Page 83 of Hired By My Rich Baby Daddy 2

One client wanted cute, grown-woman pieces she could wear to brunch, dinner, and date nights with her booski without looking like she tried too hard. Another wanted to completely switch up her wardrobe after losing 100 pounds. Okay, clock it! The last one had basically told me to do whatever the hell I wanted as long as she looked expensive.

That was my favorite kind of client! Okurrr!

I had picked out tops, bottoms, dresses, shoes, accessories, and even a few pieces of shapewear where needed. Everything had been folded in tissue paper, boxed up, labeled, and was ready to be shipped first thing in the morning.

On top of that, I’d finished altering a custom birthday outfit somebody needed for next weekend and put the final touches on a prom dress a mama had ordered ridiculously early for her daughter that I had been working on for almost three weeks. It was so fucking cute. Like, literally, chef’s kiss. I really did my biggest one and couldn’t wait to see the young lady wear her dress.

I stood in the middle of my office for a second and looked around.

Man. I was proud of this shit.

It wasn’t huge or overly fancy, but it was mine. Clothing racks lined one wall, while shelves held fabrics and supplies on another. My desk sat toward the back with my laptop, sketchpad, receipts, and the iced coffee I’d forgotten about hours ago.

Bodied By NouNou had really grown.

Sometimes I got so caught up in being tired that I forgot to appreciate that.

But tonight?

I was appreciating my bed.

“See your ass tomorrow.” I laughed because I had the worst habit of talking to myself. I really needed to cut that out.

I turned off the lights, locked everything up, and headed outside. The second that air hit me, I smiled.

It was still bright out, the sun sitting high enough to make it feel like the day wasn’t even close to being over. I tossed my purse onto the passenger seat, climbed into my car, and immediately turned my music up.

My phone lit up in the cupholder, and the good mood I was in was automatically put on pause when I saw an unknown call light up on the screen.

I rolled my eyes and let it ring. I wasn’t interested in hearing anything else Carl had to say.

My phone stopped ringing, then started again.

I kissed my teeth. “Boy, fuck you.”

I kept driving and yawned because it was almost like my body just knew that I was pulling into my apartment complex and that I was about to take a good-ass shower, put on some cute PJs, sip a little wine, and go to sleep.

I gathered all my things, hopped out of the car, and made it halfway up the steps when I heard my name.

“Nourah.”

I froze.

You have got to be fucking kidding me.

I slowly turned around.

Carl stood near the bottom of the stairs holding a bouquet of flowers. And unfortunately for me, he looked good.

Tired, but good.

His locs were pulled back, glasses sitting on his face, and he had on a plain T-shirt with a pair of dark jeans and sneakers. But it was his expression that caught me.

He looked miserable.

Like somebody had been dragging his ass through hell all week and forgot to bring him back.

Or was that me?