Tate Read Free Page A

and shirts are priority, and we need them fast. Two weeks, tops,” she commanded. “Tux in time for the GRAMMY Awards. Are we on the same page?”
    “Whatever you need. You know I always take care of your clients. By the way, you can tell Ami to call to schedule her fitting.”
    Audra snapped a few more orders then turned to me. “I’ll see you tomorrow. Three o’clock - my office,” she said, and left.
    I turned to Maisie. “Tate Morrow,” I said, extending my hand. “We weren’t properly introduced.” When she touched mine in return, I felt sparks. No. No, it wasn’t sparks - it was a friggin’ jolt that shook me to my core. “Damn, is she always that bitchy to you?”
    “She is.”
    “Why didn’t you bark back?” I asked.
    “I’m used to it.”
    “Where I come from, people treat people with respect,” I said, and felt myself getting pissed.
    “Not from around here, are you? No one trying to make it is. You’ll figure it out after you’ve been around for a while. It’s her way of letting me know she thinks she’s superior because of who she thinks she is. I’m just the seamstress, not someone important in her book, but I know she needs me. Sadly, I need her, too. She brings a great deal of work to me. But I know who she really is.”
    “Do tell,” I urged.
    “She’s just a pimp for up-and-comers. She’ll throw you to the wolves when the next ‘big thing’ comes along. I’ve seen it before.”
    “Candid,” I laughed.
    “Honest,” she replied, with a shrug of her shoulders.
    “Wait, that means you don’t think I’m gonna be a ‘big thing’?”
    “No clue. Now go change. Shirts first. I need you to put them on wrong side out so I can pin them.”
    I watched her get up and come from behind the sewing machine, and smiled. “How tall are you?”
    “Not very.”
    I laughed, and she grinned.
    I went into the room she directed me to and changed.
    “Why do the dang shirts need tailoring, anyway?” I grumbled as I exited the room. “I’ve been wearing pearl-snap shirts since I was like twelve…”
    “Not in front of adoring female fans that will fantasize about your body,” she interrupted, sarcastically, as she moved closer to me. “Audra wants to make fantasizing easier.”
    “Five foot nuthin’,” I said. She was very petite, wearing little black shoes with no heel.
    “What?” she asked, grabbing a tomato-looking thing stuck full of pins.
    “You aren’t even five foot, are you?”
    “Five foot one,” she corrected me.
    “That some kind of voodoo tomato?” I asked, and finally, she laughed. I liked the sound of it.
    “I guess it will be now. Raise your arms,” she said.
    At 6’4”, when I did, she practically stood beneath my arm as she started working on the side of the shirt. She moved around me like a pixie - I kept waiting to see the sparkle dust she left behind as she moved. I felt her hands, cool, as they touched me to pin in two different places, and then she moved around to the other side. Finally, she ran her hands up my chest, feeling the fit she was trying to achieve. I swear, I was afraid I’d get a hard-on right there in front of her and have no place to hide.
    “How does that feel?” she asked.
    FUCKING AMAZING! I wanted to yell. “Tight,” I said instead.
    “It’s not tight. It’s just not baggy like you’re used to. This is exactly what Audra wants. I’ve worked with her for a while now. I can mark the rest of the shirts from this one. Go put on a pair of the jeans – wrong side out, too. It won’t be easy, but you need to zip them up and fasten them. They’re all the same brand, right?”
    “Yeah. Wranglers.”
    “Good, then I only need to pin one pair. Audra will want them snug, especially in the crotch.”
    “What about what I want?” I asked.
    “What you want won’t matter much for a while. You’ll get used to others telling you how it’s going to be until you get big enough to make your own rules. Right now it’ll be