Chapter 8 #2
The cool, climate-controlled air swept over her skin as Renee pulled the polo over her head.
Part of her still expected Lola to be looking away when Renee saw her face again—but she was doing the opposite.
Her dark doe eyes widened as they took in Renee’s body, flicking from her sports bra to the black lines of her tattoos to her stomach.
Wherever Lola’s gaze traveled, Renee’s skin prickled at the attention.
First her nipples tightened, then the feeling gathered between her thighs.
Renee reached for the shirt that Lola was clutching. “Can I have that?”
“Oh! Sorry!” Lola thrust it toward her. Her cheeks were rosy, her breathing a little quick, Renee noticed with satisfaction.
As Renee buttoned the clean shirt—thanks to the oversize cut, it fit—Lola grabbed the dirty polo from the floor. “I’ll take care of this,” she said, brushing by Renee as she walked out of the room. “I should get dressed.”
D OWNSTAIRS , G LORIANA AND Veronika had arrived and were having additional makeup applied on top of the full faces they were already wearing.
Alejandro eyed Renee’s fresh shirt.
“It’s Lola’s,” Renee explained.
Alejandro’s brows furrowed in confusion. “It is?”
Renee kicked herself. He hadn’t needed to know that.
“Yeah, we’re, um, old friends,” Renee said. Although the way Lola had just eye-fucked her hadn’t felt friendly . “Now where’s that gimbal?”
They had just finished testing light levels when Lola Gray descended the grand staircase and officially arrived on set.
Her hair was out of the rollers, looking gorgeously tousled, the curtain bangs brushing her cheeks.
She was dressed simply in jeans and a striped boatneck shirt, her feet bare.
Renee bit her lip, watching Lola introduce herself to the whole crew.
It was frankly bizarre how perfect Lola looked, like she’d wandered out of a Godard film.
Lola turned to Renee, those big eyes peering up at her through thick lashes. “Where do you want me?”
Renee’s mouth went dry.
Shit, no, she had to concentrate. This was the most important day of her professional career. It wasn’t the time to fantasize.
“Let’s get you answering the door.”
Renee tailed Lola to the front hall. When Lola opened the door, she threw her arms around Jason as if he were her closest friend, then slapped on an awestruck look as she saw the garment rack full of sparkles. “All this, for me? Gosh, I feel like a princess!”
Renee winced. It was campy, but that was okay. Lola would relax once she got used to filming.
“H OW DO YOU think this is going?” Alejandro whispered to Renee two hours into the shoot. Lola was off with Jason getting into a new dress.
Renee rubbed her temple. “First day jitters.”
Lola had tried on seven dresses, none of which satisfied Gloriana, Veronika, and Jason.
Some would upstage Nash—Renee had to suppress a groan at the idea of Lola dimming her light for that sea monkey.
Once, to Renee’s horror, Veronika had said a crystal-encrusted number made Lola’s diminutive frame look bulky.
Despite their negative comments, Lola’s smile had not left her face for one moment.
She had squealed at each new dress, repeated the princess comment, and several times announced how excited she was for Nash’s big premiere.
With each look, instead of giving a real opinion, she’d made a comment about how lucky she was to have the chance to wear such a pretty dress by this big-name designer—obviously, they had an arrangement with the brand.
Renee was fairly certain that Lola hadn’t liked any of the looks at all.
Jason emerged and presented Lola in a clingy black dress with cutouts exposing the side of her stomach and hip and much of her back, strung together by bits of glittery rope. The dress had so many parts missing that Renee couldn’t figure out how it was staying on.
“What do we say?” Jason cooed. “I say, fabulous .”
“Oh, yessss ,” Gloriana purred, as she snapped pictures to send to Nash’s people. “That’s it.”
Renee glared at the dress, trying to see what they saw.
“Completely agree. It’s grown and sexy,” Veronika said. “Mature, but in the right way, you know?”
Renee’s jaw tightened. All the cutouts and sparkles were as mature as a twenty-one-year-old on her first trip to Vegas. And no one had bothered to ask Lola’s opinion. She was smiling stiffly, her hand hovering over the bare skin of her stomach.
“Yes!” Jason chimed in. “Mature but still very, very young and fun.”
Renee moved closer with the camera. “Lo, how do you like this one? We need your reaction.”
Lola’s eyes darted to her and Renee knew she was right: Lola hated this dress.
“I do really like it,” Lola said diplomatically. “But I want to try a few more. Jason brought so many pretty things.”
Finally, Lola came out in a dress that she wasn’t smiling in—at least, not the smile she’d been wearing all day.
This dress was bias-cut emerald-green silk, draped from a halter neckline.
The color lit her warm brown eyes so that they were almost gold.
The low back showed plenty of skin, but unlike the other dresses, it would not have been at home at a nightclub.
She looked sophisticated, elegant—and definitely sexy, Renee thought as she watched the silk dance over Lola’s curves.
As Gloriana took her pictures, Lola’s shoulders were relaxed, her fingers creating ripples through the skirt. She was calmer and more confident than she had been all day.
“You don’t look happy,” Jason said.
“I don’t? I think this one’s so pretty,” Lola said.
“This isn’t it,” Gloriana said, like she hadn’t heard Lola at all.
Veronika hmm ’ed emphatically. “I agree, it’s the black one.”
The Lola Gray smile was back.
“Oh, seriously?” Renee groaned before she could stop herself.
Gloriana’s attention snapped to Renee, her mouth tight. “All right, Renee, since you insist on contributing from behind the camera, what do you think she should wear?”
Renee focused on the camera, not on returning Gloriana’s glare. “It’s clearly this one. It’s the only dress she’s looked a little bit like herself in. You feel good in this one, don’t you, Lo?”
Lola cast her eyes up at Renee. She looked a little taken aback, but a little pleased too. “I do.”
“Which you would know, if you made an effort to get her opinion, instead of telling her what to do,” Renee said.
“Renee, Lola has us here for our professional expertise.” Gloriana would have used the same tone to talk to an eight-year-old.
“We don’t tell her what to do and she’s perfectly able to give us her opinions—as she often does.
Now, I think we’re done. Everyone agrees it’s the black one?
Cassidy, send this over to Nash’s people to confirm. ”
Cassidy nodded, but her eyes were tracing a nervous triangle between Lola, Renee, and Gloriana.
“Let’s send this one too,” Lola said. “I do really like it. And it’s always good to have options.”
Gloriana opened her mouth, closed it again. “Whatever you say, Lola.”