Page 10

Jazz was stunned . How did you know my phone got fucked up? Thanks for thinking of me. I’ll get it straight. “Fuck me straight.” Shit! “I mean… thinks for thanking.” No! “Thanks for me.” Ugggh! Can I please die now?

He chuckled at her mixed-up words but didn’t tease her about them. “Madge called. Bill didn’t break his arm.”

She smiled in relief. “Oh, that’s good news. I hope they’ll be home soon.” She ticked off her fingers one by one. “We need more than just baklava made. There’s Long Johns and cinnamon rolls, too, plus?—”

He held up a hand, palm out, interrupting her baked goods inventory list. “Hold up. Like I said, he didn’t break his arm. He broke two ribs, his collarbone, and cracked his shoulder blade.”

Her stomach bubbled with sudden dread. “Oh shit.”

“Yeah. Madge is gonna need a lot of help for a while.”

“I’m only part-time, because… well… they can’t afford to pay me more. I’ll work as much as she’ll let me, though.”

He frowned. “How can you live on part-time work?”

“I have another job?”

“Is that a question?”

“I have another job.”

He leaned on the counter and regarded her with his glowing eyes. “What else do you do besides make coffee?”

“I created the inventory database system for Steelworks Inc. They pay me monthly to maintain it and take care of any problems if it crashes. I have it to the point that it’s pretty self-reliant and will alert me if anything goes down.”

One of his eyebrows arched. “That’s impressive. You’re a smart woman. You went to college for that?”

Jazz felt her cheeks heat. “Yes, but my major was graphics and programming, not software engineering. I graduated and… well… just happened to find this field.” Yeah, “happened” because of Madge and Bill, Delia, and a whole lotta other folks just like them.

He stood up from his position and regarded her with those gorgeous eyes of his. “So, messin’ with scammers is just a side thing? You don’t make money with it?” His easy posture sent her libido into overdrive.

She pressed her lips together and got a firm grip on her hormones.

She reached down and pulled an empty tray from the display case, keeping her eyes on her task.

“Nope. Some people have monetized it by making YouTube videos and contests from the phone calls, but no one I know takes money from victims. The bottom line is, we do what we do to help people. Like your landlady.”

He frowned and took the heavy metal sheet from her hands. “We? There are more than just you?”

Her grin returned. “There’s a network of people who take on scammers, bots, fake accounts, all sorts of stuff. It’s sad we have to do this, but….”

“But what?”

Jazz turned to Wolf and, for the first time, stood tall and met his eyes directly.

“I’ve had too many people I know personally who were targeted by those criminals.

I’ve seen people get taken for a few hundred, others for a few thousand.

Then there are the ones like Madge and Bill.

They lost their entire savings on an online retirement investment company that turned out to be a scam.

” She raised her fists and flared her fingers.

“Poof. Just like that, a lifetime of work, gone. By the time they figured it out, their money had disappeared into cyberspace, and there was nothing they could do about it. Bill spent his life pouring steel at the forge and ended up broke and disabled. The only income they have left is what the bakery produces. They should be retired at their age, but they can’t afford it now.

It’s not right, and I have the ability to do something about it.

Part of that is making coffee and helping them around here.

The other part is using my talent to shield vulnerable people when I can.

That’s what we unofficially call ourselves—scam-shielders. ”

“That’s really cool.” His approving smile sent thrills from her head to her toes, making her movements tight and jerky. She popped off one portafilter, fumbled it, and spilled grounds all over the counter. Her cheeks flamed at his amused chuckle.

“You guys got a website? How do people find you?”

She scooped the mess into her hand and turned away to dump it into the trash bin.

“We don’t advertise or sell our services.

We’re just a bunch of people who get together online sometimes and kick some scammer ass.

We get hundreds of bogus emails and texts every day.

That makes it easy to find them when we have time.

It’s not like we have work hours.” The bell rang as a few more customers came in.

“Although, I think I’m gonna message some of them later and let them know I’ll be off-grid for a while.

I believe I’m gonna be needed here more in the next weeks, and I still have my day job to handle. ”

Wolf stood directly behind her. “Yeah, I’d say you’re right.

I’ll be stepping in as needed too.” His voice got serious, dropping in volume and pitch.

“Listen, I don’t want this to get awkward between us over what happened this morning.

I repeat, I’m sorry for touching you like I did, and I hope you won’t hold that against me. ”

I really do want to hold it against you. I mean me. I want to hold me against you just for a minute. Jazz pressed her lips together to keep from speaking. No way did she want to screw up her words this time. No telling what embarrassing phrase would come out.

He must have taken her silence as anger. “Look, we’re gonna need to get through this so we can work together.”

She thought carefully before she replied. “I get it. I’m okay working with you as long as you’re okay working with me?”

“Is that another question?”

Jazz took a big breath before turning to face him . I can control my mouth. I can control my thoughts. I can control my hormones. “I’m okay working with you as long as you’re okay working with me.”

He chuckled again at her carefully worded sentence. “Good. Now show me how to use the register properly.”