Clearing my throat, I stepped away from her. “So…um…where do you make the candles?”
“Oh…right…let me show you.” She motioned for me to follow her to the back.
Once again, excitement had taken over her face. Every time she smiled the entire room lit up, making my heart do shit that I wasn’t used to.
She led me through a large black door that easily opened with a gentle push. Her little lab was just as fresh looking as the warehouse itself. It reminded me of a bakery kitchen. “Damn, you made this your own little candle bakery, huh?”
“That’s what I was going for, and I’m in love with every inch of it. I look forward to coming in here every day.”
“I bet. I hope you’ve hired plenty of staff. I know you like to do things yourself, but the way your business is jumping you need to make sure you keep plenty of help.”
“Most definitely. I have quite a few people to help fill orders, and I just hired an assistant from Izzy’s staffing company. So far she’s been a good fit.”
“Cool. Sounds like you have everything lined up.”
She nodded. “Yep, and I’m actually ahead of schedule.”
“I bet that’s a relief.”
“It sure is. There’s nothing worse than dealing with the pressure of being too close to a deadline. I’ve learned my lesson a time or two when it comes to that.”
“Trust and believe, I know exactly what you mean. Now that I have Dakota full-time, I feel like I’m always running,” I said, shaking my head. “I’m finally starting to master our flow though, so that’s a plus.”
“Thatisa plus. Stuff like that takes time. How long has it been just the two of you? Where’s Kierra?” She rested her hand on her hip. “I have so many questions.”
“I know you do, and I’m sorry if you felt like I’ve been purposely keeping things from you.”
“I mean, it definitely feels that way, but I’m going to assume you have a good reason for it.”
“I do.”
She nodded. “Well, let’s go grab some food. I’m ready to talk about it if you are.”
“Yeah, that’s cool.”
Honestly, I wasn’t quite sure how to talk about it. But like anything else, I had a feeling that Nova would make it easy for me. I followed her out of the building and waited for her to lock up.
“Do you really like the space?” she asked while nibbling on her bottom lip.
I took in a breath, trying not to make it obvious how much I loved to see her do that shit. “Hell yeah. Everything about this place is amazing…you’reamazing.”
“Stop, you’re making me blush.”
“That’s what I’m here to do.”
We both paused, our eyes lingering on each other much longer than necessary.
I could tell that she wanted to say something, but rather than let the words leave her lips, she cleared her throat and walked towards my car.
I squeezed my eyes shut, too nervous to question what she might have been thinking. After a few seconds, I finally managed to pull myself together and get to the passenger side door to help her inside.
“Thank you,” she said while tugging on her seatbelt.
“My pleasure.”
As soon as I got in the car, Nova hooked her phone up to find a playlist that she wanted to listen to. Thankfully, she’d found a nineties R&B station, which was certainly something I could vibe to.
“Just for you,” she said with a wink.
