Not Really the Outdoor Type Read online

  Kendall almost sighed with relief. Maybe if he went back to his office, she could get control of her lust. But instead of passing her off to Nicole or one of the other employees so they could show her the ropes, Jason did it himself. Which made learning anything hopeless. The minute he launched into a discussion about inventory software, she could only stare at his sensuous mouth and wonder what it would be like to kiss him. A few days around him and she’d be saying, “Keith who?”

  Having him hovering near her elbow while she was taking care of customers later that morning was almost more than she could take. She’d already shortchanged one and given another too much money back. If she kept it up, Jason was probably going to think that he’d hired a total idiot. But apart from a slight frown, Jason made no comment about her math skills—or lack thereof.

  “I have some things to do in the back,” he said as she closed the register. “Will you be okay on your own?”

  She blinked. After how many times she’d messed up, she’d thought he’d want to watch her like a hawk. “Yeah, of course.”

  “Good. If you need me, just yell.”

  As she watched him go, she couldn’t help but think again how different he was from her ex-boyfriend, not only in looks, but in every other way, too. Whereas Keith always had to let people know he was in charge, Jason seemed to have that confident, take-charge attitude about him that made her think he’d fit in just as easily in corporate world as he did in Copper Canyon.

  After giving out the wrong change earlier, Kendall was more careful the rest of the day. Until Jason came out to work the other register later that afternoon. Not only did working beside him make her body respond to her new boss in ways that were extremely unprofessional, it also made her mess up and give several more customers too much change. As a result, she came up short but almost a hundred dollars on her cash drawer when the store closed that evening.

  She gave Jason an apologetic look. “I’m so sorry. I don’t know how I did that.” She knew exactly how it’d happened, but she couldn’t tell him that. “You can take it out of my pay.”

  He frowned, but shook his head. “Don’t worry about it. Just be more careful.”

  “I will,” she said. “I promise.”

  Apparently, her words didn’t carry much weight because the next day Jason asked her to do inventory instead of work the register. His lack of faith stung, but she supposed she couldn’t blame him. She’d already cost him a hundred dollars. Besides, being out on the floor only gave her more time to look at Jason.

  She was so mesmerized by her boss that a customer had to call her twice before she heard him. Chiding herself, she gave the man an embarrassed smile.

  “I’m sorry. What can I do for you?”

  “I’m looking for Buck Lure. I can’t seem to find it.”

  She frowned. “Buck Lure?”

  “Yeah.” The man nodded. “You know, you rub it on when you’re out hunting and it makes you smell like a deer in heat. That way, your prey can’t pick up your human scent.”

  Seriously? Kendall glared at him. “As if hunters don’t have enough of an advantage. You already have guns—what more do you want? But then again, I guess you’ll do just about anything to get a trophy for your wall, wouldn’t you? Too bad we don’t sell machine guns, otherwise you could get one of those to go along with your Buck Lure.”

  The man’s face turned red. She supposed it was too much to hope it was from embarrassment.

  “Now, wait just a minute—”

  “Is there a problem here?”

  Kendall jumped at the sound of Jason’s deep voice. She half turned to find him regarding her questioningly, but before she could answer, the man spoke.

  “I asked her where I could find Buck Lure and she went all tree hugger on me about hunting. I don’t know what kind of employees this store hires, but—”

  “I’m sorry for the confusion, sir.” Jason said tightly. “The Buck Lure is in the hunting section, on the shelf with the rest of the accessories. Right over there,” he added, pointing toward the other side of the store.

  The man drew himself up, gave Kendall a sneer, then stormed off toward the hunting section. Kendall watched him go, her hands gripping the clipboard she held. Jerk.

  “What the hell was that about?”

  Kendall whirled around to face Jason, surprised by the sharpness in his tone. “I just told him what I thought about him using something as underhanded as that Buck Lure to kill some poor, unsuspecting deer for the sole purpose of putting some trophy on his wall. I guess he got offended.”

  Jason clenched his jaw. “Dammit, Kendall. I hired you to stock shelves and work the register. Keep your opinions to yourself.”

  Her face colored. “But—”

  His eyes narrowed warningly. “I mean it, Kendall. This store—hell, this town—survives on the money from the hunters and fishermen that come here. If you’re going to have a problem with them, tell me now.”

  And if she did? He’d what—fire her? Kendall swallowed hard. She liked working at the store, she really did. Why the heck couldn’t she learn to keep her mouth shut? “I don’t. It’s just that I don’t like hunting, that’s all. I guess I saw Bambi too many times as a kid.”

  Jason regarded her in silence for a long moment before letting out a sigh. “Okay, don’t worry about it. Just don’t let it happen again. When you’re done here, I need to you put sale prices on some of the gun cases.”

  Kendall nodded, listening intently as he explained which cases were supposed to be on sale. She didn’t want to mess up anything else.

  She was halfway through pricing them when she saw Jason take over working the cash register for Nicole so the girl could take her break. Should she ask Jason if he wanted her to take over instead? Maybe not. After yesterday’s fiasco he probably didn’t want her near the cash register.

  She grabbed another gun case and slapped a brightly colored sticker on it.

  “Afternoon, Jason.”

  “Hey, Clyde. What brings you in today?”

  “Came in for some fishing line and ended up getting a few of these beauties, too. Couldn’t pass up the price.”

  Kendall glanced up just in time to see a heavyset man dump a pile of gun cases on the counter. She remembered him eagerly reaching around her to get at them earlier.

  Jason’s grin disappeared as he looked down at the cases, and for a minute he seemed confused.

  “Something wrong?” Clyde asked.

  “What?” Jason shook his head as if to clear it. “Oh. No, nothing’s wrong. I’ll ring these up for you and get you on your way.”

  Kendall went back to pricing as Jason rang up the man’s purchases, listening with half an ear as they made small talk. When she looked up again, it was to find her boss standing beside her.

  “I didn’t want you to put the sale prices on all the gun cases,” he said.

  “I know. I’m only putting them on the ones you told me to put them on.”

  Jason scanned the shelf, his jaw clenching. Swearing under his breath, he grabbed two of the cases and held them up. “Do these look like the same kind to you?”

  Was this a trick question? But since he asked, she supposed not. “Aren’t they?”

  His mouth tightened. “One is imitation leather. The other is real.”

  Kendall looked more closely at the cases he was holding, then reached out and ran her fingers over each. “Oh yeah, one is real leather. They look the same, though. Sorry about the mistake.”

  “Yeah, well your mistake cost me a lot of money. I just sold a customer half a dozen of the leather cases for less than what I paid for them.”

  She frowned. “Why didn’t you tell him they were priced incorrectly?”

  “Because it’s bad for business. Besides, he’s a good customer.”

  Kendall sighed. “I said I was sorry.”

  He tossed the gun cases back on the shelf. “Yeah, I heard.”

  She put her hands on her hips. “Jason, it was a
n honest mistake. It’s not like I did it on purpose. Anyway, it’s as much your fault as it is mine.”

  He folded his arms across his broad chest. “My fault? How do you figure?”

  She lifted her chin. “You shouldn’t have assumed I’d know the difference between the cases. Maybe if you’d explained yourself better, I wouldn’t have made the mistake in the first place.”

  Jason’s eyes narrowed, but he said nothing. Probably because he couldn’t refute her logic.

  “Just fix it,” he growled.

  Kendall bit her tongue to keep from saying something flippant as he stormed off. Pissing off her boss even more than she had already would get her fired for sure. And while it really had been an honest mistake on her part, the only reason she’d screwed up was because she’d been gazing at Jason’s gorgeous mouth when he explained which gun cases were on sale instead of listening to what the hell he said.

  She grabbed one of the plastic cases and slapped a sale price on it. Working with Jason might do wonders when it came to making her forget about Keith, but she was going to have to stop ogling him or she was going to wind up getting her butt canned.

  Kendall tried hard to focus on work the rest of the day, but that was easier said than done, especially after closing time. By then, the other employees had left for the day and it was just the two of them in the store. She tried not to let it, but her gaze kept straying to Jason as she filled the bins with more of the floaty red and white balls used for fishing. God, he looked hot even doing something as simple as standing at the counter going over the day’s receipt. Stifling a moan, she bent to pick up another handful of floaty things and inadvertently bumped into the metal rack, knocking the whole thing over. She instinctively reached out to grab it, but it fell anyway, hundreds of red and white balls rolling across the floor and going every which way.

  Crap.

  Hoping Jason hadn’t seen, she snuck a glance his way to find him glaring at her, his jaw tight. He slapped the pen he’d been using down on the counter. “That does it. I’ve had it!”

  Her face coloring hotly, Kendall hastily bent down to start picking up the balls when she felt Jason grab her arm. She didn’t know what she expected, but it wasn’t for him to haul her to her feet and glower at her.

  “You’re doing this deliberately, aren’t you?” he demanded.

  She stared up at him, mouth open. “Wh-what? No!”

  He lifted a brow. “No one could screw up this much unless they were doing it on purpose. What, is this is your way of trying to get back at me for something you think I did to you in high school?”

  What the heck was he talking about? “You really need to get over yourself. I barely even remember you from high school, much less anything you might have done.” She tried to yank free of his grip, but his hand only tightened on her arm. “Let go of me. Unless you don’t want me to pick up these stupid things.”

  “Oh, you’re going to pick them up, all right,” he growled. “After we get something straight.”

  Kendall frowned, about to ask him what he meant by that when Jason suddenly bent her over at the waist, his strong arm holding her in place.

  She craned her neck to look at him. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Helping you focus on you work,” he ground out.

  “Focus? What?” she began, only to let out a startled little, “Oh!” of surprise when she felt him give her ass a hard smack. “What are you doing?”

  “I told you,” he said, giving the seat of her tight jeans another smack, harder this time. “I’m helping you focus. Since you said you didn’t make all those mistakes on purpose, I have to assume that means you’re not paying attention to your job. Maybe a spanking will help you keep your mind on what you’re supposed to be doing.”

  Jason punctuated every other word with a sharp slap. Even through the jeans, the spanks stung, and Kendall found herself letting out a cry of protest after each and every one. She couldn’t believe he was actually spanking her. She was adult, not some child he needed to discipline because she’d been bad.

  She squirmed in his grasp. “Let me go, damn you!”

  She didn’t know if it was her shrill demand, or if he simply thought she’d been sufficiently punished, but just as quickly as the spanking had begun, it was over, and she was upright again, Jason’s tall form looming over her. Speechless, Kendall cupped her stinging derriere in her hands and stared up at him in disbelief.

  “Remember that spanking when you’re having trouble keeping your mind on your work next time, or I’ll do it again” he warned.

  Kendall opened her mouth, then closed it. Great. Now, she probably looked like a Copper Canyon river trout. Dammit.

  As if the spanking had never happened at all, Jason picked up the rack she’d knocked down, then began scooping up the little floaty things and putting them back in the correct bins.

  Kendall stood where she was, watching him work and trying to decide if she should leave. But for some reason, her feet wouldn’t move. After a moment, she kneeled down to help. Not that she could think of one good reason why she should help him. After what he’d just done, she felt like picking up the plastic balls and pelting him with them instead. Then again, maybe not. That’d probably be a spankable offense in Jason’s book. Not that he was ever going to get the chance to spank her again because right after she finished picking up these stupid little balls, she was quitting.

  * * * * *

  What the hell had he been thinking, spanking Kendall like that? He’d be lucky she didn’t run to the cops and report him for assault.

  Knocking over the rack of floats was the last straw, though. Between coming up short on the register, arguing with a customer about hunting and marking the leather gun cases with the wrong price, he’d had enough of her incompetence.

  But a spanking? What was he, a damn caveman?

  No, just a guy who’d had a girlfriend in college who liked him to spank her for being “naughty.” Yeah, well warming a woman’s ass during some roleplaying fantasy was completely different than doing it for real, especially when it was one of his employees.

  He stole a look at Kendall as he fished for a float that had rolled under a shelf. She was focused on picking up the red and white balls, her face unreadable. He knew he should apologize for spanking her, but right now he wasn’t sure he trusted himself enough to speak. He was still too pissed off.

  Thankfully, the phone rang. He normally wouldn’t have answered it since it was after closing, but he practically vaulted over the counter to grab it before whoever it was hung up.

  “Outdoor Outfitters.”

  “I was afraid you’d already be closed. A few of my buddies and I are looking to sign up for one of your fly-fishing tours.”

  Jason reached for the mouse and opened the computer’s calendar program. “Um, yeah, sure. When are you looking at going?”

  Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kendall drop the last of the floats into the bin, then carefully step away from the rack so she wouldn’t knock it over again. She glanced over at him, chewing on her lip as he explained to the man what kind of tours they offered. He had the feeling she was debating whether to hang around and talk to him before she left. She must have decided she didn’t feel like waiting because a few moments later, she went into the back and grabbed her purse, then left.

  Jason followed her with his gaze. Or more precisely, followed her tight, little jean-clad ass. Spanking might have been one of his more stupid moves, but seeing her heart-shaped derriere wiggle had sure as hell been fun to watch.

  Chapter Three

  Kendall was still in her bathrobe the next morning when someone knocked on the cabin door. She hoped it was Jason coming to apologize. Though considering he hadn’t seen fit to do it last night at the store, she doubted he’d drive all the way out here to beg her forgiveness this morning. Even if he had, it wouldn’t change her mind about quitting.

  Setting down her mug of coffee on the kitchen counter, she wen
t to answer the door. Relief coursed through her when she saw Gabby standing on the doorstep.

  “Hey!” Her friend breezed past Kendall into the cabin. “I wasn’t sure if you’d left for work already or not. How are things going at the store? Isn’t Jason just as gorgeous as you remember?”

  Kendall opened the cabinet and took out another mug. Actually, Jason was more gorgeous than she remembered. More of a Neanderthal than she remembered, too.

  “So?” Gabby prompted when she didn’t answer.

  Kendall shrugged as she poured coffee into the mug. “I’m not sure if retail work is my thing.”

  “Even if it means spending time with Jason?”

  Setting the mug down on the table in front of Gabby, Kendall sat down across from her friend. “Jason’s part of the problem.”

  Gabby frowned. “What do you mean?”

  Kendall told her friend about coming up short on the cash drawer, followed by her argument with a customer about the evils of hunting, then her subsequent error regarding the gun cases.

  “And as if that weren’t enough,” she added, “I knocked over a whole rack of those red and white floaty balls you use for fishing right in front of him. The damn things went all over the place.”

  Gabby laughed as if it were the funniest thing in the world.

  Kendall made a face. “Jason certainly didn’t think it was very amusing.”

  “I don’t imagine he would. He didn’t fire you, did he?”

  “No.” Kendall stared down at her coffee. “He didn’t have to. I quit. Well, I’m going to quit when I go in this morning.”

  “Quit.” Her friend frowned. “Wow. Jason must have really said something to upset you.”

  “It’s not what he said,” Kendall muttered. “It’s what he did.”

  “What did he do?”

  Dammit. The words were out before she could stop herself. There was no way she could tell her friend about getting spanked. That would be beyond humiliating.