“If he has a problem, tell him to come by next week and we’ll discuss it in person.” We’d more than discuss it. I’d tell the man to his face that I knew he was trying to sell me knockoffs. I might not have his clout in the fashion industry, but I had enough.
I smiled at the customer when she finally raised her head.
“Welcome to Lila’s. Is there anything I can help you find?” I motioned at the rack then toward the dressing rooms tucked away in the left corner. A pedestal stage took up a large area in front of the dressing rooms, a series of mirrors giving my clients a three-hundred and sixty-degree view of their ensemble.
“I need a dress for a charity banquet. Something unique. Stunning.” She motioned at her suit. “Elegant.”
A short black hair cut in a sharp bob framed her round face. Red lips puckered in a near pout, but the look in her eyes held hints of desperation. If the tabloids were to be believed, her husband had cheated on her several months ago. Meaning, if I read the situation right, she was looking for a revenge dress to show him what he’d missed.
“One-of-a-kind?” I recognized her from the front page of last month’s Forbes magazine, and my smile widened. “With your coloring and style…”
I tapped my fingernail against my chin while shooting a quick look at my wrist. Half an hour until time to pick up Leo. I lived and breathed Leo's schedule. Picking him up from school was the highlight of my day. Dressing famous people and seeing the name of my boutique splashed across the world’s front pages as the best boutique for the rich and famous came a close second.
“I have just the thing.” I snapped my fingers and hurried to the back of the store, weaving between rows of dresses, suits, and everyday wear for those too rich to buy wholesale. Brands I’d dreamed of owning hung on every rack and graced the walls,but the best items—the most expensive and unique—were locked in the back and only I had the key.
Alexis finished the call to Mr. Thompson and slammed the antique phone back into the cradle. “That’s the most satisfying feeling.” She picked up the receiver and dropped it again. “Why did we ever get rid of these?”
“For the convenience of a phone in your pocket.” I unlocked the safe and pulled out a lemon-yellow Balmain dress made at my request. Our contract guaranteed he’d never make another like it. I ran my hand down the silky fabric and fluffed the skirt to add depth. “Give me half an hour. If I’m still with Mrs. Walker, interrupt with a reminder of an important meeting.”
Alexis finished putting away a stack of boxes containing my newest shipment of Louis Vuitton bags and blew her blonde bangs from her eyes with a huff. She added a smile that sparkled in her blue eyes. “Sure thing, boss. Tell Leo hi for me and that I miss him reorganizing the stock and making me think I’d lost my mind.”
I laughed on my way back across the showroom floor. She’d wrapped up Leo in that one memory. My rambunctious boy with a heart of gold and a mischievous streak that I’d been sure would land him in the principal’s office within his first week of school was a handful. He’d taken after Alessio in so many ways that it caused a constant ache in my heart every time I looked into his gray eyes.
“What do you think?” I presented the dress to Mrs. Walker with a flourish, the skirt draped over one arm as I held the hanger high with the other. “Guaranteed one of a kind. You said in an interview once that you’re not a fan of bright colors. I think this might be the one time you change your mind.”
“It’s stunning.” She traced a line across the beaded skirt. Tears filled her eyes a brief moment before she blinked them away.
I moved to stand beside her. “If you’d like to try it on, Janice is available for alterations.” At a twitch of my head, my second assistant rushed over with her tablet and tape measure in hand. “Would you like me to find you a pair of shoes to complement it?”
Buying the dress or suit was the main reason people came into my boutique, but my ability to upsell them into shoes, handbags, belts, and a dozen other accessories to create complete outfits that instantly became the constant rage of every elite social gathering were what closed the deal and kept them coming back.
Mrs. Walker followed Janice into the dressing room, her voice drifting back to me. “Thank you, Lila. I appreciate your help.”
Ah, so she knew me by name…or reputation. My face rarely made it into the news, but I was becoming a household name as I dressed stars for red carpet events. The door chimed behind me, and I turned to greet my next client, confident Janice could finish the sale. “Hello, welc–”
Alessio stood a foot from the door, his hands deep in his pockets. A look of shock so unfathomable that it must match mine raised his eyebrows and puckered his mouth.
My body turned light and heavy at the same time. A feather-light touch might knock me over and a single word might send me barreling forward in a furious storm. Seven years since I’d seen his face, heard his voice. Seven years since he left me that ridiculous note and abandoned me in the middle of the night.
The gray suit stretched taut over his shoulders, the lean bulk of him attempting to hide behind money and status. Nothing hid the fighter in him, the graceful way he prowled forward until I smelled the richness of his cologne, that same leather and bergamot I’d first noticed in his car. He’d aged with the refinement of quality cognac. I’d sensed the danger in him backthen, but I saw it on full display in the hardness of his storm-filled gray eyes. A thin scar tracked down his jaw, a new one I’d never seen that caused an unwanted bolt of concern. The magnetism in his eyes remained the same, and they drew me in breath by stolen breath.
“Lila.” He said my name in that voice meant for lovemaking, the kind that kept us in bed for hours, whispering secrets and promises he’d never kept. “When I saw the name, I had to check. Had to know if it was really you.”
“It’s me.” I hardened my voice so it wouldn’t betray the longing his presence set off inside me. I’d mourned him, cried for him. And when I’d found out I was pregnant, I’d tried to find him, only to hit dead ends that looped me around the world and sent me right back here, where I’d finally carved out a home for Leo and myself.
“How are you?”
My skin crackled with the need to be touched, to have him drag me to his chest and promise it was all over, that he’d never leave me again. I shoved that voice aside and focused on reality. I’d made it on my own. I didn’t need Alessio. It didn’t stop the hunger from threatening to sweep me off my feet.
“I’m well. You?”
“Fine.”
The pained niceties of small talk sizzled between us, neither asking the real questions. I had a million or so, and I had no doubt he’d sidestep each one. Months after he left me, I’d realized one hard truth. Alessio might have answered my questions, but he never told me anything real about his life, nothing of depth and substance. He told me stories about his scars that led me to believe I knew him, but in the end, he’d proved to be anything but the man I thought.
I folded my hands in front of me in a relaxed pose I’d perfected during my travels to hide my tension and maintain my composure. “Is there something I can help you with?”
Alessio’s gaze shifted away from me, sweeping the room with a cold, calculated look. My spine shuddered as the temperature between us plummeted. “You’ve done well for yourself.”
