Romance: The Billionaire's Choice - Contemporary Romance (Romance, Contemporary Romance Book 1) (7 page)

Isabel wiped the sweat from her brow. Her hands shook as she pushed the fabric through the sewing machine.

“I’m never going to get this done in time,” she muttered to herself.

Suddenly the door swung open. She jumped and hit her arm on the sew machine. Isabel yelped in pain. Cara looked over at her as she walked into the sewing room.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” she replied. “You just startled me.”

“You startled me too. I didn’t expect you to be in here,” Cara said.

“Yeah,” Isabel replied. “I just have a few last minute things to finish.”

Cara walked over to where Isabel was sitting and laughed. “And I definitely didn't expect you to be sitting here like this,” she said.

Isabel laughed and looked down at her bare legs.

“So, you did your hair and makeup, I see,” Cara said. “And now you are sitting here in your bra and underwear?”

“Yep, I am,” she replied.

“I wanted to be ready to leave by now,” she said. “But then when I put on my dress, I noticed that the seam wasn’t quite straight.”

Cara nodded. “Can I help you?” she asked. “You are really down to the last minute.”

“No, don’t worry about it. I will be fine,” Isabel replied.

She took a step closer and brushed the sweat off of Isabel’s forehead with her fingers. “Maybe you will be fine but you are starting to look a bit gross,” she said as we walked across the room to grab a box of tissues.

“Yeah,” Isabel said. “I did a bit of running around before I finally sat down to finish sewing this. I’m not sure how it got to be so late.”

Cara pulled out a tissue and wiped it across Isabel’s forehead.

“Thanks, I needed that,” she said as she dropped her hands away from the machine. She looked back at Cara. “And you look amazing by the way.”

“Thanks,” she replied. “I’m ready to go to the gala unlike some people.”

“Ugh, I know. I can’t believe how late it is,” Isabel said.

“Oh, relax. Why don’t you go rinse your face and touch up your makeup? I can see that the dress is nearly ready to go. Let me just finish up the hem and give it one final look. It’ll be ready to go by the time you are done with your makeup,” she said.

Isabel smiled nervously. “Thanks a lot,” she said. “That would be great.”

Cara learned over and rested her hands on Isabel’s shoulders. “Alright then,” she said. “Get up and get out of here. Let me sit there.”

“Okay, okay,” she said as she stood up from the chair. “I am going.”

Isabel stood up and walked to the mirror on the opposite side of the studio. “Oh God,” she said. “I don’t know where my makeup is. I don’t think I have anything with me. I seriously need foundation. Where is my bag?”

Cara walked over and picked up Isabel’s bag from the table in front of her.

Isabel laughed nervously. “Sorry,” she said. “I am blind today.”

Cara smiled at her friend. “Take a deep breath. It’s just another party,” she said. “Everything is going to be fine. You don’t need to run around like a crazy person. You look amazing and we are nearly ready to get out of here.”

Isabel closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “I know,” she said. “I know that you are right. I have just been going out of my mind today. My head feels like it’s spinning.”

“There is nothing to worry about,” Cara said. “Tonight is going to be fun if you just allow yourself to have a good time. I promise.”

Isabel leaned down to look at herself in front of the mirror. She patted the sweat off of her forehead with more tissue. Her hands shook as she reached down to grab her compact. “Yeah,” she said. “I am sure that it will be a good night.”

Cara pulled the dress from the sewing machine and held it out in front of her. She carefully inspected all of the seems. “I think the dress looks great,” she said. “Why don’t you come over here and slip it on so I can take a closer look?”

Isabel walked over to Cara. “Thanks for doing that,” she said.

“Alright, you are the model today,” Cara said. “Arms up.”

Isabel laughed as she held her hands over her head. Cara slipped the dress over her head then bent over to follow her eyes over the length of each seam.

“How does it look?” Isabel asked.

“It looks amazing,” she replied. “You really did a great job on this.”

Isabel smiled. “Thanks,” she said. “It took me forever.”

“I am a little surprised that you decided to make something new,” Cara said.

Isabel shrugged. “I couldn’t decide what to wear,” she said.

“You really are making a big deal of this gala,” Cara said as she stood up. “But I think that you look amazing now. The dress is definitely 100% done. Are you ready to go?”

Isabel didn’t respond. She looked around the room nervously.

“Come on,” Cara said. “You can only delay for so long. What is it that you think is going to happen tonight anyway?”

“I don’t know and I guess that is what worries me,” she replied. “I have no idea why he invited me to this party.”

“Well you are friends,” Cara said. “I don’t see why he wouldn’t invite you.”

Isabel sighed. “We aren’t exactly friends anymore. In fact, he did basically say that he doesn’t want to be friends anymore, remember?” she asked.

Cara nodded. “Yeah, of course I remember but maybe he changed his mind. He obviously wants to see you,” she said.

“I am not counting on that,” Isabel said. “There are a million different reasons why he might have sent me that invite.”

“You are being crazy. He is one of your best friends and he is having a party so he invited you. It really is a pretty straightforward situation,” Cara said.

“Oh, I don’t know about that,” she replied.

“alright, I’ll indulge you. Why else would he have invited you?” she asked.

“Well, for one thing, you know that Andrew didn’t personally send out those invites. I am sure that his assistant sent them. Maybe he hadn’t removed me from his address list,” Isabel said.

Cara shook her head. “This is an important party. I am very sure that he would have personally approved the guest list,” she said. “I seriously doubt that it was a mistake.”

“Fine, maybe,” Isabel replied. “But there is also the possibility that he was just being polite. Maybe he thought that I would hear about the party and he didn’t want me to be insulted.”

“You are just making things up now. It seems quite likely that he just invited you because he wants you to come,” Cara said.

“Well, yeah, I do hope that is true,” Isabel said. “But I definitely don’t want to get my hopes up. It’s very possible that we will go there and he won’t even bother to say hello.”

Cara shook her head. “I seriously doubt that but there is only one way to find out,” she said. “Come on, let’s get out of there.”

“You impress me more every single day, Andrew,” she said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

Andrew turned around and saw his boss’ wife standing behind him.

“Well, hello, Victoria,” he said. “You look stunning tonight as usual.”

She smiled. “As do you, my dear,” she said. “Let me just say, I have been to a lot of charity events over my many years and this is definitely one of the best.”

“Thank you,” he said. “That really means a lot coming from you.”

“It should. I am probably the oldest person here and I’ve been around the proverbial block more than once,” she said.

Andrew laughed. “Well, you don’t look a day over 40,” he said.

“Oh, Andrew,” she said. “You know that flattery will get you everywhere with me.

He chuckled. “Flattery aside, it really is an honor that you could make it,” he said.

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” she said. “In fact, it looks like everyone who is anyone in New York City is here tonight.”

He nodded. “We definitely had a great turnout. It really exceeded my expectations,” he said.

“And speaking of important New Yorkers, here comes that lovely lady of yours,” she said.

Andrew turned around and saw Katy walking up to them. He swallowed hard. She beamed at them as she approached.

“It’s a pleasure to see you, Victoria,” she said. “I am glad that you could make it to our humble little shindig.”

“Of course, my dear,” she replied. “I was just telling Andrew what a lovely gala this has turned out to be.”

Katy smiled.

“You look lovely,” Andrew said.

“Thank you, dear. Sorry I am running a bit late,” she said.

“Not a problem,” he replied. “I haven’t been down here too long myself.”

“Well, I will leave you two to catch up,” Victoria said. “I am sure I’ll make my way back around before we go. For now, however, I must catch up with that waiter. Those shrimp hors d'oeuvres are absolutely divine.”

Andrew smiled and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. “It was wonderful chatting with you as always,” he said.

Katy reached her arm around Andrew. She gently rubbed his back. “You look handsome tonight,” she said.

Andrew scanned the room. “Thanks,” he replied quietly.

She turned her head to the side. “Is everything alright?” she asked. “You seem a bit distracted.”

“Sorry, it’s just a busy night. I want to make sure that I make my rounds and say hello to everyone,” he said.

“Of course. Let me join you,” she said. “Have you said hello to Diane and James yet?”

He shook her head. “No, I haven’t yet,” he said. “Why don’t you go over to say hello while I grab you a glass of champagne.”

She smiled and nodded. “Thank you. That sounds great,” she replied.

Andrew’s eyes darted across the room as he walked toward the bar. His hands were sweating as he searched for Isabel.

He sighed as he approached the bar. “I’ll take two glasses of champagne, please,’ he said.

“Hello, sir,”the bartender said. “I am sorry that you had to come to bar. Hasn't one of the waiters served you?”

“It’s fine. I am actually here to get some of the reserve changagempae. You should have a VIP bottle back there,” he said.

“Yes, of course, sir,” he said as he reached up to the top shelf.

Andrew turned around and scanned the room as he waited for the drinks. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Isabel laughing. He quickly turned his head from side to side in search of her. He shook his head in disappointment when his search turned up empty. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced at the screen. There were no new messages.

“Hey, Andy. Why the glum face?” David asked.

Andrew turned to the side and noticed for the first time that David was standing beside him.

“Honestly, I am just a bit disappointed that I haven’t run into Isabel yet,” he said.

David nodded. “She sent back her RSVP, didn’t she?” he asked.

Andrew nodded. “Yeah,” he replied. “So I don’t know why she isn’t here. What’s the point in sending back your RSVP if you aren’t planning to come to the event?”

David shrugged. “Who knows?” he said.

“And she marked down on her RSVP that she is bringing a plus one,” he continued. “So, she must have a date. Maybe he is running late.” Andrew paused. “I wonder who he is.”

David took a deep breath. “You know, Beth has become friends with Katy,” he said.

Andrew nodded. “Yeah, they have a lot in common,” he replied absentmindedly as he looked around the room.

“So, she was a little upset to hear about Isabel,” he said.

Andrew looked over at David. “Why?” he asked.

“Well, you have been dating Katy and now you are obsessing over Isabel. Obviously she doesn’t want to see her friend get hurt,” he said.

Andrew nodded.

“And you know that Katy wants to move to California with you,” he said. “If you are just leading her on, this is all going to blow up in your face.”

“Look,” Andrew said. “That is the last thing that I want to do. I would never lead her on. I told her that we need to talk about the move and that’s it. I didn’t agree to it and I never said that I didn’t want her to move to San Francisco with me.”

“Well, you should make things clear,” David said. “Beth isn’t thrilled with the idea of you fooling around behind Katy’s back and you certainly don’t want her to be giving Katy ideas about you being unfaithful.”

Andrew’s face reddened with anger. “I most certainly haven’t been unfaithful to Katy,” he said.

“Whoa, slow down,” David said. “I didn’t mean to say that you have been. I’m just saying that Beth is worried about where things might go.”

Andrew didn’t respond. He stared out into the sea of masked faces.

David put his hand on Andrew’s shoulder. “It’s time to make a decision,” he said.

David turned around and walked away. Andrew picked up the champagne glasses but didn’t move. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath before he walked back out into the sea of people. He approached Katy and smiled.

“Here is your drink,” he said as he extended his arm with the glass.

Katy smiled at him but he looked right past her.

Andrew’s heart dropped when the rhinestone of a mask across the room caught his eye. He looked closer and spotted Isabel lifting up her mask to take a drink of her champagne.

“Andrew?” Katy asked. “Are you alright?”

He jumped. “Yes, of course,” he said.

She touched her hand and laughed. “Well, you can put your hand back now,” she said. “I have taken the glass.”

He looked down and realized that he had been frozen in place. He knew that he probably looked like a fool but he instantly forgot about all of that. He looked back at Isabel. He had never seen such a beauty woman before in his life. It was like he was seeing her for the first time.