Page 73 of Lesson In Honesty
Callie swallowed hard, hindered by the fingers, then smiled slowly. “Catch me again in a month or two, Eli. Deadline looming and all, I’m just not going to have time for a lengthy, complicated scene.”
“Your next deadline is in March, little fibber. That’s five months away.” Chuckling so darkly the sound seemed to originate from a haunted house at midnight, Eli kissed her viciously hard before releasing her. He bopped her on the nose with a fingertip. “We just added a round with my belt before the main event, little one.”
This time, Callie let go of Sierra and shoved her Dom with both hands. “No.”
Deciding moving quickly was her best method of escape, Sierra darted away from the suddenly black tension swarming around the couple like a thunderstorm bruising the sky.
Evander rolled his eyes and intercepted her. “Ignore those two. He knows mentioning his belt sets her off on a tangent and does it anyway. Why don’t I show you around your space and explain how we think it might run best?”
She nodded, wanting to escape the boiling emotions before they erupted and caught her up in the flood. A quick glance over her shoulder showed her Liam and Mack skirting around the argument, backing her up. “O-Okay.”
“Callie will be fine,” Evander assured her. “She has a safeword. Eli doesn’t usually push her to use it, although fistingandthe belt might be enough to break her this time.” Stepping aside, he swept his arm toward the open door. “Welcome to your store, Sierra.”
The instant she stepped inside, Callie and Eli’s bickering no longer existed.
She yearned for what was in front of her; her fingers actively itched to get to work, to rummage through the huge bin of discarded stuffies her eyes immediately fell on. Her heart squeezed at the thought of so many unwanted, broken projects to make whole again.
The table in the middle of the room held her trusty workhorse and a small mountain of boxes containing a variety of equipment she’d only dreamed about using. Equipment that would make her job faster, more efficient, and save her fingers from a lot of pain.
The pink and white walls were lined with shelves and storage units. Boxes of buttons, zippers, clasps. More with ribbons of all colors, bows, beads, even sparkly diamantes. Narrow reams of material—so much material she wanted to unravel them and wrap herself in each one to test the softness against her skin.
Everything she could ever need was right here within reach.
“Y-You did all this for me?” she whispered, pressing a loose fist against the base of her throat where tears threatened to choke her.
Evander stepped up beside her, laying a light hand on her shoulder. “We said we wanted to make you happy, Sierra, for as long as you’re here. We can change anything you don’t like, and if there’s something we’ve missed, just say the word.”
It took her a second to realize her head was shaking of its own accord. Those damned tears rose to obscure the gift, blurring her vision. “No, it’s perfect. Everything’s perfect. I don’t d—”
“Want to finish that sentence,” he said in a lightly censuring tone. “Let us give you this, Sierra. A dedicated space for you to work in peace. Separate your home life from your job, and share your talent with those who’ll appreciate it most.”
Instinctively, Sierra whirled and flung her arms around him, dwarfed by the sheer size of him. She barely came up to his sternum, he was so freaking tall. “Thank you.”
An arm came around her back, his hand rubbing up and down her arm. “It’s our pleasure. Do you want us to give you some alone time so you can poke around, get acquainted with everything?”
Oh boy, did she ever. It felt rude to say yes, though.
Blowing out a slow breath, sucking the tears back in, she pulled back gently. “No. Thank you. I don’t… I’m not sure how this is going to work.”
“Here.” He rolled a chair from behind the door, stopping it in front of her. “Take a seat and I’ll explain. It’s not set in stone, so we can amend what doesn’t suit you, okay?”
Sierra eyed the chair. Brand new, adjustable. Beautiful black, supple leather. She was tempted to run her hands over the padded armrests, the headrest, to test just how soft and buttery it actually was, but she refrained.
No point looking like an idiot, drooling over a fancy chair.
Of course, she did just that as she sat slowly, moaning under her breath when the seat conformed to her ass, her back, her shoulders. Her body settled into it, supported in all the right places, and she vowed she was never leaving it again.
Evander grinned. “Damn good chair, right? I had the same reaction the first time I sat in mine. Liam told me you’ve got a bad habit of hunching over while you work. The whole thing is adjustable from height to the angle of the back support and the armrests. Your posture will thank you, trust me.”
God, she felt like she could kick her feet up on the table and take a nap. Wriggling a little, she hummed in pleasure from the sense of taking all the pressure off her weak spots.
“Now, down to business.” He dropped to his haunches so she didn’t have to crane her neck to meet his eyes. “We threw around a few ideas, and ran them by Liam. The one we voted most suitable is to take you on as a club employee, with all the benefits that includes. Healthcare, dental, whatever you need.”
Her eyes widened. Okay, that wasn’t what she expected.
“We’ll cover the cost of the supplies you need and sourcing the base materials—the stuffies,” he explained when she frowned. “We’re going to leave the selling and pricing to you, so think carefully about your profit margins. If you want to spend your time doing the physical work instead of the actual selling, we’ll provide a sales assistant to handle the window for you.”
Holy cow, this was getting more and more surprising by the minute.