Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 75481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 75481 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 377(@200wpm)___ 302(@250wpm)___ 252(@300wpm)
“That’s exactly why I don’t need any relationships in my life.” I fiddled with a stray piece of lint on one of the shirts. “No, thank you.”
“I hear you.” She sighed. “Three failed marriages is enough for me. My publicist had a field day with the last one, believe me.”
I frowned. “Too bad there isn’t a way to know. Like a warning sign that lights up on their foreheads.”
“That would be very useful. For Rowan too. I’ve grown very fond of the poor dear.”
“Are we talking about the same person?”
She grinned. “Believe it or not, he hasn’t always had it easy. He’s learned to close himself off. Don’t tell him I told you that.”
“Plenty of people haven’t had it easy,” I pointed out, thinking of my own family’s struggles with putting food on the table at different times in my life.
“True. But you’ve got to admit his broodiness is endearing.”
“As endearing as a porcupine.”
Kendall and I were always this frank with each other, so I knew she’d take my comments as teasing. Like I said, she was pretty cool.
“Have you seen porcupine babies?” She arched a brow. “Like I said, endearing.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t help snickering. I looked forward to my almost-daily conversations with Kendall.
“What are you two going on about?” Rowan asked as he returned to the room. My breath hitched, and not only because he’d nearly overheard our conversation. He was so striking that I didn’t even know if he was real. Bastard.
He smelled good too. Sometimes when working in proximity, I’d catch a whiff of his body wash or whatever the heck was so enticing. I wanted to stick my nose in his neck and bask in it. But then he’d open his mouth and ruin everything.
“We’re discussing your shiny personality,” I deadpanned.
“Who needs a shiny personality when your clothes can do all the work?” When he did a catwalk move, then performed a twirl, I was momentarily confused. Until I noticed that he’d pulled on a leather fitted jacket with all sorts of zippers and buttons, no doubt wearing something important I’d never relate to.
Kendall clapped her hands. “Ooh, is that the new Prada coat we were admiring?”
“The one and only.” He jutted out a hip, and it made me wonder if his greater calling was being a model. He certainly had the bone structure for it. “And the designer sent a sample for you as well.”
They high-fived and chattered away about the designer, so I tuned out. I just didn’t get it. Everyone certainly needed clothes. They could obviously make you look rich or homeless, but could people honestly tell the difference between something purchased at a department store as opposed to a designer showroom?
Only those who looked closely enough, I’d come to realize. And okay, I’d admit, there were other differences too. Like the richness of the material and how well it was crafted and sewn. Rowan had clearly taught me well. And I was his unwilling student.
“Oops, we must be talking too much about fashion again because Shae’s eyes are glossing over,” Kendall said with a laugh.
“How are you the assistant to a stylist again?” Rowan shook his head.
“I ask myself that every single day,” I teased, then stepped away from the steaming machine. “There, all done.”
Rowan held the zebra print up to Kendall, and she shook her head, opting for the cranberry-red silk top instead. Called it. But I kept my mouth shut.
I sank down in the only chair in the room that didn’t have a piece of fabric hanging over it and opened Rowan’s daily planner he’d requested I bring with me. I’d convinced him to use a fancy one that came with all sorts of different-colored sticky notes once I’d realized he was horrible about checking his schedule online. He liked things more tangible, and I supposed that made sense given his profession. He was always feeling the fabrics and arranging clothing to get a better view of one look or another.
It was true that he was disorganized in nearly every other facet of his life, but somehow he knew where everything was in the midst of all the chaos. He just needed a better system to help him along.
“Is there anything on the schedule after the Vanity Fair shoot next week?” he asked as he fussed with the buttons on Kendall’s sleeve.
I glanced down at the page. “Nope.”
“Good. I’m going to take off to the Hamptons for the weekend.”
“You deserve it,” Kendall said, and I nearly rolled my eyes.
Must be nice to have friends with houses in the Hamptons and Fire Island. Yep, I was a bit jealous, so sue me. Summer in Manhattan felt like an oppressive concrete jungle, and I hadn’t even been here two years.
“I’m excited about the shoot,” Kendall said. “Davis’s work is divine.”