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A simple wrap dress that rolled up easily and didn’t wrinkle, along with black flats that had seen better days but worked in a pinch. After getting ready, I’d taken the bus directly to the call center and had arrived almost two hours early.
I needed a car.
The bus got me where I needed to go, but it was hard with schedules and making sure I made it to places on time. But I didn’t want a car note. That meant saving and working for my cousin at night to buy a used car cash and pray my insurance wasn’t an arm and a leg. Soon.
I looked around my apartment and frowned.
Something felt off.
Different.
I breathed in, about to shrug it off to me being paranoid, when something hit my nose and my eyes fluttered shut. There was a spicy, almost woodsy scent in the air. Something I didn’t recognize but somehow felt familiar. But as quickly as it drifted into my nose it was gone, and I was almost positive I was being weird. I shut and locked the door behind me and kicked off my flats, ignoring the ache in my feet. I needed to look into insoles for them. The ones that had come with them were worn out. If I were just wearing them in the office, it wouldn’t be so bad. But I had to walk half a mile to the bus stop and another to my place.
I unclipped my bow and set it on the counter then moved through the kitchen to make something to eat. After I’d cooked up a bowl of soup, I settled in front of the TV, grateful I didn’t have a cleaning shift. The Golden Girls played while I ate and giggled at their snarky remarks as if I didn’t know them by heart, when my phone pinged. Butterflies started to wake up in my belly.
I set my almost empty bowl on the coffee table and picked up my cell.
Jenna: Thank you so much for cleaning the firehouse today! I know it couldn’t have been easy! Any chance you could do the police station tomorrow? Precinct Twenty-two?
Precinct Twenty-two. I blinked and chewed on my bottom lip. That was where I’d seen that detective who popped up in my head more than I wanted to admit. The one I felt guilty for picturing when I thought about what Nix might look like.
“You’re lame,” I muttered to myself as my fingers started to work over the keyboard. Who cared what I imagined Nix to look like. I was almost certain that was soon coming to an end. I needed to put some space between us. It was clear the guy wasn’t interested. He hadn’t even suggested we meet in real life, even after we talked dirty and listened to one another come.
Me: I can do that! By myself, or will there be a team?
I pressed Send and hoped there would at least be one other person to work with because even though I preferred working on my own, I had the weekend off, so I wanted to be finished with the shift as quickly as possible.
Jenna: On your own. I promise I am trying to hire new people. If you know of anyone, let me know. I lost three to Mister Tidy last month.
Mister Tidy was her competition and, from what I had understood, a major pain in my cousin’s butt.
Me: No worries. I can do it. Same rate as today?
I sent and crossed my fingers. Double time helped a lot. If I got it, I was going to splurge and eat out twice this weekend. Sometimes a girl just needed to treat herself.
Jenna: Yes! Double time and a $100 stipend. Sound good? I’ll try to swing by and help, but I have two banks to clean, so I might not make it till about three.
Me: Don’t worry about it. I got it! I’ll text you when it's finished, and you can Zelle me.
Jenna: Thank you so much! You’re a lifesaver! I don’t know what I’d do without you.
Me: Anytime. You know it! And try to rest.
I knew my cousin; she was working herself ragged. I worked two jobs, but Jenna never stopped.
She had hustled and worked hard to make her small cleaning company what it was. My aunt had cleaned homes for a living but had always struggled to make ends meet. Before she passed away, Jenna started her company and was determined to make it a success. Slowly but surely, word of mouth spread like a California wildfire, and she had landed one big account after another.
Until Mister Tidy showed up and started problems I wasn’t sure I totally understood. But Jenna was annoyed by the owner. Some billionaire tech guy’s son who liked to surf.
Or at least that’s how she liked to describe him.
Whatever the case, he rubbed my cousin the wrong way, and I could only imagine how much worse it was now if she had lost three of her employees to him.
I got up and stretched, groaning at the pull of the muscles in my lower back. Everything hurt. I was sore from head to toe. Cleaning at the firehouse and then sitting at the call center had screwed with my back. As much as I wanted to stay up and wait to see if Nix called, I needed a long, hot shower to help loosen my muscles, or I would definitely pay for it tomorrow.
I put my bowl in the sink and grabbed a glass of water before heading to my bedroom. Setting my glass on my dresser, I moved through my space as I pulled my dress off and grabbed a towel and a set of pajamas from my dresser, when that scent I smelled earlier drifted into my nose again.
And again, I closed my eyes and breathed it in as I tried to force all my other senses to quiet down as I inhaled and exhaled slowly. The scent felt like it clung heavier in my bedroom. Like it was more potent somehow. Woodsy and spicy. Deliciously masculine.
