Beauty and the Billionaire

"And, nice try getting out of going to the gym with me. It’s cardio day, and you owe me a few miles, at least," Fenton said.

Kev was dragged from the suite and it took a few minutes before his desperate pleas disappeared down the elevator.

"Now, let's have some fun," Sandi said. She grabbed my hand and twirled me around.

"I, I just woke up. I'm a mess," I said.

"Who cares about that," Sandi said. "You're perfect. I bet I'll hardly have to alter the sample sizes." She went to the rack and pulled out a sapphire blue dress with a fringe skirt. "So, tell me how you and tall, dark, and tough met."

"Fenton? We met through work," I said. Sandi handed me the dress and expected me to try it on right there. I slipped out of my robe and was glad I had at least put on a matching bra and underwear before leaving the master bedroom.

"Kev says you've got this opposites attract thing going on, but I don't really see it. Seems to me you and Fenton Morris are on the same page," she said.

"Then, you're the only one," I said. I blushed bright red when I realized the only sense of my style she had was the racy black lace bra and underwear. "I'm more conservative and he's more infamous."

"Yeah, I'm not sure I believe his hype. Kev certainly doesn't. Do you know those two have been friends for 12 years? Fenton has always been there for him even when Kev was, well, Kev," Sandi said.

"Twelve years?" I asked. "I don't know why, but I always assumed Fenton was more of the lone wolf type. He is always surprising me."

Sandi smiled at me, but then frowned at the dress. "And, I hear you are always surprising him. Which is why that dress simply won't work. We need something a little more risqué."

I slipped out of the sapphire dress and took the pale lavender one she handed me. In the morning sunshine, it was iridescent. I tried not to love it before I even put it on.

"Wait, how have you heard so much about me and about Fenton?" I asked.

"Kev is a talker. I know, I know, he can be quite repulsive, but it’s all an act. We've gone out a few times since he came to Vegas and he keeps surprising me. I guess it’s going around," Sandi said.

I smiled at her, then gasped as I caught sight of myself in the mirrored wall near the suite door. "Wow. I mean, I can't possibly pull this off, but this dress is amazing."

"Thanks, and don't be stupid. You can most definitely pull off that dress. Kev told me you like button-up shirts and clean-pressed pencil skirts, but I told him that was all work. This dress is all play, and it is all you," Sandi said. "Plus, it will fit Fenton's whole dark hair, tattooed, bad boy playboy vibe. I'm sure he'll be wearing a black on black suit and this will be perfect against it."

I shifted my weight so one hip stuck out – the dress demanded sexy poses. Then, I twirled around and felt the shimmering material dance along my skin. I swept my hair up and considered myself in the dress from every angle.

"I can't wear something just because it looks good next to Fenton," I said. "I'm not going to let myself be one of those girls who changes just to impress a guy."

"Call me crazy, but you aren't changing a thing," Sandi said. "A minute ago, you were all smiles and appreciative glances. It was as if you were seeing yourself again after a long absence. Face it, you feel good in that dress, you feel sexy, and that is who you are."

"A good, sexy girl?" I asked.

"Hell, yeah," Sandi sai

d. She covered her mouth and giggled.

"So, I'm not the only one cutting loose in Vegas, huh?" I asked.

"I think that's the Kev effect," she said. "Being around him is encouraging me to say all the things I normally only think."

"Like Fenton is making me do all the things I normally only imagine," I said. I looked at the dress and struck another pose. "I can't believe how one short trip to Vegas has been so revealing."

"It’s the perfect place for it," Sandi said. She checked the iridescent dress for any tailoring. "I had my revelation in a North Dakota convention center. Not exactly the perfect backdrop for a life changing memory, but that's the way it goes."

I smiled at her as she adjusted the shoulder straps. "What happened in North Dakota?"

"I realized if I was going to continue being a stylist I didn't want to peddle someone else's dresses. I knew I would probably lose my base of high society matrons, but I suddenly didn't care. I was ready to start living my life, instead of thinking about it. I sewed the dress I had been dreaming about that night and posted it online. Within seconds, I had all sorts of queries and that was that." Sandi nodded to herself. "I guess I don't really care where it happened, only that it did."

"I love that – what you said about living your life instead of thinking about it," I said. "That's how I've felt ever since I met Fenton. Instead of choosing the safe path and then dreaming of all the possibilities I missed out on, I just go with my gut."

"And, what is your gut telling you about Fenton Morris?" "That he's trouble, but I think it might be the good kind of trouble. You know, the kind that could be an atom bomb, but turns out to be the first blazes of a bonfire," I said.