Without hesitation he grabbed what she pointed at and set the mini light on her desk, trying to find a plug.
“Where the hell?” he mumbled, searching the extension cord by her desk for an available outlet.
“I just plug it into my computer.” Flora took the cord from his hand, enjoying the little contact they made. “Thanks though.”
“So back to this Cassandra and Romeo business.”
“They own the production factory out in Moonlight City. Both are lovely people who are incredibly kind. Sure, they’re bossy some times and smothering at others. But they have no reason to try to harm me. They are as invested in my business as I am. Cassandra and Romeo are married and seemingly happy. They built a shoe production factory in their thirties. They lost their daughter a few years back but seem to have bounced back.”
“You noticed you said ‘seem’ quite a few times?” Dylan asked, his suspicion rising.
“I used "seem" like twice, Dylan. Plus, I don’t really know these people. I occasionally have lunch with them.”
“Let me attend the meeting.”
“No.”
“You’re preventing me from doing my job to the fullest.”
“Dylan,” Flora whined, setting her ring light to the right position for her call.
“Flora, let me attend the meeting.”
Debating for a moment, Flora weighed her options. There was really no harm in letting Dylan attend the video call. “Is there a way for you to watch without them knowing you’re there? We’d have to do introductions and they’ll have tons of questions, and I don’t have the time or energy for that.”
“Let me call Felix, he’ll know how we could get that done.” Dylan said already typing away on his phone.
“Now, who is Felix?” Flora asked, if only just to be a smartass.
“A Packmate. He’s a tech genius who would know how to add me to the call without the other participants knowing.” The crushing reminder that Dylan was part of a Pack upset Flora’s solitary nature. Panthers didn’t grow up in Packs, let alone join them as adults. Not that she wanted to; most Packs didn’t stray from their own species. Even if they did, the chances of themlettingher in were slim to none. A panther's reputation of being too strong for an Alpha to lead was too much to overlook.
Being romantically involved with Dylan would mean him leaving his Pack, assuming Jackson wouldn’t let her join their Pack. She didn’t want to put Dylan in a position where he’d have to choose between them. Joining the Pack seemed like the next reasonable solution but a panther in a Pack was unheard of. Inserting a panther in the mix was probably too much risk for him to take.
Dylan probably didn’t like her like that anyway.
Flora flipped through her notes of each design, as he got his phone set up for the call.
Minding her own, Flora wiped her hands along her pants. Knowing that Dylan suspected Cassandra and Romeo to be her potential stalkers made her paranoid and she couldn’t even figure out what to think about it all. Pushing it away, she pressed the call button on the video conference system. Appearing on the camera she put a smile on her face.
Cassandra and Romeo popped on the screen with a great big hello. The owners of Moonlight Production were in their late 40s, Flora guessed, and had been married for decades.
“You’ve got your braids back in, honeypie,” Cassandra pointed out, her honey-toned finger pointed at the screen.
“Yes, Cassandra. I put them in a few weeks ago,” Flora said, pulling a few of her black braids forward.
“Beautiful, just like our little girl,” Cassandra mumbled looking Romeo’s way. Flora stole a glance up at Dylan, trying to read his face, which of course was as blank as a damn whiteboard.
“Thank you,” Flora smiled, bringing her attention back to the couple on the screen. “So, how did those new designs look? Is there any note that should be made before sampling?”
“These are perfect, honeypie. The structural issues we had before are fixed within the design and we can produce the samples for you, no problem. Thanks to our personal investment,” Romeo said, his gray eyes shining through the screen.
“I can’t say how grateful I am, for you putting a part of your savings into funding this extra collection. I really couldn’t have gotten it done without you,” Flora thanked them. The length of time the pole shoe collection was taking to get through production really ate at her revenue and shit was sinking faster than she could’ve imagined.
After bidding farewell, Flora ended the call. Her eyes found Dylan’s with a sharpness. She knew he would give her his opinion on the lovely couple who had givenherno reason to be suspicious of anything for years. “What do you think?”
“How long ago did they lose their daughter?”
“Three years ago. Why does that matter?” Flora asked.
