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Brick and I stayed together, making our way around the easels. He, of course, had cutting sarcasm for the designs he didn’t like.
“Looks like the kind of belt a guy would hang himself with,” he said about one, making me elbow him in the gut and tell him to behave.
He only shrugged, refusing to take back the sentiment. When we passed the Jacket designs, I nodded respectively at the picture with patches on the elbows. “Huh. It didn’t turn out half bad. I thought it was going to suck monkey balls.”
“Which one?” Brick asked.
When I pointed out the jacket I was talking about, he nodded, gave a meh face and said, “Yeah. I’d probably wear it.”
For him, that was a seal of approval.
He squeezed my elbow when we passed the shoes, and murmured in my ear, “Yours is the best.”
I glanced at him and bit my lip, wondering if he was just saying that but hoping he was right.
After everyone looked their fill, we reconvened around the table, where people tossed out their opinions, mentioning what they liked, what they didn’t, and what they’d be willing to see more of if there were revisions. Neither CEO commented; Ezra was busy taking notes on his tablet while Lana studied her fingernails, letting Shyla scribble madly on a notepad for her.
Finally, the time came for Ezra and Lana to cast their votes. While they silently did that at opposites ends of the table, Brick leaned in to whisper in my ear, explaining to me how they used to verbally vote, until Ezra grew fed up with Lana voting against everything he voted for. Now they had to write down their final decisions and then compare the two after they were both done.
“It’s the only way to get them to agree on anything, I swear.”
I smiled at that, just as Lana and Ezra seemed to finish at the same time.
Winston took Ezra’s piece of paper and Shyla took Lana’s, and the two assistants met in the center of the room to compare notes until they each decided on what the two CEOs agreed upon.
After they returned to their respective CEOs, Lana glanced over the final outcome and sniffed, rolling her eyes as she muttered, “Whatever.”
Ezra nodded and read off the results so everyone else in the room could learn them.
Four dresses were chosen for design, six undergarments, eight purses, three jackets—one of them being the patched elbows—four belts, five shirts, five pants, and only two shoes. I held my breath when Ezra read off which shoes they’d picked. Under the table, Brick squeezed my hand.
When the one I had made was called as a keeper to make a prototype of and put into the spring fashion show, Brick shook my fingers in congratulations. Ezra glanced my way, but I was too stunned to give him an inconspicuous sign, letting him know he’d chosen my design.
My head went dizzy with shock, black spots danced in my vision, and euphoria along with a bit of fear clogged my throat. But oh, God. My shoe was going to grace a model’s foot. It was a dream come true.
What was even sweeter, across the table, Hayden met my gaze and gave me a nod of approval.
Day made.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Though the voting presentation of portfolios took up a good portion of the day, an hour and a half remained afterward before my full eight-hour work day was up.
Sadly, I couldn’t remember much of anything I did in that hour. I was floating on too big of a high. Brick spent the entire time out of the office, telling his team how awesome we’d done with our designs, raking in more yeses than any other department, which also meant we had more work cut out for us than the other departments.
As soon as the clock ticked into clock-out range, I was out of there, pulling my coat on and hurrying from the office. I had no idea where I thought I was going in such a hurry, I just had to get outside in the fresh air where my excitement had room to fully burst open.
I barely refrained from screaming and dancing in a joyous circle the moment I pushed through the front doors, but I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to. My design had been freaking picked! By Lana. Well, Lana and Ezra both, but I was more excited about impressing the unimpressible Lana Price-Carmichael-Judge.
Practically skipping around the building toward the parking lot and hoping Ezra got off work soon so I could celebrate with him, I nearly peed my pants when I heard a “Psst. Yellow?” coming from the bushes at the edge of the garden into the courtyard when I passed by.
Clutching my chest, I spun around, seeing no one.
Then I heard, “In here.”
As soon as I stepped between two tall bushes heralding the entrance of the garden, a hand reached out and grabbed my wrist, towing me in completely.
I gasped until I was hauled against a familiar chest and then kissed thoroughly.
