Total pages in book: 116
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110550 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 553(@200wpm)___ 442(@250wpm)___ 369(@300wpm)
He sniffed, looking down his nose at me. Funny enough, I didn’t take it as an insult. I had a feeling he acted this superior with his own mother. Jace couldn’t help it. “Well, you must be good if they asked for you personally.”
“So how will this work?” Zoe cut in. “We sketch designs and hand them in for your approval?”
I shook my head. “Even simpler than that. I know their preferences, and I assume you all do too from making their clothes for years. We divide up the family and create the clothes for the ones we’re assigned. I will get final reject power, but otherwise, designing their wardrobe is up to you.”
“Me too, Miss— Kenzie?” Rylee asked.
“You too,” I said, earning shocked looks from Jace and Zoe. “But in your case, I approve your designs before you touch a thread.”
I was nice but she was still an intern. The woman may be implanting trackers in those clothes, but they’d still be the best clothes to come out of Caddell House while I was in charge.
“Yes, absolutely,” Rylee said. “Actually, I’ve got two pads worth of ideas I can show you.”
“Love to see them.”
Rylee was up and out the door before I could finish the sentence with “later.”
“Are you two friends or something?” Jace morphed from shocked to shrewd. “Interns sew buttons. They don’t design wardrobes for top clients.”
“And she won’t either if I don’t love what she comes up with,” I replied. “The Johnson I have in mind for her prefers simple, low-cut, and leather. Anything too frouncy stays in the closet. Anything that conceals her assets gets ripped up and fixed. With those guidelines to work with, Rylee will be fine. I’m more interested in what you, Jace, have planned for David Johnson.”
The entire Merchant clan went by aliases under their account. David Johnson was Liam’s. The irony is they don’t go by their real names to discourage anyone from adding any extras in the package of clothes they ship out. Now we know how well that worked.
Jace grinned the Cheshire cat’s smile. “I am bursting with ideas for David. He’ll love what I have in mind for him.”
“He’s a single father running a business,” I said. “He won’t love anything too loud or ostentatious.”
He and Zoe shared an amused glance. “Don’t worry about me, love. I’ve handstitched almost everything in that mystery man’s closet. I know his taste better than my boyfriend’s.”
“What about me?” Zoe asked. “I’m not interested in simple or business casual. Vance said the Johnsons were looking for a completely new look. I’m ready for a challenge, Kenzie. No more bringing other people’s designs to life.”
“You will have—”
“—she expecting you?” Rylee’s voice floated under the door crack. “If you give me a minute, I’ll let her know you’re here.”
“Not necessary.”
My brows shot up my head.
“This isn’t the queen’s drawing room. You don’t need to announce my presence.” Genevieve Hunt did that all on her own, throwing the door open and striding in to the pleasure of my surprise. Surprise at seeing her, or at seeing her pink lace bra clear as day through her sheer see-through shirt. “Sup, Feisty. Damn, they gave us a nice office.”
I shook myself and looked again. Genny was still there. “I’m sorry, did you say us?”
“Uh, yeah,” she drew out. “I told you all you had to do was get the job, and I’d handle security.” She stretched out on my desk like the runway pinup model she was. “Say hello to your security.”
“GENNY, YOU CAN’T BE serious.”
“I’ve never been more serious in my entire life.”
Genny and I argued in the back of the cab heading home. Her motorcycle was out while she was wearing a boot, and I said no to Sunny’s ride so we could fight it out some more.
“You can’t just walk into a place like Caddell House and announce you’re not going away!”
She laughed. “Can’t I? Looks like I just did.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose. The day went off course with Genny’s arrival and went nowhere good after that. She was on my tail everywhere I went, sharing her unfiltered opinion about the clothes we passed, and the designers making them. On my lunch break, I tried to take Bane’s suggestion of snooping while everyone was out, but Genny insisted on coming with me in case the person came back and caught me.
A sensible suggestion if not for her boot clomping so loudly on the floor, sneaking was impossible.
“Genny,” I began. “I appreciate what you want to do. I feel a hundred times safer with you guarding my back than another faceless guard.”
“Why do I sense a but coming on?”
“But I don’t believe that’s why you’re doing this,” I gritted. “You don’t think I can find this guy fast enough, or maybe even at all. You’re volunteering to babysit me, not protect me.”