Sebastian
The last two weeks had flown by. Business was starting to pick up, at least slightly. Not enough to get me out of the hole I was in, but enough to keep my head above water for the time being. Lydia and I had found a rhythm working and living together. We ate breakfast together most mornings before I hit the gym and Lydia did whatever she did managing my accounts. She would meet me at the shop sometime around midday to generate more content, usually hanging around for the rest of the evening, even after she got what she needed.
A part of me really wanted to call her out for that, but knowing Lydia, she would leave and would never spend more time than necessary there ever again. She was a brat like that, so I kept my mouth shut and just relished it internally.
I was going over the books before my next appointment when she walked in, her silvery hair blowing in the wind. She looked up at me, pushing her hair out of her face, and our eyes locked for a beat too long.
Her brows furrowed as she pointed at my face. “What is that?”
“Glasses,” I answered. I only really used them when I was going over my paperwork, so it wasn’t surprising that she hadn’t seen me in them yet.
“No.” She shook her head at me, her hands gesturing all around my face. “You don’t get to look like that, with all those tattoos, and then put glasses on like some sexy, nerdy bad boy.”
My chest puffed out, and I grinned broadly at her. “You think I’m sexy?”
“Of course you would get hung up on that,” she huffed, rolling her eyes. “What have you got on the calendar today?”
I reluctantly took off my glasses—they were really only reading glasses, and they gave me a headache if I tried to use them for farsighted vision—and put my books away.
“Two consultations and two appointments.”
Both of the appointments were relatively small, but with two consultations, it rounded out to be a decent day. Hopefully, at least one of the consultations would book an appointment before leaving. It was really a fifty-fifty likelihood of hearing from them again if they left without committing to it.
“You need more appointments. It’s impossible to expect me to continue to think of things to post if you don’t have anything going on.”
“Yes, it’s only for my social media presence that I need more clients. Thank you for that insight,” I responded dryly.
Lydia let out a deep, throaty chuckle. She put her bag on the couch just as the first consultation client came through the door. I had known Andrea Petit for years. She and Wyatt had seen each other for a while a long time ago, but that was small-town life.
“Sebastian,” she greeted. She looked me up and down with an interested smirk. “Is this where you’ve been holed up? I haven’t seen you around Harpoon’s lately. How’s things been?”
“Good. Been busy,” I lied. She was right that I hadn’t been to my favorite bar in town for a while, but it wasn’t because I was busy. Clearly, I wasn’t. I just didn’t have an interest in picking up random women to go home with lately. Not for the last few months.
Lydia eyed us from the couch with a scowl. She pulled a laptop out of her bag and shuffled some things around noisily. I could have sworn she was making as much noise as possible just to be a pain.
Andrea turned to look at her before turning back to me with a sultry grin.
“I love your work,” she said, her fingers trailing over the ink on my neck. “Are all of these your own artwork?”
A goat bleated loudly, making Andrea jump. We both turned to Lydia in confusion.
“Oh, sorry. TikTok video. Forgot the volume was on,” she explained with sarcastic smirk.
It took all of my effort to hold back my grin at her not-so-subtle cattiness.
“Anyway.” I turned back to Andrea. “I have a couple of ideas for your tattoo based on what you told me, but I’d like to sit with you to go over what you’re thinking. Follow me.”
I led her to the back of the shop where my chair was. Sometimes I did the consultation visits at the waiting lounge, but that didn’t seem wise today. I had no interest in Andrea Petit, not just because she had a history with Wyatt or because she was a bitch to Maeve when Jane was a baby. I simply didn’thave an interest in anyone. Not anyone I was free to pursue anyway. And any non-pursuable interests were being kept on lockdown. Still, I wasn’t turning away the opportunity for a client, and I wasn’t going to let Lydia scare her away either.
Andrea and I sat at my station and discussed what she wanted and where.
“Right here, under my boob.” She grabbed her titty like she was mid-porno, lifting it up to show me where she wanted the placement to be.
“That’s fine. It’ll be a delicate spot for a few days, so wearing a bra might be uncomfortable. It’s best to not have anything rubbing against it while it’s healing,” I said.
“That’s not a problem. My boobs look great without a bra. Well, I guess you’ll see that for yourself, right?” She smiled that seductive smile again as her fingers danced on my leg. “Maybe, after we’re done, you can take me out for a drink?”
Before I could answer, Lydia started packing her shit up just as noisily as she’d unpacked it. She whipped her backpack onto the couch, angrily shoving things in.
