Chapter 74: You Like Me?
- RAYA -
Being with Dex is so easy. We spend the afternoon looking over the information he’s collected on Verdure Cosmetics, which is the new business venture a friend of his started.
I’m not terribly familiar with high-end cosmetics brands, but Verdure looks really interesting with how the ingredients are simple and ethically sourced. There is a shampoo that looks more like a body scrub than shampoo, and that peaks my interest, because it’s made with sea salt. Sea salt! Who knew that was a thing?
"I would love to try this," I tell Dex, pointing to the screen. "I would never have imagined a shampoo could look like this and be made with salt. And there is also seaweed infusion, coconut oil, and lime juice added," I add, reading the ingredients. "That’s amazing. How in the world do people come up with this stuff? And why do we have shampoos with all of these added chemicals if it’s possible to be this simple?"
"That’s a really good question. And you would be surprised what’s out there in cosmetics," he chuckles and rubs a hand over his beard.
I wonder if he uses any products on it. I bet he does. For how rugged and contrary to the clean-cut, professional appearance he seems to want to be, Dex is very well groomed. I have the urge to sit on his lap and play with that bristly beard myself.
"But what’s great is how simple Liz has made all of this," he goes on. "That’s definitely something that needs to be highlighted."
His attention is still on the laptop until he must feel my eyes on him, and he glances over, meeting my gaze. My eyes go wide at being caught, and I quickly look back at the screen.
"What are you thinking?" He asks with an amused lilt to his voice.
"What?" I smile, my chin resting in my hand and elbow propped on the table as I feign ignorance. "What are you talking about?"
"I can already tell that you’re a terrible liar," he chuckles.
"I know." My smile widens. "And can you believe that your brother chose me to try to get dirt on you? I wouldn’t have lasted a day before you realized something was up."
"Like I said, Lawson is desperate. And he also tends to think that just any beautiful woman will be a temptation," he says, his voice souring. "He probably was hoping that we’d sleep together at some point and you would run off and give him all the details to use against me."
"I’m sorry I brought it up," I grimace, pushing myself up from where I’m slouched over the laptop.
"I guess he wasn’t entirely wrong about you, though," Dex says thoughtfully. "If he was hoping for my assistant to be a distraction, he definitely chose well," he chuckles and moves a strand of hair that’s fallen over my eyes.
"I don’t want to be a distraction." My eyebrows pinch. "I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have come home today. What if..."
"Raya," he says, interrupting me and placing his hand over mine with a reassuring smile. "That’s not what I meant. I shouldn’t have said it that way. You are much more than a distraction. I just meant that from Lawson’s point of view."
I smile weakly and think about how Dex is pretty much playing hooky right now from work, and I’m certain that I’m at least partially to blame.
"What were you thinking about before?" He asks, trying to change the subject when he sees me overthinking this, I’m sure.
"Uh," my eyes slide back to him and his beard tinted with red and his beautiful dark hair that’s smoothed back today into a neat ponytail.
I would have never in a million years thought I’d fall for a guy with a ponytail. The image that typically comes to mind is someone with ratty hair who smokes and drinks and is missing teeth, but Dex pulls it off in remarkably—and I mean remarkably—sexy fashion. It looks sleek and professional in its own way, and together with his accessories—a long silver necklace with a bird on the end of it, two black woven bracelets, and a silver ring in the shape of a wolf’s head, now that I’m looking at it—give him that free-spirited, hippie kind of vibe that would be so unexpected in a CEO. But knowing Mobius Media and the culture that has been created in the company, it’s honestly not surprising. If Dex weren’t so incredibly handsome, he would be very approachable to any average, everyday person.
Now my mind and my eyes have gone wandering to the extent that I forgot Dex even asked me a question, and his eyebrows shoot up, amused.
"I’m sorry. You are distracting," I admit, shyly burying my face in my hands. "Why are you so..." When I glance at him again, he has a crooked smile.
"So...?" He says, guiding me to finish the thought that has gotten frozen in my mind. Do I tell him how gorgeous he is? It’s not like he doesn’t know. He has to know.
"Couldn’t you just be average looking? Did my soul have to want the most handsome man on the planet?" I cover my mouth with the back of my hand, hiding the goofy smile that I can’t control.
"You just think that because..."
"Because it’s true?" I ask, giggling. "It’s true. It’s an objective fact. Don’t try to say anything cute like I just think that because I like you or something."
"You like me?" He repeats with a teasing, hopeful smile. And how can he be this sweet when he’s so damn sexy? It’s maddening.
"When I met you and realized you were from my..." I laugh and shake my head, fully aware of how cheesy this sounds, "...from my dreams, I was really not expecting you to be so amazing in other ways."
"You didn’t expect to be living with me the very next week?" He chuckles.
"Living with you?" My eyes go wide. "But I’m in the guest house."
He nods to that fact and drops his eyes back to the table, his smile falling down a little.
"Anyway," I clear my throat, eyes drawn back to the screen to try to get back on topic. How did I stray into gushing about him? "I really love this company. I don’t have experience working on anything for a cosmetics line, but this is great."
"I imagined you would be a good fit for it. The notes you made for Moxie were smart to want to focus on their ethical sourcing of coffee beans and desire to pay the farmers fairly. Since that’s important to them as a company, it will also make their customers feel that they are investing in a deeper cause that benefits the world in some way. It’s not just about drinking coffee. It’s not just about using this shampoo. There’s more value added to it than that, and it also helps explain and justify a higher price if there is one."
"Right," I smile, starting to get excited about the prospect of working on this. "And in this case, I think even the novelty of a product like this is something that will draw people. All of it is really interesting... shampoo bars, shower... jelly?" I squint, looking at the description. Who even knows what that is? "I love how she has ’Verdure’ stamped into the sides of the soap. That is such a cute addition."
Dex is watching me, his smile slowly growing again.
"It will be important to have clean, bright images of the products. Something like the sea salt shampoo might peak people’s interest when they realize it’s not like anything they would buy in an average store," I go on.
"Great," he nods in agreement.
"I wonder if Liz would be interested in creating a small product that people could add to their cart that goes toward charity," I think aloud. "Based on the other things she posts about, it appears she is passionate about a variety of causes, which is something she could share with her customers."
"Would you like me to reach out to her so you two can meet?" He asks. "These are the kinds of thoughts that would be great to suggest to her in person. You can use whatever you need from Mobius to pitch her some concrete ideas once you’re ready. But meeting with her first would be a good way to establish a better sense of what she is looking to do."
"Really?" My eyes go wide. "This isn’t just a hypothetical... practice to build up my portfolio?"
"Really. I see Liz being very successful with this line if she gets the advertising right. Otherwise, her growth might be slow. But we can help her initially with discounted services since our ’intern’ will be the one helping her," he smiles, gesturing to me, "and then it will pay off for us in the long run when she is big and famous."
I grin and clap my hands with a little embarrassing squeal of excitement that makes Dex chuckle.
"I’m glad you’re interested," he says.
"Very interested. Thank you," I grin, and then I immediately realize the mistake I made breaking his rule once again. Maybe he won’t notice if I keep talking. "I’ll keep brainstorming some ideas over the weekend."
"You don’t have to rush anything. Once you’re back to work, you can focus on it," he assures me.
"No, I want to. I’m excited, Dex. This is such a great opportunity."
"Don’t say thank you," he says, stopping me before I get a chance. "This will be good for everyone, Raya. You have a great eye and a lot of talent. And that’s not just because I like you."
"You like me?" I ask, mimicking his same question from before.
The way his eyes sparkle and the gentle smile that follows makes my heart flutter wildly, but I’m getting used to the feeling. There was my heart before meeting Dex and my heart after meeting Dex, and even though this one is sometimes a mess of winged creatures trying to break free, I very much prefer this heart. It feels like it’s somehow mending things I didn’t even know were broken.
