“Listen, I know you just started but I need you to take care of men’s alterations by yourself today. I have a new girl starting who will focus on this mess and if I don’t put the fear of God into her, we’ll have another Sara who is too busy flirting to keep the place neat. Think you can handle it?”
“Of course! Alterations is why I took this position. You know I love to sew.”
“Good, if you have any problems just page me. Its usually a little slow during the day but you never know.”
I navigated my way through the clothing racks to the wide fitting room area. Hargrove’s wasn’t an ordinary department store. What really set them apart was the superior customer experience. For example, anyone could buy an item at Hargrove’s and have it expertly tailored free of charge. Of course a lot of the clothing we sold was out of my wallet’s reach, but still, it was a nice thought.#p#分页标题#e#
The men’s fitting area was warm with rich forest green carpeting and dark wood furniture. Towards the rear was a three sided mirror where most fittings were done. On the right were oversized dressing rooms. I checked the rack customers used to hang the clothing they didn’t want and found what I expected—it was full.
I hadn’t had the pleasure of working with Sara yet and I didn’t want it. Not only had Dianna warned me enough about her, but every time I worked after her the department looked like a tornado went through it.
The mess didn’t bother me that much though. It gave me something to do and as long as I was busy, the day zipped by. Nothing slows a day down more than standing around waiting for customers.
Grabbing as many dress pants on hangers as I could carry, I walked over to the suit area and began fitting them back on the rack by their size. Looking through the new suit styles that came in the other day, was a tall, handsome man with dark brown hair slightly parted on the side and pushed back from his forehead. He was clean shaven and wore a black suit with a grey shirt and no tie. I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
Realizing the number of pants in my arms were dwindling I slowed down my clean-up effort. I didn’t want to stop staring at him. His broad shoulders tugged his suit jacket perfectly across his back and each time he pulled another suit out of the rack, I noticed the wrinkle on his sleeve where his muscles flexed.
I didn’t know what came over me. I had seen handsome, sexy men before, but this one put them all to shame. I tried focusing back on putting the clothes away but then, almost as if he could feel my eyes burning a hole into him, he turned to look at me and smiled.
While I thought he was gorgeous from behind, now getting a full look at his face I didn’t have words to describe him. Beautiful? No, he wasn’t a pretty boy, he was rugged and manly with a strong jawline I wanted to lick. I couldn’t help but gawk and I hoped I wasn’t drooling like I imagined. He was beyond good looking, he was magnetic. My head kept coming back to calling him Sexy, Mr. Sexy.
Suddenly I imagined Mr. Sexy running on a beach in nothing but black board shorts. The white pull string at his waist tempting me as water droplets slowly dripped down his sun kissed skin and disappeared into the fabric. Whoa, get a hold of yourself Deborah!
Smiling back, I realized Mr. Sexy was still looking at me. His friendly smile changed to something different, a small, gently lopsided knowing smile, the right corner of his mouth just a little bit higher than the left. I wondered what he knew about me. Was he reading my mind? No, that was just stupid.
As he walked over to me, my breath caught. My first instinct was to run so I wouldn’t embarrass myself, but then I heard my grandma’s advice in my head—no regrets. I stood firmly in my spot, still holding the hangers and gazing into his approaching face as I tried to keep my eyes from traveling down the rest of Mr. Sexy’s body.
He had gentle smile lines on his cheeks and at the corners of his eyes. And those eyes! Now that he was closer I could see they were hazel with glittering green flecks. They were warmest and most inviting eyes I had ever seen. I knew if he asked me anything at that moment, anything at all, the answer would be yes!
“Excuse me,” he said as his eyes quickly found my name tag, “Deborah.”
“Yes…” I responded using the only word I was able to say and playing over his deeply intoxicating voice in my head.
“I believe you dropped something.”
“Yes…” I said as his words slowly registered in my brain.
Looking down I saw all the hangers I was holding were empty. All of the dress pants slid off and were in a pile on the floor at my feet. I had been so consumed with this man that I didn’t even realize what happened.