“She’s a special one.”
Wandering deeper into the room, my eyes hit the project vase. I was surprised by how much fun it was learning the process and how to do it properly. In my mind, I’d imagined all it took was shaping the clay, putting it in a kiln, then painting it. There was so much more to it than that, though.
Scanning over the surfaces, I stopped on where I’d left the portfolio with my sketches in it the day we’d decided to do the vase together.
Inside it was a sketch with a phoenix coming out on one side of some flames, and an eagle coming out of them on the opposite side. It represented the business and the club—one being my new life after I bought the businesses with Blaze, the other being the clubs eagle—and I was hoping she’d be able to accommodate a project I had in mind for it.
“Sienna?”
“Mmm?” she hummed behind me, going back over to where she was painting a weirdly shaped bowl.
“You know how I asked you if it was possible to make a large, shallow bowl?”
“Oh, the one that’s almost like a plate?”
Turning to watch her as she focused on a section of the weird bowl, I smiled when her tongue peeked out from between her lips.
“That’s the one. I’ve got a sketch for what I’d like to paint on it, and it kind of encompasses Blazing Inx and The Broken Eagles. If it’s doable, I’ll either hang it on the wall, or I could get a circular metal table to put it on in the center of the reception at the shop.”
She didn’t look away from the job at hand as she nodded, but I knew she was trying to picture it. How she managed to multitask with designs the way she did, constantly thinking about what was next, I didn’t know. Then again, I guess what we did wasn’t that dissimilar—I just did my art on skin.
“There’s an online store that sources materials from India, like melted down steel, recycled train windows, and cool stuff like that. They’ve got an awesome selection of hammered steel coffee and end tables, and something like you’re planning would look fantastic on one of them.”
I needed to look up these tables. And I’m not gonna lie, the train windows also had my interest.
“I like the sound of those. What do they use the windows for?”
“Like those multi-picture frame things. They come in a white-washed effect and blue, I think, but they look rough and rustic, which just adds to their appeal for me. I love the distressed look on things like that.”
And that was it for me. I could already imagine putting photos of my favorite tattoos in them, maybe even getting them printed with a slightly crackled effect over them.
“I’m going to need the name of the company. You had me sold at rough and rustic.”
Finally lifting her head, she shot me a smile over her shoulder. “The tables also have different finishes. You can either have brushed steel or copper.”
The decision was effortless. “Steel.”
“I figured that’d be what you went with.”
Moving so I could rest my ass on the bench behind me, I watched her as she went back to work. “I want to commission the plate-bowl thing, Sienna. I need to show you the sketch, though, to make sure it’ll work.”
“Sure, sure,” she agreed absentmindedly. “Show me and then we’ll go over measurements. You might want to look at the hammered steel coffee table first to see if you want it. That’ll help with the sizing.”
Getting up, I dropped a kiss on the top of her head. “You’re a smart one.”
After she told me the name of the company that made the tables, I searched their website. I also discovered something that rocked me—she knew me well enough to identify something that was absolutely perfect for me. I’d likely never have found this site or the coffee table on my own, and that would have been a crying shame for both Blazing Inx and me.
Looking around, I stopped on an inch tape hanging out of a box and walked over to pick it up. I needed to get a visual of what the size would be like because, if it was too small, it’d look weird in the space at the shop.
As it turned out, it was perfect, so I ordered it. I could claim it as a business expense anyway, and Blaze wouldn’t mind because it was so fucking awesome.
When I was done, I put the tape back where I’d found it and went and got the sketch. My activities had taken all of ten minutes, but it was time enough for her to finish what she was doing and to be eyeing it critically from a distance.
“Does that look like cracked asphalt to you?”