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“When are they going to hire someone new?” Mia asked, frowning as she straightened the display shoes. She looked frazzled. They’d all been a little frazzled since Jeremy fired Dwight.
Jeremy sighed. “As soon as I find someone worth hiring. I’ve interviewed a few people, but trust me, Mia, you don’t want to be working for them.”
“I know, I know, but ugh. Sure, I said I wanted more hours, but this is crazy. I’m working closing shifts, then turning around and working openers. I don’t have a life any more. My roommates are pissed because I’m not doing my share around the apartment, and my mom’s calling me, panicked, because she thinks I’ve fallen off the face of the planet!”
Jeremy held up a hand to stop her tirade. “Mia, I’m sorry. I know I’m overworking you, and I wish I didn’t have to. We’re all feeling it. You’ve been a lifesaver, and I really can’t thank you enough. I’ve passed my concerns along to the head office, but that’s the best I can do. Until we find a decent candidate, I can’t fill the position.”
She scowled at him. “Don’t be likeable, Jeremy,” she grumbled. “I can’t bitch about my evil boss if I like you.”
Chuckling, Jeremy straightened a stack of boxes. “I’ll keep that in mind.”
“Crap,” Mia muttered under her breath. “Customer. Gotta go.”
Jeremy shook his head at her as she dashed off to help the middle-aged guy waiting impatiently. Despite his general wariness about getting too friendly with employees, he liked Mia. She had plenty of experience with retail and with shoe stores in general, but she’d only been at this sporting goods company for four months. He wanted to offer her the department manager position, but she lacked experience, and he wasn’t sure if the store manager would go for it.
Jeremy made a circuit through the store, taking notes about issues he need to address, swinging by the shoe department more often than usual to keep an eye out. Mia had it mostly under control, and he was pleased when she made the decision to call in someone from a different department to run the register when they got busy.
Jeremy was in the middle of observing her when a quiet voice asked, “Um, can—can you help me?”
He glanced up from the clipboard he held, smiling automatically. “Absolutely. What can I do for you?”
“I think I need new running shoes, but there’re so many to choose from, and I have no idea what to look for.”
Jeremy’s smile widened when he realized the guy standing in front of him was cute. Young—college age maybe—with big gray-blue eyes. He was tall but slender, with neat, light brown hair, a narrow nose, and the highest cheekbones Jeremy had ever seen. Pretty almost, with fair, slightly flushed skin and pink lips. They looked soft, kissable, and Jeremy felt a funny shiver run down his spine. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d looked at a guy and wanted to kiss him.
The color rose in the guy’s cheeks, and Jeremy realized he’d been staring too long. He cleared his throat. “Are you looking for a specific type of running shoe?”
“I really don’t know.” The young man sounded apologetic. “See, I just started working out. A friend got me started, and I like running, but I’ve been getting these horrible pains in my shins, and he suggested I come here and get fitted for shoes. He told me to bring my old ones, so maybe that’ll help?” He held up a pair of old, ratty sneakers that weren’t even running shoes.
Wincing, Jeremy nodded. “Shin splints are pretty common without proper support. Follow me, and I’ll introduce you to Mia, one of my team members. She’s a certified fit technician.”
The guy gave him a half-smile, shy and amused all at once, as he looked through his lashes out of the corner of his eye. “That’s a thing?”
Jeremy grinned back. “It is, actually. Sounds ridiculous but don’t underestimate how important it is to get a good fit. Shin splints are the least of your issues with poorly fitting shoes, and I promise, I’m not saying it so you’ll buy some new ones.” He paused in front of Mia. “Hey, Mia, can you help this gentleman? He’s been getting shin splints and needs to replace his old shoes with something more supportive.”
“Sure thing, boss! I’ll take it from here.” Mia smiled at the young man, and Jeremy felt a weird twist in his stomach as the guy smiled back. “Hi, I’m Mia. Let me take a look at what shoes you currently have, and we’ll go from there.”
He handed the shoes to her. “Um, thanks, Mia. I’m—I’m Evan.”
Jeremy forced himself to walk away, knowing the guy—Evan—was in good hands. He didn’t want Mia to think he was hovering because he didn’t trust her to do her job well. No, it was the pretty guy with the kissable lips Jeremy couldn’t stop staring at who made him reluctant to leave, but he was going to look like a creeper if he hung around.
He lingered in the shoe department longer than he needed to though, finding tasks to keep himself busy, and making up pointless ones like straightening the supplies at the register and checking the cash drawer. It was probably the least professional he’d ever been at this job, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from Evan.
At the moment, he was too far away to hear what they were saying, but he could see everything. Jeremy didn’t even know the guy, and he couldn’t stop thinking about him. It was as though years of ignoring and neglecting his sex drive had created an avalanche of fantasies waiting to be uncovered. Every time he glanced over at him, Jeremy wondered what Evan’s skin would feel like beneath his palm and what he’d look like on his knees. If he were spread out on Jeremy’s bed, would he bite his lip when Jeremy pushed into him, or cry out, begging for more?
Shifting uncomfortably behind the waist-high counter, Jeremy felt his cock begin to fill with blood as his head whirled with fantasies. He never got hard at work, rarely thought about sex at all any more. He’d loved sex from the second he sucked his first cock, but in the past few years, it had become nothing more than a frustrating reminder of all he could no longer do.
Evan’s pale cheeks were bright pink as Mia held his ankle and slipped a shoe on his foot. Resting his foot on her thigh, Mia deftly laced it, laughing at something Evan said. Jeremy felt a weird twist in his stomach when he realized she was flirting. Evan laughed too, and Jeremy sighed, turning away and pretending to look through a clipboard of paperwork. A part of him wished he’d offered to help Evan himself, just to see someone smile at him the way Evan was smiling at Mia. Is he being friendly or is he flirting? Jeremy wondered. Of course, the guy was flirting with Mia, she was young and pretty and fun. She wasn’t scarred and damaged like Jeremy was.
Even if the pretty boy wasn’t disgusted by the scars on Jeremy’s temple and thigh, and happened to be gay—which from the way he was smiling shyly at Mia, he probably wasn’t—Jeremy simply wasn’t capable of offering him anything.
Disappointment soured his stomach.
How long had it been since Jeremy had looked twice at a guy? Why this one? Why now? Was it only because his doctor had suggested he get laid? Whatever had caused it, he needed to give up on the idea because it sure as hell wasn’t going to happen.
He took one last glance at the guy with the pretty lips he wanted to taste before returning to his office.
If only, he thought bleakly.