The knock on my office door pulls me out of my thoughts. “Come in.”
Mia walks in, looking a little on edge, and I don’t like it.
“What’s wrong?”
“This function we’re attending. You haven’t told me anything about it. Is it a BBQ, a formal event, a casual get together? Do I need to buy a new outfit? Do I have to donate?” She’s talking a mile a minute and looks flustered, I’d laugh if she didn’t look so overwhelmed.
“Woah, calm down. Have a seat,” I say, motioning to the seat in front of my desk. She takes a seat and plays with her hands nervously.
“It’s a garden party; it will be a bit formal, yes. You can wear whatever you like. You don’t have to donate anything, I’ve already taken care of that. There will be an auction held; you can bid if you like and I’m happy to foot the bill. Stop stressing. It’ll be fine.”
“I don’t want to stick out like a sore thumb, Jackson. It’s obvious I’m not from your world,” she whispers, looking down with her cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment.
“What? Don’t be ridiculous, Mia. The only way you’ll stick out is because you’ll be the most beautiful woman at the party. If a new outfit will help to put you at ease, we can go shopping later and pick one out. But please don’t worry over this,” I soothe her, hating seeing her so anxious. Bloody Leanne sticking her nose in where it doesn’t belong. I never should have gone ahead with this charade.
“You think I’m beautiful?” she asks, looking up at me through her long lashes and looking far too appealing.
“I think you’re stunning,” I admit, quietly. “You have nothing to worry about. Let me finish up here and we can go shopping. Ok?”
She smiles up at me, a real Mia smile, and I feel it in my chest.
“Ok, thank you, Jackson. I’ll go get my purse and meet you in the kitchen when you’re done,” she says, looking a lot more at ease than she did when she first entered my office.
Nodding, I make quick work of the remaining emails and shut down my laptop. Grabbing my phone from the desk, I make my way to the kitchen where I find Mia waiting for me with a travel mug full of what I assume is coffee. The woman has a problem.
“You ready?” I ask, grabbing the key card and walking towards the front door.
“Yep! Are we not taking one of your cars?” she asks, pointing to my key cupboard.
“Not today. Martin will drive us,” I say, leading her to the elevator and swiping my card to call it.
“He’s just on standby for when you need him?” she asks.
“Yes, during the week anyway,” I admit, following her inside the elevator and pressing the button for the ground floor.
“That must be boring,” she says, “I wonder what he does while he sits around waiting for your call.”
Chuckling, I say, “I don’t know. I hadn’t really thought about it. Let’s go get you a dress, shall we?”
Chapter 15
Mia
Looking around at all of the dresses, I’m in over my head. I have no idea what sort of thing I’m expected to wear. I look around for Jackson, but he had to pop out to take a work call. I must look a little lost as a shop assistant comes over to ask if she can help.
“I’m looking for a dress to wear to a fundraiser. It’s a formal-ish garden party,” I say, and she gives me a friendly smile.
“We have some lovely summer party dresses over here, if you’d like to take a look,” she says, leading me around the corner to another selection of dresses. I hardly know where to start. She must sense that I’m overwhelmed as she points to the cream leather seat at the end of the aisle.
“Why don’t you have a seat and I’ll grab a few ideas that I think will suit you, and we can go from there?” she offers and I sag in relief.
“Yes, that would be amazing. Thank you.” Smiling, she starts sorting through dresses while I take a seat and scroll through my phone to see what is going on in the world.
“Ok, so I’ve found some that I think will work perfectly with your figure. Did you want to go to the fitting room and try them on and see what you think?” she asks, with an armful of dresses and a friendly smile.
“Yes, that sounds great, thank you so much,” I say, standing to follow her to where I assume the fitting rooms are.
“No problem at all, Miss.” Leading me into the fitting rooms, she hangs the dress choices up in a cubicle and says she’ll leave me to try them on in peace.
Shutting the door, I look through her selection. There’s a pretty floral number, a lilac knee length dress, a light blue maxi dress, and a long black dress. They’re all lovely so I start to undress, ready to try on number one.
Pulling the floral dress on, I check out my reflection in the mirror. It’s nice, but is it nice enough? I’m not really sure what I’m dressing for. Sighing in frustration, I pull out my phone and text Jackson.
Me: Hey, you almost done? I need help deciding.
Jackson: All done now, sorry. Where are you?
Me: Fitting room at the back.
Jackson: On my way.
Still contemplating on whether this is dressy enough, I hear a knock on the cubicle door.
“Hello?”
“It’s me,” Jackson says, and I unlock the door, looking up at him.
“Is this ok?” I ask, doing a little twirl and trying to gauge his reaction.
“It’s beautiful. Do you like it?” he asks, looking me up and down.
“I do, but I think I like the black one more, but is it too dark or dressy for a garden party?” I ask, pointing to the other dresses hanging up in the cubicle. He looks over and shakes his head.
“Not at all. I’ll be wearing a black suit. Try it on and let’s have a look,” he encourages, backing up so I can shut the door again. I quickly unzip the floral dress and shimmy out of it. Picking up the black one, I take it off the hanger and slip it over my head. Straight away, I know this is the dress I want to wear. I feel great, and I think I look pretty good too. Smiling, I unlock the door and pull it open.
Jackson looks up from his phone and his jaw drops. I’ve never seen him lost for words before and it’s a heady feeling to know that I’m the reason.
“Definitely that one,” he says in a throaty voice that has my pulse racing. He looks like he is peering into my soul.
“Ok, I’ll get changed and meet you by the counter,” I say, trying to get my thoughts out of the gutter and focus on the goal.
“Ok, see you there,” he says, giving me one last glance before heading out of the fitting rooms. Closing the door, I let out a breath and smile. This is definitely the dress.
We fight over who is paying, even after I saw the horrifying price tag, but Jackson insisted on footing the bill since he was the reason I was having to attend the fundraiser. Heading back to the car with the bag in my hand, I smile. Maybe this party won’t be so bad after all.
Chapter 16
Jackson
Straightening my blue tie, I check my reflection in the floor length mirror in front of me. Not too bad, Mr. Carrington, not too bad at all.