Chapter One
Therewasnothingbuta glass door that read: Steel Security. In smaller letters underneath, it was dubbed location three. The bland door was part of a business strip right off the Square in small town Washington. The state, not DC. Clover always had random nonsensical thoughts when he was nervous, and he was anxious as hell. Part of Clover had always hoped he could stay at his first and only job forever. Then that ridiculous Jacobe had ratcheted up his stalking efforts by getting hired as his manager. Clover had quit on the spot with no plan. He had applied to dozens of jobs as soon as he got home. So far, Steel Security had been the first to call. Funnily enough, it was the one he had been certain wouldn’t be interested in him.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled off his knit cap and gloves. Clover squared his shoulders and walked inside like he owned the place. A bell jingled above the door. At least he could pretend it was a Christmas decoration. The wind sort of went out of sailswhen he found nothing but a front office area. He smelled coffee, but he didn’t see anyone. There was also nothing decorated to celebrate the season. Every other business, all around and on the square, was brightly decked out. The lack of Christmas cheer gave him a bad feeling about the man in charge’s temperament. Then a massive bear of a man stepped out from a side office. He was all smiles and appeared genuinely fun loving.
“Hey. You must be Clover.”
Clover nodded. He moved forward with his hand extended for Mr. Knack to shake. “That’s me. You must be Mr. Knack.”
His—hopefully—new boss smiled even brighter. If Clover wasn’t desperately poor, and scared as hell he wouldn’t land this job, he would flirt his ass off heavily right now. He loved a bear. Most of the time, they were straight, unfortunately. That was very likely the case for Saint Knack. His laughter-filled blue eyes and gorgeous dark hair made him damn near sigh worthy.
“It’s just Saint. Come in. Have a seat.”
He shuffled inside the office, following on Saint’s heels. His gaze automatically dropped to Saint’s ass. Damn. That was how someone filled a pair of jeans. Now was not the time for his hormones to take control.
Before Clover said a word to save himself from this untimely longing, Saint glanced over his shoulder, nearly catching Clover ogling him. “You have an impressive resume. Ten years at thesame job these days. You must be very loyal.” He sat behind his desk and focused on Clover.
Clover sat on the edge of the chair across from Saint and clasped his hands between his knees. A shiver ran through him. He had been so nervous, he hadn’t realized how cold it was.
At his reaction, Saint winced. “Yeah. Sorry about the cold. The heat is out. I’ve called for a repairman, but he can’t come until late this afternoon.”
As much as Clover hated being cold, he put on a brave face. “I’m not surprised. The weather has been especially brutal. I’ve lived here my entire life, and I can’t recall it ever being this bad. It’s probably taxing units all over town, keeping the repairmen hopping.”
Saint nodded. “You can’t tell me climate change isn’t real.”
Oh. He liked Saint. “Exactly!”
They shared a smile.
Saint dropped his gaze to what was obviously Clover’s resume. It looked as if he had scribbled several notes on it. That wasn’t terrifying at all. Of course, the next thing out of Saint’s mouth was the one thing Clover least wanted to answer.
“It looks like your last job was your only one. Why did you decide to leave?”
Clover tried to skirt the inquiry. “I loved working there. The last thing I wanted was to leave.”
Saint’s eyebrows rose. “But?”
Clover took a deep breath. Saint looked too nice. He couldn’t stop himself. “Well, truthfully, about eight months ago, I caught my fiancé in bed with someone else. When I broke things off, he went completely ballistic, as if I was at fault. He started stalking me everywhere I went. Last week, my former employer hired him to be my manager.”
“Geez. It sounds like you need our services every bit as much as you need a job.” His expression changed, turning fierce. “I want a full description, name, make and model of his car. Anything and as much as you can tell me. He won’t be getting anywhere near this office. You’ll definitely be safe at work.”
It sounded like he had the job. Clover was scared to hope.
“Let’s go.”
Clover stood at Saint’s demand. He followed Saint back into the front office area.
Saint motioned toward the chair behind the desk. Clover sat. Saint pointed at the telephone in front of Clover. “It looks like you did a lot of answering phones at your last job. That’ll be the biggest part of your role here. Eventually, I’d love to train you to assign the guys to clients, ensuring no one is double-booked.That’s a computer program I’ll have to walk you through, but not today. When you answer—”
“Excuse me,” Clover said, interrupting. “This sounds a lot like the position is mine.”
Another heart-stopping smile snapped to Saint’s lips. “Yeah. The job is around fifteen thousand more a year than your last position. We also offer health, dental, vision and 401K benefits, which we match. Does that work for you?”
Clover tried not to squeal. More money. Benefits. That sounded like a dream. “That’s perfect.” Damn. Clover sounded too chipper, even to him.
Saint gave him a sharp nod. “Now, back to the phone. Do you need me to walk through how to transfer calls?”
Clover eyed the system. “Nope. This is the same system as my last job.”
