Damn, she was pretty. Her lips were moving but he couldn’t hear what she was saying. Was she whispering? No, just talking in a very low, soothing tone. Aylwyn was the first to stop and turn his attention to her. Beside him, Tybalt stopped chewing and was focused on her.
And Simon, Simon was inluuuurve. He wished he could hear what she was saying, though. And in a few seconds, it seemed that Barric and Merek did too. They stopped their tug of war, Merek winning back his piece of steak with a Barric-sized bite out of it, but both were completely mesmerized by whatever the girl was saying.
Now that they were quiet, he could hear some of what the soothing words were. Something about complimenting them on bringing so much lively energy to the Staff Caff, but they were intimidating to others eating here because of how obviously strong and large they were….so it would be wonderful if they matched their tones and energy to everyone else’s so all could enjoy being there during their mealtime.
The four boys were eating out of her hand. Figuratively, but at this point he didn’t care if they did it literally. His eyes landed on the girl’s staff ID, and the dayglo lanyard with STAFF as a repeating pattern —thank God, because he was less tongue-tied around staff. He found his voice.
“Please, can I have a few words with you?”
One of the boys started to hoot, but was quickly shushed. The hot girl’s eyes grew round, and Simon quickly stammered. “It’s nothing bad.”
She nodded, even though she gave him a suspicious side eye, and he got out of his seat quickly, making his way to her. By some miracle, the boys had resumed eating, and Simon led her a few yards away from them, in a small area of the Staff Caff where they couldn’t be overheard.
She works for me, she works for me.Simon had a little mantra going in his head, to drown out the nerves. After all, this would be strictly professional. Not like asking her out on a date, which he couldn’t anyway, for a bunch of HR reasons. Not to mention, the fact that hot girls terrified him. He pushed his glasses back up, and forced himself to look at what eye color she had. Little trick that he had learned, so he could talk to women without looking away, or, you know, literally dying of embarrassment.
Especially when she was looking right back at him, eyes filled with terror that he was about to fire her. Rich, espresso eyes.
“You’re hired. Whatever you’re doing here at the Faire, I’ll pay you double if you work for me directly.”
Her jaw fell open.
“To do what?” Her tone was incredulous.
“To do your magic on these boys.” Simon said. “Whatever it was you did just now, I need you to do more of it. I think you can see that these boys need some – support – in fitting in, like with table manners, and situational awareness. They’re, uh, from overseas and they also need some help with their conversational skills.”
He looked at her badge. It read, “Katie Cooper, Staff Childcare.” Belatedly he realized he hadn’t even introduced himself. Shit. He needed the coaching too. He cleared his throat. “I’m sorry, I’m Simon Chevalier. I’m—“
“—the owner of the Faire,” she said faintly. “I’m L-Katie Cooper.” She stammered when she told him her name.
Great, he was making her even more nervous.
“Thank you for your offer, Mr. Chevalier—“
“Simon, please.”
“Thank you, Simon, but I don’t really have qualifications to help you with that. And besides, I’m really happy working at Staff Childcare.”
Dark roasted coffee beans. That was the shade of her eye color. And somehow, he didn’t think she was bargaining with him. Someone haggling wouldn’t highlight a lack of credentials. That only made him even more intent on getting her.
“Maybe we can work out something so that it’s only a few hours each day, and not even every day, so you can look at this as supplemental to your hours at Staff Childcare.” Simon mulled it over. That was actually even better. It wasn’t like he was looking to have her on-site 24/7, that would be too risky. One of the guys might accidentally shift in front of her.
She looked like she was about to open her mouth to say no, so he quickly interjected. “And I’ll triple whatever you’re being paid for Staff Childcare.”
She clamped her mouth shut, her brow furrowing in thought.
“Just a few hours a day, several days a week, in addition to my job at Staff Childcare?”
“Yes, most likely in the afternoons or evenings. And you can always confirm if the times work for you to help with the boys.”
Simon watched as some kind of debate worked itself out in her expression. Like she was struggling to come up with a reason to say no, but wasn’t finding any. And she was looking hard.
Hell, she could even ask for quadruple pay. He’d make a note with Rika to ensure that she was treated well.
And finally she stopped looking.
“I’ll do it. And thank you.”
They both turned at the noise level where the boys were. Aylwyn was now seated on top of the table, with Merek and Barric, both still sitting, tilting the table to dislodge him. Or doing something that involved the sound of metal clanging against the floor, and possibly the destruction of heavy-duty furniture. With lots of shouts and laughter. One of them –maybe Tybalt -- released a loud belch.
Simon turned back to look at his newest hire’s eyes.
“How soon can you start?”
