Page 10 of Fire Forged

No way would he be anything like his father.

Chapter Three

Earth

The Domed City of Covenworth

Stay Alive Survivor Store

2252 years, September

SlimyKev’ssmirkmadeBritta’s skin crawl.It took everything in her not to smack his smug face.Instead, she glared at the backs of her departing colleagues.Damn if they hadn’t found something else to attend to that night—a sick mom, an AA meeting, dinner with the in-laws.Beside her, Kev pressed in a little too close, having just demanded she stay behind for stock taking.As the franchisee’s son, he acted as if he owned the survival shop…and her.

“If you touch me,” she gritted out, “I’m breaking something.”

He raised his hands as if to surrender.

She snorted, spun on a polished boot heel, and stormed into the back storeroom.Something brushed her ass, but the sensation was so slight, she half-imagined it.She snuck a glance at Kev whose cheeks had taken on a ruddiness.

Clearing out clogged sewage drains was preferable to this.Except for the stinking like shit part of the job.

Mom had begged her to stop working there, to resume her studies.But no, Britt, with a bachelor’s degree in zoology, worked at Stay Alive survival store, instead.Versus some newly colonized dwarf planet, the shop offered her no excitement, and only boredom.Oh, to be the person to discover bacteria on some faraway moon.She sighed.A woman could dream, right?

She scanned the stuffed shelves, everything in its place.“Didn’t we do this two weeks ago?”

“Daddy wants it redone,” he said.

‘Daddy,’ she mouthed.“Right.”

If the boss wanted to know where some of his stock went, like snacks and ammunition, he needed to look no further than his spoilt and irresponsible son.She’d taken to recording his ‘purchases’ and had advised her fellow shop assistants to do the same, lest they be accused of theft.She wouldn’t put it past Slimy Kev to get them all fired.

What the shit didn’t know was that two days ago, during a dull afternoon, she’d done her own stock take.She pulled out the updated register and started on the closest shelf.She’d be on her way home within the hour.

“But…” Kev spluttered when she moved from shelf to shelf as if she strolled through the aisles.“Aren’t you going to check the boxes?”

“When they’re sealed?”She arched both brows at him, using her tone to imply he was being an idiot.

“Are they?”

She huffed and bent over the first box to double check.Again, that fleeting sensation skimmed over her ass.She snapped up to scowl at Kev, who ran a finger along a box label that read, ‘Camo Caps: Green.’

That was it.She’d warned him, and still, he hadn’t listened.What she wanted to give him was a whooping.To do that, she needed him within arm’s length.Argh.She swallowed past the bile in her throat, drew in a slow breath, and prepared herself for a little seduction.

“I’m glad you asked me to work late,” she crooned, lowering her voice to a huskiness she hoped sounded sexy.

She slid the register onto a box, flicked open the top button of her camel-colored shirt, then fluffed her ponytail, all while giving him a ‘sensual’ look.She’d have to test it in a mirror when she got home.For all she knew, she came across as insane.

“You are?”he squeaked.Sweat dewed on his forehead.

“Is it hot in here?”She fanned herself and thrust out her chest to best show off her cleavage.

Like a horny teenager, his gaze dipped.

“I’ve been hoping to get you alone, Kevvy.”She dragged out the ‘vee’ of his name.

Sashaying around him, she snapped the door shut, then cast a glance at the security cam directed at the ceiling.All at Stay Alive knew, the storeroom was a safe zone for kissy-kissy and thieving.So what she did to him would go unnoticed.Lucky for her.

“I like a man who knows what he wants and goes after it.”Leaning in, she whispered into his ear, “Have I found such a man?”

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