“Sure. Any other rules, your majesty?” He nudged my shoulder.
I hid my budding smirk behind a napkin. There was only one more rule, and it was for me: Don’t fall for any more lines just because the guy smiles pretty.
Theoretically, that should be easy.
Once he got the job, Zack would be done with me, and me with him.
This was a one-time, no-feelings, openly using me kind of thing.
Still, part of me was tempted to cheer during the rest of his set just to make him blush again. It’d be sweet revenge. Or maybe just sweet…but I wasn’t sure I should risk any more flirting. I wouldn’t want him to think I was interested or anything.
13
Referral Program
Andre called me at the start of my next shift. “Nicole. Come here, please.”
I sighed and trudged up the stairs.
He pointed to his computer screen. “Did you recommend Zack Turner?”
“Yes,” I said.
He squinted at the email. “Not a lot of work experience.”
Since when did that matter here? “He’s a no-nonsense ex-quarterback. He’s got lots of muscles, he’s good under pressure, and he doesn’t care about brands, so he won’t skim the Zeezy’s for resale, unlike some other staff,” I said. The thought of touching those stupid shoes was as repulsive to me as the idea of touching my ex-boyfriend.
Andre raised his brows. “Does he have any drawbacks?”
I sucked in a breath and scanned the ceiling. If he’d asked me last week, I would’ve been able to rant off a whole list. Today, all I could say was, “He’s kinda loud, I guess.”
Andre made a noncommittal noise and yanked the phone from its holster. He dialed, then shooed me downstairs with the receiver.
What was the rush? The store wasn’t exactly crawling with customers.
I checked the white board for our major tasks. Swap out display shoes. Fine. Cassandra had added a note: Ni-ni should pick the date-night styles!
Nice.Because that’s what I wanted to focus on right after my breakup. Not that I blamed her for passing the buck. I was the style guru, after all, and she didn’t know about Theo or the Zeezy’s debacle. No matter what happened in my personal life, time marched on, and we had to transition from New Year’s Eve to Valentine’s Day: less sparkle, more sexy straps. Something my clients would drool over.
I snatched a bunch of options for Andre to consider and piled the boxes up to my chin. As I walked across the shoe window, I noticed a broad-shouldered guy in a nice button-down shirt hanging out by the desk, though he hadn’t rung the bell.
“Hey.” His voice carried a weird combination of soft and sharp. “Do you need any help with that?”
“No thanks. I’ll be with you in a…” I gasped and nearly walked right into the desk as the recognition hit. Swerving last-second, I steadied the wobbly stack of boxes. “Zack?”
“Hi. Again.” His lip twitched as he ran a hand through his short, dark hair. “Andre told me to come in at two p.m.”
“He’s interviewing you today?” Not even twenty-four hours after the initial call?
“Yeah.” A flush spread from his neck to his ears. “I didn’t expect him to call me in so fast, so I didn’t get a chance to get a fancy haircut. Do you think it looks okay? I put some spray on it, if that makes a difference.”
No one was going to be looking at his cropped hair. His white button-down shirt strained across the thick muscles of his shoulders. Even his dress pants hugged him tight. Loose shirt tails obscured most of the outline near his zipper, but still, he looked like he was one flex away from bursting all the seams. There was a good chance he wore the same outfit to a school dance, only he would’ve been holding flowers instead of a clipboard. Prom King Zack. I could imagine him reaching out.Can I have this dance?
Real Zack inhaled and looked down. “Is it that bad?”
“No.” I was, though. I snapped my attention to his face and made sure my jaw wasn’t hanging open over a guy in formal wear. “It’s–it’s nice. I’ve never seen you dressed up.”
He fussed with the second button down from his collar. “Yeah, well, I figured I shouldn’t show up to the interview in jeans or you’d be pissed at me.”
