are spreadsheets, but they are printed out, and again, not sure where they came from. Everything I have is here…but I can’t tell you where. The more I organize, the bigger mess I seem to make.” He waved to the entire room. “I think just start anywhere and tell me how I can help.”

I reached for a piece of paper on the edge of the desk and took a look. It was a propane bill that was two months past due. “Do you know if this has been paid?”

He shook his head. “No idea. I have a stack of bank statements you can look through, but we’ll probably need to set up online banking so we can get payments automated. My dad said he’s been coming in on Fridays to write paychecks for his guys based on whatever number they tell him they’re owed. We need to fix everything.”

I was almost afraid to ask the next question but needed to have a better picture of what I was walking into. “And is there money in the bank to cover all the payables? Have receivables been coming in?”

“I don’t know what any of that means.” He dropped his head into his hands and let the tears finally flow. “And I’m afraid to ask how much you’re gonna charge. I can sell some stock to cover whatever we need to cover to get back on track, but…”

This time, I went to him. I placed my hand on the man’s shoulder and gave him a soft squeeze. “Don’t worry about mybill for now.” I glanced at a box of faucet fixtures in the corner and had an idea. “In fact, I’m remodeling my old house and need a bunch of plumbing work done. Maybe we can work out some kind of barter.”

His breath hitched as he looked up at me with wide eyes. “Really? You’d do that?” His palms flattened together as he pulled them to his chest. “That would be amazing. I’ll do the work myself. Anything you want. I just need to keep the business solvent so my dad isn’t forced to sell it.”

My bear was unsettled as if he wanted me to shift, but I did my best to ignore the nagging. I focused on the stressed-out omega who needed me…the omega whose scent decided it was a good time to talk to my cock. Oops.

Taking several steps back to put some space between us, I looked away and grabbed a stack of files to hold in my lap when I sat down.

Since when did I get hard-ons from touching a person? Since right now, apparently.

5

NIAM

I sat in the corner of my office and tried to stay out of the way as Todd worked, but I couldn't keep my eyes off the sexy alpha. He was hunched over stacks of financial documents and seemed to be in his own little world, as if I wasn’t just a few feet away from him. His brow was furrowed in concentration as he examined page after page while he scribbled notes.

When he said he enjoyed the puzzle aspect of his job, he hadn’t been kidding. I could only hope that this one had all of the pieces.

Todd was tall, broad-shouldered, and muscular, with short dark hair and a chiseled jawline. It was impossible not to be mesmerized by his looks.

"Hey, Todd.” I shifted in my seat. “Is there anything I can do to help?"

He glanced up. "Actually, yeah. Can you find every paper from this calendar year and put it in a pile for me?"

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