Page 38 of Wishing for Love

She watched him move through the colors on the screen. Since she knew he made the material, she was assuming they were colors he knew he could produce.

“She’d want a lighter one. Not yellow, though something neutral like gray, but with a touch of feminine.”

“How about this gray? It looks to have blue undertones to it. Like a light blue I don’t see men using.”

“That’s nice,” he said. “I wouldn’t use it, but I think I could see women doing it.”

“It’s more gray than blue. If you can do one more color, I’d say go for a tan or something in that shade. Not too light. These are bags that could get dirty so white is out.”

“Everything can be wiped clean.”

“What?” she asked.

“It’s the material. Nothing stains it. You just wipe it off.”

“Do you say that on your website? I didn’t see it.”

“It’s there,” he said, shifting over to the website. He it found right on the bottom.

“Listen, I do not know marketing, but I know shopping. I’d want that information right there front and center. Then I might risk a lighter color. You should be selling that important feature.”

He wrote something down. “Thanks,” he said. “I’ll reach out to have the site focus on that more. See, that is what I mean about not knowing how to run a business.”

“Hey, don’t be so hard on yourself.”

She put her hand on his shoulder and rubbed it a little from where she was standing behind him.

Could be she was pushing it when he tensed but then relaxed under her touch. But if anyone needed to be comforted she believed it was Phoenix.

13

COMFORT AND REASSURANCE

Phoenix was struggling to get his body under control and couldn’t remember the last time he had this problem.

The sight of Crystal consistently brought him back to his kitchen seeing her dressed for bed sharing chocolate pudding with him.

Then the touch of his hand and shoulder today.

It was both for comfort and reassurance and he felt like a cad that it made his dick shift in his jeans.

“It’s difficult not to be hard on myself when so many rely on me,” he said.

He’d told her that money wasn’t a problem.

Nope, it wasn’t to pay her salary because that was coming out of Maryn’s money for now and he’d have to deal with that guilt.

But the rest of it, all his employees, that was on his mind keeping him up at night.

“And now you’ve got one more to the list.”

“Two,” he said. “I worry if you leave I’m screwed.”

She smiled softly and patted his shoulder this time before her hand fell away. “I’m not leaving. I honestly don’t think I could have landed in a better spot in my life. I mean that. Really, I do.And though I’m not qualified to work for your other company, I’d love to offer any assistance I could. Like if you need someone to file or answer the phone during the day.” She stopped and scratched her chin. “That’s probably silly and tells you how little I know about those things. But you know what I mean. I could come do grunt work. I’m good at those things.”

“You’re doing more than enough for me now. The important things,” he said. “And you going to Maryn’s this week to take care of her possessions. That’s huge.”

Emotionally, he was just drained and not sure he could possibly put another thing on his plate. That was part of the reason he’d pushed it off as long as he had.

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