#Chapter 9 Everyone will want you
1247 Words
DORIS
Nina accompanied me downtown to SoHo to accept the gift certificate from BelleBelle Luxury Boutique.
“I envy you, Dore. An gift certificate out of nowhere just when you need it? That’s some amazing good luck.”
My lucky had seemed better, inexplicably, since I met Arthur.
Nina practically bounced with excitement when we pushed open the doors to the exclusive boutique.
As we entered the store, a well-dressed saleswoman greeted us with a smile. "Hello.” She nodded at us politely and gave us a minute to get our bearings.
“Wow,” Nina said as soon as we walked into the store. “This place is really nice. I’ve never been in here before.”
“It is great. They have the newest fashions.”
“How can I assist you today?" The saleswoman asked.
"I have a gift certificate," I said, handing it over the award I printed from my email.
The saleswoman scanned the barcode on the certificate and nodded. "You have three thousand dollars to spend. Let me show you some of our latest arrivals."
I thought Nina’s eyebrows would disappear under her bangs they shot up so far when she heard the amount. “Three thousand dollars! You didn’t tell me it was for three thousand bucks!”
The saleswoman went to a rack in the back, but before she could get there, Nina held up a dress that was just my style.
“Doris, Doris! Look at this. It’s so elegant. It will look great on you!” Nina held up a sexy black dress with gold sparkles and gems that looked like diamonds.
“It will look great on your trim figure,” Nina said. “And this low neckline will show off just the hint of cleavage while still being classy. Everyone will want you.”
I giggled. It really was an exceptionally beautiful dress.
“Actually, I’ve stopped in front of the store and looked in the window, salivating over this exact dress many times.”
“We must have the same taste,” Nina said. “Good taste, that is. Hah!” Nina held the dress in front of herself, then me, then herself again.
“That’s our latest, limited edition DIOR," the saleswoman said quietly. "You do have good taste and a good eye."
I’d seen that dress for weeks. Of course, I never thought I could buy it.
I looked at the price tag and whistled. It was really expensive.
“Come on, you lucky duck,” Nina said. “You won that gift certificate.”
Nina twirled around. Her happiness was contagious.
“Try it on,” Nina said. “You might as well blow all that money now and make Bob eat his heart out."
“You’re right.”
I tried on the dress and it looked even better than I thought. I walked out of the dressing room to get Nina's opinion.
I stood in front of the large, floor-to-ceiling three-way mirror on a slightly raised section in the middle of the store and turned left and right.
Who was this sophisticated woman? I certainly looked a lot different than I did in the mirrored elevator of my old apartment.
"You look fantastic, Doris."
"You do," the female shopkeeper agreed. "And we have shoes and jewelry that match if you want to look."
“I don’t know.”
“Come on. Take a quick look. At least at the shoes,” Nina said. She held up one finger and made the turn around motion.
“Hhmmn,” I said, turning to look at my backside. The dress hugged me perfectly and made my ass look fabulous. I felt confident and sexy.
I really hoped Arthur would see me in this dress. I smiled.
Just as suddenly, my mood plummeted. I never got his contact info. I had to pray I'd see him again.
I felt a terrible sense of loss.
“What?” Nina asked me.
But before I could answer her another thought occurred to me. Suddenly I had the strange thought that Arthur had arranged for the gift certificate.
My eyebrows furrowed.
“What?” Nina asked again.
“Nothing,” I said.
“That dress looks great. You have to buy it. And I have a little purse that matches perfectly that you can borrow.”
I hugged her. “Thanks. You’re the best.”
ARTHUR
After I finished another cut-throat and successful meeting, Nathan walked into my office holding his iPad. I could see from my desk that Nathan had cued up the surveillance footage.
"The manager of the clothing boutique just sent the footage you wanted. Of that woman, Doris."
I took the tablet from Nathan. There, on the screen, was Doris. I got hot just looking at her.
.
Nathan didn't know the boutique was under my name. He was too busy helping me manage my bigger deals. Although Nathan could certainly easily find out if he tried, he was too discreet to dig into something unless I asked him to.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nathan looking at me questioningly. I was sure he wondered why I suddenly asked the boutique manager to give a gift to a certain customer in what must seem like an unusual way.
Nathan probably wondered why I had him send me a video of this particular customer, but Nathan's not stupid.
He watched how I looked at the iPad. Nathan knew me better than almost anyone. I was sure he had opinions, but he kept them to himself.
Not only didn’t Nathan know, Doris didn’t know I owned that particular high-end boutique either. But that didn’t matter.
What mattered was because I owned it, it was all that much easier to get her the gift certificate.
I couldn’t stop staring at the screen.
Doris was always well put together, but her suits looked old, and I had a feeling she was struggling. Which reminded me I never got a chance to give her the five hundred dollars back.
My mouth watered. There was something about Doris. Some pull she had over me.
Even through the screen, I felt her.
She looked so good in that dress.
I was never the type to care about women’s fashions. I knew about nice things, but that’s not what drove me.
Other than my business, nothing was really important as far as details went.
My pupils dilated slightly as I looked at that sexy woman on the iPad's screen. The woman who thought I was something I wasn't, career wise, but seemed drawn to me none-the-less.
The dress is perfect.
She’s perfect.
Maybe this wedding won’t be a total disaster after all.
Maybe I could pick her up in my limo and kiss her senseless to and from the wedding. No. I’ll meet her there.
But I was going to spend a lot of time imagining what we could do in the back of my limo, that’s for sure.
It took all my strength to hide my predatory smile.
“Boss, what's so special about this woman?”
I could see from Nathan's facial expression that he thought she was some important heiress and that she would bring billions to my business and that must be why I was interested in her.
I knew Nathan well enough to tell from his expression that he thought she was secretly a princess of some small European country or something.
- Writer
