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Lacey looked up from the camera.
“Hey, sorry, I was just working with this new lens I got.” She grinned and set the camera on a desk in the corner.
“Come here, Murder,” she said and wiggled her fingers toward the cat. Said cat gave her one look, closed its eyes and fell asleep.
“Bastard,” she said, sticking her tongue out at him.
Lacey swiveled around and turned her attention to me, and suddenly I felt like I was the one under the spotlights.
“So, come on in and have a seat,” she said, motioning to a little sitting area with two chairs and a table in between them.
“Coffee?” she asked. There was a little cart nearby with a coffeemaker on it and several mugs.
“Do you have tea?” I didn’t need excess caffeine right now. She nodded.
“Sure, can do.” She set the machine to dispense hot water and I looked over at the cat.
“You named your cat Murder?” I asked. She laughed.
“It’s the name for a group of crows. Seemed appropriate for a black cat, no?” I nodded and crossed my legs. I was feeling like an interloper. And I also couldn’t stop watching the way Lacey moved. She was just so sexy in that effortless way. I was always drawn to beautiful people and she was one of the most beautiful I’d seen in a while. I was in trouble. I jumped when she walked over and pressed the cup of tea into my hands.
“Thanks,” I said, looking up into her eyes. They weren’t quite brown and they weren’t quite hazel either, but some sort of gorgeous mix. I needed to stop staring at her. Like, right now.
“So,” she said, sitting down across from me. “What did you need from me?” I blushed, even though she hadn’t said anything overtly dirty. I was seriously going to have a breakdown. I needed to get this done as quickly as possible.
“Um, well, Jen asked if you could draw up something in writing? Like a proposal or something. Then she can take it to Sal and they can talk it over. Oh, and I was wondering if you had examples of other stuff you’d done?” She got up and grabbed a laptop off the desk.
“Sure thing. This is my site.” I set my tea down and she handed me the laptop, but then came to stand behind me to scroll through it. She smelled like jasmine. Some of her dark hair brushed my shoulder as she leaned forward.
I had to force myself to focus my eyes on the screen.
“Wow,” I said. She had a gorgeous site with tons of unbelievable photos on it. Including boudoir sessions with people of all shapes and sizes and genders and orientations.
“That’s one of my main goals. To make boudoir accessible to everyone,” she said in my ear. I shivered. I needed to get this over with.
“Nice,” I said, my voice hitching a little. I turned my head and our eyes met. She smiled slowly.
“So. Let me show you some of my project. I haven’t launched it yet. I’m working on getting it off the ground. And if there’s enough support I might even do a book.” That was a lot. Damn. She was really serious about this.
I coughed and moved a little further away from her. I couldn’t think. She made me feel drunk. Everything got a little blurry at the edges, but her face sharpened in focus.
The chair had wheels on it, so I slid away from her. She made a little sound that I didn’t know how to interpret. Was it one of disappointment?
“That’s amazing,” I said, spinning in the chair to face her. “Really amazing.” She smiled and a dimple popped in one cheek. Made her even more irresistible. I had a thing for dimples.
“Thanks so much. So, basically, what I want to do is a profile on the café. How it started, what it’s doing for the queer community, that kind of thing. And I’m going to want to interview Jen and Sal and probably some of the employees, and take pictures to go with the stories. If I could talk to some of the customers and get their stories. That’s kind of my thing. Everybody has a story and all that.” I still didn’t know if she was actually queer, and I felt like I needed to know.
“So, what inspired you to do this project?” I asked.
She crossed her arms and leaned against the desk. I tried to keep my eyes on her face.
“Well, I’m a member of the community myself, being both trans and bi. So, who better to tell the stories of queer people than a queer person?” She did a little shrug and I bit my bottom lip.
“Yeah, I agree. As a pansexual person.” There. Everything was out. She showed me hers and I showed her mine. Bisexual. So, she was probably into girls. I hoped.
She took a deep breath.
“So, I can get something typed up and I have boilerplate release forms as well. I’d like to have another meeting with Jen and Sal too. Jen said that Sal was going to be a harder sell on the project, but I’m ready to make a presentation. I’ve been told I can pretty persuasive.” Why did that sound super dirty and totally turn me on? I needed to go home.
