Chapter 4
CHAPTER
FOUR
Skye
I didn’t remember making such a fool of myself since my high school days.
I’d been embarrassed the entire evening.
Thankfully, the couple had joined us right away, before things could get even more awkward, but I hadn’t been able to meet Robert’s eyes again.
Honestly, I was still embarrassed the next morning.
I replayed the evening in my mind as I entered Soho.
This was my favorite part of the city. Soho was unlike any other section in New York.
On Broadway there were big-brand stores, coffee shops, art galleries, and restaurants, not to mention street sales associates and even impromptu flea markets.
I liked the stores that were on the smaller, less popular side streets, like ours—Soho Lingerie.
There one could find true gems and unique shops catering to every taste imaginable.
I stopped by Joe’s, where I bought my coffee every morning.
I’d sworn by Starbucks for most of my adult life but had decided to support local entrepreneurs once we moved here.
“A latte, please,” I told Joe. “And a cappuccino.”
“That’s for you too, or for Tess?” Joe asked.
I grinned. My caffeine addiction was so well-known that even Joe was policing my intake.
“For Tess, of course.”
“Coming right up.”
Knowing Tess, she’d arrived two hours ago and was already in need of a second dose of caffeine.
The smell and taste of coffee always took me back to the time I’d worked in a small lab, fresh out of college.
That was when I’d gotten addicted to coffee.
I’d majored in biotech, and I’d loved working in the lab.
Two years later, a fashion company reached out to the lab, asking for the development of a special type of fabric.
I’d worked on-site for three years, and then had stayed on as director of R&D.
None of that really prepared me for running a business, but I’d taken the plunge anyway.
Even though I was a little out of my comfort zone, I loved what we were doing: creating lingerie for women of all shapes and sizes.
I’d always been curvy and far too busty from a young age, so this was personal to me.
I wanted every woman to feel comfortable in her body, to feel proud of herself. It was my mission.
I also loved that I didn’t have a boss. I liked working hard, just didn’t like to do it on someone else’s terms. I liked having a say in my own schedule. Granted, for the past year, that had meant working nonstop, but I was optimistic that things would settle down… eventually.
Most of all, I loved working with my sister. Tess and I balanced each other. We had complementary skills, and that came in handy.
“Morning, sis,” I greeted, stepping inside Soho Lingerie. We’d decided on the name easily enough—they made great key words for search engines, and when we eventually expanded (we had big dreams) it would serve us well. Soho was known all over the globe.
Tess looked up from the counter, where she was hunched over her laptop. “Oooh, you come bringing coffee. I love you more every day, I swear.”
I handed her the cappuccino, admiring my sister’s fashion sense.
Currently wearing a knee-length white lace dress with long sleeves, she also had a red belt around her waist. Tess rocked whatever she wore, no exception.
She had her own style. Her hair was light brown with blonde strands—sometimes she added pink or green highlights in for fun, especially since her hair was getting so long, almost reaching her waist now.
I peered over her shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“Answering customer complaints.”
“We should really hire someone to help us with the online shop.”
Tess pressed her lips together. “We’ve got this.”
Yeah… except we didn’t though. We had a backlog of emails, orders…
everything. We’d had the online shop for four years, and we’d run that while holding full-time jobs.
I only remembered that time in a blur, as if it happened to someone else.
We’d quit our jobs just before opening the brick-and-mortar store.
I loved interacting with customers, finding the perfect lingerie for them.
I loved every nook and cranny of our store.
We’d handpicked everything. The customer couches were dark green velvet.
We had two of them, one in the front and one in the back, separating the changing rooms. The brass light fixtures and light pink walls were just beautiful.
We’d replaced the original flooring, which had been a gorgeous wood, but it had darkened the place too much.
We’d gone with a light oak, and it made the shop look bigger.
As much as I loved our store though, I couldn’t deny it—we were running on a hamster wheel.
We had two sales associates, Jane and Olive, but still handled too much ourselves. We also had a secret weapon: our family.
We were tight-knit… and there were a lot of us.
Tess was the oldest of the group. Then came our cousin Hunter, just one year behind.
He’d lived with us as a teenager, so sometimes we even forgot he wasn’t actually our brother.
I was two years younger than Tess. Our brother Ryker was two years younger than me, and Cole came directly after him.
Mom had confessed once after a fabulous meal where we’d had far too much to eat and drink that he was the surprise baby.
At thirty-two, I still considered my siblings my best friends.
Anyway, Cole, Ryker, Hunter, plus Mom and her husband were pitching in to manage the store on Sundays.
Honestly though, that wasn’t okay. Everyone had crazy busy schedules without spending their time here.
Cole and Hunter were running a real estate empire.
Ryker was a Wall Street guru. Mom was a school principal, and her husband was in charge of setting up concert stages.
They could all use their time off for a break.
I knew they wouldn’t stop dropping by until Tess and I hired someone though. It was just the way our family worked—every time someone was in over their heads, the others came to the rescue.
My family had always been close, especially after our dad left us.
Once upon a time, we’d been the picture-perfect family.
Then our financial situation imploded, and to make matters worse, Dad left Mom for another woman.
It had been such a difficult time that I mostly tried to block it from my memory.
We’d been living in Boston in a large house.
Mom had been a homemaker, so we were suddenly in a terrible position.
Luckily, she got a job at a school here in New York.
Mom started as a teacher and worked her way up to principal.
She was tough as nails and raised her own four kids and our cousin by herself.
She was my role model. She’d taught us the value of hard work and independence and sticking together.
We’d taken that to heart and added a few indispensable attributes to our family dynamic…
namely teasing each other about absolutely everything.
Even though the rest of the gang worked in various fields, we had one project in common, the Ballroom Galas.
From September to June, we organized galas raising money for charity.
Working on that meant we met up regularly.
Now the events were on summer hiatus, but we still found plenty of excuses to get together.
By the time we met next, I hoped we’d have made some progress in finding someone to cover for us on Sundays.
Right now, I didn’t even have time to think about it, because the store was bustling with customers as soon as we opened.
We only took a real break shortly before lunch, both sitting on the couch next to the counter.
“Sooo… want to tell me a bit more about last night? You were saying something about a hunk before you rudely hung up on me and then didn’t call me back,” Tess said, batting her eyelashes.
I laughed. “Well, I told you the essential information over the phone.”
“But I live for details. Is he tall, short? Blue, green, brown eyes? How long is his hair?”
“Geez, woman. Slow down. Breathe.”
Tess pressed her lips together, a sure sign that she was barely holding back what she really wanted to say. She kept batting her eyelashes like she had something in her eye.
“First of all, he actually overheard me saying that stuff.”
Tess’s eyes bulged. Giggling, she covered her mouth with a hand. “Oh, Skye.”
“Hey, not funny. I was trying to make a good impression.”
“I bet he was impressed.”
I blushed just remembering that daring smile on his handsome face.
“You think he’ll take the house?” Tess went on.
“I don’t think so.” I was keeping my fingers crossed for one of the families to move in. A too-hot-to-handle neighbor was more than I could deal with right now.
“Aww, girl, he’s really something, isn’t he? You’re blushing.”
I pressed my palms on my cheeks. They were burning.
“I need to get it together.”
“Nah, just go with it. Daydreaming about hot guys is relaxing. For me, at least.”
Tess wiggled her eyebrows before bursting out laughing. It was so contagious that I started laughing too. This was what I loved most about running the store with Tess. We shared tidbits of our day-to-day lives, giving each other advice.
An image of Robert popped into my mind. Yumm…
all those muscles, those perfect cheekbones.
I felt my shoulders slump, but my limbs seemed lighter as I practically swooned just thinking of him.
I grinned at my sister. “You’re right. This is a much better relaxation technique than visualizing waterfalls or whatever. ”
I’d never been able to get the hang of meditation . Ever .
“I know, right?”
Our much-needed break came to an end as the door opened and a customer walked in. Ah, Ramona, one of my favorite clients.
“Ramona, hi. What can I do for you?” I asked.
“Well, that bra you talked me into buying last time is the best thing since sliced bread. It’s comfy and super sexy. I don’t know how you girls do it, but I want three more.”
“Coming right up. How about panties to match?”
“Sure. Why not?”
Ramona had been shy on her last visit to the store, conscious about her curves, but now she was radiant, adding a lace nightgown to her purchases. I lived for this: watching women become confident with their bodies because we created the lingerie to fit their needs.
After she left, I noticed I had an email from the homeowners, asking me how the showing went. Then I saw another email, from Robert. I was usually bad with names, but I knew exactly who Robert was: six feet of hotness that spelled all kinds of trouble.
Ms. Winchester,
I’m interested in the house. Let me know about a convenient time to call to discuss the remaining details.
Robert Dumont
Holy shit. I was getting a too-hot-to-handle neighbor after all.