Page 45 of The Alpha's Runaway Mate
“Completely serious.”
She beams, relief flooding her expression. “You’re officially my hero. I’m Paige, by the way.”
“Jessica.”
“Nice to meet you, Jessica. If you’re not busy saving the world, I could really use the help.”
“At your service,” I bow.
Paige grins at me. “Come on, let me show you the disaster zone then I’ll make you a coffee, what I’m really good at.”
That’s my kind of deal.
An hour later I’ve got her kind of sorted out, but she’s still struggling through it. “You know, my uncle’s been talking about hiring someone part-time to help with the books. The pay isn’t amazing, but it’s something.”
A spark of excitement flickers in my chest. “That actually sounds perfect.”
Paige grins. “Really? You did hear me say the pay isn’t great, right?”
“Sure,” I say with a shrug. “I could use something to keep me busy.”
“Well this will definitely keep you busy. Probably for the next few years,” she says dramatically, making me laugh.
We spend the next few hours side by side, sorting invoices, organizing shelves, laughing over the chaos of the back room. Paige’s energy is bright and infectious. She tells me how her uncle called her a few weeks ago, begging for help with the shop, so she packed up and came here on a whim.
By the time the sun slants low through the windows, we’ve tamed the spreadsheet and cleared two towers of unsorted books.
Paige leans against the counter, stretching her arms above her head. “You have no idea how much you just saved me.”
I laugh. “I don’t know. I kind of enjoyed it. So you saved me too, I was having a shit day before I walked in here.”
“You’re weird,” she says, grinning. “But in a good way. Can you come back tomorrow? Maybe around ten?”
“Sure,” I say easily. “Ten works.”
“Perfect.” She scribbles something on a sticky note. “You’re officially part of the Miller’s Books dream team.”
I hesitate. “Would it be okay if I got paid in cash for now?”
Her brows lift slightly, but she doesn’t ask questions. “Yeah, that’s fine. My uncle keeps a lockbox for the register. We can make it work.”
Relief loosens something in my chest. “Thank you.”
She grins. “Hey, I should be thanking you. You actually made numbers make sense. Well… sort of.”
We exchange numbers before I go, her insisting “in case the spreadsheets try to murder me again.”
“Or if I get lost trying to find this place,” I joke.
She winks. “Don’t worry, I’ll send a rescue team.”
When I finally check my phone, there’s a text waiting from Nolan.
NOLAN:I’m sorry about earlier. I didn’t mean to make you feel trapped. Declan showed up at Xander’s. I need to go deal with it. Stay close, please. We’ll talk when I get back.
My stomach flips.Declan.
Paige catches the look on my face. “Everything okay?”
