“He can start today if you want. I hear the judge list is officially releasing today.” Grayson said and I nodded, “You might need all the protection that you can get.”
I turned to Miles, “Marissa will show you around so you can have amental layout of the place.”
He looked to Grayson for confirmation and after he nodded, Miles stood up and excused himself to find Marissa.
After he left, Grayson and I finalized everything that needed to be done. He had already told me about the price when he sent Miles’ file to me and honestly it wasn’t anything less than what I expected.
Some might argue that six figures is a lot for a bodyguard but some haven’t been egged and flour bombed in the span of one week.
We finished everything in less than half an hour and Grayson left. Marissa sent me a text letting me know that she had finished giving Miles the tour and he was going to be in the lobby which was fine by me. I needed to go back to my stitching.
I spent the next hour and a half holed up in my office working on my stitches when I decided that I was done for the day. I decided to check on the dresses for the fashion show and see how the tailors were doing.
They all ignored me as I walked through their workspace. I think it was partly because they were busy and partly because they didn’t want to draw more of my attention than necessary to what they were doing.
The only person who actually met my eye was Hannah and I gave her a small smile which she returned with equal enthusiasm. I stared longer than I should have at the outfit she was working on but there was nothing to critique- at least, not from where I was standing.
I left after that, mainly because I wanted the others to be able to work freely without me looming over their necks more than I already am with the deadline.
I passed by Marissa who was talking to another employee and she ended her conversation quickly and rushed up to me.
“Mr. Cowe is in your office,” she informed me, “The judge list should be releasing in less than an hour, there was a call from someone from the Times and they left a message. Also, Mr. Winston called and said you should give him a call as soon as possible.”
“Thank you,” I resisted the urge to pinch my forehead because of the oncoming headache, “How’s Miles?”
“He’s good actually. He hasn’t spoken to anyone; he just sits there on his own. I even tried making conversation with him but he just gave me one worded responses. He must be so bored, I kind of feel bad for him.”
“He’ll be fine,” I gave her shoulder a soft tap, “You have a job to do, you should probably get back to it.”
She nodded and went back to her conversation while I went up the stairs to my office. Just as she said, Nathan was already in my office but he wasn’t seating on the chair where he usually sat, he was crouched by the settee looking over the dress I was stitching but he wasn’t touching it.
“It’s rude to snoop.” I said announcing my presence.
He didn’t turn but I knew he heard me, “You’re stitching the entire thing by hand.”
It wasn’t a question because we both knew the answer but it didn’t stop me from giving a sarcastic response, “You’re very observant.”
“That’s amazing.” I was caught off guard by the compliment, “I can’t even sew in a straight line.”
I wasn’t sure what to say but I settled for, “Thank you,” he nodded, “Are we going to start this or not?”
He finally stood up and took his seat. I waited until he was settled before making my way to my own chair.
“First of all,” he began, “Let’s talk about that dress.”
“It’s what I’m wearing for couture week.” I explained, “Normally, I would have someone else do it but there is so little time and it is such an important event. I would hate for it to be less than perfect. My reputation would never survive it.”
“Can you tell me more about the dress?” he asked, “What you’re using to make it, the fabrics and maybe anything else worth knowing?”
“It’s a surprise,” I said coyly, “If I tell you that, you will have a faint idea what it looks like and that just defeats the whole purpose of the surprise.”
The corner of his lips rose and I knew it wasn’t for the interview, it was a genuine reaction and it made me crack a small smile as well. He held up his hands in mock surrender as if to say ‘you win’ and dropped the topic of the dress.
“Speaking of Couture week,” he started, “I hear the judge list is coming out today.”
“Don’t remind me.” I muttered.
“How do you feel about that?”
