"Thank you! Have a good day!" I waved by to the cute little girl perched on her mother's hip that had insisted on helping her mom pick out gifts for her younger sister.
She waved back happily, her other hand carrying the bag of stuff they bought as they both exited. I tossed their receipt in the trash and pulled the blanket I was currently working on out from under the counter to work on it again. The shop had been busy today, but that was to be expected with the holidays right around the corner. Kat and I had finally been making headway on our plethora of online orders after having to refuse any more orders for some online items either due to time constraints or lack of materials.
A lot of our shipments have been having delays with the increased amount of postal traffic. While it put a little bit of a damper on our profits, we made do with what we had. It was more than enough to keep both of us busy. Kat was restocking our wall of handmade embroidery kits watching the mother and daughter leave before turning to me after the door had closed.
"Okay spill the beans. I'm dying to know over here."
"Know what?"
"You know what. I won't ask for his name or anything because I'm sure you signed some kind of NDA preventing that type of information, but you can at least tell me if you got yourself a hired hunk of a boyfriend."
I looked at her through my lashes, quickly returning my attention back to my project.
"Okay. Yes. I did meet with them, and I signed a contract with one of them."
My mind flashed back to last night's date with Yoongi. Like he promised, it ended at a reasonable hour and we had made plans to see each other again before I left. I even made it back home before the storm hit. Kat squealed slamming her hands down on the counter in excitement making me jump.
"Is it the owner!?"
I yanked the blanket out from under her palms.
"Kat you are way too excited about this. No. It's not the owner."
She rolled her eyes. "Of course I'm excited. I'm living vicariously through you. Is the guy you signed the deal with hot? He has to be. I've seen Rachel with a couple of the guys she's used through them and I haven't seen a single one lacking in the looks department."
Not taking my eyes off the blanket I let out a disbelieving chuckle. "Living vicariously through me? Does Jackson not do enough for you anymore?"
"Of course he does, but every girl has a free pass that she likes to fantasize about and if the owner of the boyfriend services is half as hot as I imagine him to be, he might just be mine."
A throat clearing behind Kat had us both jerking our heads up. Low and behold, there stood Jungkook with a half smirk on his face looking between the two of us, amusement twinkling in his eyes. I hadn't even heard the door chime. He looked different today. Instead of a suit I was used to seeing him in, he wore a loose black t-shirt, black cargo pants, and black combat boots. His hair was let loose and messy, long enough to brush the collar of his shirt. Tattoos covered one arm completely, something I never noticed with the suit jackets covering it.
"Holy fuck." Kat blurted.
"Kat!" I smacked her arm feeling secondhand embarrassment.
Lord knows that woman probably didn't feel any herself. Jungkook's smirk turned into a full-blown grin showing his perfect teeth, the freckle under his lip peeking out in the most adorable way. He held out his hand which Kat was able to take after finally ogling the poor man like she was window shopping.
"I'm Jungkook. Owner of the boyfriend services." He barely successfully held back a laugh as Kat's expression turned to one of shock.
Still grasping his hand, she leaned towards me and not so quietly whispered, "Positively bangable."
"Kat!" I hollered making her flinch before laughing.
That was the last straw for Jungkook too it seemed as he also doubled over laughing. I pinched her arm making her whine.
"Go unload some boxes in the back before I skin you alive." I threatened.
"Aww really? You're going to deprive me of staring at this delicious human being?" she pouted.
"You have a boyfriend!" I said exasperated as I nudged her towards the back.
"Hey! I can look and even touching might be worth it."
"Oh my god. Just go before you completely embarrass me."
"You mean I haven't already done it?" she teased.
"Kat!"
She laughed putting her hands up in surrender. "Okay I'm going. I'm going."
Making sure she was safely out of earshot, I turned back to Jungkook.
"I'm so sorry. I'd like to say she's not always like that, but unfortunately she is."
He laughed. "It's fine. Coworker of yours?"
"And my best friend. We've known each other for years."
"She knows you came to me?"
I nodded. "Yeah. It was actually her idea."
His eyes were big and bright, his expression softening the longer he looked at me. "Then I should thank her."
Blushing I fiddled with the blanket I had been working on before realizing he was probably here for a reason.
"Was there something you needed?"
He blinked a couple of times before lifting one arm. In his hand was my beanie. "Oh you left this at my office that night. I'm sorry I wasn't able to return it sooner, I've been busy."
So much had happened that night that I didn't even notice it was gone. I took it from him.
"Thanks."
He stood there for a moment looking a little lost. His tongue snuck out to wet his lips, the action catching my attention. His lips were pink and perfect. Something I definitely shouldn't have been thinking about in that moment.
"Would you like to get lunch together?"
His voice was quiet, but the question still startled me. "Huh?"
"Lunch? I know a really good place nearby." He smiled.
I checked the time. It really was lunch time. The morning had gone by quicker than I realized. Before I could ask Kat if she would watch the front she yelled from the back.
"I got it! Go eat!"
"Are you eavesdropping?"
She poked her head around the corner. "No?"
I shook my head in disbelief.
"Lunch sounds great. Let me grab my purse and I'm ready."
"It looked like you guys are keeping busy at the store."
I gave him an exhausted smile as the waitress set our food down in front of us. I didn't miss the glances she kept stealing at Jungkook and the way she made sure she swung by our table more often than anyone else's to make sure we "were takin' care of". She leaned into our table a little more than necessary. With me watching her closely before flicking my eyes to Jungkook who was already looking at me. Not even sparing a glance at our waitress.
"You have no idea. Holidays are always a big time of the year for us. We've been having to stay late so much lately. I feel bad that Kat has to stay with me."
Finally realizing she wasn't going to get the attention she so obviously desired, our waitress moved on to help other patrons. I could feel the smug smirk tugging at my lips, but I refrained from showing it.
"You know, hiring another person would probably help alleviate some of your stress. I can help with that."
I softened at his offer. Here he was, already helping me and wanting to help me more.
"Thanks for the offer, but with how precarious the situation is right now, I don't want to hire another person only for the proverbial rug to be swept out from underneath me and have to let them go."
"Makes sense. Has Namjoon looked at your licensing agreement yet?"
Shit. I mentally pinched myself. I had forgotten about that. Again.
"No. I've been so swamped at the shop the past couple of weeks that it completely slipped my mind."
The man probably thought I refused his help I was taking so long to bring it by. Maybe I should call him.
"No worries. You'll get to it when you're able to. How about I come by the store sometime later this week and help Kat while you run it to him?"
I froze with my bite halfway to my mouth to stare at him wide eyed.
"Are you serious?"
He nodded wiping his mouth with a napkin. "Yeah. I don't mind. I think it'll be fun. It gets me out of the office which I'm always down for."
"Do you have experience with any crafting?"
He thought for a moment before shaking his head. "Not really. Do I need it? I'm sorry, I should have said something instead of just assuming you'll accept help from me even though I wouldn't know what I was doing."
"Oh no! That's not what I meant at all. It's not a problem. Me or Kat can show you how to do whatever so don't worry about it. I was just surprised that you had offered."
His smile was back in place leaning ever so slightly towards me.
"Cool. You'll quickly learn that I'm a jack of all trades. I promise I won't let you down."
I believed him. I didn't even think I would be capable of refusing him even if I had wanted to. Jungkook was just that charismatic and charming. The man could get away with just about anything, I was sure of it. Now I understood what Yoongi meant by saying he couldn't refuse him. There was no telling him no and Jungkook knew it.