Joelle Morrow has her focus set on the future. As an up-and-coming lingerie designer, she's overcome multiple setbacks on the road to achieving her dream of opening her own boutique but has yet to be knocked down, leaving her no time to think about...
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For the rest of the week, a constant cloud of stress surrounded me as I searched, with no avail, for another building on the market to house my boutique. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack, wondering if what I was searching for even existed, but in sparse moments of clarity, I didn't let the agony of the situation get me down.
I still managed to jot down notes on patterns, colors, and silhouettes that danced across my mind. They'd all been done in haste, yet the inspiration hadn't faded, and when I woke up early Sunday morning, I had an overwhelming desire to work them into something real.
Sitting down at my desk, the drawers overflowing with sheer fabric and lace, I jumped right in. Each time one of my pencils touched the page, a new idea would spring to mind. I saw patterns before I drew them, could imagine how each color would look against different skin tones, and instinctively knew when something wouldn't work. There were ten scrapped sketches for every good one, and when I finally made a breakthrough, nothing felt better.
The hours got away from me, and before I knew it, a dozen new sketches had small swatches of material pinned to them and were scattered atop my desk. I'd also managed to bring two of my designs to life and had pulled out the plus-size mannequin I stored at the back of my closet to get to work on the third. So far, it was mirroring the vision I had in my head. It would be a baby blue set of undergarments, both supportive and sensual, paired with a sheer robe in pearly white.
With fabric thrown over my shoulders and bobby pins between my teeth, I was in the zone, using my hands to work each material the way I needed to.
"Looks like someone's been busy," Aimee mused, making me jump.
She was leaning against the door jamb as I turned to face her, her gaze arcing over the room, taking in the mess.
"Just a bit," I said, an airy laugh falling from my lips. Turning back to the mannequin, I tilted my head. "Well, what do you think?"
"I think it looks gorgeous, just like everything you design," she replied. "Though I wouldn't object if you wanted to recreate that in something closer to my size."
I glanced back over my shoulder. "Don't you already have a couple drawers full of things I've designed?"
"Yes, but one can never have enough lingerie. Especially when it gets put to such good use." The gleam in her eyes and the slyness of her smile caused me to roar with laughter. "Speaking of which," she continued, trailing off as she lifted one of the finished samples off my desk. A black lacy bra with thin silver straps. "Any plans on wearing something like this tonight?"
I froze, my eyes widening as a heavy feeling bore down on my chest.
Shit.
Dropping the fabric in my arms, I scrambled towards my chest.
"What time is it?" I asked, the words meshing together as I hurried to find something to change into. The last thing I needed was for Seb to show up at the door and see me in a pair of sweatpants, a loose t-shirt, and my hair tossed up in a bun.
