in about fifteen minutes ago asking for you. Said she made an appointment with you?”
I groaned under my breath and scrubbed a hand over my chin. I’d completely forgotten about the consultation I’d scheduled with that chick, Audrey. “Oh, shit,” I muttered, shaking my head. “Yeah, we talked last night.”
Cee smirked and her eyes crinkled with amusement. “Well, good luck with that. She’s a freakin’ Barbie doll, man.”
“That bad, huh?”
“Let’s just say, I don’t envy you.”
I grumbled a thanks and left the breakroom to head toward the front of the shop. Gus, my boss, sat at the counter with an issue of ModInk in hand. He lifted his head at the sound of my heavy footsteps and nodded a greeting before shifting a glance toward the young woman sitting on the couch. With her legs crossed, one foot swinging carefree in the air, her face was downturned as she scrolled through her phone. I couldn’t discern from the angle what her features looked like, but from where I stood, it was clear she was attractive. Gus’s eyebrows raised when he looked back to me, a suggestive glint in his eyes, and I smirked as my head shook.
She might’ve been pretty, but I knew, from the pastels she wore and the pink manicure on her long nails, she wasn’t my type.
Casually stuffing my hands in my pockets, I took another step toward her. “Audrey?”
She lifted her eyes from the phone and smiled brightly at the sight of me. Hastily stuffing her phone in her bag, she rose to her feet and extended a hand. "You must be Blake! Hi! It’s so nice to meet you."
I had to bite back my chuckle as I enveloped her palm in mine. “How’s it goin’?”
“Good!” she exclaimed, nodding and pinning me to the spot with her powder blue eyes.
I would never say that I’d never seen eyes that color before—that’d make me a liar—but it was their shape and size that struck me dumbfounded. They were round and big, wide open as if she were always surprised by something. Like a deer perpetually caught in the headlights. There was something almost comical and cartoonish about them, and I might’ve even laughed, had they not suited the rest of her face so well. Her heart-shaped face and straight nose. Her full, bottom lip and the emphasized curve of her Cupid’s bow. A small, pointy chin sat just above a long slender neck, leading the way to an exposed and delicate collarbone.
I didn’t allow my gaze to wander below her neckline, I was a professional and composed myself as one. But she was the type of pretty you didn’t find yourself facing every day, and while I’d never say I was attracted to her, I couldn’t argue that she was irrefutably gorgeous.
“So, you said you had something in mind,” I said, clearing my thoughts and releasing her hand.
“Oh, yes,” she quickly replied, reaching into her bag to retrieve a piece of paper. As she began to unfold it, I spotted the colorful wings of a typical butterfly design. And somehow, I managed to quell my shudder.
“No. I don’t think this is gonna work.”
Her hands froze as those big, blue eyes met mine. “Oh, but um, I thought—”
“I’m sorry,” I said, shaking my head. “I won’t do it. I’ll see if Celia wants to take a look, but otherwise, I really don’t want to waste anymore of my time. Or yours.”
From behind me, I listened as Gus cleared his throat. “Hey, uh, Blake? You wanna come chat with me for a second?”
I held in my groan, closing my eyes for a brief second, before turning. “Yeah, just give me a—”
“Actually, right now would be a really good time.” He stood from the desk, holding my glare as he headed toward his office.
Pulling in a deep breath, I groaned and made a sharp right into the closet he called an office. “What’s up?”
“Close the door, will ya?” I did as I was told and before I could get in a word, Gus continued. “Blake, I get you have your thing, and I’ve always been really cool about it. But it wouldn’t kill you to get down off your high horse. You know. Just every now and then.”
“My high horse?” I snorted, crossing my arms tightly over my chest.
“Yeah, your high horse,” he repeated, his tone sharpening. “You know I like you, Blake. I love you, even. But I gotta tell ya, refusal to work with clients is not cool.