It was not what he expected.
He expected a record store vibe with some kitschy shitthrown in, bargain basement-type décor that was cool because of some albumcover posters tacked haphazardly to the walls with some vintage shitintermingled just to shake things up.
But mostly cool because Archie was cool, and it was hers.
It wasn’t that.
Oh, it was cool.
But it was a lot more.
First, it was big.Way bigger than he expected.
Second, the floors were covered in large, overlapping rugsand the overall feel was of a massive living room that was filled with a ton ofdope stuff.
Helping this feel was the fact that there was some loungelizard jazz playing not discreetly over the sound system, and if someone walkedup to him and handed him a chilled martini he wouldn’t have been surprised.
There was a vinyl section with a sign over it that just hadmusical notes on it that hung cockeyed.Against the wall of that section wastailored shelving filled with old CDs.
Across from this, there was a section of freestandingshelves that had its own sign over it that was an opened book, and the sectionitself looked like a library with places to sit and read.
There were racks of clothes that surrounded a setup of abedroom area (but was really a bed and a bunch of stuff for sale), one sidewith a big picture of Amelia Earhart over what had to be the women’s section,the Dos Equis guy over the men’s on the other side.
The rest of the place was filled with more stuff for sale,from furniture, glassware and lamps to gifts, candles, jewelry, kitchen stuff,and more.
Some of it was new.
Most of it was used.
Apparently, there was a lot of shit that Archie liked.
The way it was laid out was unique, appealing, andcomfortable.
This was a store you hung out at and not only because thereseemed to be a working, vintage soda fountain that had been either restored orresurrected against the side wall opposite to where they were going.
The place reminded him of Fortnum’s Used Books, whichobviously had a shit ton of books, not to mention sold vinyl.But it had acoffee counter at the front.And you didn’t go to Fortnum’s unless it was tohit the coffee counter and grab the best coffee in the city…or to hang aroundbecause it was the kind of place where you wanted to hang.
And Jag wanted to hang at S.I.L., walk around, check shitout, and maybe get a cherry Coke.
Archie wasn’t gonna let that happen.
She was pulling him to a door that had no window, but therewas a big square one in the wall beside it.
He was guessing it was her office.
He was pleased to see she didn’t leave it open, she had todig in her pants to get the key (no mini-skirt, movie T-shirt and Doc Martenstoday (fuck him running)).
Nope.
She had on bright yellow oversize pants that hung sexy onher hips and were rolled up in wide cuffs at the hems, a tiny, white, ribbedtank that fit her like a second skin, and a pair of vivid green, spike-heeledpumps that he just noticed and the sight of them he felt in his dick.
Which was what he was concentrating on when she unlocked heroffice, tugged him in, shut the door, then pushed him up against it and gotclose.
Okay.
Yeah.
He needed her to back off.
