Page 14 of Keystrokes and Kittens

He smiled. Tiredly…but a smile. “I was fine. I had crackers and some peanut butter. Lots of protein.”

“Damn—there’s not much protein in this meal.”

He cocked his head. “Meatballs have plenty. I’ve done okay for the day.”

“You’ll have to take me through what you eat so when I run to Dillons’ grocery store tomorrow, I can stock up on what you need.”

“Soren.” He sighed. “I’m fine. Whatever you have—”

I shook my head—effectively cutting him off. “No way. You’re my guest. I want things to be as close to normal for you as they can be so you can focus on the kittens, your job, and your health. A bit of grocery shopping isn’t much for me. I’ll do it right when you get home so the kittens aren’t alone.”

His gaze softened. “That’s kind. If you have to go out, though, I’m sure—”

Again, I shook my head. “Look, I can go for days without leaving the house. I’m always stocked up with everything I need. I do venture out for fresh food and company. Sometimes. The rest of the time, I’m good. Now, eat up. You need your strength.” With that, I headed back into the kitchen.

Sam was twenty-nine to my thirty-seven, but I felt incredibly protective of him. Like he was way younger than he was. Hell, he was the manager of the pet store. I didn’t know precisely what that entailed, but he always seemed damn busy. All while raising his niece and now handling kittens?That’s a lot of responsibility for a guy that young.Except young was relative. Plenty of guys were fathers and had established careers in their twenties while other flitted around.

Christian and Noah were in the married-and-careers bucket.

I grabbed my dinner and water glass, then headed back to the great room. I chose the chair closest to Sam, put the water glass on the side table, and then plopped into the chair with a sigh.

He grinned. “Long day?”

As I snickered, I twirled some pasta onto my fork. “Not hardly. I did a few hours on the computer this morning, but that was it.I’ve got a crack team, and we just finished a huge project. Lolita—doubtful that’s her real name—ordered me to take some time off.”

Sam arched an eyebrow. “Aren’t you the boss?”

“Yep. Doesn’t mean I don’t listen to valuable employees. She’s got my phone number and knows how to reach me if something urgent comes up. Plus, she’s in New Zealand—which is nineteen hours ahead of us.”

“Oh. I’m not sure I know what that means. I don’t spend a lot of time dealing with time zones. Except one of our major distributors is on the east coast, and I swear they all quit working at, like, three.”

I chuckled. “It means that while it’s six o’clock here, she’s only at one in the afternoon. I’ve got another employee who works in Geneva and covers the time when east coast and I are asleep.”

“How many employees do you have?”

“Thirteen, as well as a couple dozen contractors who I can bring on board for any project or in case of an emergency.”

Sam’s eyes widened. “That many?”

“Sure. We have clients in numerous countries. Plus other contracts we pick up.”

“What exactly do you do?” He cut a meatball and ate half.

“Primarily incursions. We test the security of a company’s computer system. See if we can hack it. What the vulnerabilities are. What their privacy settings are and if we can compromise personal information.”

Sam frowned. “That sounds complicated.”

“Probably about as much as running a store. You’ve got cash, inventory, delivery scheduling, employees…” I held his gaze.

“Yeah. But no one’s security is at stake.” He scratched his chin. “It’s not life or death.”

“Sure. But if you run out of a certain kind of food, then you have disappointed owners. If you buy the wrong toys, thenyou’re stuck with inventory you don’t need. If you don’t schedule employees, then you have gaps.”

He grimaced. “I need to hire another person. But Quinta’s due back any day. If I hire someone, then they’ll be relegated to just a handful of shifts once she’s home. I just can’t figure out why she hasn’t come home yet. But it’s college and I don’t necessarily understand all that.”

I cocked my head. “What do you mean?”

He shrugged. “Just that I thought the school year was over, but Quinta says she’s got more going on. And I don’t want to push—her academics need to come first. That said, I could really use the help.”