Billionaire Romance Boxed Set (9 Book Bundle) (60 page)

Chapter Thirteen

Deborah

Why
couldn’t he have sat at the back of the plane? Sitting on the oversized leather
plane seat, it didn’t matter how angry and hurt I was, every time I looked up I
saw the back of Will’s stupid head and my anger subsided a little bit. He
really didn’t do anything wrong, but he still should have told me. Now I needed
a way out of showing my collection.

No
way was I going to embarrass myself. I could just hear the whispers—
well what do you expect, she’s screwing the owner.
That was the last
way I wanted to make a name for myself in the fashion industry.

This
had to be the longest plane ride on the planet. I thought it was going to be
bad before because of my excitement, now it was worse because I had no reason
to be excited. I was a fraud now, before I had talent.

Sighing
I pulled out the pad of paper I always carried with me and started sketching
some ideas. I’d have to call the Hargrove buyer Amanda when I got to Paris and
I was sure she’d fire me on the spot. Maybe I should just let Will take care of
it. It was his fault anyway.

I
peeked up to the front of the plane again, his dark brown hair looked even
richer against the tan leather seat. It was official—I was crazy about him. I
was still upset though.

***

We rode together in the limo to the Hotel Plaza
Athenee in silence. Will wouldn’t even look at me which was fine, if he did I
might want to kiss him. Besides, I really didn’t want to look at him either.
Looking at him made it harder to stay angry with him for ruining my career.

But did he ruin my career? Was I being dramatic
and blowing things out of proportion? Probably, but I couldn’t change how I
felt or my reaction. There was nothing worse in my mind than getting so close
to achieving a dream, only to find out you achieved nothing.

Paris was more beautiful than I ever imagined. I
wondered if I would get time to tour some spots or if Hargrove’s would send me
back immediately. Will certainly wasn’t saying anything, but he didn’t know I
couldn’t show my collection.

As we pulled up in front of the hotel, I
marveled at how pretty a building could look. With cascading flowers tumbling
from window boxes and red awnings, the exterior was lovely enough. Noticing the
curved stone of the balconies, the intricately carved window accents, and the
scalloped awning above the entrance simply took my breath away.

“Follow me,” Will growled in my
direction as we exited the limo.

Stewart directed the bellhop with our luggage
while I followed Will like a puppy through revolving doors into the lobby. So
in awe of everything around me it never occurred to me to question anything.

The marble Art Deco lobby was framed by columns
and large crystal chandeliers. Each of the columns had a vase with an
arrangement of white orchid sprays. We walked through the lobby and directly to
a small elevator without stopping.

“You two go up. I’ll ride with the bellhop
and your bags,” Stewart said.

Will and I got onto the elevator and stood
apart. I couldn’t take it any longer. I had to say something.

“Are you going to say something?”

“You’ve made your feelings known. What more
is there to say?” He said callously.

“There’s plenty to say!” I said
angrily. “Like how about sorry? Did you ever think of that?”

“I have nothing to apologize for.”

“You know how hard I worked for that
competition. No one else will realize that or care. All they’re going to see is
that I was your girlfriend.”

“Was?” He roared as he finally looked
at me.

Shaking his head, he stepped out of the elevator
as soon as it opened and began walking down the hall. I quickly followed him,
trying to keep up with his long stride, not knowing what else to say but
wanting to fight more. Opening the door to a room, he stepped back and handed
the key to me.

“Your suite now,” he growled then
walked down the hall and disappeared into another room.

Squeezing the key in my hand I shook it
pretending it was a mini-Will. Why was he being such a jerk?! How did he think
I’d react when I found out my designs didn’t win on their own? I should’ve
known better than to think I was talented enough to show a collection at
Fashion Week.

Entering the room I was taken aback by the view
out of the huge windows of the Eiffel Tower. Like the rest of the hotel, the
suite was also styled in the Art Deco style. The main room was decorated in
cool light blues and tans. I had never been in a hotel room that was more than
a couple of beds covered in polyester crammed into the room.

Out of the corner of my eye I spotted something
red on the floor leading to one of the doors. The red stood out and seemed out
of place on the dark wood floor. Will must have paid a lot of money for this
place, no reason it shouldn’t be perfect. As I picked up the phone to call room
service and let them know they left a mess in my suite, it slowly dawned on me
those were rose petals.

“Oh crap! I really did it this time,”
I said realizing everything Will had done for me.

I followed them into the bedroom where they
ended in a large heart on the cream colored bedding of the king size bed. At
the other end of the bedroom I noticed the largest bouquet of red roses on a
table and just beyond it the view of the Eiffel Tower again.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I realized what a
jerk I had been, not him. Sure, I was still hurt and upset but I definitely
overreacted.

The phone made a double-ring sound that startled
me out of my pity party. Running to grab it, I hoped it was Will.

“Hello?”

“I have a message for Miss Deborah
Hansen,” said the hotel operator.

“Yes?”
Please be from Will, please be from Will.

“Miss Dianna Brubaker said to tell you she
was catching a red eye and should be here this afternoon.”

“Oh, thank you.” I couldn’t help but
feel disappointed. “Wait, are you still there?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Can you tell me what room Mr. William King
is staying?”

“No, I’m sorry I don’t have the specifics
but I can tell you that your room is connected to both another suite and a
deluxe guestroom.”

Realizing there was a locked door in the
bedroom, I wondered if Will was on the other end. “Thank you for your
help,” I said into the phone.

“My pleasure, Miss.”

Chewing my lip I walked up to the door.
Could he be in there?
I pressed my ear up against the door and
thought I heard something and my heart almost leapt out of my chest.
It
has to be him!

I knocked softly and waited but nothing
happened. Knocking a little louder, I held my breath as I heard shuffling on
the other side of the door. The handle turned and I stepped back as the door
slowly opened. Dianna peeked around from behind the door.

“Dammit Dianna!” I said annoyed then
immediately felt bad. “I mean hi, sorry.”

“Well hello to you too,” she said as
she stepped into my room. “I just got in, how did you know I was here? My
plane was early.”

“I didn’t. I was hoping you were Will.”

“Will? You mean Mr. Sexy came with you?
What did the big boss man have to say about that?”

“They’re the same person.” I said then
sighed realizing how much happened in the past day.

“You mean Will owns Hargrove’s? But I
thought it was a family owned store. That’s not his last name. That explains
why he looked familiar though.”

“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.