Chapter 23

Elsa

“Hey, Katerina.”

“Hey, Elsa.”

It sounds like we’re saying hi, but what I’m really saying is, “What the fuck are you doing here?” and she’s saying, “None of your business, bitch.”

My ex-employee and former friend falls in line with Tanner’s other models, who are standing opposite mine, awaiting inspection.

We’re in the design room in Sharpe Tower, which Tanner has turned into a makeshift stage. He’s stretched a long piece of silk fabric along the floor to mark the runway.

The dress rehearsal is about to begin. As I look at my gorgeous new hires standing next to my ex-models, who are among the industry’s best, I can’t help but feel proud of the team I’ve assembled.

Katerina’s betrayal at our last fashion show together still pains me, enough that I’m going to have to take it out on Tanner, or I’ll explode.

“Tanner, it looks like your model has a little muffin top going on. Should we switch her into the control top, or do you want to put her in a bigger size?”

Katerina just laughs. The insult is intended for Tanner, not her, and she knows it.

“I think she looks like an angel,” Tanner says. “It’s too bad she’s a Vixen now.”

His words are cocky, but he’s still fighting his preshow jitters. I can tell by the way he hardens his jaw and rubs his temples with his fingers. It’s endearing, really, to see him so nervous.

He looks handsome, too. He’s dressed in a classic groom’s tuxedo and simple black patent leather shoes. He even has a boutonniere pinned to his coat.

It makes me wish he were standing at the end of the runway instead of the beginning. Then I can walk towards him in a cloud of tulle and lace, with my arms full of flowers and my wedding veil trailing behind me. It’s hard for me in Tanner’s design room, preparing for a wedding-themed runway show when I know our relationship is just a wedding-themed business deal.

But I can’t let him think he’s here to upstage me with his models. We’re in this together or not at all.

Katerina looks down and frowns. “Tanner, I think she’s right. The cut’s a little off. Can I change into the bikini briefs?”

I take it back: I forgive Katerina for everything she’s ever done to me. She’s a lovely girl with a flat stomach and a bright future.

“Fine. But be quick about it.” Tanner’s voice is clipped, but he doesn’t argue. He would never put our feud ahead of his ego. If Katerina looks bad, so does he.

“Well, in that case, I think I’ll prepare one of my models to go out first.” I look around for the leggiest, bustiest model I’ve got. She’s got to be larger than life and dressed in my best lingerie.

“There’s no need for that,” Tanner says. “Evan’s ready. Aren’t you, Evan?”

Evan, the other traitor who left me for Tanner, seems to have come a long way since she made her debut. Her makeup and hair are flawless, and she’s pinned her lingerie just right for lengthening her legs and emphasizing the curve of her waist.

“She’s wearing a bridal teddy, though,” I point out. “We’re going to want to start out with one of the bridesmaid designs.”

And with that, I’ve won the fight. Tanner steps to the side while I summon a bridesmaid in a bra-and-panty set covered in flowers. But before she reaches us, Katerina returns with her new underwear.

“It looks like I made it just in time!”

Tanner kneels down to inspect the miniature train stitched at the back of her panties and whistles. Katerina and I have roughly the same measurements, which is a big part of why we were rivals. And here I am, dressed like the mother of the bride in a blue satin blazer and pencil skirt while Tanner admires her ass.

The sound engineers don’t know that all hell is about to break loose, so they cue the music. Katerina steps onto the runway, wiggling her mini train behind her.

I don’t know what comes over me, but before she’s out of my reach, I stick my hand out, grab her lacy dog leash—or whatever that’s supposed to be—and yank her backward. She yelps, and the lace comes off in my hand.

Tanner turns white as a wedding veil on a bedsheet next to a vanilla sheet cake. He snatches the lace from my fingers and stares at it for a moment. I think he’s about to lose his shit, but he doesn’t.

Instead, he calmly tucks the lace into the headband of one of my models, making a cute little fastener that could double as a wedding veil. I’m starting to see where he’s going with this.

I lean in and whisper instructions in the model’s ear.

When Katerina makes it to the end of the runway—fortunately, she’s escaped my grabby hands and has lived to tell the tale—my model pulls the biggest, brightest flowers off her bra and tosses them her way. Katerina tucks the blooms down the front of her white pleather bustier—pleather at a wedding? Come on, Tanner!—and grins all the way back.

Tanner nods his approval. “Now my model is a bride…”

“And yours is a bridesmaid who caught the bouquet.”

For the rest of the rehearsal, Tanner and I have all our models trade accessories and fabric with one another. We’re on the clock, so there isn’t much time to argue about the merits of peonies versus roses or Chantilly versus brocade.

Our goal is to create one lingerie line instead of two.

I would never admit it to Tanner, but the colorful flowers really do pop against the simplicity of the white pleather. And the lace he adds to my floral designs make them so soft and feminine and gorgeous.

When the last model has sashayed her way backstage, Tanner holds out his elbow for me to grab his arm.

“We’re up,” he says, smiling at me.

“No, I don’t need to go out.” I stand my ground while the models start clapping in time with the music, waiting for the two of us to come out and take a bow.

“This is our show. They’re going to want to see us, the bride and groom. Have you prepared your vows?”

“Oh, stop it.” I can feel myself turning red with embarrassment. In my haste to get my new models dressed and up to speed in time for the big show, I’d forgotten about my own triumphant return to the runway.

“But I’m too boring to go out there. I’m wearing a suit!”

“That’s not all you’re wearing.”

Tanner smiles wickedly at me, and I wonder what he’s up to.

He takes my arm and links it in his. “Just trust me.”

I sigh and let him walk me down the aisle…um, I mean runway. This is just a rehearsal, right? I know I can come up with something amazing in time for the show.

Tanner takes his time while Felix Mendelssohn’s classic Wedding March blasts from the speakers.

“We can pick a new song, right?”

“Whatever you want.”

When we get to the end of the runway, he stops and gets down on one knee. I’ve seen this move before.

But instead of teasing me with a ring box, he slides his hand up my skirt. I gasp involuntarily, forgetting that all our models are watching us. “Higher,” I whisper.

“Not yet, naughty girl,” Tanner laughs. I feel a tug, and that’s when I realize that he’s found my garter. I put it on when I got dressed this morning without even thinking about it.

I let him slowly slide it off my leg, savoring every moment of his touch.

“How did you know?”

“When I was on my knees inspecting Katerina’s train, I took a look at yours as well.”

He gives me a little pat on the backside. “I like yours better.”

I burst out laughing. He holds my garter and raises it to the sky, pretending to choose a target in the invisible crowd.

The models are enjoying the spectacle, too. Some are jumping up with their arms raised to catch the garter. Others are throwing flowers and rice at our feet.

Finally, Tanner stretches the garter back like a slingshot and releases it, sending it soaring to the front of the stage. When Katerina catches it in one hand, I’m happy for her.

I’ve just done something I never thought I could do. I remember when Tanner and I broke up, I never wanted to be in the same room with him ever again. And now here we are, working together on a lingerie line, sharing a stage, even sharing models.

I feel as happy as a bride on her wedding day, and as horny as a bridesmaid at a bachelorette party.