Not Really the Outdoor Type(5)

Kendall nodded, listening intently as he explained which cases were supposed to be on sale. She didn’t want to mess up anything else.

She was halfway through pricing them when she saw Jason take over working the cash register for Nicole so the girl could take her break. Should she ask Jason if he wanted her to take over instead? Maybe not. After yesterday’s fiasco he probably didn’t want her near the cash register.

She grabbed another gun case and slapped a brightly colored sticker on it.

“Afternoon, Jason.”

“Hey, Clyde. What brings you in today?”

“Came in for some fishing line and ended up getting a few of these beauties, too. Couldn’t pass up the price.”

Kendall glanced up just in time to see a heavyset man dump a pile of gun cases on the counter. She remembered him eagerly reaching around her to get at them earlier.

Jason’s grin disappeared as he looked down at the cases, and for a minute he seemed confused.

“Something wrong?” Clyde asked.

“What?” Jason shook his head as if to clear it. “Oh. No, nothing’s wrong. I’ll ring these up for you and get you on your way.”

Kendall went back to pricing as Jason rang up the man’s purchases, listening with half an ear as they made small talk. When she looked up again, it was to find her boss standing beside her.

“I didn’t want you to put the sale prices on all the gun cases,” he said.

“I know. I’m only putting them on the ones you told me to put them on.”

Jason scanned the shelf, his jaw clenching. Swearing under his breath, he grabbed two of the cases and held them up. “Do these look like the same kind to you?”

Was this a trick question? But since he asked, she supposed not. “Aren’t they?”

His mouth tightened. “One is imitation leather. The other is real.”

Kendall looked more closely at the cases he was holding, then reached out and ran her fingers over each. “Oh yeah, one is real leather. They look the same, though. Sorry about the mistake.”

“Yeah, well your mistake cost me a lot of money. I just sold a customer half a dozen of the leather cases for less than what I paid for them.”

She frowned. “Why didn’t you tell him they were priced incorrectly?”

“Because it’s bad for business. Besides, he’s a good customer.”

Kendall sighed. “I said I was sorry.”

He tossed the gun cases back on the shelf. “Yeah, I heard.”

She put her hands on her hips. “Jason, it was an honest mistake. It’s not like I did it on purpose. Anyway, it’s as much your fault as it is mine.”

He folded his arms across his broad chest. “My fault? How do you figure?”

She lifted her chin. “You shouldn’t have assumed I’d know the difference between the cases. Maybe if you’d explained yourself better, I wouldn’t have made the mistake in the first place.”

Jason’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Probably because he couldn’t refute her logic.

“Just fix it,” he growled.

Kendall bit her tongue to keep from saying something flippant as he stormed off. Pissing off her boss even more than she had already would get her fired for sure. And while it really had been an honest mistake on her part, the only reason she’d screwed up was because she’d been gazing at Jason’s gorgeous mouth when he explained which gun cases were on sale instead of listening to what the hell he said.

She grabbed one of the plastic cases and slapped a sale price on it. Working with Jason might do wonders when it came to making her forget about Keith, but she was going to have to stop ogling him or she was going to wind up getting her butt canned.

Kendall tried hard to focus on work the rest of the day, but that was easier said than done, especially after closing time. By then, the other employees had left for the day and it was just the two of them in the store. She tried not to let it, but her gaze kept straying to Jason as she filled the bins with more of the floaty red and white balls used for fishing. God, he looked hot even doing something as simple as standing at the counter going over the day’s receipt. Stifling a moan, she bent to pick up another handful of floaty things and inadvertently bumped into the metal rack, knocking the whole thing over. She instinctively reached out to grab it, but it fell anyway, hundreds of red and white balls rolling across the floor and going every which way.

Crap.

Hoping Jason hadn’t seen, she snuck a glance his way to find him glaring at her, his jaw tight. He slapped the pen he’d been using down on the counter. “That does it. I’ve had it!”

Her face coloring hotly, Kendall hastily bent down to start picking up the balls when she felt Jason grab her arm. She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t for him to haul her to her feet and glower at her.