Chapter 9
Champagne Afternoon
The door opened and a gorgeous woman in her thirties walked in. Wearing a stylish yellow tunic and boots, she exuded confidence and elegance as she approached them.
“Sebastian, honey, it’s been so long,” she cooed.
He kissed her on the cheek. “Hello, Deb,” he said. “You look as breathtaking as ever.”
“So do you, darling,” she said, looking him up and down admiringly. She turned to Victoria and smiled. “You must be Victoria.”
“Uh...yes,” said Victoria. She looked even more nervous when Deborah appeared.
“Ms. Slade has decided she would leave everything to you,” said Sebastian. “She’s completely in your hands.”
“Let me take a look at you, honey,” Deborah said, walking around Victoria, appraising her. “Hmmm...beautiful hair. I always love working with redheads. And you have a good figure. I don’t believe we’ll have any problems finding you a few things for work.”
“Thanks,” said Victoria. “I mean, good. I think.” She smiled sheepishly.
“Sit down, honey. Sebastian, make yourself comfortable. Shall I call for coffee?”
“Okay,” Victoria said.
“Maybe not coffee,” said Sebastian. He sat down on a large leather chair. “How about some white wine?”
“Of course,” said Deborah. “Champagne, perhaps?”
“That would be perfect, thank you,” Sebastian replied.
“I didn’t mind coffee,” Victoria whispered to him when Deborah left. She took a seat on a white couch.
“You serve coffee all day,” he said. “Aren’t you sick of it yet?”
“Well, yes, but...Champagne seems a bit much—”
“Deborah will serve us a goat’s head on a platter if I ask for it,” Sebastian cut in, and was rewarded with a giggle from her. He suppressed a smile, and added, “Besides, you look like you need a drink. You should learn to take the good things people offer you.”
“I’m just a tutor, Mr. Chase,” she said. “When someone offers me champagne for buying a couple of dresses, I feel like a fraud.”
“Well,” he said, resting his elbow on the arm rest and leaning his forehead on the knuckles of his fingers. He cocked his head and regarded her with mild amusement. “I believe there will be a lot more than just a couple of dresses.”
“Oh God,” Victoria said, eyeing the rack of clothes Deborah wheeled in front of her in horror. They looked expensive. And they smelled even better than she did.
“She means they’re lovely, thank you,” said Sebastian.
“Oh, no,” she said. “I’m sorry. It’s just that...”
“Come, sweetie,” Deborah said, taking her hand and helping her to her feet. “You’re completely in my hands, remember? Don’t think, just try these on. I’m here if you need help zipping up.”
Victoria shot a panicked look at Sebastian as Deborah led her away to the fitting room. His face was devoid of expression, and he merely lifted his glass .
“I never told you my size,” Victoria said.
Deborah waved her hand dismissively. “Honey, I do this for a living. Now go try this first,” she said, and handed her a white suit with red trim.
It fit perfectly. Victoria buttoned up the jacket and stepped out to Deborah’s critical appraisal.
“That will do nicely for PTA meetings, don’t you think?” she said. “Here, this is something more comfortable for when you’re going over the books with little Benson.” She handed Victoria a pair of grey slacks and a dark blue top.
“Does Mr. Chase need me to show him what I’m getting?”
“Honey, this isn’t Pretty Woman.” Deborah smiled slyly at her. “Or is it?”
“Oh no! I mean, he and I aren’t...” Victoria turned red. “I just thought that since he’s paying for this...”
“This is barely going to make a dent in his black card, sweetie,” Deborah assured her. “You’re obviously a nice girl who wants to be considerate, so what you need to do is not dilly-dally around worrying about money, because what Sebastian is really losing here is time.”
“Time?”
“You realize how much he’s losing taking a few hours during a workday just to take you clothes shopping?” At Victoria’s horrified look, Deborah added, “Now, don’t worry about it. It’s something he wants to do, obviously. If you know him long enough, you’ll realize he’s the kind of man who does what he wants for his own reasons.”
As Victoria put on the blue blouse and slacks, she wondered just what those reasons were. Was Sebastian toying with her? Did she seem so pathetic to him that he decided to take it upon himself to show her charity? Or was her looking the part of his son’s tutor something so important that he had to personally drag her out of her other work and take her to Barneys just to make sure she was dressed the way he wanted the next time she was at his house?
She felt dejected, even as Deborah’s face lit up in approval when she saw her. “Lovely,” she said. “Do you always wear neutrals, honey? That works with your coloring, but jewel tones look fantastic on you too.”
“Thank you.”
“What’s wrong? Oh dear, was it what I said about Sebastian?”
“N-n-no. I mean—”
“Don’t think about it too much,” she said, and started going through the rack choosing the next outfit. “He thinks this is important, so you should trust him. And I’m confident he wouldn’t be going through all this if he didn’t think you were worth it.”
“Worth it?”
“When Sebastian sees potential in a person, he tries to help them grow into whatever it is he thinks they should become. He can’t help himself.”
“So I’m a project,” Victoria said, almost to herself.
“You’re an investment,” Deborah corrected her. “If a smart businessman like him sees value in you, that means something.” She handed Victoria a white sleeveless cashmere top. “So enough with the long face and go try this on.”
“Suitable,” said Deborah several minutes later, as she looked over the dark violet jersey dress Victoria was wearing.
Victoria had to admit she really liked the dress. It was made of soft material, and clung to her curves effortlessly without being constricting. What she wasn’t comfortable with was the lace thong and matching bra Deborah had made her wear under it.
“Honey, there’s nothing wrong with your underwear,” the older woman had said to her when Victoria protested wearing the thong. “But you can’t wear anything with visible seams under that dress, you’ll ruin it.”
“But I’m only trying on the dress,” said Victoria, shaking her head as Deborah held up a black box containing the delicate undergarments. “It’s not like I’m going anywhere in it right now.”
“Well, do you have any thongs at home you can wear under that dress?”
“Not really, no,” Victoria had admitted. All her underwear was pretty but practical. She’d never even worn a thong before.
“So you might as well take this then.”
With a sigh, Victoria had acquiesced. The bra was all right but the thong had felt uncomfortable, and it took all her self-control to not fidget with it.
However, now that she had put on the dress, she could appreciate how the uncomfortable underwear made the dress look better on her.
After nodding her approval, Deborah picked up a shoe box and handed it to her. “Try these.”
It was a pair of black suede flats. “I suppose you don’t wear heels a lot, do you?” Deborah said.
“Sometimes,” Victoria said. “Like, clubbing, you know? But guys tend to get scared off when you’re as tall as they are.” She smiled ruefully.
“Well, then you should only go out with either tall men or really confident ones,” said Deborah. “Turn around.”
Sebastian is tall. And confident.
Victoria shook her head, trying to banish thoughts of her boss, almost afraid that Deborah could read her mind.
She turned obediently, and felt a slight tug behind her and heard the sound of a pair of scissors as Deborah snipped off the price tags.
“Come. Sebastian has been waiting a couple of hours,” Deborah said. “I’ll have the new clothes sent to your place, and the ones you were wearing when you came in.”
Sebastian was on the phone with his VP for Marketing, and just as the latter had hung up, Deborah burst in. Behind her followed Victoria wearing a dark violet dress and an embarrassed expression.
He fought the urge to stare, letting his eyes flicker over the younger woman then wander sideways to look at the wall. “That’s all right,” he spoke on the phone to no one. “Send it to me first thing in the morning.” He pretended to hang up.
“I hope you didn’t miss us too much, honey,” said Deborah. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
“Not at all, Deborah,” Sebastian said, putting his phone in his pocket. He kept his expression neutral as he looked at Victoria, trying to keep his eyes on hers instead of wandering downward to the curves of her breasts and hips in the soft clingy dress. “How was the root canal, Ms. Slade?”
“It wasn’t so bad,” Victoria said. “I’m really sorry we took so long.” She had her hands clasped together in front of her, as though she was trying to keep them from escaping.
“It’s all right. Shall we?”
Victoria nodded, and grabbed her purse.
Sebastian did not, of course, expect the savvy stylist to dress his son’s tutor in oversized shirts, but nothing prepared him for how stunning Victoria looked when she came back from the fitting. In a moment of panic, he pretended to still be having a conversation on the phone just so he had a little time to compose himself after the initial shock.
“Thank you, Mr. Chase,” said Victoria, as they left Barneys in his car. “I really do appreciate this. I’m sorry you had to drag me there yourself.”
“Maybe if you weren’t so stubborn, I wouldn’t have had to,” he said, a little too brusquely.
He immediately regretted his words when he saw her expression change. The way she hung her head after he’d spoken, he realized he might as well have yelled at her.
I’m sorry, he wanted to say. But having spent a lifetime of never having to apologize for anything, he couldn’t say it.
He swallowed hard, trying to quell the unexpected ache in his chest. Unable to think of anything more to say, he let the silence settle between them.
Perhaps it was better this way, he thought. He was thinking about her too much. He’d taken off in the middle of a workday just to see her in a dress. It was better for the both of them if he kept his emotional distance. Better for him, at least.
Once he had strengthened his resolve, he allowed himself one glance at her.
Victoria was staring out the window of her side of the car, her hands resting on the purse on her lap. Her face was expressionless.
Mentally cursing himself, Sebastian made a decision he hoped he wouldn’t regret.