Page 61 of Must Be Love - Irresistible Bachelors

Judy leads me to the customer service girl’s desk. As soon as we get close, she looks relieved.

“Mr. Allen, Dr. Blake just arrived in the office. I think he would like to speak with you.”

I don’t hear what Allen says, but whatever it is causes the young woman to pull the phone away from her ear. I cringe. This is going to suck.

“Why don’t you go on your lunch, Mary,” Judy suggests.

This shift ends at midnight. We try to keep customer service in for long hours, seven days a week, just in case. Judy manages all of the call center representatives, not just sales, so she’s here every other weekend. I’m glad she was in this weekend to handle this shit show.

I take Mary’s seat and talk with Allen. He’s mad, understandably so, but after less than an hour, he agrees to accept the half-shipment in exchange for a heavy discount on next season’s order. It’ll be a cut in profits on our end, but not as bad as if he pulled his support completely.

I find Judy in her office after hanging up with Allen.

“How’d it go?”

“It’ll be fine,” I tell her. “Did you get the paperwork for me?”

She hands me all the orders and invoices. I take them to my office to go over them. It takes me a while to find the error. One zero was missing from the order sent over to the factory. That’s what caused the whole issue.

I call the head of the factory. We outsource production to a place in Illinois. I manage to talk to a manager and get a rush order in, but they can’t make up the full amount we’re missing. It’ll help, though. The distributor should have enough to fill more orders in two weeks, which gives plenty of time for the products to go out before Black Friday.

Judy pops her head into my office. “How bad is it?”

“Not as bad as it was. We’ll fill the half-orders, then send another quarter order in a few weeks. It’s still not as much as everyone ordered, but it’ll be fine. I’ll smooth things over with anyone else who is mad. Most of our buyers are understanding, though.”

Judy breathes a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness. Where was the error?”

“It was a missing zero.”

One of the salespeople messed up, but that happens. I’m madder at myself. If I hadn’t been so distracted lately, I would’ve caught the error earlier.

Amber isn’t the problem. The time I spend with her doesn’t take away from my work.

It’s the serum. I’ve been so preoccupied with trying to make it work, and trying to keep the secret ingredient hidden from Amber, that I’ve slacked off on my other duties as CEO here.

I need to tell her about the serum. That’s the only solution to all my problems.

The question is, will she forgive me when she finds out?

19

Amber

I was nervous to approach the idea of a triple date with AJ. A part of me still feels like he’s hiding me behind closed doors, and I wasn’t sure how he would react if I asked him to hang out with four other people.

Turns out, I was worried for nothing. I haven’t seen AJ in person since Saturday. We don’t have another appointment until next week, and we’ve both been busy with work. When we talked on the phone on Wednesday, I finally asked AJ what his thoughts were on a triple date. He immediately said it was a great idea.

In fact, I think AJ is more excited about it than I am. He has texted and called me multiple times to check on what kind of snacks and drinks he should have. I don’t know what he has planned, only that he wants to host everyone in his house.

Again with the not going out. This time, I try not to let it bother me as much. It would be hard for the six of us to go out somewhere together. Staying in is better for a group hangout like this.

Daisy and Nicole are excited, too. They’ve been dying to meet my boyfriend. I told them excitedly about AJ making things official when I saw the girls at work on Monday. They squealed and clapped for me.

I’m not sure what Jack and Josh think of the triple date. I haven’t spent a lot of time with my friends’ significant others, so this will be a good opportunity for all of us to get together.

I check my reflection in the mirror. It’s going to be a casual event at AJ’s house, so I don’t need to dress up. I don’t bother with makeup, beyond my usual mascara, eyeliner, and eye shadow. I used to wear foundation all the time to cover up the damage on my face, but I haven’t needed to since the serum started to work.

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