“Little?” Flora asked, turning her head back to look at her definitely not little ass.
“Don’t we have a meeting to go to in like five minutes?”
“When have you ever been pressed for time, Mr. Enchanted?”
“Since now.”
With a hum, Flora wandered into the shower.
* * *
Flora's nervesbegan to take over when the meeting room came into view. Not only was she worried about her designs, but the little problem of her stalkers niggled at the back of her mind. She wanted to assume she was safe, being out of town and with Dylan, but she knew better. At leastnowshe knew better. That last breach of privacy in her apartment really set her off, and she hadn’t been quite the same since. She prayed this new constant worry would fade once the problem had been taken care of.
“Ready to meet Casandra and Romeo?” she asked Dylan, who was walking directly behind her. He was in her shadow, and she was grateful for that extra layer of security.
“Of course, time to get them off my suspect list.”
“Dylan,” she winced, lagging her head back to ram into his shoulder. There was no way they were behind the attacks; what purpose would they have to be? None. She still believed it was someone who frequented Lust Lane, not someone she knew personally. While it could be wishful thinking, she doubted it was Cassandra and Romeo.
“Won’t know till we find out,” Dylan commented as he pulled open the office door. The older couple stood together. Flora adored the love between the couple. They’d been together for over 30 years and still were infatuated with each other. Cassandra was dressed in a sweater dress and pumps with her hair straightened to perfection. Romeo was outfitted in dress pants and a button shirt, freshly ironed, and his hair parted to the side and gelled.
“Cookies?” Cassandra’s warm honeyed voice asked, pushing a plate of chocolate chip cookies forward on the conference table.
“You know it, Cassandra,” Flora asked, a smile brightening her face as she reached for the gooey mess of cookies.
“So, who is this dashing young man here with you, Flora?” Cassandra asked as she proceeded to take her seat. Flora stared back at Dylan, unsure of how to answer the question. She wanted to say he was her boyfriend, but they only had their first date just last night, and jumping to conclusions wasn’t her style.
“My bodyguard. Dylan Enchanted,” she said, winking at Dylan.
“It’s nice to meet you,” Romeo spoke up. The pressure of Dylan meeting the two people who had her back in creating Dainty Rebel was daunting. The atmosphere in the room made her feel as if spiders were crawling up the back of her neck.
Shaking Romeo's hand, Dylan proceeded to offer his hand to Cassandra as well. Dylan’s shoulders squared off the moment they got close. His brooding energy filled whatever space in the room that wasn’t occupied with the discomfort of strict judgment. Sitting next to Flora, Dylan wrapped his arm around the back of her chair. She couldn’t lie and say she didn’t thoroughly enjoy her bodyguard's possessiveness, with whom she also happened to have one of the best dates of her life with a mere 12 hours ago.
“Let's pull out the prototypes,” Flora said, clapping her hands together. It was time to see her next two collections come to life.
* * *
“They didn’t mentionanything personal, not once during that whole meeting.”
“Dylan, what if I don’t want to know what you think about them?” Flora asked as she plopped down onto their shared bed. The meeting was great, perfect even. The prototypes for her next line of shoes were approved and ready for production. Cassandra went as far as to tell Flora how proud of her she was. The pride nearly dripped from Cassandra’s pores and it warmed Flora’s heart. It was unusual for the first designs to work out so easily, but they did for her metal rings collection. The stripper collection prototypes on the other hand were approved, but she needed to run them by Emery, Flora’s favorite performer at Lust Lane, before she hit the green button towards production.
“You're right, I don’t want to ruin the moment,” Dylan said, laying over her body. Resting his head on her chest, they both blushed.
“Sorry, I overstepped —” He started to get back up, but she grabbed his shoulder to stop him.
“No, stay,” Flora said, running her hands through his short waves. The comfort was welcoming. The weight of his body heating hers was a feeling she’d never want to let go of.
“A dime for your time,” she mumbled, wrapping her other arm around his resting body.
“A penny for your thoughts?” he mumbled back, pressing in closer. The contact suddenly felt desperate, limited.
“How long will this last?” Going with the truth would hurt more, but she wasn’t one to skip around it.
“How serious are your feelings?” he asked, turning his head to look at her. Smiling, she wasn’t sure she was brave enough to tell the truth. They’d been on one date, and he had her hooked. As many dates as she’d gone on, no one had made her feel this strongly.
This deeply. This desperate. Like how a soulmate should make her feel.
“Serious,” she confided, meeting his eyes finally. The gaze was sizzling, the physical touch searing. “You?”
