Sex, Lies, and Beauty Aides (15 page)

8

The next day Sabrina dressed in her favorite cream colored Chanel blouse and black Dior wool slacks. She stepped into her black Ferregamo flats as Kat’s words about using her clothes as a mask came back to haunt her, sending shivers down her spine. She had to grow a backbone if she expected to get through her date. Her job and her love life were both in desperate need of help. She needed a plan. She needed courage. She needed imagination. She needed a shot of gumption to jumpstart the entire escapade.

When she got to her office, she started with her article.

She didn’t know how to define love, so she grabbed her dictionary from the bookshelf behind her desk and searched.
Merriam-Webster
’s definition left her more than depressed.

An attraction based on sexual desire, affection and tenderness felt by lovers, unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another.

Ugh. How can an explanation about love be so cold? Surely someone had a better description.

The online
Urban Dictionary
made more sense.

Wanting to be together, and when you’re not, that person is all you can think about. Trusting someone with your life, your secrets, your every breath. To have someone accept you, as you are. To place the other person’s needs before your own. To feel the inexplicable need to show affection and devotion to each other.

The description was lovely. This interpretation made her feel warm all over, anxious to experience those emotions first hand. A good start, but they were still just words. For greater understanding, she asked each staff member to give her one instance of how they showed love to someone and how it had been reciprocated.

At first each person laughed and skirted her questions.

She reassured them she only wanted their stories as examples. Simply the essence of what made them experience their idea of love. Their examples surprised her.

An impromptu weekend away, to a coveted basketball game, to a proposal on the Jumbo Tron, which made her laugh and her heart sing with delight. Travis had surprised her with flowers. It had been wonderful. Surely there had to be more to it. Time for some people watching. She grabbed a ten from her wallet, picked up lunch from a vending cart and headed to the park.

* * * *

Sabrina returned to her office to make notes. Satisfied she’d accomplished a great deal in a mere hour, excited about her achievements, she raced to Travis’ office to ask for a bit of direction on the depth of information he wanted in the love column.

She went to the bathroom and brushed her teeth, checked her make-up, added a touch of concealer to her scar, and touched up her lipstick.

His door was open, and he had his head down, deep in concentration.

She knocked lightly and waited.

He lifted his gaze and smiled. “Sabrina, come in and close the door.”

She did as he asked. Her body filled with a naughtiness she’d never encountered before. Did anyone suspect something between them? Why did she feel so exposed? She had to stop this nonsense and rein in her paranoia. Relax and enjoy a good thing. She took a seat and waited for him to finish.

Her mind began to wander. She’d wanted to discuss her article with him, except now, alone in his office, with the door closed her mind ambled off in the direction of their soon-to-be date. Where did he plan to take her? What would they do? Did he plan to kiss her again and sweep her off her feet? She hoped he’d forgotten the mask fiasco. Knock it off and concentrate on the work at hand for Pete’s sake, she told herself.

Travis cleared his throat.

“Sorry, lost in thought,” she shrugged.

He chuckled then removed his glasses as he sat up straight and stared at her. A pleasant smile lit his face. “I hope you were thinking about our date tonight.”

“Uh—sort of—but it’s more than that. I got a good start on my article on love and wanted to run a few things past you and get your advice. Can you spare the time?”

“Sure, let’s hear it.” He leaned forward.

“Well, here’s the hard part. How do I get started? You know I’m limited here. I mean I can’t add my personal take on things, so I have to figure out what spin to put on the article.” Dang, why did she always end up blushing around him?

“Quit beating around the bush here. Let’s hear it.”

His smile relaxed her, eased the tension in her shoulders. “Okay, so I started my quest to discover the right definition and let me tell you, Merriam-Webster might be the be-all-end-all of words and information, but for a graphic description, they suck.”

Travis’ chuckle warmed her for a second then sent a shiver and an unknown sensation deep inside her. The hairs on her arms stood on end. “So then I interviewed the staff for examples of what they did for a loved one and vice versa. You know, to give the reader ideas on how to treat someone special.”

“Nice, I like it.”

“Yeah, but now what? Do I make a list of places to go? Top restaurants a spouse is anxious to try? A stage production she’d give her eyeteeth to attend. Or do I take it even deeper. It will be our first issue with the new spin and of course I want it to be perfect. I’m still not sure I know what exactly the magazine needs of me. Does that make sense?”

“Sure it does and that’s a great idea. Most people wait until the last minute to figure out what to do for Valentine’s Day. Women want to prove their love. While guys torment themselves on what won’t look stupid and will get them lai—lucky. Sorry. And unfortunately, most men haven’t got a clue what’s considered romantic enough, will score them extra points for when they screw up, and still allow them to maintain their manhood.”

“Seriously, do people take it that much to heart? I’ve never gone on a date for Valentine’s Day except with girlfriends and it was dinner and drinks. I can’t imagine it’s as difficult as you’re making it out to be.”

“Oh yeah, I remember the panic. It drove me to find the perfect gift or be screwed. You don’t want to get a serious gift if you’re not completely interested in the girl. This limits your possible choices. Candy and flowers are too cliché. Jewelry is out. They read all sorts of things into it. Perfume is even too personal if you’re not into her. Me, personally, if I’m not dating someone at Christmas, I avoid women until after Valentine’s Day.” He shrugged.

“Are you serious?”

“You know what I mean?”

“No. Sorry. I don’t.” She didn’t suppress her grin as he struggled to explain.

“You’re enjoying this aren’t you? You actually like watching me squirm. Wheedling out the misery I’ve had to suffer through.”

“By all means, go on.” She leaned back in her chair, crossed her legs at her ankles, and folded her hands. “This should be entertaining.”

“Okay, so, I’ve only had two girlfriends on Valentine’s Day. The first one was right out of college. I made reservations for dinner, got her the candy and flowers and her response was, ‘That’s it?’”

“You’re kidding.”

“Nope. And it was imported truffles from Belgium as well as a rare orchid from the South Pacific. It cost me a fortune to have them shipped in. Needless to say that’s the last time we went out.”

“How rude.”

“Yeah, I thought so too. The second time—” He stilled.

“Travis?”

“Sorry, let me say this one was far worse. We’d been dating for six months. It was nice but I knew it wasn’t going to last much longer. The chemistry wasn’t right. I knew she wanted me for my money, name, and family connections. My family loved her but was oblivious to her faults. She was self-centered, rude, and constantly put my friends down. She liked to make fun of them to their faces, and no it wasn’t friendly play. I’d had enough of her bull sh—BS and decided to end it.”

“Why didn’t you just break it off if it was that bad?”

“It wasn’t that easy.” He blew out a breath and leaned his forearms on the desk. “I should have been paying more attention. Somehow we ended up with reservations at this five star restaurant. I kind of suspected something was up, but I had no idea what.” He scrubbed a hand through his hair. “The night comes, we’re at the restaurant and suddenly she gets down on one knee and proposes. She throws herself in my arms as flashbulbs go off, blinding me. When I finally managed to get her off me and I can see again, I told her no, it wasn’t happening. Well, she made a scene and tore out in a snit.”

Her hands flew to cover her mouth. “I am so sorry. That had to be embarrassing.”

Travis held up a hand. “I’m not done. I headed home relieved it’s finally over only to have my phone ring at six a.m. the next morning. My parents called to congratulate me on my impending nuptials. No matter what I did, no matter what I said, they refused to understand they had it all wrong.” He covered his eyes for a second, then dropped his arms and crossed them on the desk. “Then they mentioned the newspaper. I’d been set up. Apparently, she was convinced if the announcement hit the paper I’d never have the guts to back down. She misjudged me. I called the paper and told them to print a retraction or I’d sue. I made arrangements to meet her at her parent’s house to explain we were through. She’d told them we had a lover’s spat and I’d change my mind. My parents were furious with me because Kim was the daughter of their best friends. I told them I wasn’t going to be tied to anyone unless it was my choice.”

“Unbelievable.” Chills ran down her back to think a person had that kind of manipulation in them.

“Oh, I’m still not done. A week later, she went crying to my folks and told them she was pregnant. That didn’t work either. When I walked away for good, she claimed she miscarried. We both knew she lied through her precious veneers.” Travis leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes.

“That’s horrible,” she said.

He suddenly lurched forward, brows knit together, his face ruddy. “My folks hounded me to make up and marry the girl. I moved out of their house to get them off my back. They actually wanted to believe her, not me.”

“I don’t get it. Why?” Must have been why he threw himself in his work. Why he’d become so serious. Considering his experience, who wouldn’t be jaded?

* * * *

Trent cursed. Damn it all. He was supposed to be Travis and he’d slipped up, big time. He hoped she’d been so engrossed in the story she missed the lack of Travisisms. If she asked Kat about it, he was dead meat. Cover blown, big time. Yet, it felt good to get it off his chest. Sabrina believed him. It never dawned on her to doubt him. Damn he hated that time in his life. On the other hand, Sabrina’s reaction told him that’s what he wanted in a woman. A wife.

Holy shit, where’d that come from?

She was innocent of guile. Some guys might cringe at the thought. To his way of thinking, each new experience with him was guaranteed to be a shared first. No one to compare him to. And she’d definitely be fun to teach so many things.

“Travis. Do you want me to go?”

“No, Sabrina, I don’t. You believed me. Every word I said.”

“Why wouldn’t I? It’s not something a person is likely to make up. Can I ask you a question?”

“Sure.”

“Are relationships seriously that mental? I mean, do people actually get that obsessive and manipulative? I simply can’t imagine it.”

“I hate to say it, but yes. All the relationships I’ve had so far have been exactly like that. In my opinion, that’s why most of them failed. It’s always great at the start. At the first sign of conflict, instead of communicating to figure out what’s wrong, they get fixated and do stupid things that don’t always make sense.”

The look of surprise on his face must have scared her as much as his relationship history embarrassed him. Let her see for herself how failed relationships affected a person. Maybe she wasn’t so unlucky. Who needed that kind of shit in their life?

“No wonder it’s difficult to keep love alive if people act crazy.”

“True. Enough of the gloom and doom, we don’t have time for this nonsense. Back to your subject. I’ve got a great idea. I want you to make a list of top fourteens. We’ll stick to that number in honor of Valentine’s Day and play it up big time for the magazine.”

“Sounds good.”

“I want you to make a list of top restaurants, top places to go, things couples can do, best candy stores, best florists, even jewelers. I’ll do the same and we’ll meet back here at five. We’ll do the leg work and it will be free advertising for the places we mention. That’s got to help with sales all the way around.”