“Evening, ladies. Where’s my favorite stylist?”
“Backstage working her butt off,” Angel answered. “You should go wish her luck. She seems a little nervous.”
“Gladly.”
As Nick turned to go backstage, Joey and Ben stepped past him to settle into their seats. With them out of the way, my heart leaped at the sight of Damon, looking hot and stylish as ever. He always seemed to put a lot of effort into how he dressed, and Del had told me he had a thing for fashion. I imagined he put a little extra thought into his patterned suit in coordinating colors of the theme for the show.
I tried to calm my breathing and act cool as I realized the seating arrangement was shaping up to put him directly next to me. It wasn’t planned. The guys just started to sit down wherever and that was where Damon ended up at. I wasn’t naïve enough to think he’d ever want to sit next to me on purpose, but I did secretly hope the universe was bringing us together for a reason. It was the relentless romantic in me never wanting to believe anything ever happened by chance alone.
He looked over and smiled at me, giving me a subtle nod. I tried to act casual and stop the spread of the big grin on my face, but it was impossible. Being close enough to smell his cologne and feel the heat of his body was quickly threatening to unravel me from the inside out.
I had every intention of sitting there and acting completely unaffected by his closeness. I already had a sneaking suspicion that he had caught me staring at him more than once. And Del, much to my dismay, had dared to tease me about my crush right in front of Nick before. Angel promised me that dudes didn’t sit around and gossip the way us girls did, but I still wasn’t entirely convinced that Nick wouldn’t have mentioned it to Damon.
But then he just had to lean in and whisper into my ear. “This is quite the event, huh?”
I tried to hide how the feeling of his hot breath against my skin knocked the breath out of me. “Uh-huh,” I nodded.
“You must be proud of Del. You two are pretty tight, aren’t you?”
I whipped my face around to his, searching for any hint that he might be referring to something Nick had said to him. But to my embarrassment, he seemed to be just making friendly conversation.
“Oh, uh, yeah. Best friends. We grew up together. You, Nick, and the others are like that too, aren’t you?”
“Oh yeah. I’d take a bullet for any one of ‘em.”
Just as I was starting to feel like I could calm down enough to settle into easy-flowing small talk, the lights lowered and the booming music started blaring through the room. Del and Nick returned and started trying to squeeze their way between the narrow rows of chairs to sit on the other side of me. As we did our best to lean back to make room for them, Damon’s arm pressed into mine, sending the equivalent of an electric shockwave through my entire body. I relished the feeling of his warm, dark skin against mine.
The show started and Del appeared relatively calm through the whole first part. But I could see her tensing up when it came time for her girls to start walking down the runway. From the angle of where we were sitting, we could see them lining up behind the curtains.
“I wish they’d stop squirming so much,” she whispered. “They’re going to mess their hair and clothes up.”
“Well, they are human beings,” I quipped. “They do have to do things like breathe and move to walk.”
Damon flashed me a smooth smirk, and I completely melted.
Finally, one by one, the girls started their strut down the long platform with spotlights shining across them. If the audience was impressed with their looks, they’d be clamoring all over Del’s shop to buy their own versions of the outfits. It needed to be a success to create a boom in business – something Del never tired of chasing after, even if she wasn’t hurting any in the sales department. Just like Nick was softening up to the idea of preserving certain parts of Cherry Falls, she was starting to catch his thrill for making money.
“Shit,” Del hissed suddenly. “Shit, shit, shit!”
“What is it?”
“The broach! The freaking broach for the last look! The damn assistant didn’t put it on her like I asked!”
“There’s still three girls in front of her. Can’t you just text one of the girls backstage and tell them they forgot?”
“They’ll never find it in time! I’m not even sure I know where it is...I was so busy with everything else.”
“Okay, don’t panic,” I told her, squeezing her hand. “I know where it is. Be right back.”
Damon’s eyes cut up to me as I squeezed past, but I didn’t have time to get caught up in that. The moment I had angled my way past everyone else in the aisle, I took off running toward the stage door. Everything back there was just as chaotic as it had been earlier, only now the girls who had already walked were rushing to touch up their looks before returning to the stage for the final group appearance.
I bolted through the shifting maze of people and found my way to Del’s rack of accessories. I knew the exact tiny drawer the broaches were stored in, and I remembered that she specifically requested the jade one. It was hard to imagine how something so small could be such a big deal, especially once I held the little thing up to the light between my fingers. But if Del thought it was necessary, then it must have been.
With the broach in hand, I ran for the line-up of models to the side of the stage. Several girls swore at me as I rushed passed, accidentally bumping into their shoulders. Just as the model was in my sight a few feet away, some guys rolled past with a giant light that I had to literally leap through the air to get over. My feet hit the ground mere seconds before the model was supposed to step out, but I managed to reach her just in time. In a split second, the broach was pinned on and out she went without a lag between models.
I was still a little out of breath when I finally returned to my seat. Del was ecstatic as she marveled at the look strutting down the catwalk. I caught her final turn on the stage just before she strutted behind the curtains again, and I had to admit that the broach really did tie it all together.
I felt a warm hand brush across my upper arm as Damon leaned in and said, “Way to save the show. You’re a hero.”
I kept my eyes glued straight ahead and tried to keep my composure, but inside I felt like I had turned into a puddle at his feet. The deep soothing sexiness of his voice was enough to destroy any woman, especially me.
3
Damon
I didn’t have any intention of leading Lizzy on, but since we were sitting next to each other anyway, I started to wonder what she might be like once she got comfortable. I could tell she was a shy and timid person at times, and I used to be the same way in high school. It made me want to draw her out of her shell and see what kind of woman she kept tucked away deep and safe inside.
When all of the models returned to the stage for their final pose, we all gave them a standing ovation and applause. Then just like that, the lights were back on, the stage was cleared, and the room was filled once again with background music that was just a tad too loud and the bustling sounds of people mingling a bit before leaving.
“Great job, Del,” I said, flashing her a thumbs up. I saw Nick looking over me with approval. He was a little self-conscious about appearing to be too distracted with his new relationship, and I felt it was important to him for us to like Del and get along with her. “So, what’s the word on the afterparty?”