Chapter 85: Hero Sex
- RAYA -
Liz pulls up in the driveway, and I do a little internal squeal and shake the nervous jitters out of my hands when I hear her knock. It feels odd to be answering Dex’s door.
"Hi, Liz," I smile, opening the door wide to welcome her in.
"Good morning. Raya, right?"
"That’s right. It’s so nice to meet you."
We shake hands and, oh my word, Liz is beautiful. She has an infectious smile, gorgeous dark brown waves that fall down past her shoulders, and an amazing full figured body.
"It’s great to meet you, too. Dex has a lot of wonderful things to say about you," she smiles. "I was surprised he contacted me about Verdure, because I haven’t been shopping for advertisers."
"Well the products definitely caught his eye, and I’m so glad they did," I tell her, leading her to the kitchen and dining area so I can pick up the laptop. "Would you like to sit outside?"
"Sure, it’s a beautiful day," she agrees.
Her eyes are the kind that disappear when she smiles, and it’s one of the things that makes me like her immediately. It feels like there are no hidden, reserved emotions that make you have to guess what she’s feeling. She seems genuine.
When we get seated at a small table on the patio, the scent of flowers drifts over, and I’m struck by the surprising familiarity of this moment. It’s almost like Liz and I have done this before.
"You seem so familiar," she says, scooting her chair in.
"I was just thinking the same thing," I chuckle. "Weird."
"Weird," she agrees. "But weird in a good way," she clarifies with a small laugh.
"Yes, definitely in a good way. I agree."
I position the laptop so she can see it while I slowly scroll through the products.
"This is going to sound awful, but I have to admit I’ve never shopped for bath products anywhere other than the average chain store," I tell her. "When I saw how simple some of these ingredients of yours are, I was completely blown away. All the chemicals that are in every product that I currently own... I feel naive to have thought that was the only way."
"No, don’t feel that way," Liz touches my arm. "It’s how most of us are brought up. We’re not aware of more natural alternatives, and what we are comfortable with is running to the store to get what we need. I totally get it. But here, I brought you some things to try."
She opens her bag and takes out several small black cartons. Each has the name of the product written in white letters, and I pick one up that says Sea Salt Shampoo.
"The Sea Salt Shampoo! As soon as I saw this, I wanted to try it. Can I open it?"
"Yes, of course," she smiles. "They’re for you."
The lid twists off, and inside there is the most incredible subtle smell of the sea.
"Oh, wow." I close my eyes and bring it to my nose, smiling. "I love this. How does it work? I’m used to more of a liquid. This looks like a body scrub."
"It lathers," she explains. "Once you start rubbing it into your hair, it will lather and it’s easy to spread. It doesn’t lather as huge as something like a store bought shampoo will, but this works just as well... if not better. And the sea salt actually helps give hair volume."
"The smell is incredible," I shake my head and smile over the container at her. "Thank you so much. I can’t wait."
"Of course. If you’re going to be helping me with marketing, then it’s only fair that you get a chance to try it."
"If I get to smell like I went swimming in the sea every morning, I have a feeling I won’t just be trying it. I’ll be contacting you for more," I tell her with a chuckle.
Liz and I talk about some ideas for her website and marketing, and before I know it an hour has gone by without it feeling like work at all. It’s just like we’re friends visiting.
"I’d like to move forward with this," Liz says once we’ve closed the laptop. "I really enjoy talking with you, and I love your ideas. It’s important for me to highlight the ethical sourcing of the ingredients, and you get that. And I love the idea for a special product that can be purchased for charity. That gives me something to brainstorm, too, which is really exciting."
"Really?" I ask with a huge grin, and then I have to catch myself. Being surprised that a client wants to work with me shouldn’t be my first response. "I mean, that’s great!"
"This is what’s so cool about interns. You still have so much enthusiasm, you have fresh ideas, and you don’t have the stiff, inflated ego that some of the others do," she laughs. "I have really enjoyed visiting with you Raya, and I’m so glad Dex thought to introduce us."
"Me too," I agree. "So I guess, let’s touch base next week?"
"Absolutely. I look forward to it."
While walking Liz back through the house to the door, I’m thinking about how I can’t wait to text Dex to tell him about how this went. He was so right about Liz. She’s friendly and warm, and best of all, she’s going to be my first real client! I couldn’t ask for someone better to work with for the first time.
Liz and I hug, and I open the door to let her out. When I do, another woman is approaching on the walkway. I recognize her immediately: Grace, the ex. She’s the stunning model from Jay’s texts. My stomach drops.
"Oh," she pauses on the walkway, head tilting at Liz and I standing in the doorway. "Is Dex here?"
"I’ll talk to you next week," Liz turns and smiles at me, and I nod, hoping that my sudden shock and dread isn’t too noticeable.
"Sounds good. Bye, Liz."
Grace makes room for Liz to pass by before she walks the rest of the way to the front door.
"Dex isn’t here," I tell her.
"Then why are you here?" One of her eyebrows angles up.
"I work with him, and I was meeting a client." I gesture toward Liz who is now pulling out of the driveway.
"In his home?" She scoffs and walks right past me like she owns the place.
I stand at the doorway, watching her stop in the living room and look around. What the hell am I supposed to do? Just let her roam around his place? Definitely not. But I’m not sure how to get her out either.
"He left work yesterday, so I figured he would be here today. I’m flying out," she explains with details I didn’t ask for. "You must be the one in the guest house."
My eyebrows pinch briefly. He told her about me?
"So he has you here playing house then?" Grace crosses her arms and looks me up and down. "Oh my. Are you the girl who got hit by the car?"
I sigh and close the door.
"Would you like me to call him and tell him you’re here?" I ask.
"No, I can do that," she waves a dismissive hand. "I’m Grace Dumas. Dex and I dated for many years, and when I heard about his dad, I flew in to be supportive. He invited me to model for an ad while I was here."
Grace is definitely trying to make it sound like they’re closer than they are, and Dex made it seem like Lawson was behind her being here.
"I’m surprised you didn’t know Dex was at work then," I cross my arms, too, mirroring her.
"It must have slipped his mind," she chuckles. "I’ll just have a glass of water, and then I’ll leave."
"I didn’t offer you a glass of water. Perhaps you should just leave now."
Grace smiles in a decidedly unfriendly way before walking toward me, her heels clacking loudly against the floor.
"He feels sorry for you," she says, and her eyebrows pull together in a sympathetic way. "He likes to fix things that are broken. I was one of those things, too. We met at a party at this designer’s estate, and one of the men in attendance tried to force himself on me. Dex happened to be walking down the same hallway, looking for the bathroom. He broke the guy’s nose," she chuckles recalling it. "He was my hero that night, and afterward we had the best sex I’ve ever had in my life. I called it hero sex, because there’s nothing that compares to that fantasy of someone who saves you, is there? Especially someone who looks like him."
My heart sinks to my stomach, making it churn with nausea, but I do my best not to show it. I don’t want to know any of this, but now I’m imagining the two of them together. It’s unavoidable. And they were together for years?
"Have you had hero sex yet?" She asks with a wry smile. When I don’t respond, the smile turns into a smirk. "I guess since I’m not broken anymore, he’s found someone new to fix."
Grace leaves me standing there as her clacking shoes return to the front door. If I say anything, I might end up breaking her nose, and I doubt that would impress anyone the way it should.
She opens the door and gives me one last glance. "Enjoy the hero sex, my dear. It doesn’t last forever."
