Chapter 12 – Lacey
I opened my closet and looked around. I had nothing I could wear that would work for a black-tie charity ball. I had been to a couple of upper-class parties with clients, but nothing as formal as the one we were going to tonight.
I really wasn't one to talk about Hanson. But it wasn't as if I was some big baller like he was. If so, I would definitely have a closet of amazingly expensive and fancy clothes.
But as it was, I needed to go shopping. I dialed Kina’s number.
“Come shopping with me,” I said. “I have a hot date, and I need to look the part.”
“Oh, with who?” she asked.
“Just a client,” I said. “But I need to spend money to fit in, so we’re talking boutiques.”
Kina agreed right away, and I picked her up on the way into town.
“We have to go to JDO Couture,” Kina said. “You said you needed to spend money. That’s the place to go, in such a situation.”
I smiled and let her direct me. We parked and walked into the boutique. It was the kind of place that made you feel like a goddess as soon as you stepped through the door. A shop assistant came to us with a broad, dark red smile.
“Welcome to Jus d’Orange Couture, ladies. How can I help you?”
“I’m looking for something formal,” I said.
“And sexy,” Kina added. “She wants to look sexy.”
I glanced at Kina. She was smiling at me.
The shop assistant brought me an array of dresses in my size, which was extra impressive because I hadn’t told her my size. Then, I was led to a dressing room where I could try them on.
“So, a date with Hanson Bell, huh?” Kina asked, sitting outside the dressing room.
“It’s not a date,” I said, trying to get into the first dress. “It’s business. It’s for him. If it were a date, it would be for me.”
“So, if it’s business, whose place do you go to for sex afterward?”
I shook my head.
“I’m not going to sleep with him,” I said. “He’s a client. It’s a rule.”
“Is it your rule or the company’s?”
I turned around and looked at myself from all angles. I stepped out of the dressing room to show Kina.
“I don't know but it should be both," I said, after considering it. “Either way, I don’t sleep with my clients.”
Kina shook her head at the dress. “I don’t think this is the one.” She looked at me. “You wish you could sleep with him, right? He’s a football player. I can just imagine what his body must be like. How good he must be in bed, as an athlete.”
I locked myself in the fitting room's cubicle again.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said. “I’ve seen what there is to see. If you've seen one set of abs and a big dick, you’ve seen them all. And believe me, I've seen a lot."
Kina giggled.
I wiggled out of the dress and tried another one. “Besides,” I added. “If it’s this hard to get in and out of these dresses, I don’t know how I’ll have time to get around to the sex.”
Kina giggled again.
"I need to lose a good ten pounds so I can start fitting dresses better," I said.
"No you don't," she protested. "You fill them out perfectly"
Kina was always saying I looked perfect just the way I was— like a mom even more than a friend. But as I looked in the mirror I had to admit she might be right this time. I never wore dresses this fancy but they did look good being rather form fitting against what Kina always calls my "bootylicious curves."
"This is definitely the dress," I told Kina, turning sideways and then front and back, inspecting myself from every angle as I was sure Hanson would be doing later.
“What time are you meeting this guy?” she asked.
“Six.”
“That’s early for a charity thing, isn’t it?”
“It is. We need to cover some details first. We’re going to dinner.”
I walked out of the dressing room again to show Kina dress number two.
"Woot woot!"
She let out a whistle that I could tell was for the fact that I was having dinner with Hanson, as much as it was for the dress I was wearing, which really hugged all my curves.
“Dinner before? And then a romantic formal event where you save poor kids lives by donating money to a hospital wing? Sounds like a date to me. And I know for a fact that you have sex after the first date.”
I smiled, shaking my head. It was strictly business.
“So, this one?” I asked. “Or do I have to keep trying? This is hard work.”
“I think you look stunning. But what do you think?” she asked. “How do you feel in it?”
"I was definitely thinking this was the one."
"Good," she said. "We both agree on that then. Because I think that Hanson isn't going to be able to resist putting his hands all over those fine curves of yours."
I turned to a mirror and looked at myself again, just to be double sure. I'd need the perfect pair of shoes and elegant jewelry to complete the look, but it looked good. If Hanson had managed to get the right kind of suit, we would look good together.
Of course, that wasn’t what it was about. But still, it couldn’t hurt.
I figured every girl deserved a night on the town with a handsome, rich, celebrity athlete. Even a hardworking, no nonsense girl like me.