“You’re a tease, Miss Paris.”
I wink at him. “That’s what makes our friendship so special.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Eric picks up Jake and I from the clothes shop and drives us back to the flat. I thank Jake for the shopping trip and say goodbye. I don’t invite him in as I need to prepare myself for tonight.
I practically jump from the limo when Eric opens the door. He hands me the box with my dress in, and I near enough run to the block of flats and up the stairs. I can’t wait to show Lydia my dress for tonight and I excitedly unlock the front door. I chuck my bag down and go through to the lounge. Lydia is dozing on the sofa, but I have to wake her.
“Lyd, wake up. I have to show you this amazing dress that I just got.” She opens her eyes and groggily sits up.
“Calm down, Stace. I’m exhausted,” Lydia moans whilst yawning.
“Hardly surprising.” I raise my eyebrows as I speak. Lydia smiles as I thrust the box, with my dress in, in her face. Her eyes go wide at the name of the clothes shop sprawled across the front.
“Holy shit.”
“I know.”
“Well, come on then, what are you waiting for? Let me see, let me see.” I knew her enthusiasm would reach its peak once she had realised where I had been. I place the box on the coffee table and undo it, carefully taking the dress out and holding it up so that Lydia can see. Her mouth drops open.
“Oh wow, that is beautiful. Did you buy this?” she asks me. Lydia knows her fashion, so she probably has a good idea of how much this dress is likely to have cost.
“Nope. Jake bought it for me. It’s to wear to some corporate event tonight. He asked me to go with him, and he said that the dress was a thank you for doing him a favour by accompanying him.” I can’t stop smiling.
Lydia gets up off of the sofa and feels the fabric. “Oh my, that is so soft. It’s a gorgeous dress, babes. So, are you and Jake still maintaining that you are just friends?” She looks at me skeptically.
“Yes.” Lydia cocks one of her eyebrows at me. “Honestly, Lyd, he asked me because we are friends.”
“Uh huh.” I know that she isn’t convinced. Hell, I don’t even know if I am convinced. “Well, I wish I had friends that bought me dresses like this.”
I roll my eyes at her. I don’t want to let myself hope that Jake and I can become more.
“Anyway, is it possible that you could help me with my hair later? I was thinking of having a classy up-do.”
“Absolutely. What time are you leaving here?” Lydia’s eyes sparkle with excitement.
“Jake will be picking me up at seven o’clock.”
“That only gives us a couple of hours. We better get started now.”
“Can I grab a cup of coffee first?”
“No! You haven’t got any time to waste. Now, go and get your butt in the shower so that we can get started,” Lydia demands. I salute at her whilst she claps her hands together. She loves to help with things like this. I don’t argue with her as I need to make sure that I look my absolute best for tonight.
I go and hang the dress up in my bedroom before going to the bathroom. Whilst I am in the shower, I make sure that I am hair free in all the right places, just in case. Who’s to say that I won’t meet someone at the event tonight? I am totally kidding myself, my eyes will only be for Jake, but it doesn’t hurt to be prepared.
I wrap a towel around my body and exit the bathroom. On entering the lounge, I find that Lydia has set up a make-shift beauty salon. One of the kitchen chairs has been placed in the middle of the room, the coffee table is covered with hair necessities, and a vast range of make-up occupies the remaining space.
Lydia hands me a glass of wine and gestures for me to sit on the chair. I smile at her and take a sip. Lydia goes out of the room as I take my seat and wait to see what she is doing. She returns a few moments later with even more hair products.
“Christ, Lyd, I don’t want to look like a poodle,” I tease her.
“Shut up and let the magic happen.” She takes a sip of her wine and then, somehow, she finds an empty spot on the coffee table to place her glass on.
I close my eyes as Lydia works her magic, and after what feels like hours of drying, curling and adding God knows what products to my hair, she has finally finished. “That’s it. I’m done. Go and take a look.”
I get up and head for the mirror hanging in the hallway. I don’t know what I am expecting to see, but my hair looks awesome. Lydia has put it into a classy up-do like I wanted, and she has left a few loose curls hanging down, so that they frame my face in just the right places. I run back to the lounge and give Lydia a bear hug.
“Easy, you don’t want to spoil your hair,” she says in-between laughing at me. “Now, what are you thinking of doing make-up wise?”
“I thought that I would just do some eye shadow, mascara and lip gloss.”
“Oh jeez, it’s a good job that you have me here.” Lydia sighs and manoeuvres me back onto the chair. She starts selecting various make-up items from the table and then stands in front of me. “Now, close your eyes and don’t open them until I say so.”
“Yes ma’am,” I say with a smirk.
I feel various brushes touch my face, but I have no idea what I am going to look like. I’m not one for wearing much make-up at the best of times, so I have no idea what to expect.
By the time Lydia says that I can open my eyes, it is quarter to seven. I hope that I look okay as I don’t have the time to re-do anything.
I get up from the chair and go back to the hallway mirror. As I stare at my reflection, I can’t quite believe what I’m seeing. Lydia has used the subtlest grey eyeshadow, and my eyelashes look longer and thicker than normal. She has highlighted my cheekbones and coated my lips in a nude coloured lip-gloss. I stare, open-mouthed at her handiwork before looking to the lounge door and seeing that Lydia is leaning against the door frame.
“You like?” she asks me.
“I love it. Thank you.” I go to hug her again, but she stops me by holding her hands up in front of her.
“You only have ten minutes to get yourself into that dress and get your shoes on. We can save the hugging and general worshipping of me until later.” I smile at her as I quickly go to my bedroom to put the dress on.
I grab my grey stilettos from their hiding place and put those on too. I decide not to take a clutch bag with me, I don’t need to take a phone or anything, so I don’t need to bother carrying a bag. I forgo wearing a jacket because I don’t want to cover the dress up.
I walk out of my bedroom and Lydia gasps.
“Wow, Stace, you are going to knock all those people dead tonight.”
I look at myself in the mirror and see that I look like a different person. I feel like some sort of princess in my dress. I do a slow twirl, surveying myself from all angles, when there is a knock at the door which makes me jump.
“Shit! He’s here, he’s here,” I say, starting to panic.
“Calm down, babes. You’re all ready to go. I can’t wait to see the look on his face when you open the door.” I scowl at her as I know that she is convinced that there is something going on with Jake and me.
“Knock it off, Lyd. We’re just friends.”
“Yeah, yeah. You keep telling yourself that.” I ignore her comment and go to answer the door.
As I open it, I can smell Jake’s aftershave. God, he smells divine. Jake is looking at the floor when I open the door, and he slowly lifts his head, his eyes raking over my body, and when he meets my gaze, I almost orgasm.
Butterflies start to dance in my belly and my breathing becomes shallow. Jake appears to be lost for words, so he just smiles at me. A genuine, heartfelt smile. He looks absolutely gorgeous in his black tuxedo.
“Hi, Jake,” I manage to say.
Jake clears his throat before he answers. “Stacey.” He nods his head as he says my name. “Are you ready to go?” I can’t mistake the heat lurking in his gaze.<
br />
“I sure am,” I reply, sounding much more confident than I feel. I turn around to Lyd who is standing there with a goofy grin plastered on her face. “Don’t forget to leave the door on the catch,” I say to her.
“Okay. Have fun, guys. Don’t do anything that I wouldn’t do,” I hear her shout as the front door closes behind me. We walk out to the limo and Jake places his hand at the small of my back.
He leans in and whispers in my ear. “You look incredible.” I feel his breath on my cheek and it makes me shiver with delight.
“You don’t look so bad yourself.” I look at him and we mirror each other’s smiles. As we reach the limo, Eric opens the door for us to get in.
“Miss Stacey,” he says in greeting. “You look beautiful this evening.”
“Thanks, Eric.” I enter the limo and Jake follows me, taking the seat beside me. We set off and there is complete silence between us. I can feel tension mounting and I start to feel slightly awkward as Jake just gazes out of the window. I fiddle with my hands the whole time.
The limo pulls to a stop a short while later, and I feel a sense of unease.
Maybe Jake doesn’t like my dress?
Maybe he thinks that it’s too much?
Maybe I shouldn’t have come to this event with him?
As I ponder these questions in my head, Eric opens the door for us to exit the limo. I take a deep breath and follow Jake out. I look around and can’t see anywhere that looks like there is an event going on.
“I will give you a call when we are ready to leave,” I hear Jake say to Eric in the background. I then feel his hand take mine and he leads me to the building situated in front of us. It’s just an office block. This is a strange place to hold an event.
As we enter the lobby, it becomes clear to me that this is Jake’s offices. The giant letters behind the reception desk are a big giveaway seeing as they say WATERS INDUSTRIES.
Oh great, I have got all dressed up just to come to Jake’s offices.
Jake leads me to the lift at the far end of the reception area. He presses the button to call the lift and we wait. We are the only ones waiting and it seems to take an age for the lift doors to open. We enter the lift and Jake presses the button for the top floor. The doors close, and I decide that I have had enough of the tension between us.
“Jake is something wrong?” I ask. He turns and faces me.
“No, nothing is wrong. Should there be?”
“It’s just that, you have hardly said two words to me since you picked me up. Have I done something to upset you? Did I pick the wrong dress?”
“God no. You picked the perfect dress, trust me. And you certainly haven’t done anything to upset me. I’m sorry, I’m just thinking about tonight. I hate having to schmooze with people that have no personal regard to my life. To be honest, I can’t stand most of the people coming, but business is business.”
“Oh, right. Okay then.” I can’t think of anything else to say to that.
I turn to face the lift doors and wait for us to reach the relevant floor. We finally reach floor number thirty-two and the lift doors open. Jake still has hold of my hand and he leads us into the huge open-plan room.
There is classical music playing and there appears to be about a hundred people chatting amongst little groups. The whole space has been decorated to reflect an intimate vibe, but to be honest, I think it looks a little tacky. I instantly think of Martin and of how he would have made this place look so much better. I must give him a call and arrange to meet him for a catch up.
“Show time,” Jake says, breaking my thoughts. I can tell that he doesn’t want to be here by the tone of his voice.
As a few people start to notice Jake, they begin to come over to him. I am casually pushed aside by the people, mostly women, who want to get his attention. Jake didn’t mention that all of these people were going to be assholes with no manners.
I leave him to it and walk over to the bar area that has been set up. I order a glass of white wine and take a sip when it is delivered to me. I am quite happily sipping my wine when I see a familiar face emerge from the throngs of people.
Oh fucking great. This is all I need.
“Well, well, well. Look who it is,” says Charles sarcastically.
“Hello, Charles.” I am completely caught off guard. Jake never mentioned that Charles would be here. I don’t even pretend to make my greeting sound genuine.
Charles is wearing a dull grey suit with tweed patches at the elbows. He looks awful. How I ever slept with this guy is baffling.
“So, what brings you here?” he says as his eyes peruse my body. I involuntarily shiver from his gaze, but not in a good way. The guy still knows how to make me cringe.
“I came with Jake.” I can see Charles’ face change instantly from smug to shocked.
“You… You came with who?” he stutters.
“Jake. Jake Waters.” It actually feels good to shock him.
“So, it was you who gave him information on me then?”
“What?”
“You told him about why we split up, didn’t you?” Charles’ face starts to go a little red.
“I most certainly did not.” I actually didn’t tell him the reason, I just hinted that he should look into it, but I’m not about to tell Charles that.
“You lying bitch. It must have been you.” Charles looks infuriated and I’m starting to get the impression that he is going to turn into the volatile asshole that I used to live with.
“Charles, I never told Jake why we split up. If Jake found out, then he found out another way.” Charles is going to believe what he likes, but I feel like I need to stand my ground.
“Rubbish. You have betrayed me. Why on earth would you come here with him, knowing that I was going to be here?”
“I didn’t know that you were going to be here, actually. Believe it or not, Charles, I don’t plan my life around your every move anymore.” This guy really does think that he is a God. “And for your information, I came with Jake because we are friends.”
“Pfft,” Charles scoffs. “Well, did you know that your friend has taken half of my clients? Your friend is trying to put me out of business, all because I won’t let him buy my company. You really think he made friends with you on the off chance, and that he has no ulterior motive? He is simply using you to get to me.”
“Is that so?” God, he really is an egotistical pig.
“Yeah. He couldn’t give a shit about you, and you have fallen for his charm, hook line and sinker. You really are fucking stupid, aren’t you?” Charles snarls at me.
I feel anger start to rise within me.
Who the hell does he think he is, talking to me like this?
I need to keep my cool, but it is proving difficult right now.
“You can think and say what you like, Charles. I have no interest in pandering to your paranoia. Jake and I don’t even talk about you. You are irrelevant to my life, and you have been for quite some time.” There is so much more that I could say to Charles at this point, but I don’t want to be the one to cause an unnecessary scene. I don’t need to have an argument with him. Charles is part of my past, and I intend for him to stay that way.
“You are a nasty piece of work, Stacey Paris. What the hell did I ever see in you? I gave you everything and you just threw it back in my face. You are just a user and––” Charles doesn’t get to finish his sentence because Jake has grabbed his arm and spun him around.
“I suggest you leave, now,” Jake says as he looks at Charles like he is a parasite. Other guests are starting to look over, but I don’t think Jake cares about that.
“I’m not going anywhere. I was invited here by your company, remember? I am just telling Stacey some home truths. It’s not my problem if she doesn’t like hearing them.”
“Okay, let me make this clear to you, Charles. You were never supposed to be invited, but I guess your name was left on one of the mailing lists. That’s the only reason you got a
n invite. And don’t worry, I will be having a word with the person who sent the invites out. Maybe they will come to you for a job when I’m finished with them?
“Secondly, you do not get to speak to Stacey like that. She is here as a special guest of mine and if you disrespect her, then you disrespect me. Thirdly, I suggest that you put your drink down and get the hell out of here, before I throw you out myself.” Jake’s stance is intimidating, and Charles physically shrinks back in shock.
Charles turns to the bar, and with shaky hands he puts his glass down. He doesn’t look at me again, and he turns back to Jake and excuses himself. Charles then heads for the lift and Jake watches him until the lift doors shut, erasing Charles from our sight.
I think that Charles made a very wise decision to get out of here when Jake told him to. I have seen Jake in action when someone pisses him off, and it’s not pleasant for the person on the receiving end.
Jake’s gaze locks with mine and I mouth a “thank you” to him. He comes closer to me so that he can whisper in my ear.
“Give me half an hour and then we’re out of here.”
“Okay,” I reply. I watch him as he strides across the room and starts chatting to a couple of older guys. I feel so aroused by his protectiveness of me, and I suddenly find myself swamped by people wanting to talk to me about Jake’s little display with Charles. I try to avoid answering their questions and opt for polite chit-chat instead. However, I’m not really listening to what any of them are saying. I am too busy studying Jake.
I feel a flutter as our eyes connect across the room. His are filled with heat, and I’m sure that mine reflect that feeling too. He looks up and down my body and then points to the lift. I look at him a little confused and he again just points to the lift. I make my excuses to the cling-on that is trying to ask questions about Jake, and I walk over to the lift. I press the button to call it and I wait for the doors to open.
I enter the lift when it’s ready and Jake comes bounding in just as the doors are beginning to close. He stops in front of me, and then without warning, he pushes me against the side. My heart is racing, and I can feel the heat from his body. My sex is crying out for him. He leans closer to my face, but I stop him from getting any closer by placing my hand on his chest. I need to make sure that he isn’t going to run away this time.
The Complete Perfect Series Page 16