"Call me Anastasia." I told him smiling.
"Enjoy your ride Miss Reilly. We will arrive at our destination in 17 minutes." He said smiling back and shutting the door.
We got here in 17 minutes on the dot. Wow.
~
We each found a few dresses to try on. Every gown in this store was beautiful!
"I'm going to try this one first Ana!" Em yelled from the other side of the store. Which was okay since we were the only ones here, other than the employees.
"I have one that I love most too. So, let's go to the fitting room!" I yelled back.
My dress is bright red, strapless with a sweetheart shape. It was fitted until it reached my hips, then it flared out to the bottom. It was silk and all one color with no design. I felt like Cinderella! The dress is a perfect fit for me size and height wise. I walked out of my fitting room and the girls that worked there, their jaws dropped.
"Wait! Stay right there! I have the perfect shoes for you!" A girl said while running off quickly. She came back fast! "Here! These will complete the look!"
The shoes were shiny and elegant high heels that came to a point. She helped me get them on and I went to the bigger mirror. In my whole life, I have never felt more beautiful in any outfit than I do right now. I heard a door open and Emma walked out. Her dress was black and also strapless, but it had mesh lace sleeves. It was fitted until the hips and then flared out as well, a little less than mine. She already had black heels on, those were black lace as well.
"Oh my Emma that's beautiful!" I said moving away from the mirror so she could see my dress.
"Anastasia, that dress is amazing!" She said walking towards me and giving me a hug.
"Look in the mirror!" I told her.
"I feel... I feel like I'm-"
"Cinderella!" I said finishing her sentence.
"Wow." She said completely stunned.
We looked at each other and nodded. "We'll take them." We said in unison at the employees.
"I'm so happy. Those dresses were made for you!" She said. "Here, let's help you get them off now."
~
After we got the dresses off, they put them in protective bags along with the shoes, so they wouldn't get ruined. We both walked to the register.
"How much will they be?" I asked nervously.
"Oh honey, it's already paid for." She said with a smile.
"It's what? What do you mean?" Em asked her.
"Mr. Coleman called just a few minutes ago and already paid for your gowns and shoes." She said winking.
I looked at Emma. "I'm going to kill him." I said while putting my credit card away.
"Nonsense! A man who calls ahead of time and buys your ball gown dresses is a man who adores you and will do anything to impress you." She said while one of the girls handed both our dresses to Paul and handed us the shoes.
"Thank you so much for everything!" I told her while coloring Paul. "Paul? Did you know about this?" I asked him.
"Miss Reilly, Mr. Coleman awaits you back at the university." He said putting our dresses away safely and smiling at me.
When we got back to the university, Travis and Ethan were patiently waiting for our arrival.
"I'm going to kill you! I can't believe you paid for everything!" I told Travis while I was getting out of the limo.
"I wanted you to feel like a princess." He said smiling and giving me a hug. "Go get your things and we'll be waiting in the car for you."
Emma gave Ethan a hug and said, "I'll see you soon!
Thank you for coming."
"My pleasure Embear." He smiled and got in the limo after Travis.
As we were walking to get our bags, "Embear?" I asked.
"Yes. Emma bear... Embear!" She said looking at me sarcastically.
I put my hands up in defense, "Okay! I was just asking.
Geez."
Three hours later
We were driving down a long lit up road. It was nine o'clock and we finally arrived. My ass was getting numb. Emma fell asleep on the way here so that left me making conversation with the guys. Ethan's really nice and seems like a great fit for Emma. I slapped Emma gently on the cheek and she bounced up, giving me a glare. I backed away and went to sit near Travis. They all laughed.
I looked out the window and saw a huge hotel.
"Wow this hotel is huge!" I said smiling.
"It's not a hotel, that's my home." Travis laughed.
"That's your house?" I asked stunned.
"It sure is!" He said as the limo stopped.
"Wow." Emma said while Ethan helped her out of the car and Travis helped me.
Two men came out of his house and came to grab our bags.
"Thank you boys." Travis said handing them a tip.
"Thank you Paul. I'll see you tomorrow!" He said waving.
"Is Paul getting a tip too?" Em asked.
"Oh no... He gets a big check at the end of every month." Travis smiled while holding the door for us.
Chapter 8
As I walk in, my jaw drops. This place is huge! This is his house! There's a big staircase that goes up three floors, a chandelier, to the left there's a huge dining room table that could fit at least 20 people. The living room has a huge TV. Travis grabs an iPad and turns on the light to the stairs.
"Lights on." The iPad said.
"It talks?" I asked stunned.
"It sure does. Come on, I'll show you where your suite is."
"Suite?" Emma laughed.
"Let's go!" Travis said while going up the staircase, we all followed.
He stopped at the second floor and walked all the way down the hallway that had at least 15 doors. He went all the way to the last one.
"This is your suite!" Travis said.
"I'll get lost if I have to go to the bathroom!" Emma laughed.
"You won't because there's two bathrooms in this suite so you will be good."
I walked in and couldn't find my bags, only Ethan and Emma's.
"Travis, where's my stuff?" I asked confused.
"Oh it's upstairs... in my suite!" He said while signaling me to go with him.
"Travis... this house is beautiful. Who else lives here?" I asked him while sitting down on his bed.
"My mom and brothers did live here, but I bought them out so I could have this house to myself." He said putting my suitcases on one of his many dressers.
"Wow! This whole house to yourself? Travis it's huge." I said drastically while sprawling out on his bed.
"I wanted to accomplish something and this house is what I accomplished. It wasn't like this when my family moved out. I added an upstairs, which is now my suite. I also added all of the high technology." He came over smiling and lying next to me.
"I need to go put my pajamas on." I told him while rolling off his bed and heading to my suitcase.
"Me too and I will get the bed ready for you! Do you want anything to drink?" He asked.
"No thank you. I'll be out in a minute." I told him while shutting the bathroom door.
His bathroom is even big. The shower is huge! Next to the shower, there's a Jacuzzi that could fit at least 5 people. I took my clothes off and slipped on shorts with a tank top. I took my hair out of a bun and brushed my hands through it.
"Hey Travis?" I yell through the door. "Do you have a brush?"
"Third closet, near the shower, second drawer." He yelled back.
I brushed my long blonde hair until all the knots were finally out. I put the brush back and opened the door.
"Oh my Travis!" I yell. He is in his boxers with nothing else on.
"Yes Anastasia?" He smiled.
"Put some clothes on!" I told him while putting my dirty clothes in my suitcase.
"This is how I sleep Anastasia... don't you want a piece of this?" He laughed sarcastically while giving himself a thumbs up.
"You are such a weirdo." I laughed while walking over to the bed and getting in it.
"But I heard that you like weirdos!" T
ravis said while getting in his bed next to me.
"Mhm… Well, that is true!" I said scrunching up my nose and pulling the covers up.
"Lights off!" Travis said. Then, the lights shut off. I snuggled into my pillow, then I felt an arm around my stomach and a hard surface against my back. I froze.
"Anastasia?" He asked.
"What? Yeah?" I asked him.
"Relax... it's just me and I'm not going to hurt you." He told me while kissing my head and wrapping his arm around me again. He's not Liam. Anastasia, he's not Liam. I just need to keep telling myself that until it seeps into my brain. I finally relaxed and drifted off into sleep.
The next morning
I felt a hand on my back, "Anastasiaaaaaa", Travis whispered.
"No Travis." I turned over so I was on my back, put the covers over my head and drifted off back to sleep.
"Anastasiaaaaaa", Travis got off and pulled the covers off.
I sat right up, "It's..." I looked for a clock, 7:30 am. "It's 7:30!" I yelled while rolling my eyes.
"Breakfast is at 8." Travis explained while he was searching for clothes in his dresser.
"I'm up I'm up." I told him while getting up and going to my suitcase. Since it was a little cold, I decided to wear jeans with a long sleeve, plain gray shirt. "Can I go shower?"
"You don't have to ask! I'm going to go downstairs to get Emma and Ethan. Then, I'll meet you in the dining area?" He asked while ready to strip.
"Yes, But be very careful and don't get dressed! Wait until I'm in the bathroom Travis." I laughed.
"Be careful?" He asked confused.
"Emma really isn't a morning person." I told him while walking to the bathroom and shutting the door. "I'll see you downstairs!" I yelled.
I heard the door close after a few minutes and I stripped down to nothing and walked over to the shower, a whole car could fit in here.
"How do I turn this on?" I asked myself while looking for a button or something.
"Turning shower on." A very robotic voice went through the bathroom. My eyes went wide as I watched the shower turn on. There was a shower head in the middle of the shower that came straight down, jets coming out of the sides, and music started playing.
“What music playlist?”
"Ummmm... Taylor Swift?" I said out loud to see if the robotic person would play her. There were speakers in the shower.
"Taylor Swift music on." It said.
I was now in the shower jamming to Taylor Swift, when you walked in the shower, the glass doors close automatically. Three sides of the shower are gray granite and there's a little granite bench across one of the walls. I could live in this shower.
Let's face it, I was done washing up about 10 minutes ago. But, I just don't want to leave.
"Five more minutes." I said to myself. Five minutes went by and the shower shut off.
"Hey!" I yelled while the glass doors opened.
"Five minutes is up." The robotic voice said. I rolled my eyes and walked out of the shower. I grabbed a towel and dried my body, then I towel dried my hair. I brushed my hair, brushed my teeth, got dressed and I walked out of his suite. There was a really long hallway with doors on both sides. I kept walking until I finally found the staircase. I made my way down and searched for the dining room.
"In here Anastasia!" Travis yelled. "What took you so long?" He asked.
"Your shower... I want to live in your shower." I explained while sitting down. He just laughed.
The four of us were all sitting at the table when an older woman walked into the dining area.
"Mr. Coleman, what can I get for you and your guests?" She asked.
"We'll have a bit of everything, Penny." Travis said smiling. After we finished breakfast, went to the living room and all sat down.
"So, what time do we need to be ready for?" Emma asked Travis.
"Dinner starts at 6:30 so we have to leave here by 6." Travis said. "There are two dressing areas. Ethan and I in one, you and Anastasia in another. Makeup and hair will be here at 4:30."
"We are having people come here to help us get ready?" Emma asked.
"Of course!" Travis smiled.
4:30 pm
The makeup and hair ladies arrived right on time, by the minute. Everyone is always right on time around here.
The dressing area for us was on the second floor.
"Emma, you will be getting your hair done first.
Anastasia, you will be getting your makeup done first.
Then, we will switch." One of the ladies smiled.
One hour later
"We are in love!" One of the ladies squealed. Emma and I both got off of our seats and walked to the mirror.
We gasped.
My long blonde hair was all on one side in soft waves. My makeup wasn't packed on. It was very natural looking. I had a bit of eyeshadow and eyeliner on and my lips were a bright red. It matched my dress perfectly.
Emma's hair is up in a wavy ponytail with a few pieces hanging around her face. She had light makeup on with a natural color lipstick.
"Let's help you get those dresses on, shall we?" One of them asked.
"Absolutely!" I said excitedly.
After 10 minutes, we finally got our dresses on, along with our shoes. They gave us each a wristlet. Mine was the color of my dress and my lips. Emma's was a lace black.
We had the very kind ladies help us down the stairs, where Ethan and Travis were waiting for us.
"Wow." Both of them said in unison. Emma and I laughed.
"Emma, you look beautiful." Ethan said in awe while walking up to her and linking arms with her.
"Anastasia, you are breathtaking. Absolutely perfect." Travis explained while grabbing my hand and giving it a sweet kiss. We linked arms and made our way to the limo.
"Beautiful girls, beautiful." Paul said while opening the door to the back of the limo.
"I'm very lucky." Travis said to Paul while smiling and looking at me.
We all got into the limo and we arrived within minutes. When we finally all got out of the limo, I linked arms with Travis, and Emma did the same with Ethan.
There was a red carpet that led to the building where the ballroom was. Every person we walked by was saying hi to Travis.
"Who's this beautiful lady?" I heard a guy from behind me say. We all turned around and saw three guys that looked almost exactly like Travis.
"Emma, Ethan, Anastasia... meet Tyler, Tate and Trevor, my brothers." Travis said while giving all of them hugs. They all shook hands with Ethan and Emma. Then they turned to me and took turns grabbing my hand and kissing it.
"It's nice to meet you guys!" I said smiling as we were walking inside.
As we all walk into the ballroom, everyone looked our way. A beautiful woman was walking towards us. She had long brunette hair with blue eyes and a long navy blue gown on.
"Mom, I'm happy to see you. I've missed you." Travis said while giving her a big hug and kiss on the cheek.
I looked at Emma with wide eyes, "that's his mom... she's gorgeous." I whispered quietly while Emma nodded her head.
"I've missed you too baby." She said while hugging him back. "And who are these beautiful girls and this handsome man?"
"Well mom, this is Emma and Ethan... and this is Anastasia." He smiled while putting his hand on my back.
"Hello Mrs. Coleman! Nice to meet you." I said while sticking out my hand. She ignored it and pulled me in for a hug instead.
"Please, call me Candice." She said while hugging me.
"Travis you were right, she is very beautiful."
I couldn't help but blush at her words. I looked at Travis and he was blushing too. "Thank you, Candice." I told her.
"Come on, let's go grab our seats. We are the first table that says 'RESERVED'!" Travis said while grabbing my hand and pulling me with him.
As we took our seats I looked to Travis and whispered,
"What kind of ball is this exactly?"
"My brothers and I
own a hospital with our Uncle Andrew. We split it five ways and this is a ball we have every year to celebrate the hospitals funds." Travis explained while looking at me to see my reaction.
"Travis, you own a hos-" I tried to say, but was cut off by his Uncle through the microphone.
"Welcome everyone! My nephews and I would like to thank you for coming out this evening." He said while Travis and his brothers got up and walked to where his Uncle was standing. There had to be at least 500 people here. "We wanted to let everyone know that the hospital funds went up 26% this past year and we are now a... six billion dollar company."
Everyone in the room started clapping and I was sitting there completely stunned.
"What the-" Emily said while looking at me, her eyes wide.
"Fuck." I finished her statement.
Chapter 9
"Since we went up 26%, we are giving one billion dollars to research and clinical trials." His Uncle said proudly while Travis and his brothers smiled and clapped with everyone else.
There's five of them and they are donating one billion when they got six billion so does that mean, "Ana, I think Travis just got one billion dollars." Emma said stunned.
"I think so too." I told her, not knowing what else to say.
Travis took the microphone from his Uncle, "On behalf of the five of us, we would like to thank everyone who worked with us, helped us, and donated their time to make this happen. We thank each and every one of you. Have a great night folks. There’s an open bar, food is coming, and dessert will be after."
Travis put the microphone down and came to stand next to me.
"Travis, I just... you... wow." I said at a loss of words.
"Anastasia, can I speak to you for a moment? We can go outside on the patio since no one is out there and we can talk." He asked me while taking my hand and pulling me up from my seat.
"Sure thing." I said while looking back at Emma, who was motioning me to go.
As he helped me down a few stairs to a patio right outside the ball he kept glancing over at me.
Eyes For You (Chasing Tomorrow Book 1) Page 4