His eyes immediately went to Muse, and a grin stretched across his face. “Conway’s muse. I don’t think we’ve met.” He stepped toward her and extended his hand.
She pulled her arm from my grasp and placed it in his. “Nice to meet you. You must be Carter.”
He leaned in to kiss her on the cheek.
“Carter.” My tone was enough to warn him to rethink his actions.
He stepped back, still grinning. “Alright. We’ll do this the American way.” He shook her hand. “A pleasure to meet you, Sapphire. Conway talks about you often.”
“I hope he says good things,” she said.
His eyes shifted to me. “Only good things.”
I wanted to smack him upside the head. “Did you need something, Carter?”
“I was in this neck of the woods and wanted to see if you wanted to get lunch. Nicole told me you were in today.”
“I’ve got a lot of work to do today, Carter. How about tomorrow?”
“My parents told me we’ll be having dinner at your folks’ place on Friday. We’ll catch up on the drive.”
No one had told me about this dinner. “Didn’t realize that was happening.”
“I’m sure you’ll get the call soon enough. And bring your woman along. I’d love to get to know her on the drive down.” He winked at me before he headed to the door. “See you soon.” He walked out and left us alone.
“I’m glad I can put a face to the name now,” Muse said. “You look alike.”
“People think we’re brothers, unfortunately.”
“He seems friendly.”
“He’s only friendly with you because it pisses me off.”
She smiled. “It only pisses you off because you get so jealous.” She grinned then walked to the table, her confidence growing because she knew she put me in my place. “So dinner on Friday?”
“Apparently.”
“This will be at the house where you grew up?”
“Yes.”
“I’m excited to see it.”
I hadn’t invited her, but I didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. My parents would expect me to bring her, and Vanessa would pester me until Muse was sitting beside her in the back seat.
I approached the table and opened my notebook.
“What ideas are you working on?”
“A good one came to me last night.”
“Yeah?”
I flipped to the right page.
She examined my drawing as she tucked her hair behind her ear. “I like it. Simple and elegant. Most of your pieces cover more skin, but this one doesn’t.”
“I think the color and fabric will look perfect against your skin.” I grabbed the piece of fabric from the table and returned to her. I held the soft material against her arm and admired the way it suited her skin tone. “Perfect.” I set the piece of fabric on the table.
“Can I help?”
“No.” I grabbed a bolt of the fabric and set it in my space on the table.
“Then what can I do?”
“Wear it when I’m finished.”
“Alright.” She sat on the stool by my side and stared at my hands as I worked.
Nicole walked in a few moments later. “Conway, I’m glad you’re here. I need to speak to you in private.”
I didn’t stop what I was doing. “You can speak in front of Sapphire.” She was an essential part of my life now. She knew about my work, about my routine, and she shared my bed with me. No point in keeping secrets from her.
“Conway, I must insist.” Nicole stood on my right, her hand resting on the table.
Nicole wouldn’t override me like that unless it was important, so I turned to Muse. “Could you step outside for a moment?”
“Of course.” She stepped out and shut the door behind her.
I set down my tools then turned my full focus on Nicole. “What is it?”
“Andrew Lexington of Lady Lingerie is downstairs in the conference room.”
Andrew Lexington was my biggest lingerie competitor in the world. He was based in America, and while he did great work, his designs weren’t as original as mine. But he had a great grasp of marketing to the American people, and he didn’t refrain from doing his production overseas to make his lingerie affordable. I was in the luxury business, so our approaches were innately different. I’d only met him once, and we didn’t have much to say to each other. The fact that he flew across the world to my doorstep meant he had serious business to discuss. “What does he want?”
“This is the thing…” She kept her voice low, like someone could overhear us even though it was just the two of us in the room. “He actually came here looking for Sapphire. He said he’s been trying to get a hold of her, but he says she has no known address, phone number, or family. So he came here asking to speak with her.”
Instantly, my body tightened, and I felt the rage spike inside me. Another designer flew across the world because he was trying to hunt down my woman. Whatever he wanted with her, it wasn’t good. He wanted her for his own gain—that was clear.