Not sure which of them was the biggest taskmaster, he attributed their workaholic tendencies to remembering what it was like when they didn’t have a pot to piss in.
No. Too much work was better than no work at all. And Paige understood that. It also kept him from thinking about how empty his apartment was in those moments before he closed his eyes at night.
But he valued his freedom. Hell, he could never work this much if he had a mate at home. She’d never allow it.
He felt a little sorry for his sister’s mate, Tyler. Okay…no. He didn’t really. The guy was lucky to have her. But as Paige continued going on and on about the virtues of having an app in the big fish pond of finding mates for her prospective customers worldwide, he could barely resist rolling his eyes.
Leave it to his sister to find one more way to monetize the dating game. She and Sylvia had done well. Their respective talents had taken a fledgling idea to help shifters find each other, and hell…now they were even branching out to other sides of the spectrum. Last week, Sylvia had paired up a vampire and a banshee at one of their get togethers at the Cardiac Café. Go figure.
And now, she wanted world domination. Well…sure. It was Tuesday and he wasn’t doing anything…oh…for the next month. Christmas wasn’t really his thing. And after all this behind the scenes stuff, he would leave the dating antics to his sister. No, thank you.
When he first started his career, he designed scheduling programs, test lines at a local factory, and toyed around with cloud info structure, servers, and database contracting in his spare time. He didn’t stick with one thing…but each angle did give him specific skills to fall back on as the market folded in on itself. A year ago, if anyone had ever suggested he would be the invisible tech behind the crusade to aid the lovelorn, he’d have laughed in their face. But now here he was, hip deep in websites, and it seemed that was only the beginning.
He tapped his pen on the desk next to his gamer keyboard, the rainbow of lights the only illumination in the darkened office.
A dating app. That could work, actually. It would be a hell of a lot faster than going through emails to match compatible people. Tie it in with the website, geography, and a whole host of other variables, and it just might work.
His cat chuckled inside him. Even when they had been kids, their kitten sides had gotten them up to no good more than once. But entertaining his sister’s antics had been preferable to their mother’s insane politics. Now that Paige had a mate, he didn’t worry about her as much, at least. But that didn’t mean she didn’t exasperate the devil out of him on a daily basis.
Rafe stifled a groan. She wouldn’t know it, but he had already started incorporating app building into his small business and it was starting to take off, and big. At the rate he was going, he would be able to retire by the age of fifty and never have to worry about money again.
The only problem was, he had already contracted two new companies, and as it was, to do their projects right, it was going to take weeks. Gods. He ran a hand over his face and blinked at the screen in front of him. He was going to have to hire some help.
“Have you talked to Sylvia about this?”
His sister shuffled her booted feet and wrapped a strand of long, dark chestnut hair around her finger.
“Um, no?”
He let out a slow breath and tried not to think of things that involved murder.
“How about you let me finish this project and I’ll see what I can do? Meanwhile, you need to start advertising for some help.”
“What kind of help?”
“My kind. And someone to circumvent Sylvia’s determination to blow every bit of profits on new computer equipment.”
She slid a piece of paper onto his desk. “Here’s some of what I want to include. If you think it’s feasible.”
Rafe scanned her notes, pen still tapping.
Yeah. That would work. Excitement thrummed in his veins when he thought about the symmetry of it all.
“Okay.”
Paige blinked, a smile spreading across her lips. “So, you’ll do it? We’ll have our very own app by Valentine’s Day?”
He pulled out a piece of paper and started jotting down job requirements. “Here. Post this. See what you get back. Make sure you’re clear they have to be flexible with their hours.”
Paige squealed and gave him a hug that sent him into a coughing fit. “You won’t regret this. I promise. And if it works, you’ll get a bonus.”
Rafe sighed. Her excitement was infectious. He could do it. If he pulled a few all nighters. It would be fine.
***
“We’re hiring someone?” Sylvia tore her gaze from the computer screen and swiveled in her chair. She met Paige’s sparkling eyes and she sucked in a breath.
Could they afford it?
“Two someone’s. At least, I think so.”
“What?”
Paige lowered herself onto the side of the desk and slapped a tablet of legal paper down in front of her.
Smart.
The woman had learned not to let her touch her computer or anything else digital. It was safer that way and a hell of a lot less costly.
“Look. Rafe is going to need some help working on a special project for us and with him tied up, we’re going to need someone who can handle stuff around here.”
“Have you run the numbers?”
“Yup.” Paige grinned. “With what we’ve cleared in the last month, we can afford to have someone part time in the office for tech support.”
Sylvia’s gaze swept over the columns of numbers. This was good. The amount of money they would save on computer equipment alone if she had help would more than pay for someone part time.
“What project is he working on?”
“A dating app.”
“What?” Sylvia blinked. She didn’t really understand this new world of computers and phones. Having them combust in her face didn’t exactly help, either.
“We need more than just a website. And emails. More and more people are using apps these days. So, I asked Rafe to build us one.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah,” Paige gushed. “And he thinks he can have it up and running by Valentine’s Day. Won’t that be amazing! We can have a launch party and really market the heck out of it. What do you think?”
“Hmmm.” It sounded good. It really did. And if Rafe was in, then there would be no problems. She had utter faith in the man’s technical savvy. After all, he’d rescued her more times than she could count.
“How would the app work?”
“I don’t want to go through all the specifics now until I have something to show you, but it would help facilitate the pairing process. A little goddess magic. A little technology. Some really great matches… It could work.”
Sylvia nodded, intrigued in spite of herself. She’d seen commercials on television and wondered how they managed to take off on a global level. An excited butterfly lit through her belly as she realized they were about to do the same thing. It wouldn’t just be here in Cypress Creek, Texas. It would be all over the world. Email had helped with that. After all, goddess energy wasn’t limited to geography. But this…this was a grander scheme of things and Sylvia couldn’t help but be excited at the possibilities.
An email pinged through and Sylvia grabbed the nearest pencil, jabbing at the keyboard with the eraser. There were ways around her computer killing touch. She just had to be tricky about it. Goddess power was good for some things, but keeping computers alive wasn’t one of them.
“What is it?” Paige sidled around the desk and peered over her shoulder.
“Oh. Wow.”
“I know. Right?” Sylvia snorted, scanning the email. Being a descendent of a goddess could be a good thing after all.
Her fingertips began to tingle and a smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. Maybe Christmas was going to be a little more fun than she originally thought.
It was time for some long overdue goddess magic. And she
had just the right match…
Where to Find More of Erzabet Bishop
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Also By Erzabet Bishop
Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Series
Hedging Her Bets
Waking Up Wolf
Kitten Around
Shifting Hearts Dating Agency Collection Books 1-3
Tempting Her Mate: Cider Falls Shifters #1: coming soon
Shifting Hearts Dating App Series
Mistle Tie Me: A Shapeshifter Holiday Romance
Your Wolfish Heart: A Valentine's Day Novella
Available in Sweeter Than Chocolate: Valentine's Day Anthology!
Chocolate Moon Cafe
Available in The Heart of a Phoenix: A Limited Edition Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, and Reverse Harem Collection
My Wicked Mates Series
Craving Her Mates
Surrendering to Her Mate
Tormenting Her Mate
My Wicked Mates Series Collection: Books 1-3
Burning For Her Mates: coming soon
Claiming Her Mates: coming soon
Howling For Her Mates: coming soon
Westmore Wolves Series
Wicked for You
Heart’s Protector
Burning for You
Taming the Beast
Mistletoe Kisses
Westmore Wolves Collection, Books 1-5
Beauty and Her Beasts: coming soon
Curse Workers Series
Sanguine Shadows
Map of Bones
(free with newsletter subscription)
Malediction
Arcane
Curse Workers Collection: Books 1-3
Hex : coming soon
The Witching Hour Series
Burning Midnight
The Gibbous Moon Series
Bound in Fire
Sigil Fire Series
Sigil Fire
Written on Skin
Glitter Lust
First Christmas: A Sigil Fire Holiday Romance
The Violet Hour: coming soon
Collections and Anthologies
Holidays and More:
A Lesfic Short Story Collection
Lesfic Tales:
A Lesfic Short Story Collection
Sapphic Holiday Cruise:
A Lesbian Holiday Collection
Sweet Sensations:
A Short Story Anthology
Root Workers Series
Bayou Shadows: coming soon
Standalone Novels
Snow: A Shapeshifter Paranormal Reverse Harem Romance
Sinful Sweets Contemporary Short Stories
The Gingerbread Man: A Holiday Romance
Sugar Cookie: A Springtime Romance
- Coming soon!
About The Author
Erzabet Bishop is a USA Today bestselling and award-winning author of over forty paranormal and contemporary romance books. She lives in Houston, Texas, and when she isn’t writing about sexy shifters or voluptuous heroines, she enjoys playing in local bookstores and watching movies with her husband and furry kids.
The Gingerbread Man (Sinful Sweets Book 1) Page 4