The Door Chimed

I wasn’t looking for a delivery job.

I was on LinkedIn, scrolling through IT listings. Twenty-seven certifications deep, and somehow I was still sitting there refreshing listings like something was going to line up.

Then I saw a Domino’s Pizza posting in Plain City, Ohio.

Why not?

I filled out the application, not expecting anything from it. Definitely not expecting the general manager to text me directly, but she did.

Sandy texted me about an interview. I replied, we set it up, and that’s where we clicked. During the interview, we ended up talking about cats before anything else. She had cat portraits tattooed up both arms. I clocked it right away. Yeah. This one’s cool. Cat portraits up both arms and zero interest in pretending we cared more about the job than cats.

By the time I showed up, the vibe was already set. I had my Top Gun shades on. Exact replica. Favorite pair.

Sandy sat me in the lobby with paperwork, explained how to fill it out, then left me to it. Driver pledge. Forms. Sign here, initial here. Promise you won’t pull a Noid and lose your mind in a Domino’s.

I got to work, head down, focused. I wanted it done so I could start.

The door chimed.

I didn’t look up. Pen moving, line by line. Name. Signature. Whatever they needed.

He walked in, and I registered him without actually looking. Movement. Presence. Enough to know someone just entered the room and mattered a little. I kept writing.

He moved through the store and toward the back, office area. I heard voices for a minute, then nothing. I didn’t follow it.

It took me a good thirty minutes to get through the paperwork, long enough that whatever he was doing back there had already finished without me. At some point, I looked up. Just a glance. That was enough.

Oh.

That man looks like he could ruin me.

I bit my lip without thinking about it, caught myself, and snapped my attention back down to the pledge I was nearly finished with.

Focus, Drea.

Finish the fucking paper.

I didn’t know who he was. I didn’t know he’d already seen me. I didn’t know he’d asked Sandy who I was while I was sitting ten feet away pretending to care about a driver pledge. None of that existed to me yet.

I finished the paperwork and stood up, walking to the counter. That’s when it actually started.

He was there, closer now, right in front of me. I looked at him and didn’t stop. Full eye contact, no pretending. I knew he could feel it, and I leaned into that.

He avoided it at first. You can always tell when someone feels it but tries not to react. Then he looked back. There it was.

I held it.

Then I stuck my hand out.

“Hi, I’m Drea.”

No buildup. I just dropped into his space like I belonged there.

He took my hand. “Nice to meet you.”

Beat.

“New driver?”

“Yeah.”

That was it. But I didn’t back off. I held eye contact the entire time, on purpose. I wanted him a little uncomfortable. I like seeing what men do when they don’t know how to handle me. Not subtle. Not polite. I was being a menace about it.

He didn’t know what to do with that.

I let it sit for a second longer than necessary, then handed my paperwork to Sandy. He moved on, walked away like it didn’t matter. I watched him go.

Sandy grabbed the papers out of my hand and looked at me.

“You know who that was, right?”

I shook my head.

“That’s Braeden. District manager.”

I paused. Half a second.

Then I shrugged. “He was hot. I wanted to frustrate him a little.”

She laughed. Of course she did.

I leaned against the counter. “Is he nice?” I asked.

“He’s cool,” Sandy said.

“How old is he?”

I kept going, question after question. Not because I needed answers right then, but because I was already interested. Not in him exactly. In the idea of him.

I didn’t know he’d been watching me in the lobby. I didn’t know he asked about me before I ever walked up to him. I didn’t know any of that.

I just knew I saw something I wanted to play with.

I couldn’t wait to see him again.

I’d already decided I wanted him.

He was going to be mine.