Total pages in book: 63
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 58752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 294(@200wpm)___ 235(@250wpm)___ 196(@300wpm)
Tamsin directed employees toward the secured stock and outgoing records, then told an older man to bring every active job file to the central table. He hesitated and glanced toward me, as if explosives experience and a Black Crowns cut somehow made me the authority on Bellamy paperwork. I held his gaze until he started looking uncomfortable.
“She wasn’t asking me.”
The employee turned back to Tamsin, nodded, and moved to obey. She gave me a brief look carrying gratitude, amusement, and a warning not to become too pleased with myself.
As we moved deeper into the warehouse, Tamsin explained the inventory system in practical terms. Each job began with a record of what left the facility, the field coordinator documented what was used, damaged, or returned, and final adjustments were entered after everything came back. Several people in the operations office could revise those final numbers, and Tamsin had been trying to require a second approval for every adjustment because the current process left too much room for error.
“Senior staff think it will slow closeout,” she explained, passing me a binder. “They keep telling me the system worked for years before I started trying to change it.”
“Can someone make the final numbers say something you never wrote?”
Tamsin stopped and looked up at me, the seriousness of the question erasing the faint irritation from her face. “Yes. A count can legitimately change if damaged material is discovered after it returns, but there should be a reason, the name or initials of the person making the adjustment, and supporting paperwork.”
The original field sheets should still preserve the numbers she submitted. The path forward became simple, even if the work would not be. Count what remained, compare it with the records, and identify where the numbers changed.
I watched Tamsin organize the audit without ever raising her voice. Everyone eventually moved where she directed, and the combination of sweetness, shyness, and quiet command fascinated me more each time she turned those vivid blue eyes on someone and expected competence in return.
She caught me watching her instead of the shelves and planted one hand on her hip.
“Are you planning to help?”
“I am helping.” I smirked, leaning one shoulder against the shelving while I continued watching her.
She pushed a heavy stack of binders into my arms, putting enough force behind the movement to make her opinion of my contribution clear. “If you’re going to follow me around, make yourself useful.”
“Carrying things and improving morale,” I announced as I adjusted the stack against my chest. “Very demanding position. One I’m damn good at.”
Her mouth curved before she turned away, already issuing another instruction to one of the employees.
I followed with the binders against my chest and my attention fixed on the sway of her hips. Her order gave me exactly what I wanted: a place beside her while she worked, close enough to protect her.
7
TAMSIN
Somewhere along the way, we’d found a rhythm working together. Binders, field sheets, inventory lists, and transfer records covered the table. Sealed cases were lined up in a row so I could match what was physically on hand with what was on the updated records.
Black Crowns rotated through the doors and the loading area. Though impossible to ignore, they stayed out of the way while ensuring everyone in the building remained safe. Gavin never left my side for long, only stepping away a couple of times to take a phone call.
He carried whatever I pointed at. Shifted the cases I couldn’t budge. Pulled files off the high shelves. And the couple of times one of my people looked at him for direction, he just waited until they turned to me instead.
Gavin never treated my authority as a threat to his own. His confidence only made him more attractive. And so did the flex of his muscles when he hefted stuff at my request.
Setting another stack of binders beside my elbow, he murmured, “You keep finding things for me to carry.”
“Of course I do.” I smiled up at him. “My dad taught me not to waste resources, and you’re always around since you keep following me.”
“Excellent decisions on both our parts.”
I rolled my eyes and reached for the top binder so he wouldn’t see how much I liked having him at my back. Not that it did me much good since he was too darn perceptive for my own good. And with how close of an eye he kept on me, he’d already learned to read my expressions too well.
Every time I bent over a report or stretched for a shelf, I caught him watching. He never once pretended he wasn’t enjoying the view either. Which made me blush every time. Including now.
Ducking my head, I flipped the binder open and got back to work. Unfortunately, the results of today’s inventory were even worse than I’d expected. There was too much missing for last night’s theft to account for it all. Not when the Black Crowns had disrupted the break-in, and some of the items were found in parts of the warehouse with no other signs of compromise.