Page 2 of Semi Sweet (Working For Love #1)

"This is true," the girl whose name tag said Beth admitted, "but your boss pretty much insisted." She gave me a look that made it seem like she understood the situation completely. "I'll go get him."

I wasn't sure who I was expecting to come out, but my jaw dropped when I saw it was the same guy I'd smacked into by the time clock, the one with the attractive brown eyes.

I would have pegged him as another clerk if the name badge pinned to his hat didn't clearly say Sean with the word “Manager” etched beneath.

His eyes went wide when he saw me standing there.

My face flushed. I had been too frantic to be embarrassed earlier. "Ready to be trained?" I wondered how long it would be before he learned why everyone else around here kept a wide berth. Sean gestured for me to come behind the counter and I quickly stepped over to the monitor.

It was common sense when it came to using the register.

The bakery typically rang out sheet cakes or other fragile things with a scan gun unless someone was purchasing a coffee or prepaying for an order.

Even those were just a few taps of the screen and done.

I gave him every possible scenario I could think of and before long it seemed like he had the hang of it.

"So where is there a Cash Value Market so small that the service departments don't have registers?

" I asked curiously as we began to wrap up.

I'd been involved with the company far too long and much too deep to know the franchise owners liked things big and over the top.

That was part of the reason people hated me around here—they thought I benefited from knowing the bigwigs.

"Aspen," Sean answered. "We were a satellite location." He rolled his eyes. "I'm pretty sure we were called a chalet store."

"Wow," I said, shaking my head. I knew they had wanted a location in the pricey resort town, but had no idea that they were being so campy about it. "I'm shocked and yet...I'm not."

"So, you've been a part of this delightful company for a while?" I got the vibe from his tone that he was being facetious.

I stared out at the sales floor. The theme of all Cash Value Markets was a northern Italian feel. When I first started working at the store it had seemed unique, but after all the difficulty that came with working here, it seemed over exaggerated and gaudy now. "Sadly, yes. How about yourself?"

The man attempted the codes I’d taught him while he explained, "Kind of. I think five years now? I've been a manager for almost two."

That was surprising. He didn't seem much older than me, but he also wasn't the youngest person I knew moving up the Cash Value Market career ladder. I had no interest in management, so I wasn't on it myself.

"Youngest manager in store history!" Charlie, the assistant manager, called behind him. "Gio told us all about it when Paul got the old heave-ho!"

I watched Sean's cheeks turn slightly pink as I processed the words. Giovanni Quittero was the manager of the entire store. And it appeared that the previous bakery manager was let go after all. I wondered if I'd be able to get the scoop on that later.

"No pressure or anything," Sean murmured.

"You've got this," I assured. "This is the home store, so if they sent you here, they probably have good faith in you."

When Sean started to smile, it was difficult to not stare.

His grin only accentuated his handsome eyes.

I’d initially missed how captivatingly cute he was when I’d smashed into him.

I also realized I hadn't had small talk like this with another employee in a long time. I was almost sad for it to end.

"Olivia!"

The voice made me jump out of my skin like I'd been caught doing something wrong.

Everyone in the surrounding area of the store was suddenly very absorbed in their work.

I looked up to see a young man in a gray tailored designer suit complete with a matching vest and a silky black tie walking purposefully towards me.

His near black hair was styled with product and irritation was fixed on his face.

"What the hell are you doing over here?"

I felt like I was defending myself when I was just doing my job. "Russel asked me to train the new bakery manager. He just transferred from Aspen."

He gave Sean a long look before he turned his attention back to me.

"I'll talk to Russel. He has plenty of other people to do his grunt work.

" He motioned for me to come out from behind the counter with his chin.

I would have loved to tell the man that when he "helped" it usually made things worse for me, but it wasn't worth discussing.

I gave Sean and the others a weak wave before I headed back to the sales floor. The man was waiting for me, still looking annoyed to see me away from my post. "No class tonight?"

I shook my head. "Just homework."

He all but guided me back towards the front end and my courtesy desk. "Great, I'll see you at home. I'll talk to Russel. I'm going to go see Uncle Gio first." He leaned over and kissed my head, just in time for him to miss my coworker lean over the booth door and give me a dirty look.

Ah yes, he thought he was helping me by scolding my boss and using his so-called authority to get things done around the store. In reality, he was why everyone disliked me and acted like I had a highly infectious disease.

That was the perk of being engaged to Evan Quittero, the grandson of the founders and owners of Cash Value Market. Sometimes it was more like a curse.