Chapter 7
Ilooked at myself in the mirror. Gabe called me real, but right then I didn”t feel very real.
My reflection looked like me, but a put together version of me. My hair was in a neat updo, kept in place by approximately thirteen thousand hairpins and a bottle of hairspray.
My make-up was subtle, but on point. The ridiculously expensive dress and equally ridiculously expensive shoes were perfection. I looked like someone out of a magazine.
”I feel like I should pull out all the pins and mess my hair up.”
My best friend and roommate, Darcy, laughed. ”You can do that after the party. When you and him get down and dirty.”
”Who says we”re doing that?” I asked over my shoulder.
“I don”t know,” she said slowly. ”Maybe the fact you haven”t stopped talking about him for the last three days.”
”Hey, I haven”t talked about him that much,” I protested. ”Have I?”
She cocked her head and popped out her hip while looking at me in teasing disbelief. ”Yes, you have, but I don”t mind a bit. It”s nice to see you find someone you like. The fact he”s a billionaire doesn”t hurt either.”
”I don”t care if he”s a billionaire,” I said. ”Gabe is sweet. He”s a decent guy. And he”s hot. I”d bet you anything he doesn”t know how hot he is.”
He was so busy working, he probably had little time to look in the mirror. He wore expensive clothes because that was expected of him, not because he was vain. At least, not as far as I could tell. He was reserved, but he didn”t seem to take himself as seriously as I first thought.
”If you get tired of him, can I have him?” Darcy asked. ”The way you keep talking about him, I”m going to fall for him myself.”
”What happened to Greg? Or was it Kyle?” I couldn”t keep up with her love life. She seemed to have a different guy every week.
She grinned. ”It”s both. I couldn”t decide, so I”m seeing both of them.”
”Do they know?” I asked.
”Of course they do,” she said. ”I don”t do cheating. They”re fine with it. Sooner or later I might choose one of them, but for now it”s working for everyone.”
”It”s all fun and games until they fall for each other,” I teased.
She snorted. ”As long as I can watch.”
”You could build yourself a harem.” I checked my lipstick and my teeth. Like the last five times, they were fine.
Darcy snapped her fingers. ”Now there”s an idea. I could have a guy for every day of the week. They could each wear a shirt with their day on it.”
I turned around and laughed. ”What would you do if they swapped shirts? That could end up getting very confusing.”
She placed her hand under her chin and fluttered her eyelashes. ”You know me, I”d roll with it. As long as they were all about me, I”d be cool.”
”Sounds like you”d have your hands full,” I said. Two guys would be one too many for me, but whatever floated her boat. I wasn”t going to judge.
”Hands, mouth, pussy.” She grinned. ”Everything would be full. Which brings me back to you. And Gabe messing up your hair. Have you kissed him yet?”
”No, I have not kissed him,” I said. ”This is a fake date, remember? After this, I”ll probably never see him again. Once Larry is better, he”ll be back driving Gabe around everywhere. And I”ll be in the office taking the money.”
”You want it to be more than a fake date?” She gave me a ”be honest” look, which I usually couldn”t resist.
I exhaled slowly. ”It doesn”t really matter what I want. He”s nice and we get along, but we”re only doing this to get his mother off his back. It”s one party, nothing more.”
”Of course it matters what you want.” Darcy placed her hand on my arm. ”If you like him, you should make a move. Tell him how you feel. Just because he thinks it”s a fake date, doesn”t mean it needs to end that way. You could jump his bones. From the sound of it, he”s not going to try hard to resist.”
I thought back to the expression on his face when I mentioned spanking. He wouldn”t try hard to resist at all, but I”d hate for him to have any regrets about what happened between us. Especially if his mother gave him hell for it.
”Maybe this is a bad idea.” I turned back to my reflection. ”I should just call him and tell him I can”t go.”
”Absolutely not,” Darcy said. ”You”re going to go to this party and you”re going to enjoy yourself. Even if nothing happens between him and you, you should have a night out. See how the other half lives for a while. What have you got to lose?”
”My dignity?” I asked. ”The contract with Ellison if things go badly.”
My heart.
This was the closest I”d come to putting it on the line for the longest time. That was a good reason not to go. Darcy was right though, I”d gone this far, I might as well follow through. It was one night, there was no reason I shouldn”t go and enjoy myself. How often did a girl get to go to a party put on by a record label, much less one as fancy as this? The place would probably be packed with famous people. It might give me the chance to pick up some more business.
”Things are going to go amazing,” Darcy said. ”Take a deep breath and jump right on in. That”s what I do. Life is too short for regrets.”
She did take life by the balls and live every moment, and I loved her for that. I didn”t miss the irony of her telling me to lighten up after I”d told Gabe the same thing.
”Your car should be here soon,” she said.
I glanced at my watch. ”Yes it will. Okay, here goes nothing.”