my drink. We watched the last few minutes of the basketball game as we finished our beers. Dean talked my ear off about his new restaurant and I did my best not to think of Josephine.
“I hate to cut the night short but I’ve got to get up for work in the morning,” I said, finishing off my beer with a long drag.
“Are you serious?” Dean protested. “You work for yourself dude, c’mon. Have one more drink. No one will notice if you’re late in the morning.”
I smiled. “Actually they will.”
“What? You already hired an employee?”
I shrugged, trying to downplay the situation. “Two days ago.”
“Where’d you find him?”
I decided not to correct his pronoun choice.
“On the web.”
“He wasn’t a friend of Lorena’s or something?” he asked.
Why the hell did he care about my employee? I kept my focus on the TV and gave him the shortest possible answer.
“No. She doesn’t know Lorena.”
“She?”
I held my hands up in defense. “It’s the fashion industry, what do you expect? Most of the applicants were women.”
Dean sank back in his chair with a shit-eating grin. “I guess I know the real answer to that question from earlier.”
“What?” I stared at him. “What question?”
“Who the almighty Lefray is le-fucking.”
“She’s my employee!” I argued. “I hardly know her.”
“What’d she wear to work today? What color eyes does she have? How many times have you stared at her ass?”
I ignored his questions, threw some cash down on the table to cover our tab, and walked toward the entrance.
“See you at my opening this weekend,” Dean yelled. “Oh and be sure to invite the girl you aren’t sleeping with! I still need a date!”
I flipped him the bird as I walked out of the bar.
Chapter Ten
Josephine
After our day of looking at lackluster properties, Julian and I decided that we should take a day to reconvene and get some work done from his hotel room. Working with him in his private space was a strange setup to say the least, and when I knocked on his door on Wednesday morning, I tried to quiet the swell of butterflies in my stomach.
He’s not inviting you up for an early morning romp in his bed.
This is work.
I shifted on my heels, waiting for the inevitable turn of the door handle, but my knock went unanswered. I leaned forward and pressed my ear to the door¸ listening for any sounds of life. Nothing.
I hummed and turned in a circle, trying to figure out if maybe I’d knocked on the wrong door. A quick glance at my phone confirmed that I was at the right room number, so I knocked again and waited.
Still, no one answered.
I was debating whether or not to head back down to the lobby when a cleaning woman turned the corner, pushing her cart of supplies in front of her. She was humming along to the music playing from her headphones and nodding her head back and forth. Her dark brown hair had touches of gray springing up around her temple and her uniform stretched across her hips as she walked.
When she looked up and saw me standing there, she paused and narrowed her eyes. Her gaze slid from my head to my feet and then she shook her head and kept on pushing her cart toward me.
“Mhhmm.” She tsked as she approached me. “These hoochies think they’re gonna catch them a rich man by fishin’ in hotel rooms. Shoot, this one’s early, not even close to noon yet.”
“Uhh, ma’am?” I said timidly, trying to make her aware that I could hear every single word she was saying.
When our eyes met, she pursed her lips and propped her hand on her hip.
“You’re better than this, honey. Go on down to the lobby and get some coffee. Go find you some Jesus.”
My eyes widened. What did she think was going on?
Oh.
Oh.
She definitely thought I was a prostitute.
I glanced down at my fitted wrap dress and kitten heels. Sure, the neckline of my dress wasn’t exactly a turtleneck, but I’m not a freaking nun. I’m allowed to show my clavicles for Christ’s sake.
“I’m here to meet Mr. Lefray for business,” I explained, offering her a smile to let her know I didn’t take offense to her judgment.
“Oh, I’m sure it’s business all right. Oldest business there is.” She tsked again, moving on along the hallway past me.
I opened my mouth to set her straight just as I heard Julian yelling in his hotel room.