His Primary Desire (New Adult Billionaire BBW Romance) (3 page)

Will looked at me with
determination,
“
Let's make tonight spectacular.
”
He winked again
,
and I took that as my cue to go get myself ready for the fundraiser
, and left Dave’s office
.

I overheard Will instructing
Dave to inform the news media about the split and the reasoning behind it. Apparently
, the story we were feeding to the media was that Bianca’s
family
values didn’t align with his
own
. He was set on having a
family
in the future, and Bianca
had decided that wasn't what she wanted for herself
. So
they thought it was best to split before getting marr
ied if they disagreed with what expectations that marriage would entail
.

I had no idea that he had wanted a family
, but considering his platform was
family
-values oriented,
it made sense. I could see him being the type that would want to have a family. If
,
at least,
only f
or the good of his campaign,
and political career. I slipped back to my desk and put on my coat and left the building.

Walking out
into the
sunshine was refreshing and made me feel just a bit lighter with everything that had happened today. It was also reassuring
that
Will had been so generous, and had given me the gift of plastic to ensure I was confident about being
beautiful for
him tonight. I had to admit, I felt a little bit like a princess. I’d never been to any formal event, let alone have the means to make sure I fit right in with the upper crust of society. I smiled to myse
lf. I was excited
and nervous at the same time.

I decided m
y
fir
st stop would be Neiman Marcus
to pick out a dress and shoes,
and then
onto Tiffany’s for the sparklies.
I had never had anything from either store on my l
imited budget
, but I had always lusted after the pretty clothes in their plus-size department. I had vowed I would get myself designer clothes when I could afford it, and now, thanks to Will’
s genero
sity, I could start with a dress. There was a gorgeous heather-grey dress I had been eyeing, and I was confident it would hug my curves just right.
I was eager to get started
and walked faster with a little skip in my step
. A final stop at the salon
after
for my hair and make-up would complete the transformation
.

***

I was twirling in front of my floor length mirror like a little girl in a princess gown
when the town car pulled up in front of my build
ing. I lurched to a stop and took a deep breath, letting
it
out slowly. This was my chance to
really
impress Wi
ll. I looked out the window and
saw him run up the steps of the brownstone to buzz my apartment
.

I answered
the buzzer, “J
ust
a
second
!”

“Ok,
whenever you're ready
. I'll be waiting
down here.
” He replied.

I took
one last look at myself and slipped into
my
new fa
bulous Christian L
ouboutin
’s. I had waited for what seemed like a lifetime to be able wear a pair of the gorgeous red-soled pumps, and I was proud to say that my shapely legs made them look fantastic. Especially with the beautiful dress I had bought for the fundraiser. I grabbed the pashmina I had bought with the dress and
ran down the stairs as
quickly as I could in
my 4-
inch
silver
Louboutin’s.
I stopped at the bottom of the stairs and took another calming breath.

I
open
ed the door. He was
standing there waiting for me
in a black tux and my jaw dropped
.
He was so amazingly gorgeous, more handsome than anyone else I had ever met. He stood there just staring at me.

“Wow.” He seemed stunned with my transformation.

“You like?” I asked a little shy being gawked at so openly.

“More than like.” He finally shut his gaping mouth and smiled, “I knew you would be beautiful, but this,” He motioned with his hand, “I really had no idea you’d be this breathtaking, Amy.”

His smile was intoxicating and I
couldn’t help but smile
back
, “Thank you.
Hopefully
,
I won't make too big of a mess of this tonight
.
I'm a little worried.
”

“
You'll do fine
,
Amy
. I know you,
and I know that you can do this. Especially
,
looking like that
. I
would
bet all you’d have to do is
j
ust stand there and the room would be utterly charmed
by your presence
. We’ll
raise a lot of money tonight
, I promise you. And it will all be because of you.”

I gazed up
at his remarkably handsome face,
and
could see he genuinely meant what he said. It was the kind of assurance I needed, and my nerves were immediately calmed.

Beaming up at him, I shrugged my shoulders playfully, “Okay.” He chuckled, offered his arm and
we walked d
own the stairs. Thankfully, I made it gracefully
into the town car
without any awkward mishaps
.
So far, so good.

The leather seat of
the car was c
old and I shivered. Will glanced at my face and I could tell he
knew I was
still a tiny bit nervous. We sat there in silence longer than I would have liked. It was feeling a little awkward. I spied one of his hands shaking the tiniest bit, and realized he was nervous too. It was sweet, really, seeing him vulnerable. I had to do something to ease the minor tension and awkward silence we had fallen into. The
only thing I c
ould think of doing was to tell him the
lame
st
joke
I knew
.

“What is the difference between politicians and diapers?” I asked him. Ok, so it was a bit cheeky, but I couldn’t think of anything else.

He raised an eyebrow, “I don’t know. What?”

“Nothing— they are both full of crap and need to be changed often.”

H
e looked at me like I was insane
. His mouth twitched just slightly, and he burst into laughter
.
I had never heard him laugh like that before.
I guess I was funny. He shook his head as he laughed and too
k my hand in his and squeezed
.

“You really are charming. Y
ou do
know that,
Amy
?”

I shook my head, “I’m just being me.
That's all I can do
, and that's all
I know
how to do
.
” I replied matter-of-factly.

“We
ll
, don't change that. It works for you
.
”

“I wasn’t planning on changing anything.” I replied in playful indignation.

He smiled at me and gave me his signature wink for the thousandth time that day. My heart pounded and the butterflies fluttering in my tummy
flew
up to my throat. Rendered speechless by that stupidly charming wink, I ended up patting his hand like I was his Grandmother or something just as equally awful. The curious eyebrow was raised with
my
awkward gesture. If we didn’t get out the car soon, I was bound to keep embarrassing myself.
As we pulled up to stop
in front of the building
where the fundraiser was being held I could see the media packed on th
e sidewalk waiting for Will.

He enfolded my hand in his and asked, “Ready?”

“
Yes.
”
I replied firmly
with a brisk nod
.

“Ok,
here we go.
”

The driver opened the door and Will stepped out of the car,
help
ing
me out
after him
. There was a collective gasp as th
e media saw that it wasn't Bianca in tow. T
he qu
estions flew at W
ill
all
at once.

“Who’s your date?” O
ne reporter asked.

Will responded, “T
his is
Amy Shifton, an old childhood friend. W
e met
at camp
when we were kids and we've been friends ever since
. She's one of my dearest.”

“
Are you dating
?” A
nother reporter
asked.

“Not yet.” Will replied with the signature Will Channing wink.

I smiled for the
flashing cameras as I stood there with Will, but refrained from holding
his hand. We had to make it look like we weren't dating yet
. The fact that he had just broken up with Bianca that day had to be dealt with delicately. He had to assure the public that she
was compl
etely out of the picture first in order to avoid rumors of cheating
. Despite how much the public hated her
, the appearance of cheating still had to be strictly avoided
.
Will needed to keep his
squeaky clean
image intact at all costs
.

“Where is Bianca?” A different
reporter asked.

“
We are no longer together
.” W
ill replied.
He
did his best to sound mournful of the loss of the relationship.

“
What happened
?” A
nother reporter shouted.

“We realized our fundamental values were quite different from one another.
I wanted a family and she didn't.
” Will shrugged with the simple explanation.

“If you'll excuse us now, we should make our
way inside.
” He escorted me into the building
and up the stairs into the
enormous room where the
fundraiser
was being held
.

W
ill did his magic and mingled with everyone
in which he came into contact. He was charming as always, and politely introduced me to those we happened upon
.
They weren’t all complete strangers to me.
With my job
, I knew many of Will’s supporters, including
personal information about them. The CEO of a huge financial Corporation and
his wife greeted us, unaware
that I knew who they were. Will introduced
me and I asked his wife about their
children
by name
, what charity work she was involved with,
and how
that
was coming along.

She seemed surprised that I would know
so much about her
, but grateful
that I had taken the time to
ask her about her daily affairs
.
I noticed her husband chuckle
a little
, and raised an eyebrow to W
ill in response to my attention to his wife. He left us to talk and I
overheard him say quietly to Will, “S
he's a keeper.
”

There was secret smile in my heart as I talked with his wife. Glancing over at Wi
ll
,
he snuck a peek at me
,
to
o
and winked
. I was really growing fond of that wink.
He slipped a finge
r between his neck and a collar
to loosen it just a bit
.
The unconscious act
was somewhat
telling. I couldn’t help but think he was actually charmed just a little
by me. He
slipped away from his audience
and
joined me. He wrapped
his
arm around my waist and waited patiently
while
I finished my lovely conversation with the
CEO
’
s wife.