Page 19 of Get Undressed With Me

They grinned at each other. Once, the two of them had ganged up on Min and bullied her to join them in training for a marathon. They had lasted about three pathetic runs before giving up and declaring marathons for the birds.

“Hey, I don’t pay you to chat with the help.”

Devery rolled her big brown eyes at Randall’s mock sternness. “You don’t pay me at all, wiseacre.”

Still, she took the tablet Randall handed her and walked over to a customer that had entered a booth, waving to Brittany as she went.

“Catch you at Hayden’s thing!”

“Hayden’s thing” was the release party he was throwing for his game. It was a huge deal and would be hosted at his brother’s fancy restaurant the following night. It was invite-only. Though he was considered more of a recluse, Hayden was going all out for the party, and it was shaping up to be the gaming event of the year.

Brittany waved back, then blew Randall a kiss. “Gotta jet, babe, duty calls.”

He waved her away, already working his magic on a new group of customers, and Brittany turned to Gus, who had appeared almost from nowhere.

“Leaving?” he asked.

“Unless you have some shopping to do?”

“Not while I’m on the clock.”

“Then come on, big guy, I got places to be.”

She turned into the crowd to head for the exit just as her phone rang again. The caller ID showed her mother, and with a sigh, Brittany answered.

“Mom, I’m in the middle of a crowd.”

“How are the new designs going?”

Brittany stopped abruptly, causing Gus to bump into her back, his hands coming to her shoulders to steady her, but she barely noticed.

“It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours since you told me.”

“So you haven’t done anything? Brittany, I thought you were going to take this seriously.”

“I am, but you gotta give me time. I told you I had a full schedule this weekend.”

There was a pause at the other end, and then Kathleen cleared her throat in a way that made it clear how disappointed she was in Brittany’s lack of progress.

“Fine. Send the new designs when you have them.”

She hung up before Brittany could respond, which was just fine since Brittany was certain she would’ve said something terrible in response. Something not productive. Something that would’ve felt so, so good.

“Everything alright?”

Gus spoke low in her ear, and Brittany was made suddenly aware that he still had his hands on her shoulders and that he was leaning over her, almost tucking her into his body to shield her from the crowd.

“You hold a lot of clients this way?” Brittany asked instead of answering his question, hoping the white noise of the crowd hid how breathless she sounded.

Gus let his hands slip away and stepped back. Brittany felt a flicker of regret and then pushed it aside. She wasn’t going to feel bad about keeping space between her and Gus. It was for the best.

She kept walking to the door, thinking about the conversation with her mom. Leave it to Kathleen to make her feel guilty about doing what was already on her schedule, that had been on her schedule for weeks, and not dropping everything to do exactly what she was told.

Shrugging off her melancholy, Brittany made her way out of the Exhibition Hall, pausing to take a deep breath when she was out of the crowd. She loved Kickoff, but damn if constantly being surrounded by people didn’t wear her patience.

Gus came to stand in front of her, scanning her from head to toe.

“What?” she asked, a little annoyed.

---