In the less-than-forty-eight-hours since Aidy Brown from The Unbound Soul had contacted her and asked her to come in for an interview, Alicia changed her mind about the job at least a hundred times. Looking after reception and marketing for a barber and tattoo studio was a far cry from what she thought she ought to be doing by now. If she thought about the people in her year at university, they were probably Directors or Vice Presidents of Marketing Departments by now, not scraping a living from temp jobs and holiday cover on little more than minimum wage. As Nell kept reminding her, if she wanted to pay the rent it was better than nothing. She hoped it wasn’t another of her bad decisions.

It had also been a difficult decision to choose an outfit. Based on what little she knew of the business—despite Nell’s nagging that she really should have checked out their website—she’d gone with a short, flowered dress and cute, strappy heels that picked out one of the colours in the material. She had left her hair loose and flowing and applied bright make-up.

“Jeez, Ali, are you going on a date?”

Nell, her sole cheerleader, was again working from home in order to supervise the outfit and the aftermath of the interview.

“What? No, obviously.”

“Then why do you look like you are?” Nell stood up and pulled Alicia back into the bedroom.

She riffled through Alicia’s closet and pulled out a pair of skinny chocolate-brown trousers, a plain black top, and a fitted back suit jacket. “Now put those on.” Nell pushed the pile of clothes into Alicia’s arms and disappeared.

Alicia did as she was told and got changed into the outfit Nell had selected. Immediately, she relaxed, feeling much more comfortable. As she looked at her reflection in the mirror on the back of the door, the garish make-up looked exactly that. Grabbing a cleansing wipe from the pack on the table, she scrubbed her face and replaced the bright colours with muted browns and a nude lipstick.

“Much better,” said Nell, as she came back into the room. “These boots will go perfectly, and I think you should put your hair up.” She handed Alicia a pair of spike heeled black ankle boots—which Alicia recognised as hers, she wondered where they had got to. “You’ll kill them looking like this.”

“Not sure that would go down well in the interview.” Alicia quickly wound her dark hair into a loose bun and stuck pins in it to secure the style. She pulled a few strands out and let them trail around her face.

“You’d better get going, you don’t want to be late,” said Nell. “Knock ‘em dead!” She gave Alicia a hug. “Gotta get back to the emails otherwise people will start to get suspicious.” And she left the room.

Alicia took a final look in the mirror. She looked—and felt—good. Good enough to totally nail the interview. She grabbed her handbag and headed out the door.

It took her less than fifteen minutes to walk to Fosse Arcade where The Unbound Soul was situated. The arcade was full of interesting independent shops. The ones that stood out for Alicia were a jewellery shop, a cute little bookshop-slash-coffee-shop, several clothes boutiques, and a deli. If she did end up working there, she certainly wouldn’t get bored in her lunch hour. She spotted The Unbound Soul at the end of the arcade, the logo covering most of the windows. From what Alicia could see, there were wooden floors, vintage barber chairs, and a couple of squishy leather sofas. It looked like a chilled out, sociable place to be.

As Alicia pushed open the door, she saw the reception podium—a raised platform at the bottom of the stairs—where a woman with short, platinum-blonde hair stood. A friendly looking guy with styled black hair and an equally styled beard was chatting to her. In the barber’s chairs, two clients were being tended to by their stylists, chatting and laughing, and there was music on low in the background. It all contributed to the ambience, and Alicia immediately felt at home. She approached the pair.

“Hi,” she said. “I’m Alicia Dylan. I’m here to see Aidy Brown.”

The guy with the beard held out his hand and smiled. “Hey, Alicia, nice to meet you. I’m Aidy.” He turned to the woman. “We’ll be upstairs. Shouldn’t be too long. If the next candidate comes early, can you ask her to wait?”

“Of course, and I’ll be certain to make sure she has a coffee and a pastry.” The woman’s tone dripped with sarcasm. “I’ve got a client in ten anyway.” She gave Alicia a cursory glance. “Good luck, yeah?”

“Don’t worry about Pearl,” said Aidy. “Her bark’s worse than her bite, and she’s pissed because she’s had to cover reception again. Follow me.”

Alicia gave Pearl a weak smile as she accompanied Aidy up the stairs. The top floor was open plan. There were three stations up there although the tools didn’t look like the ones she was used to seeing in the hair salons she frequented. There were two rooms marked private, a unisex bathroom, and a tiny office in one corner. Aidy opened the door to the office and gestured for her to go through.

“The boss is in here,” he said as she walked in.

“Thank you.” Alicia turned her attention to the guy waiting in the room. As their eyes met, she was instantly transported back to the landing of the Trackside Social and the feel of his lips on hers. It was Callan. Her jaw dropped, and she turned around, trying to escape, but it was too late. Aidy had already closed the door.

If Callan recalled who she was, he was doing a sterling job of hiding it. Although he couldn’t quite look her directly in the eyes. Apparently, her CV was totally fascinating, judging by the way he was staring at it.

“Thanks for coming in, Alicia, isn’t it? We appreciate it was short notice.” He was all polite professionalism, nothing to give away what had happened between them a couple of nights ago, as if he hadn’t seen her naked or had her impaled on his dick. “I’m Callan Rivers, the owner. Why don’t you take a seat?”

Alicia sank gratefully into the chair opposite him, and Aidy sat at the side of the desk. She hoped it would be Aidy doing most of the talking because she wasn’t sure if she would be able to answer Callan properly. As they started to quiz her about the recent contracts she’d done, she couldn’t help but think back to being done by Callan. The way his hands skimmed over her naked body, the way his beard tickled her skin, the way his tongue and fingers had teased her into ecstasy. Alicia crossed her legs, pulled her thighs together, and tried to ignore the throbbing in her groin. She glanced across at Callan, and their eyes met. She stared deep into the pools of blue, and her insides contracted. The speed with which he tore his gaze away made Alicia think she’d had exactly the same effect on him.

“What’s the attraction of the job here at The Unbound Soul?” asked Aidy. He appeared completely oblivious to whatever was going on between the other two people in the room.

Alicia thought she saw Callan sit up a little straighter and wondered what their response would be if she answered with ‘the boss is hot, and he has a pretty talented tongue that could make me come for hours’. The words died on her lips as she realised she wanted the job. Not any of the others she was more certain she could get, this one. Rearranging herself on the chair and banishing all thoughts of Callan’s talents from her mind, she composed herself.

“I think I have a lot to offer. I know I don’t have a great deal of reception experience, with the marketing projects I’ve worked on, I needed to keep organised and meet deadlines.” She watched as both Callan and Aidy scribbled notes as she spoke. “And obviously, I’ve had a lot of customer interaction, so transferring those skills to a reception-based role wouldn’t be an issue.”

Her two interviewers nodded, then Aidy went on to ask her more about marketing and social media, which she confidently answered. She learned more about the two streams of the business, how the ground floor was set up for the barber side and the top floor housed the tattooing and piercing clients. They continued talking until Pearl knocked on the door.

“Your next victim is here,” she announced, then immediately disappeared.

“I’m not sure she really likes reception work, am I right?” asked Alicia.

Both Callan and Aidy smiled.

“It’s not her strongest point,” replied Aidy. “I guess that means we should wrap things up. Was there anything else you wanted to ask us?”

“I don’t think so. You’ve been very thorough.” Alicia shot a sly look across the table at Callan, who was once again absorbed in her CV. “I guess I can call you if I think of any more questions?”

“Of course.” Aidy slid a business card across the table. “I don’t think we’re going to take long in making a decision, so we’ll be in touch very soon.”

“Great, thank you.” Alicia smiled and stood up at the same time as Callan did.

He extended a hand across the table. “Good to meet you, Ali. Thanks for coming to see us.”

Just the gentle touch of his fingers on hers set her off again. The fact he’d used the shortened version of her name that she’d told him the other night meant he did remember her. She set off down the stairs, a small wave of confidence washing over her.

Waiting by the reception podium was her competition, a blonde woman. Alicia hoped Callan preferred brunettes.