The Virgin and the Billionaires: The Complete Series (10 page)

“And you should,” Bela
replied. “It’s a wonderful place to visit. It’s a lot of fun. But I prefer LA
lifestyle.” Her Russian accent poked through as she spoke.

As Dana presented her with
the first outfit she was to wear, a conservative, puff-sleeved shirt with an
autumnal print and straight-leg khaki slacks, Bela laughed.

“This looks like something
a housewife would wear!” she exclaimed.

“Yes,” Dana replied.
“You’re going to have to stretch your imagination for this one.” They both
laughed.

The shoot went smoothly and
Dana and Bela continued to chatter back and forth for the next few hours. After
shooting had wrapped, they walked over to the editor’s table and examined the
shots together.

“These look great!” Dana
exclaimed. “You did an excellent job.”

Bela smiled. “Yes, these
are very nice shots. You have a great team working here.”

Bela gathered her things
and headed toward the door with Ms. Gray, her agent, who had spent the shoot
standing in the corner and nodding with approval.

“I’m very pleased with the
shots we got today,” Dana said, looking toward Ms. Gray. “I’ll talk to Graciela
about you guys, and hopefully I’ll see you back in here soon.”

Ms. Gray shook Dana’s hand
vigorously. “Yes, great job. We’d be happy to bring Bela and some of our other
models back to SoCal Style. Until next time.”

Dana smiled and gave each
of them a quick hug before they exited the office.

That went well
, she thought.
Graciela
will be super happy.

The next day, Dana was at
her desk reviewing the edits from her shoot with Bela. The girl looked
beautiful, even in the matronly outfit she’d made fun of. Dana experienced a
small pang of jealousy as she wished that she could look that good in something
so unflattering.

Her focus was cut short
when a man in a suit and tie entered the back office from the reception area.
He approached Dana’s desk with a garment bag.

“Dana Jacobs?” He asked,
looking up from a notepad.

“Yes, that’s me.”

“For you,” he said, handing
her the garment bag. Dana reached over the desk to grab it and hang it on the
coat rack behind her. She noticed a card taped to the bag. She opened it as the
delivery man turned and left the office.

Keep them. –A.P.

She smiled and peeked
inside, where she found both of the dresses Alexander’s concierge had brought
her on Wednesday morning.

“Amazing,” she sighed,
exasperated.

Amy and Emily looked over
from their desks. Dana could see the awe on their faces. Though they seemed
continually amazed at Alexander’s efforts, Dana wasn’t quite sure that they
know exactly who it was that was making such a grandiose display of admiration.
She decided that she’d rather keep it that way. She didn’t need anybody else to
find out, especially not Graciela. Dana doubted that that would be the case if
Amy and Emily knew anything.

Good thing it’s so ridiculous that they’ll probably never guess
,
she thought.

***

Later in the afternoon,
Dana’s phone buzzed and lit up. She looked down and saw a text from William:

I’ll pick you up at 10:30 tomorrow. Dress cute and casual. –
William

That seemed an awfully late
start for a party that was supposedly for ‘networking’. She could only imagine
that this party would be a little more fun than other business parties she’d
been to.

***

Dana spent most of Saturday
fixing up her apartment, painting over all of the chipped paint in the kitchen,
putting up new shower curtains (she had found a really cute one with a rubber
ducky print), and setting up a new desk she had bought. By the time 8 o’clock
rolled around, she was hot, sweaty, and exhausted. She didn’t know how she was
going to make it through this party, let alone stay awake until William arrived
to pick her up in a few hours.

Deciding that her only hope
was a strong cup of coffee, Dana put on a pot before she hopped into the
shower. She alternated the temperature between near-scalding hot and
skin-prickling cold in an attempt to wake herself up.

With her hair twisted up in
a towel, Dana emerged from the bathroom feeling somewhat invigorated. After
pouring herself a large mug of sugared coffee, she began the long process of
blow drying, spraying, and setting her hair in tight curlers. After she had
loaded her hair with rollers, she applied makeup to match her dress and make
her eyes pop out from the rest of her soft face. She let the curlers sit for a
while, using the time to eat some tortilla chips and watch a
Grey’s Anatomy
rerun.

Sitting on her couch, Dana
began to think about how she had had to decline Alexander’s invitation to go
out that night. She wondered what he ended up doing, unable to admit to herself
that she hoped he wasn’t doing anything exciting. Dana wanted to think that she
had some small bit of sway over him, even though he was still clearly the alpha
in their ambiguous relationship. She was encouraged that he
had
sounded a little upset – or at
least miffed – when he had called her earlier.

She pondered how she wanted
to handle William’s dishonest behavior. He invited her out alone to dinner, but
why? Dana could think of only one reason why William would have wanted to be
alone with her, but refused to acknowledge it as a possibility. All of their
interactions had been under the pretense of business. Even if he did just want
to be alone with her, how could she be upset about that when her first instinct
was to feel incredibly flattered? Dana decided that she wasn’t going to bring
it up with William tonight. It wasn’t as big of a deal as she was making it out
to be.

After removing her rollers
and styling her hair, Dana began to dig in her closet for the dress she knew
she was going to wear to this party. She fished around through piles of dresses
she hadn’t had the motivation to hang, finally emerging with a polka dot halter
dress she had bought at a vintage store. The burgundy and black knee-length
dress fit snugly around her waist, accenting Dana’s ample chest and round hips.
She adorned her décolletage with a vintage gold pendant and slipped on a pair
of black peep toe heels made of soft, buttery leather. Dana hoped that she
looked cute, stylish,
and
professional.
She didn’t want to show up and stick out like a sore thumb, especially when her
number one goal was to network.

Dana had only had about ten
spare minutes before she hear the honk of a car horn outside her window. She
looked out and saw a black Town Car waiting at the curb. She couldn’t see
William, but she assumed that the car was honking for her anyway. She grabbed
her handbag and ran down to meet it.

The driver greeted her as
she came down the stairs, ushering her into the backseat. Dana noticed William
sitting to her left, looking even more put together than she had seen him
before. His blonde hair was combed into the static shape of a soft wave. He
extended his arms and they exchanged a quick hug and kiss on each cheek. Dana
had noticed that most of the people she had met in LA were really into the
French-style ‘kiss’ greeting.

“Hello, Dana. How are you
doing?”

“Great!” Dana exclaimed.
She felt a lot better than she did before the coffee and shower. She felt ready
for what could become a late night. “Thank you so much for inviting me.”

William smiled warmly at
her, flashing his bright white, perfectly aligned teeth. “It’s my pleasure.
There will be many people there of interest to you.”

 
They shared a moment of silence as the
car sped off. Even uncomfortable silences had an air of grace in William’s
presence.

He was the first to break
the silence. “You look lovely tonight.”

Dana smiled sweetly. “Thank
you. So do you. I mean – you look good –”

“Thanks,” William chuckled.
“I get what you mean. But who’s to say a man can’t look lovely? A man may never
tell his male friend as much, but it’s certainly pleasant coming from a woman’s
mouth.”

Dana blushed meekly. “So
what’s the deal with this party?”

“Well, it’s at Chris
Stone’s house. He’s the editor-in-chief of
Dart
magazine.”

Dana tried to conceal a
gasp.
Dart
was a national magazine on
par with
Cosmopolitan
and
Marie Claire
.

“After seeing our shoot
with you, he invited Alexander and me to model for the September issue.”

“That’s amazing,” Dana
replied. She wasn’t really surprised, considering both men’s incredible looks.

“A bunch of his colleagues
will be there, and I’m betting that the LA fashion people will make up the
majority of the party. It’s not really my scene – I’m a business guy,
after all – but you should really be able to come out with some great
contacts.”

Dana was speechless. “Wow,
thank you so much. This will be such a great opportunity.”

“I will warn you that Mr.
Stone likes to go all out with his parties. If you feel uncomfortable, you can
absolutely leave. I won’t hold it against you.”

“What do you mean, ‘all
out’?” Dana inquired.

“You’ll see what I mean.”

“I’m in an adventurous mood
tonight. Things will have to get pretty crazy to scare me away.” Dana chuckled.

Dana noticed the scenery
change as they entered Brentwood. Tall palms, gorgeous landscaping, and
illuminated mansions crept by out the window. They turned onto a winding,
wooded road and stopped at a dead end, where Dana could see the lights of a
house peeking through the dense landscaping abutting the road. The driver came
around to let them out, and together Dana and William followed the narrow,
paved stone driveway back to an ivy-covered front entrance, where a small group
of people were standing and chatting. They smiled at William and Dana as they
walked inside.

Dana was taken aback by the
home’s beauty. The vaulted wooden ceilings gave it a warm and homey feel, but
the exquisite décor let Dana know that she wasn’t in just any home. The
contrast between this home and Alexander’s slate gray, glass mansion –
the only other home of equal glamour she had seen - was jarring.

William led the way through
the great room, then the enormous kitchen, where a catering staff was bustling
about, preparing large trays of hors d’oeuvres and cocktails. As they got
closer to the back patio, Dana could hear the muffled sounds of people
chattering and laughing.

William opened the door for
her. Dana stepped onto the patio to the sight of several dozen sophisticated,
attractive people sipping drinks and having a good time. Dana noticed that they
were all dressed comparatively glamorously. She wondered if there was any such
thing as casual apparel in the world of the rich, and wondered why she had
thought a cotton polka-dot dress would be anything other than woefully out of
place amid the one-shouldered mini dresses and Swarovski-bedazzled tank tops
that most of the girls at the party were wearing.

Dana noticed several
scantily clad women weaving through the crowd with serving platters. They wore
ornately beaded fringe headbands, pin-thin stilettos, fishnet stockings, and
skimpy satin boy shorts that left little to the imagination. Ever more
revealing were the tasseled pasties each girl wore over her nipples. Their
breasts bounced freely as they pranced around precariously, offering cocktails
to party patrons who thanked them with an appreciative look-over. They matched
the velvet shaded lamps, fringed tablecloths, and plush chaise-style couches
that adorned the patio.

William noticed Dana
staring at the women. “This is partly what I was talking about,” he whispered
in her ear.

Dana smirked and nodded. “I
like it!” she said sincerely. She felt her skin prickle. The presence of the
beautiful women had heightened her senses. “What a lively scene.”

“We’re early. It’s only
going to get more interesting.”

Dana continued to survey
the scene. This was easily the wildest party she had ever been to, merely by
virtue of the nearly-naked servers. One of them approached her with a tray of
whiskey sours. Dana helped herself to one. She could feel William behind her.

“One last thing –
don’t go to the west wing of the house if you get freaked out easily,” he
whispered discreetly in her ear.

“Why?” Dana asked, in
disbelief that her profession had indirectly led her to this moment, standing
and schmoozing in a house large enough to have distinct
wings
. “What’s back there?”

“You’ll just have to see
for yourself,” William replied, keeping his voice down.

Dana’s face puckered at the
strength of her drink.
I’d better watch
myself with these; otherwise I’ll be comatose on the couch in an hour.
She
suddenly understood what the party could look like in a couple of hours.