Love Between The Spreadsheets 01

Love Between the Spreadsheets,

Part One

Two accountants take a stress-relieving

break during tax season

Meghan Jones felt a stress headache coming on and it was only 10 a.m. on the Monday before Tax Day. It didn't help that the filing season had been extended two days because April 15 was on a Saturday. That just meant two extra days of hysterical clients and impossible piles of returns.

Meghan was so inundated this year that she had hired an extra accountant for crunch time and he was scheduled to arrive any minute. He had a top notch resume and scads of positive testimonials.

She was not prepared for what walked in the door though. Jeremy Walters was 6 feet of outrageous good looks, the Chris Hemsworth type. He extended his hand to Megan and she couldn't help noticing how good he smelled.

"Hi, Ms. Jones. I'm Jeremy."

(And I'm in trouble.) "Good to meet you. You can call me Meghan. Boy, do I need your help. This year has been over the top in new business. I'm going to have to hire more staff for next year. In the meantime, you come highly recommended and I'm sooo glad you're here."

(Watch it Meghan. Keep it professional.)

"Glad to be here. I just finished a contract job so this was great timing."

"I hope you're available for some overtime." Meghan pointed to the enormous pile of paper on the floor by the door.

"I am."

(Why am I sweating?) "You can use this desk over here. The men's room is down the hall to the left and the break room is through the door behind me. We have lots of snacks for this time of year."

"Great. I like snacks."

(Did he mean anything by that?) "'Let me know if you have any issues with this computer. Your resume said you know FreshBooks so everything should be easy to understand. I left a short manual with our procedures on your desk as well as a return to get started with."

"Thanks." Jeremy sat down and got to work, reading the manual. When he finished, he stood up.

"I think I know what to do. This Is pretty familiar territory for me. Can I get you anything from the snack room?"

(Just yourself, you hunk of yumminess.) "A cup of coffee and a muffin would be great. Two creams, two sugars."

"Sure thing."

Jeremy disappeared through the break room door for a couple of minutes and came back with two coffees and two muffins.

"Do you want the blueberry muffin or the bran muffin?"

"I should want the bran, but I actually want the blueberry."

"I thought you would, so I brought two blueberry muffins. Tax season needs a little extra sweetness, don't you think?"

"Uh, yeah." (I'm definitely in trouble.)

Jeremy put the coffee and muffin down on Meghan's desk and returned to his desk.

"Thank you, Jeremy." Meghan sipped her coffee. "This coffee is just the way I like it."

"I always aim to please."

(Okay. He's definitely flirting. Message to self: Ignore so you can get some work done.)

Meghan and Jeremy got down to some serious uninterrupted work and when Meghan looked up, it was 12:15.

"Hey Jeremy."

"Yes?"

"It's lunchtime. I'm ordering pizza for everybody. Do you like pepperoni or vegetarian?"

"I actually like both."

"I'll take that into account." (I wonder if he's bisexual.)

"I'm pretty hungry. Is it okay if I have four pieces?"

"No problem. I'll probably have three myself. What do you want to drink?"

"Coke Zero."

"Me too! I'll order some extras for later."

"Great. It's so much better than Diet Coke."

"Yes! It's actually my favorite drink. Besides a frozen strawberry margarita."

"I like those too but not on a daily basis."

"Me too. Except on vacation."

(We like the same thing!)

22 minutes later, the staff at Let's Get Fiscal Accounting were all enjoying pizza, soda and brownies.

Jeremy mosied over to the window, next to Meghan.

"Thanks, boss. It's nice to have lunch covered."

"It will be every day this week. Tomorrow it's sub sandwiches."

"Great. I'd like roast beef with pepper jack cheese and everything on it."

"Duly noted. Coke Zero?"

"Of course."

"I like big beefy sandwiches too." (Oh my God. Did I just say that?)

"Do tell? Are we still talking about lunch?"

Meghan blushed bright red. "Um, no. More like dinner or something."

"I bet you would prefer lobster or steak. Am I right?"

"Yes or salmon."

"How much trouble will I get into if I ask the boss out for dinner? And maybe... dessert?"

Meghan grinned. This was more than flirting!

"Well, as long as we both keep getting our work done, I don't think there will be any trouble at all. Especially if a strawberry margarita is part of the deal."

Jeremy grinned back. "It is."

[To be continued]