Billionaire Romance Boxed Set 1(199)
“Hargrove is a family name. What do you mean that explains why he looked familiar?”
“His portrait is probably up on the top floor. You know, where they interviewed you for the contest,” she said as she stared out at the view.
“Are you kidding me? Am I that blind?”
I thought back and remembered Will telling me to call him by his name and how surprised he seemed that I didn’t recognize him. How could I not notice his picture?
“You should see my room! Its gorgeous,” she said as she looked around my suite. “Ok, its a little smaller than yours but still, isn’t this place amazing?”
“Yeah, fabulous,” I said unenthused.
“What’s wrong? You’re in the City of Love with a gorgeous billionaire. If you have a problem with that I’d be more than willing to fill in for you. Just look at those roses! And the petals on the bed are a nice touch. He is getting lucky tonight!”
“No, he’s not. We broke up.”
“What are you talking about? You couldn’t have done more than fly together. What happened?”
“Dianna, he owns Hargrove’s. I just won the Designer Challenge. I can’t show at Fashion Week now. It was rigged. I’ll just be nothing more than the owner’s girlfriend.”
“Did he say that? Because last I knew you didn’t even know he was the owner so why would anyone even know he had a girlfriend? Or even care?”
“He’s the owner, of course it was rigged. And it does matter! I’m not good enough to have my own collection on display and this proves it.”
“No Deb, he’s the owner. Do you think he even has time to bother with something as insignificant as a contest? And I saw your collection. Its gorgeous! Look at it yourself if you don’t want to believe me.”
Dianna looked around the bedroom and when she didn’t see what she searched for, she went into the main room of my suite. Not knowing what to expect, I followed her and was surprised to see my bags sat beside the door. Placing my old hard-sided suitcase on the couch, she opened it up and one-by-one pulled out the pieces of my collection ending with the ocean blue gown.
“Look at these! How can you say these aren’t worthy of winning?”
“You’re right, they’re good, but are they good enough? We’re not just talking about Hargrove’s, but Fashion Week in Paris!”
“Then make something new. Add something to the collection to prove to yourself how good you really are.”
“Are you crazy? There’s no time!”
“Give me a break Deborah, I know you. I’ve seen how you sketch whenever you get a new idea. I bet you have new sketches already and I bet if we go out right now something will spark your imagination.”
“You’re right. And you can’t go to Paris and not visit the Eiffel Tower. I mean look at it out there.” I looked out the window again and noticed the sun began its descent. “Let’s go for a walk. Plus, if we don’t go tonight I’m not sure if we’ll get the time to before we go.”
Dianna and I grabbed our handbags and left the hotel. With the sun almost set, a deep orange haze glowed just above the skyline as the Eiffel Tower beckoned us with its lights. We walked quietly at first, just taking in the scenery, until I spotted her slyly looking over at me a couple of times.
“Ok, what is it?” I asked.
“I have to know. Are you going to show your collection?”
“I think I am. I mean, my collection is really strong and I’m proud of it. I did win the contest after all. You’re right, Will’s got better things to do than to rig a contest. I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“I’m glad. You really do deserve it. I’ve been working at Hargrove’s for a few years now and I’ve never seen a collection as good as yours. I even tried one year, but my designs just…well they sucked,” she said laughing. “I made it to the interview before they promptly laughed me back onto the sales floor.”
“That’s terrible, Dianna!”
“No, its really fine. I have no regrets. It was just something I really wanted to try, but I’m really not creative enough. Not like you.”
As we walked past the squared trees lining the Champs de Mars, I began to lose myself to our surroundings. The Eiffel Tower made me think of modern mesh fabric. As I looked at its shape, I suddenly thought of an A-line dress. Just simple and elegant like the building in front of us.
“Oh wait, wait!” I said to Dianna.
Moving aside for the other walkers to pass, I pulled a notepad and pencil out of my bag. Frantically I began sketching a sleeveless, formfitting dress that easily went from day to night. As the dress followed the A shape, a softly ruffled hem finished the dress at mid-thigh.