Irresistible Desire (A Savannah Novel) (4 page)

We pull up to Dee’s Café
around one o’clock to see Reagan sitting at one of the outdoor
tables. It’s a beautiful; fall day in Los Angeles, eating outside
would be wonderful.

Reagan is one of the most
attractive men in Los Angeles and he knows it. He is about six foot
tall with a runner’s muscular body. He has dark brown hair that he
wears short, with a little faux hawk on top. This sits on top of a
magnificent oval face with a sharp chin and nose. He has
fantastically piercing blue eyes that look like they could cut
through ice, probably the most striking I have ever seen. And to
top off his sexy look, he always has a day old beard, making him
scruffy, yet irresistible. Almost every woman who meets Reagan is
instantly drawn to him, hell most men are drawn to him too. I think
Brooklyn and I are the only two women on the entire planet who have
been able to resist the “Reagan Charm”.

Lunch goes by quickly as
Reagan chats incessantly about all the shoots he has scheduled over
the next few weeks for our upcoming
Most
Influential Men of 2012
issue. He says
Eloise has been on a rampage, practically decapitating anyone who
causes a bump in her schedule. She wants this issue to be perfect
and wants nothing to affect us meeting the deadline.

This issue is the most
prestigious publication of the year. It goes to press in January
and the deadline for everything is right after Thanksgiving, so
Eloise has everyone on red alert, trying to make sure we stay on
schedule with no hiccups getting in the way.

Only the ‘who’s who’ of
Hollywood gets put in the magazine; top actors, singers, writers,
philanthropists and billionaires. Anyone that America wants to read
about is in this issue.

One of the reasons I love
working alongside Eloise is that she lets me sit in on a lot of
meetings, interviews and photo shoots, and I get to see first-hand
the nitty-gritty work she has to do for these articles. I mean who
wouldn’t love it? It’s not every day you get to sit a few feet away
from America’s “Sexiest Men”.

We first stop at Tiffany’s
& Co. so Reagan can pick up some new cufflinks to wear to the
gala. He would be taking Brooklyn as his date and she was ecstatic
that she got to go. It was invite only; mainly models and actors
represented by Logan’s agency and anyone who works with them, such
as photographers, get invites. The dinner costs five thousand
dollars a plate, with all the proceeds going to homeless shelters
in the Los Angeles area.

To spice things up and earn
it the
“
party of
the year
”
title,
the event organizer put in place a masquerade ball theme. She
thought it would be fun, seeing as everyone in Hollywood loves a
bit of competition, to put on a contest where the person with the
best costume will win court side seats to a Los Angeles Lakers
game.

We find the perfect dress
for Brooklyn and adorable matching stilettos at the third shop we
visit. It’s a hot pink, strapless cocktail dress with rose effect
fabric along the top and a layered chiffon skirt. It stops
mid-thigh and fits her figure perfectly. The heels are to die for,
hot pink again, this time suede with ruffled chiffon across the
strap. The whole outfit screams Brooklyn and I easily persuade her
to buy it.

Reagan met an amazing
designer at fashion week last year who is going to make us bespoke
masks to match our dresses.

“
Damn Brooklyn, you are
going to have every guy at the gala salivating, I’ll be the envy of
the party showing up with you on my arm,” Reagan gushes at her. I’m
sure tossing compliments her way is making tripling her
ego.

He has been trying for two
years to get into Brooklyn’s panties and she insists on keeping the
relationship platonic. She’s worried that if they sleep together it
would cause tension and cause a rift in my friendship with Reagan
which tarnishes our work relationship.

“Well, when they say ‘dress
to impress’, I take that very seriously,” she giggles, twirling so
the dress swirls around her thighs.

“Now we need to find
something just as mind blowing for Savannah,” Reagan said grabbing
my hand and leading me down Rodeo Drive.

We visit five more
boutiques before I finally spot the most gorgeous dress ever at
Pomellato Boutique. It was a peacock theme cocktail dress with a
similar shape to Brooklyn’s.

“
Oh. My. Gawd! Look at that
dress,” I squeal as I run over to the display at the back of the
store. It has feather like details covering the entire top of the
dress, arching towards the left side and trailing down towards the
skirt. The colors were breathtaking with layers of gold and teal
chiffon; I didn’t think it was possible to love it anymore, until I
tried it on.

Reagan and Brooklyn let out
a loud, synchronized whistle, “now
that
is a dress,” Brooklyn cries as
she circles around me, admiring all its magnificent
detail.

Reaching for my hands and
twirling me around, Reagan gushes over me, “With your drop dead
gorgeous body and that dress you are going to be causing cardiac
arrests all over that ballroom. We better pray there is a doctor in
the house next Saturday because, girl let me tell you, we are going
to need one!”

“
My heart is dancing in my
chest just from looking at you in that dress,” Reagan says, eying
me up and down.

The atmosphere in the room
swiftly heats up as everyone flashes me smoldering looks and raves
over my dress. I start to feel a little uncomfortable and Reagan
chastises me as I blush red.

“
Okay Savannah, go get that
dress off, we have to find you some shoes and accessories,”
Brooklyn saves me, as she fingers the bracelets and necklaces
hanging on the display case.

We finally make it to the
parking garage at seven thirty to retrieve Brooklyn’s Jeep. I am
exhausted and I suddenly don’t feel so guilty about skipping the
gym the last two days. I guess that I’ve walked about ten miles and
think how ready I am to pour a very large glass of wine and soak in
the tub. That sounds heavenly right about now.

*****

Chapter 3

*****

The week passes in a blur
and I cannot believe today is Friday already, tomorrow is the gala!
Every day at work Eloise keeps us extremely busy, planning phone,
Skype or face to face s interviews with the men from our
Most Influential
issue.

I sit in on all of them,
witnessing first hand Eloise’s poise and professionalism. She keeps
perfectly composed while schmoosing with some of the most famous
and not to mention, gorgeous men in the world. This is a skill I
have yet to acquire, turning into a clumsy, stuttering mess every
time a young stud enters the room.

This week Envy finally
revealed their
Top 100
list to the employees at the magazine and today is the shoot
with the
#1 Influential
Man
, Kayden Knox. Eloise will be doing a
face to face interview with him this afternoon. Reagan was beaming
ear to ear when he found out we would be doing the cover shoot
instead of using a photo from a publicist like many others chose to
do. Only a handful of the men who made the list came to L.A. for
professional photo shoot.

I sit at my desk and
nervously pick at my lunch, worrying about my testing afternoon.
Kayden Knox is a billionaire oil tycoon and business entrepreneur.
He runs a chain of five star hotels owned by his father, and he
himself a successful chain of night clubs in Houston, L.A., Las
Vegas, Miami and NYC. He’s even guest starred on hit TV shows. I
had even seen Youtube videos of Kayden singing, so not only is he
completely gorgeous and filthy rich, but he can sing. I don’t think
there is anything he can’t do.

I had spent the morning on
Google, attempting to learn everything there was to know about him
before the interview, however I didn’t get much done because I
couldn’t tear myself away from admiring the gallery of photos, this
man was beyond gorgeous. He has to be about six feet three and
nothing but solid-muscle, I swear one of his biceps has to be as
big as my head. He has the most intense emerald green eyes I have
ever seen, with a very strong jaw line and narrow nose. There isn’t
an inch on him that isn’t perfect. Everything about Kayden Knox
screams sex.

I hear the click clack of
stilettos on tile floor as Eloise approaches my desk. She was
wearing solid, black dress slacks, a bright red, sleeveless button
up blouse and leopard print heels. She always looked like she just
stepped off the runway when she was at work.

I take a quick sip of my
water to wash down my chicken salad and greet her with a smile,
“Good afternoon Eloise.”

“Good, you’re finished with
your lunch. Kayden Knox’s plane landed earlier than expected so he
wants to move his interview up. I’ve already talked to Reagan, he
has all of his gear ready over at the location for the shoot. He
said that once we’re finished you should escort Kayden to Greystone
Park and Mansion.” she declares, smiling back at me.

“Okay, I’ll freshen up and
meet you in your office.” I throw my salad in the trash can under
my desk, grab my purse and head straight for the ladies room. I
could not meet Kayden Knox with salad breath.

I walk to Eloise’s office
and take a seat by the window, gazing down on the busy street
below. My stomach is churning with a mixture of excited nerves and
I think about running out, I give myself a good talking to though,
knowing this is great experience for when I’m editing my own
magazine. A few moments later Eloise returns to the

office and, sitting at her
desk, gets her laptop ready for the interview.

“They should be here any
moment,” the front desk called my cell to let me know they were in
the lobby. “Do you want to come over by my desk?” She asks,
motioning to a chair near her.

“If you think I should, I
don’t want to be in your way. I appreciate you letting me sit in on
all of these interviews. They’re fascinating to watch, the way you
fire off the questions so matter-of-factly, I don’t know how you
don’t get nervous” I say as I walk over to sit next to
her.

“Oh my dear, dear
Savannah,” She says, shaking her head, “I get nervous…believe me I
do” She laughed. “I just try to remember that this is a business
and I’m here to do a job, not ask for autographs and become
doe-eyed as soon as an attractive gentleman walks into my office,
no matter how rich and famous he may be.”

“Well you’re doing a
fantastic job being professional; I’d never have known you were
nervous in a million years.” I’m smoothing my skirt across my lap,
praying I’ll keep my lunch down, when I look up and lock eyes with
Kayden Knox.

“Holy shit!” I mutter and
slap my hand over my mouth. Oh my God, did I just say that out
loud? I quickly glance over at Eloise and she doesn’t seem fazed,
at least she didn’t hear my embarrassing slip of the tongue. I turn
my head to look back at Kayden standing in the doorway. He smiles
at me. Great, he heard me. Of course.

I quickly stand up beside
Eloise as she extends her hand to Kayden. I hold my hands together
in front of me and continue to smile goofily at him.

“Nice to meet you Kayden,”
she greets him cheerfully, “We are so appreciative you were able to
clear your schedule to come and do this interview face to
face.”

Shaking her hand, he
reveals his mega-watt smile. Now there was something I could look
at all day.

“It was no trouble at all; I
had a clear schedule almost all week. Flying in for a face to face
interview is the least I can do. I’m honored to be named
The Most Influential Man of 2012.
If I’m gracing the cover of your wonderful
magazine, the least I can do is come in to answer your questions
and do a shoot with you Mrs. Fisher.”

“Please, call me Eloise,
Mrs. Fisher is my mother-in-law.” This is my assistant editor,
Savannah Livingston. I imagine you know her parents, I’ve heard
you’re a huge fan.” Eloise says as she rests her hand on my
forearm.

“Hi.” I manage to squeak
out. This was going from bad to worse; I suck at this, suck very,
very badly and I’m regretting my decision not to observe the
interview from a safe haven at the back of the room.

I glance up at Kayden, and
I do mean up. He seems even taller in person, and if possible, he’s
even more attractive than his photos.

“Yes, I am a fan of
Maverick and Paisley’s music. I had the honor of meeting them a few
years ago at a charity event in Nashville. You’re very lucky to
have such wonderful parents Savannah,” he reaches out to shake my
hand.