Sapphic Seduction Vol 2

Window Dressing-1

Window Dressing

Chapter One

With a sigh of relief, I followed the satnav’s instructions and indicated right, before swinging the van into the side road off London’s Oxford Street.

“You have reached your destination,” remarked the posh voice coming from the machine.

“Thank f**k for that,” I shot back, removing the device from the windscreen, then wiping at the telltale ring it left behind on the glass with my sleeve, hoping to remove any temptation for potential thieves. No doubt they swarmed around this area, tourist Mecca as it was. I didn’t want them to catch me out.

I stowed away the satnav, switched off the van’s ignition and grabbed all my stuff. After hopping out of the vehicle, I locked it and pocketed the keys. Then, wiping my damp palms on my black work trousers, I approached the rear door of the shop where I was to work.

Come on, get a grip, Jessie! You may be new at this, but you know what you’re doing. You’ve got this.

I wasn’t totally insane to be nervous. I’d been working for the shop-fitting company for just over a year now, and it was great. I really enjoyed the work, the variety. But this was the first time I’d been sent out on a job by myself. It hadn’t been intentional, either—the job was last minute, and the client had made it worth my employer’s while. Normally there would be a team of two coming here, but there was another big job, one that needed the more experienced fitters on board. Therefore, I’d been pulled off that task in order to do this one. Alone.

Adding more worry was the warning one of my colleagues had given me on finding out where I was being sent. “You watch out for that Edith woman, Jessie. She may look like a pixie, but she’s actually more of a dragon. She frightens the bloody life out of me.”

The terrifying words ringing in my ears, I took a deep breath and pressed the doorbell. I could do this. I could. I’d made it all the way from Leeds to London, navigating busy motorways and the complete insanity that was England’s capital city, venturing right into the heart—the craziest of the crazy. Fortunately, by the time I’d hit the West End, the traffic wasn’t too bad, given the shops were closing and rush hour had been and gone. There were still morons galore, naturally—honking taxi drivers, swerving, lane-hopping cyclists, oblivious rickshaw drivers, suicidal pedestrians—but I’d kept my cool throughout, telling myself I was so close to the end of my journey I could almost touch it. Taste it.

And here I was, at the back entrance of the flagship store of the world-famous fashion chain, ready to change its window display in time for the shop reopening in the morning. I glanced at my watch, relaxed a little. It was ten p.m. Eleven whole hours until opening time. No problem, even for a relative newbie like me.

The door opened a c***k and a sliver of a dark face peered out at me. “Yes?”

“Oh, hi. I’m Jessie—from the shop-fitters? Here to work on your window display?”

The woman—the voice had given it away, as she was still peering through the c***k between the door and its frame—eyed me up. The black trousers, black T-shirt, black fleece—the latter two bearing the name of the company I worked for—clearly weren’t enough. After turning her attention to the van behind me—emblazoned with the company name in huge letters—she finally seemed convinced.

“All right,” she said, opening the door wider and stepping back to let me through. “Come on in.”

“Thanks…”

“I’m Jacqueline. Edith’s already in the window. She’s the one in charge.”

I nodded. “Okay—lead the way.” I followed Jacqueline through the dimly lit storeroom. I’d known instantly she wasn’t Edith, because she looked nothing like a pixie. More like a goddess. She had a curly black afro, curves you could lose yourself in for days and a sensual wiggle as she walked that would have turned me instantly if I wasn’t already into women.

Blinking as we emerged into the blazing lights of the shop floor, I continued in Jacqueline’s wake, adjusting my ponytail and fixing a smile on my face as we grew closer to the window… and Edith. She was the big cheese—when it came to the window design and execution, anyway—so I needed to make a good impression. Hopefully she’d give good feedback to my boss, and I’d get more projects like this in future. Maybe even a raise. A girl could dream, right?

“Hi,” I said as we came within a couple of paces of my soon-to-be workspace. “I’m Jessie. Pleased to meet you.”

After a pause, the pixie took the hand I was holding out and shook it. Firm, confident, but brief. She was no nonsense, this woman. But I’d known that already.

“Edith,” she replied coolly, then jerked her head in Jacqueline’s direction. “I presume you two have already introduced yourselves? Jacqueline is my number two—she’s going to be helping us this evening.”

“All right!” I said, rubbing my hands together. “So, do you want to go through the plans, then we can c***k on.”

Edith’s green eyes narrowed, sending a chill down my spine. “Haven’t you already seen the plans?”

I tried not to gulp. “Y-yes, of course. But I thought it’d be useful to outline everything, make sure we’re on the same page. Avoid any potential problems.”

“You foresee problems?” Hands on hips, she raised her eyebrows, which were the same golden colour as her cropped hair.

Fuck. I’ve riled the dragon already. “No,” I said, more confidently than I felt, “absolutely not. But I haven’t worked at this store before, or with you, so it makes sense for me to get to know the place, discuss the plans with you, before we begin.”

A bored look on her face, Edith bent to retrieve a clipboard that sat on a pile of boxes next to the window. “All right.” She thrust the clipboard at me. “Here are the plans, my notes. I hope this won’t take too long. We’re on a tight schedule here.”

Eager not to get burned by the flames billowing from the dragon’s mouth, I took the clipboard with a smile so forced it hurt my face. “I’m a quick reader.”

“Good. I am going to use the bathroom while you’re reading. Then I will go to the kitchen. Would you like a drink?”

As long as you don’t put arsenic in it. “Yes, please,” I said brightly. “Tea, milk, two sugars, please.” I was surprised she’d lower herself to making drinks for others, to be honest.

As soon as her attention shifted away from me, I started reading. No way was this stuck-up, prickly b***h going to catch me out. I hadn’t lied to her—I had studied the plans. Inside out, in fact. But although I was relatively new to all this, I’d very quickly learned just how often clients made ‘little tweaks’ to the plans without telling us, which could f**k everything up entirely. The last thing I wanted was to start sawing wood and building everything to the original specification, only to be told I was doing it all wrong.

Thankfully, Edith’s notes and plans still seemed to match what I’d been given. She hadn’t yet returned, so I turned to Jacqueline with a smile. “Okay, this all looks to be in order. Would you mind helping me strip out the existing display while we wait for Edith to come back?”

Jacqueline’s generous lips curved up into a smile. “No problem. The sooner we get started, the sooner we can finish, right?”

“Precisely. Once we get going it’ll all be pretty straightforward, I should imagine.”

Famous last words.

Chapter Two

By the time Edith returned with the drinks, Jacqueline and I had removed a mannequin each from the window and stripped them off, ready for their new outfits.

“Drinks,” Edith said shortly, placing the tray down on an empty stand nearby.

“Great,” I replied, beaming at her. Just because she was a miserable cow didn’t mean I was going to let her bring me down too. “Thanks so much. The plans are perfect, by the way, and Jacqueline and I have already made a start.”

In response, her gaze flicked between the two of us and the naked mannequins. “So I see.”

I was pretty sure the temperature in the room plummeted by at least five degrees, but I reined in the shiver that wanted to roll across my body. She was just a woman, for heaven’s sake. I wasn’t going to let her scare me. “Well!” I clapped my hands, then headed back into the window for another mannequin. “We’re making progress on removing the old display. Once it’s all out and packed away, I’ll go and unload the van.”

Swiftly taking the dummy from me, Edith said, “I’m sure Jacqueline will help you.”

Keeping my tone bright and professional, I said, “Great, thanks!” Inside, I was wondering what the hell the b***h’s problem was. I was there to do a job, and that’s precisely what I was doing… How could I possibly have offended her or pissed her off?

Pushing my irritation aside, I got on with the task at hand, speaking as little as possible and avoiding looking at or interacting with the dragon unless necessary. Soon—with a little break to drink our tea—there was a nice blank space for me to work with. The fun part was due to begin. My favourite part of my job was the building part, the creating.

“So, where does all this stuff need to go? Storeroom?”

I’d aimed my question at Edith, but she was busily faffing about with the newly dressed mannequins. She’d left Jacqueline and me to do the heavy lifting—literally—while she sorted out the replacement outfits. I knew it had to be done sooner or later, but I couldn’t deny how much it irked me that she wasn’t helping us at all.

Jacqueline, clearly realising her boss wasn’t going to reply, said, “Yeah. Come on, I’ll show you. We’ve got a flatbed trolley out there we can use too.”

With a grateful smile, I followed her off the shop floor and away from the distracted dragon. Once we were out of earshot, I was dying to burst out and ask Jacqueline what Edith’s problem was, but I bit my lip. It wasn’t professional, for starters, and although it seemed there was no love lost between the two women, I didn’t know Jacqueline well enough to trust her—she could turn around and repeat everything I’d said to her boss.

I wondered then if the reason the atmosphere between them was frosty was because they’d maybe once been an item. I wasn’t one hundred percent sure about Edith—it was entirely possible she just hated everybody, no matter their s*x—but I’d definitely got lesbian vibes off Jacqueline. Maybe that was it—maybe Edith had knocked Jacqueline back?

I stifled a snigger. No, that couldn’t be right. Edith was terrifying. It would take someone with serious balls—figuratively speaking, of course—to come on to her, or ask her out even. I just couldn’t imagine Jacqueline plucking up the courage. Unless she’d been drunk at a Christmas party, or something. s**t, a person would have to be seriously pissed to approach the dragon’s lair.

Out back, with a firmly closed door and plenty of space between us and Edith, Jacqueline apparently felt able to open up. She sighed as she retrieved the aforementioned trolley and pointed it at the door we’d just come through. “Yes, she’s always like that, before you ask.”

Although my surprise stemmed from the fact she’d said the words, rather than their content, I ran with it. “Huh? What? I didn’t say anything.”

Fixing me with a wry look and quirking a perfectly shaped eyebrow, Jacqueline replied, “You didn’t need to. She’s a prickly, unpleasant woman, and she always treats people like s**t, I’m afraid. I’ve no doubt there will be more snide comments aimed in our direction by the time the night is over. She’s my boss, though, so I just have to grin and bear it.”

Still unwilling to say anything in case it came back and bit me in the arse later on, I made a noncommittal sound. I wanted to trust her, to maybe exchange a bit of banter with her, as the camaraderie—despite its clandestine nature—would probably make the next few hours go faster. But I just didn’t dare risk it—I loved my job too much to lose it. And roles like mine weren’t exactly ten a penny, either.