15. Rosie
15
ROSIE
I took Ivy’s advice and got my hair done, pulled up in an elegant French twist with some curls cascading around framing my face. My makeup is soft, neutrals with a hint of sea foam green on my eyelids to match my dress. Now I’m unsure of the dress, but Emily insists that it is perfect for the event. This gorgeous sea glass green sequin cocktail dress that is off the shoulder and ankle length. I’ve teamed it with matching silver heels, a clutch, and fake diamond jewels.
I’m nervous as I arrive at the gala, not knowing anyone. I have no clue who is even at my table, all I know is that it’s the who’s who of the interior design industry in London. My Uber stops at the event, and lets me out to walk the red carpet. I suck in a deep breath and quickly stroll along the carpet knowing no one will look at me.
Moments later, I walk into the ballroom and the atmosphere is electric as the sound of hundreds of voices echoes through the historic building. I grab a glass of champagne to ease my nerves as I look around to see if I know anyone.
I walk around aimlessly but give up and head straight to my table to see if I might know someone there. Taking my seat, I start to study the menu seeing what is for dinner because I’m starving and don’t want the champagne to go to my head.
“Rosie?” that deep voice rumbles behind me. I turn in my chair and look up to see Daniel. What the hell is he doing here? He leans forward and kisses my cheeks. “You look spectacular,” he says as his warm breath caresses my neck and goosebumps light up my skin. He pulls out the chair beside me and takes a seat. Of course he looks devastatingly handsome dressed in a tuxedo, like a sexy French James Bond.
“What are you doing here?” I question him.
“Alex gave me his ticket for the event. He’s heading to Dubai with Ivy,” he states, taking a sip of his champagne. Those turquoise eyes run over me before returning to my face. “That color suits you. You look like a sexy Ariel.” He grins, placing an arm around my chair.
It takes everything in me not to shove his arm from the chair. “Ivy didn’t tell me you were invited.” I hiss at him as I reach for my glass of champagne to steady my nerves. I hate how this man can get under my skin without even trying.
“Surprise.” He grins.
I roll my eyes and throw back the rest of my champagne as another glass appears at my side.
“Are we okay?” he asks, picking up on my hostility. “I haven’t seen you much since the exhibition. It feels like you’re avoiding me?”
“I’m talking to you now,” I answer, throwing back half the contents of my new glass of champagne.
“Guess you are.” Daniel frowns as he stares, trying to work out what has gotten into me.
I hate that I miss his stupid handsome face.
Dinner is torture. I have to sit here and watch Daniel DuPont in action as he charms the entire dinner table. The women want him, and the men want to be him as he talks about, I don’t know what because I have tuned out most of it, but any chance he gets, he lays his arm around my chair as if laying claim to me.
“Excuse me for a moment, I’m going to freshen up,” I tell Daniel, who nods, then stands up and helps me out of my seat without breaking the conversation. I ignore his chivalrous act.
I make my way through the tables toward the bathrooms. Pushing the door open, I enter the fluorescent-lit room and head to a spare toilet. As soon as I close the door, I hear voices enter the bathroom.
“Did you see Daniel DuPont is here?” a woman’s voice says.
“Yes. I didn’t know he was coming,” another woman adds.
“That man is delicious,” the first woman states.
“Is he alone?” the other woman asks.
“That man is always single. I did see him talking to some girl at the table, but she doesn’t look like his normal type so doubtful anything is happening there,” the first woman explains.
“Then we’re in with a chance.” The second woman giggles.
“I’ve heard he’s an animal in the sheets,” the first woman gossips.
“That man could do whatever he wanted to me.” The other woman laughs as I hear their voices trail away and the door to the bathroom slam.
Exiting the toilet, I walk over to the sink and start to wash my hands. Is it too early to go home?
No.
Do not let those women make you feel less than you are, they’re just jealous. Plus, I was really looking forward to the dessert. I give myself a shake and head back to the table.
Daniel stands again and pushes my seat in just as the dessert course arrives.
“Are you okay?” he asks, noticing my silence.
“I’m fine.” Annoyed that I’m letting those two women get under my skin.
Daniel’s face falls as he frowns at me but doesn’t push the subject anymore, and I continue to down my glasses of champagne.
After dessert, music starts playing, and couples get up to dance.
“I’m going to go,” I turn and tell Daniel as I try to get up from my chair, but my legs wobble from the champagne. He’s there to catch me and straighten me up. “Don’t touch me,” I hiss. He looks surprised at the venom behind my reaction.
I don’t look back at where Daniel is as I start to make my way through the ballroom. People have had more to drink, and I am jostled a little as I pass, and stumble as a chair gets pushed out into me. A hand grabs me before I have a chance to topple over and pulls me back, and I bounce off a hard chest. I pull my arm out of his grasp and storm off, I can feel his presence behind me. Why won’t he leave me alone?
“Rosie, wait,” he calls out when we are outside.
“No, I have to go home,” I say, waving my hand in the air.
“What’s going on with you?” he asks.
“Nothing. Tired. Got to go,” I say, but I don’t get very far because his hand wraps around my arm, and the next thing I know, he is dragging me off the red carpet and toward a dark corridor. It’s a private walkway to the gardens. I storm off down the dark path annoyed and drunk.
“Rosie, for fuck’s sake,” Daniel curses at me, and then there’s a slew of what I can only assume is French curses afterward until he grabs me again and pushes me up against the wall, and glares at me. “What has gotten into you tonight?”
“Nothing,” I say, folding my arms in front of me.
“Fucking bullshit. You’ve been acting weird ever since you got back from the bathroom.”
“Oh, after I had to listen to your fans talking about how much of an animal you are in bed,” I spit at him.
Daniel flinches in surprise at my words. “I don’t give a fuck about those women. I care about you.”
“Did you care about me when you kissed that blonde at your exhibition?”
Shit.
I shouldn’t have said all that.
Daniel stills and those turquoise eyes find me in the darkness. “Is that why you’ve been ignoring me?”
I don’t answer him.
“Dammit, Rosie, answer me. Is that why you have been distant?”
A tear slides down my cheek. “Yes.” Now I’m angry with myself for letting that stupid tear fall. He doesn’t deserve them.
Daniel moves toward me. “I didn’t kiss her.” I shake my head. I know what I saw. “She kissed me.” Semantics. “She was someone from my past who was a casual hook-up and thought I would still be interested. She didn’t like hearing the word no. If you had stayed, you would have seen me push her away and ask her to leave my event.”
He reaches out and rubs his thumb across my cheek and walks me backward a couple of steps till my back hits the wall. “I didn’t know you had seen that, Rosie.” I hate that I can see the regret on his face and it’s making me feel weak. “If you had talked to me, I would have told you, I would have explained.” I swallow as another tear falls. “I would never hurt you,” he says as he kisses the tear from my cheek. My legs wobble, but I’m thankful he’s holding me, otherwise, I might be on the floor. “Were you jealous, Rosie?” I refuse to answer him. “Rosie, were you jealous?”
“I don’t feel well,” I say, pulling the drunk card to get out of this conversation.
Daniel stills, his hand falls from my face, and he takes a step away from me letting out a heavy sigh. “Come on then, let’s get you home. You’re going to feel that champagne in the morning,” he says, holding out his arm for me to take, and I do as my legs forget how to walk. Daniel and I walk in silence out of the laneway and down the red carpet to where his car is waiting for him. “I’ll take you home, I don’t trust you being in an Uber like this.”
I’m too tired to argue as he holds the door open for me. I get in and take a seat and he does the same. He tells his driver where we need to go, and we pull out into the London traffic. It's not long till my eyes start to shut from the gentle rocking of the car, and the next thing I know, I’ve fallen asleep, and Daniel is waking me up.
“Rosie, wake up, you’re home,” he says gently as the world spins. He helps me out of his car and walks me to the front door. I hand him my clutch, and he finds my keys and unlocks the front door, then helps me shuffle in and I groan when I see the three flights of stairs I must walk up. “Take your shoes off, I’ll carry you up.”
“No, I can do it,” I mumble.
“It’s going to take you all night or five minutes for me.”
He does have a point, so I kick off my shoes, bend over and pick them up, and seconds later, he is scooping me up into his arms. I let out a heady sigh as I snuggle into his hardness. He feels so good. Carrying me up three flights of stairs he hardly breaks a sweat.
“Is Emily here?” he asks.
“Yes.”
“Then I will say goodnight here.” He leans in and kisses my cheek. “We’re going to talk about this at a later date.” Then he turns and walks away from me.
After a couple of tries, I get the key in the door and stumble in.
“Rosie?” Emily calls out.
“Yeah, just me,” I say, throwing my shoes by the door, my clutch and keys follow as I close the door behind me.
“Are you drunk?” Emily chuckles.
“A little. I’m going to go to bed.” I hiccup.
“Night.” Emily chuckles.
I wave and head toward my bedroom and flop onto my bed.
I’m on struggle street.
“Rosie, Mr. DuPont is here to see you,” Adina says, popping her head in.
What! Why the hell is he here “I’m busy,” I tell her, trying to massage my hangover.
Her brows shoot up high at my reply.
“I know she’s not,” Daniel replies behind her. Adina steps out of his way as he barges his way into my office dressed like he’s stepped off the cover of GQ, in a navy suit, with a white shirt, no tie, and his dark hair slicked back with takeout bags in his hand.
Adina closes the office door behind him.
“How’s the hangover?” He chuckles as he places the takeout bags on my desk.
“What are you doing here?” I grumble.
“I thought you would be hungry,” he says, pulling out bowls of salad for us. He hands me a chicken Caesar salad. How does he know that’s my favorite? “What?” he questions me.
“How did you know I like chicken Caesar salad?”
“You mentioned it onetime,” he says as he pours salad dressing into his bowl and starts shaking his salad. I stare at him in disbelief. “What?” he questions me.
“Don’t you have anything better to do than harass me?”
“No.” He grins. “Also, am I not a client of Starr Designs? And do I not have the right to find out how my project is coming along?”
His words still me. Shit. He’s right. “Of course, you’re right. Usually, I have time to get things ready for clients but give me a moment,” I tell him.
Daniel burst out laughing. “I’m joking. I just needed an excuse to get into your office so we can have a chat.”
Oh.
I shove a bit of chicken into my mouth so I don’t have to answer. We sit in silence eating until I can’t stand it any longer. “What do you want to hear?”
“I want to know if you felt jealous?”
“Why?”
“Because.”
“Why,” I ask again.
“I need to know if you felt the same way I did when you told me you kissed someone in Paris.”
Oh.
I forgot about that. I shove a forkful of lettuce into my mouth, today is not the day for this conversation. Then he does the same waiting me out.
“Yes. Is that what you wanted to hear?” I tell him.
Daniel grins. “Glad we settled that. I needed to talk to you about Emily.” The change of conversation is giving me whiplash. “Louis sent through images of paintings Emily did in Ibiza. He wanted my professional opinion on them, he never told me they were hers until after I raved about her work. He then asked me if there was a chance that my cousin Deveraux would add her paintings to his New York exhibition if he thought they were good enough.” Louis did what? “Deveraux wants to showcase them.”
I stare at him not quite believing what he is saying. “Are you saying they want to showcase Emily’s paintings?” Daniel nods. “He’s not doing this as a way for Louis to get her back, is he?”
“Deveraux doesn’t do favors not even for family,” Daniel explains.
I place my bowl of salad down. “Are you saying Emily is going to have her first art exhibition in New York?”
Daniel grins. “I don’t know if she is going to be interested after everything or if she is willing to be near Louis.”
“She misses him, I know it,” I confess.
“He misses her.”
“You think she's that good?” I ask.
He nods. “She is talented. I would love to represent her.”
“This is fantastic. Why don’t you head to my place now and tell her the good news.” I stand up and walk over to where my bag is and start rummaging through it before finding my keys. I pull them out, take off my home key, and hand it to him. He stares at the key in his palm for a couple of moments before pocketing it. “Emily deserves to have her dreams come true, and maybe, just maybe it might be what she needs to give Louis another chance.”
“You seriously think she will go for it?” he questions me.
“Might be a hard sell, but you’ve been known to be charming.”
“If only my charms worked on you,” he says sadly before saying goodbye and leaving my office.