Page 31 of Scoring His Obsession

“I’m Jace,” he announces.

“Cool, Jace,” she retorts, opening the front door a tad. “Sorry, we’re closed.”

“No, I’m Jace,” he says, undeterred. “Your new employee.”

Tab and I stare at each other, and I just shrug because I’ve been too burned-out to look at the website link Tab sent me, and by the expression on her face, I’d say it’s the same for her.

Somehow, he squeezes past Tab and walks into the store with his mouth open. “This is so cute,” he gushes. He spots me, and his gaze widens. “Miss Gorman, I saw you on TV and—” He’s interrupted when Athena moves between us and starts sniffing him. He gasps. “This is Athena. Hey, girl.”

He kneels down and starts petting her, and I like him already. Dog people are my people.

“Jace, I don’t mean to be rude, but who are you?”

“Oh.” He waves his hand. “Joey sent me.”

I shrug at Tab again because, Joey? Nope. Doesn’t ring any bells. Athena starts licking his face, so I’m one hundred percent sure he’s not going to murder us. “Can we keep him?”

He laughs. “You are just as adorable as your video…and so is she,” he says, petting Athena behind the ears. “No dress today? You always look so perfect in a dress.”

“So Joey?” Tab asks, more skeptical than I am.

“Mr. Freeman’s assistant.”

My stomach squeezes and my eyes flutter closed. Of course. We asked Micah about accountants and employees. But that was back before he ruined my self-care time and, subsequently, my life.

I start to cross my arms over my chest, but Tab pulls me into the back. “One sec, Jace, okay?”

“He said he emailed you guys,” he calls out as I stumble backward into our workbench.

“Don’t ruin this,” Tab chastises.

“Me? You didn’t trust him five seconds ago.”

“And you did because you think anyone who pets Athena is a good person, but let me tell you, that dog is an affection whore. She’s not sniffing anyone out.”

I gasp. “That’s not true and you know it!”

“The dirty delivery driver who asked me out one too many times?” she asks, eyes wide.

“He bribed her with treats!” I insist, remembering the day Tab shot him down with finality—because honestly, he deserved it—and then he ended up calling her an uptight bitch. Which is sort of the opposite of politely turning down requests for dates for a little over a month and a half.

Yeah, we haven’t seen him since.

Jace rounds the corner, and we both give him large smiles. He walks around the table, checking out the piles of pet clothes and unfilled mailers. “Are you putting orders together? Awesome.”

He stops at my station, double-checking the address on the label with the address on the pick slip and then getting the correct product to put in the mailer.

Okay, so I was a bit distracted.

Tab pulls me close, and we turn our backs. She takes out her cell phone and goes into her email app. She scrolls for a bit, but when that comes up empty, she checks the junk folder, and sure enough, there’s an email from a Joey, Executive Assistant to Mr. Micah Freeman. It was sent yesterday, explaining that he’d vetted Jace Strong and recommended we hire him at a rate of level two of the enclosed rate sheet that he’s given us that has stepped hourly pay rates congruent with level of experience. The experience is explicitly laid out and perfect for our store.

“This guy is a genie from a bottle.” Tab pulls up the attached résumé and Pet Threads employment application that I didn’t even know we had—and I’m pretty sure we didn’t until this Joey the Genie guy got involved. He’s right. Jace is perfect for the job. He worked at a pet store for several years.

Before I can stop Tab, she’s written Joey back with a one-line response.You are an angel.

His response is nearly immediate.Thank you.

“Micah did this,” Tab adds, putting her phone away.

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