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Now this.
As good as staring at the TV with a pour of Elijah Craig sounded, Sloane needed that workout now. And not for her waistline, so much as her mental health. She bent over her desk to gather her phone and iPad to pack up and head out.
“Wait.”
Assuming the kid had delivered the news and gone, Sloane jumped when she heard his voice. She straightened again and eyed him coolly.
“Was there something else?”
“Why are you putting in extra hours?”
He had directed his question to Rena, but Sloane answered him.
“Because we’re down three employees now. And it’s tax season,” she reminded him.
“I can help.”
“Really?” She heard the frostiness in her tone but couldn’t be bothered to care. The kid looked like the ink was probably still wet on his diploma. She wasn’t about to hand over clients who trusted her to some arrogant kid whose belt matched his shoes.
“Yeah. Tell me what I can do.”
Sloane glanced at Rena. Unfortunately, she’d been out of the office when WorkForce had sent this kid over, so she didn’t know anything about him yet. She’d been too busy catching up on email and returning phone calls this afternoon to look at his file.
“Cheri handled the books for four local companies,” Rena told him.
“Two of which are multi-million-dollar earners.”
“Great.” The kid rocked up on the balls of his feet and gave her a deep nod. “I’m your guy.”
Sloane snorted softly and looked back at Rena. She didn’t want to say yes, not without looking at Jed’s file, but she was desperate, and he was a warm body that could at least fill in temporarily.
“Fine. Seven sharp.”
“Perfect.”
Chapter Three
Jed
“You have no idea what you’re doing, do you?”
Jed blinked and narrowed his eyes at Rena. “Dude. It’s like oh dark thirty. Don’t be mean.”
“It’s seven a.m. And that’s old. Don’t be a baby.”
The low hum of instrumental jazz piped through the office manifested like an icepick behind his eyes. He looked around the reception area spotting the speakers and wondering if he could disable them.
“Didn’t this play like forty-two times yesterday?”
When Rena didn’t answer him immediately, he turned his attention back to her and found her leaning over his desk, studying his computer screen.
“How can you tell? It all sounds the same.”
She spoke quietly, but Jed heard her clearly.
“Yes!” He thumped her on the shoulder and then pulled his hand back to sip from the straw in his cup. “That’s what I mean. Let’s change it. I could go for some Smith & Myers.”
“Do, and she’ll go for her Smith & Wesson.” Rena shrugged as she straightened and turned to him.
