Yearning Devotion (13 page)

Gwen exited the spare room one hour
and fifty minutes later, holding the gown folded over her arm. She hung it up
in their room and quickly showered. McKayla was on the phone in the living room
in a robe and her hair hanging wet over one shoulder so Gwen knew she’d already
showered. Gwen quickly blow dried her hair and put curlers in it after she got
out. She applied a heavy smoky eye, just a touch of blush and light pink lip
gloss. She took out her curlers and fluffed the curls out just a bit. She
slipped on a tiny white thong before slipping into her gown. The dress had a beaded
strap that ran over one shoulder and attached at the back on the opposite side.
She’d cut a triangular gap in the gown so that most of her abdomen was exposed.
The beaded strap ran around either side of the opening. The gown exposed Gwen’s
newest tattoo along the left side of her ribs. In black scribe written from her
front to her back,

Only The Strong Survive

Underneath it was a small huddled
figure curled around their knees. She got it months ago as her way of showing
that she wasn’t going to let her past control her anymore. She slipped on 4
inch red peep toe stilettos before she met McKayla in the living room. McKayla
was now in a pair of tight jeans and a tight boat neck top with a thick jacket
on her lap. She would be getting dressed at the venue.  Gwen grabbed a bright
red mid-thigh length jacket, white elbow-high gloves and a red clutch before
they headed out. She buttoned the jacket up all the way so it hid a good
majority of the dress and kept in the warmth before they stepped out into the
freezing weather.

After a short cab ride, they pulled
up on the backside of the venue. They both moved to the area for the models to
get ready. Gwen simply had to make sure everyone knew what they were doing. She
only had two dresses being shown and for a majority of the night the models
would be with her as she mingled. She sat in a chair and propped her heels up
on the table in front of her. She really didn’t need to be here so early but it
was easier and cheaper if she shared a cab over with McKayla. She had time to
waste while McKayla and the other model had their hair and makeup done. One of
the hair girls came over and sat down next to her.

“Want me to do something with your
hair or do you want to leave it as it is?” Mary, the hair stylist, asked
playing with the ends of Gwen’s hair. Gwen shrugged, she was going to wear it
as it was, but she wasn’t opposed to doing something with it.

“If you want to.” The girl motioned
for Gwen to move to one of the hair dresser chairs. Gwen carefully sat down,
she was trying not to get her dress too wrinkly. She should’ve waited unil she
was here to put it on but she wanted to make sure it fit and looked the way she
had been wanting. Gwen closed her eyes and tried to relax as the stylist gently
tugged and pulled at her hair. When she opened her eyes, she saw her hair had
been swept into a messy low side bun, a silver flower headband was laced into
it. The bun was on the opposite side of her single strap so it was looked
perfect. Plus it made her brown doe eyes stand out more.  Even Gwen had to admit
she was looking pretty good.

“Wow. Now that is one hot lady.”
McKayla said coming up behind her. She kissed the stretch of skin between
Gwen’s neck and shoulder while slipping her hands around her stomach. Gwen
smiled at her in the mirror.

“Not looking so bad yourself.
Although you know that.” Gwen wrapped her arms over the top of McKayla’s
briefly enjoying the hug. She pushed out of the chair and turned to take in
McKayla and her gown. McKayla’s gown was nude lace that was completely see
through. Beading covered the bodice, leaving a lot of skin showing through the
lace pattern. The beading ran down the center of the gown to the floor,
spreading out to a row around either hip to leave a pattern of beading down the
center of the back of the dress.  There was a high slit on either leg ending
with 4 inch silver strappy stilettos. The stylist had straightened her hair so
it fell stick straight on either side of her neck, to leave to low back unobscured.
The other model was also ready in a more traditional gown that was also floor
length. It had long sleeves made of a black lace, a high lace collar that
covered her breast then fell into a black satin skirt that clung to her slender
curves.

The three of them made their way to
the entrance for the party. Gwen dropped her coat off at the entrance and
slipped her claim ticket in her clutch. They made their way as a group through
the crowd, Gwen made small talk with everyone as she went. She would stop if
someone wanted to talk about her designs. Eventually they made it to the table
where Gwen would be served dinner. It had taken over an hour to get there
because of the number of people at the party. McKayla and the other model
disappeared to get ready for the show that would take place while everyone was
eating. Gwen calmly sipped her glass of wine. An older woman sat next to her
and turned with her knees facing Gwen, an elbow on the table.

“I just had to come sit and talk
with you since you were finally alone.” The older woman said. She looked
friendlier than most of the people in the crowd. Gwen was used to all the back
stabbing and snide remarks because that was just how people were in this
industry. Gwen just smiled at her, not sure where the lady was going. “I’m
Bethany. I work with MHKR to hire new designers. We’ve been following you for
quite some time. Victoria let me know that you were going to be showing this
week and said that I might want to check it out. I was already going to be here
anyway but I made sure not to miss your show. I must say I absolutely love all
of your designs. I would love if we could meet privately sometime at my office
to discuss some opportunities we may have available for you.”

“Sure. That would be wonderful.”
Gwen said after a moment of surprise passed. “I really did enjoying working
under Victoria as her assistant and would love to discuss a possibility of me
continuing to work for MHKR.” 

Gwen didn’t want to say that she
wasn’t willing to be an assistant to anyone any more. She was only willing to
take a contract with them if it was for her to have her own line under their
label, but she would wait to hear what else Bethany had to say. It was an
excellent opportunity for her and made the whole day that much better. Bethany
quickly slipped off after leaving her card and telling Gwen to call her the
next day to set up an appointment for later in the week. Before dinner was
served Gwen had three other people sit down and have very similar conversations
before leaving a card and asking her to make an appointment.

Finally, dinner arrived. Gwen
barely touched her salad but ate all of the salmon that was the main course. She
carried light conversations with the other people at her table, she hadn’t
caught most of their names, not that she would’ve remembered them anyway. She
doubted she would see any of them again. As dessert was served the models
started down the runway after various introductions. She gushed inside when her
line was introduced. It was like seeing her dreams come true all over again to
see her designs up on a run way and to add to it that her love was the one
wearing it only added to it.

McKayla sure knew how to work the
runway too. She had a fierce stomping walk but her playful attitude showed
through. She was always doing something or another that made her and the outfit
she wore stand out. Gwen clapped louder than was probably polite for your own
designs but she couldn’t help it. McKayla gave her a wink as she passed which
made Gwen smile. On her way back down the runway, McKayla stopped and jumped down.
She grabbed Gwen’s arm and pulled her up onto the runway. The crowd burst into
loud applause which made Gwen blush as she walked down the runway. She gave a
little bow before stepping back stage with McKayla.

“You are so crazy.” Gwen laughed
before giving McKayla a quick kiss once they were behind the curtain. McKayla
and the other model followed Gwen back out into the room. Everyone was starting
to disperse away from the tables back into the more open spaces. Now that the
show was over, everyone went back to chatting and making connections. Gwen was
sipping a glass of wine and chatting with some other new designers when one of
them gasped and tried to discreetly point at someone behind Gwen. She tried to
glance over her shoulder but she didn’t see anyone or anything that looked particularly
eye catching.

“Did you see who is here?” A woman
who looked a couple years younger than Gwen asked. Gwen shook her head ‘no’ and
looked at McKayla who did the same thing. Apparently neither of them had. “The
CEO of MHKR is here! He’s been out of the country for over a year now dealing
with the expansion of one of their lines in Europe. There has been so many
issues apparently he hasn’t even been able to take a day off.”

“Wow, a CEO that works hands on.
I’d have to see it to believe it.” Gwen said knowing most CEOs delegated a good
portion of their work to their staff. She’d never even seen a picture of the
guy and she worked for his company for a year. Apparently he played it low key
and didn’t want his picture plastered all over the company’s offices. Gwen
figured he was probably not very good looking and didn’t want people to make
jokes over his looks. It didn’t matter to Gwen what he looked like, his company
was hugely successful. His company had given her an opportunity of a lifetime
and for that she was thankful for.  

“Oh, he is very hands on. It’s how
he operates. He is there every second to help his new venture succeed. Once it
is up on its feet, doing well, he moves on to the next one.” The woman informed
Gwen. Gwen wasn’t surprised, obviously he knew what he was doing and did it
well.

“The wife must love that or travel
with him.” Gwen guessed the guy would be married. Probably to some model too.

“Oh, he’s not married. No one has
ever seen him with a woman so maybe he is gay. That’d be sad because he’s smoking
hot.” The woman fanned herself with her hand. Gwen tried to keep from rolling
her eyes. Good looking, successful and not married. She decided he must just be
extremely demanding or a work-a-holic. Or maybe he really was gay.

“Gwen, I have to use the restroom,
want to come with?” McKayla quietly interrupted from where she’d been standing behind
Gwen.

“Sure.” Gwen excused herself and
they made their way through the crowd. At one point, Gwen swore she saw Cole
standing across the room, but when she looked back, there was no one there. She
shook her head, he would have no reason to be there so she had to be imagining
him since seeing him just the other night. After using the restroom, they
exited back into the crowd and after another hour Gwen was exhausted. She
walked back to the changing area with the girls and left them so they could
change back into their street clothes. She returned to pick up her coat and
gloves then waited right outside the changing area for McKayla. Gwen slipped on
her gloves and coat while she waited. They walked hand in hand towards the
exit.

“The night seemed to go very well. Congratulations,
baby. I’m so proud of you.” McKayla spoke in soft tones since there were a few
other people that were also exiting at that time. They slipped into one of the
waiting cabs along the curb.

“Yes it seemed to be very good. I
can’t wait to start making some appointments and see what actual offers are out
there. How much people are willing to pay for my line. It’s very exciting… And
exhausting. I swear even though we weren’t there all that long it felt like we
were there for days. I’m beat.” Gwen laid her head back on the seat and closed
her eyes. In the morning, she had many phone calls to make and appointments to
start going to. The first would be MHKR since they were already near and dear
to her but she would also make other appointments just to see what else was out
there.

Gwen walked out of the elevator at
MHKR. She was at the top floor. Although she worked here for a year before she
had never been to the top floor. The office she worked in was a few floors
down. The only thing on the top floor was all the bigwigs’ offices, their
secretaries and a couple conference rooms. She was greeted by an elderly woman in
a black pant suit with her hair swept back in a tight bun as soon as she
stepped from the elevator.

"Good Morning. How can I help
you?" the woman asked Gwen. Gwen tried to smile warmly. She was more than
a little nervous. Up until an hour ago, she'd been expecting the lovely
brunette she'd met at the gala to be doing the interview. Instead, Gwen had gotten
a call that the woman had fallen ill and wouldn’t be able to make it in today.
However, her boss had said he would conduct the interview instead of
rescheduling it.

"I'm Gwen Black. I was told I
would be expected." Gwen said crossing her hands on top of the high
counter of the desk the woman sat behind.

"Ah, yes. I'll let them know
you have arrived." The woman said curtly and waved to the waiting area to
the left of the elevators before picking up the phone and dialing a number.
"Please have a seat."

Gwen nervously carried her
portfolio under one arm to the bank of chairs against the wall. Just as she was
sitting down the woman behind the desk spoke loudly to her. "If you'll
follow me."

The woman pushed back from her desk
and walked quickly down one of the hallways before Gwen could even push out of
the chair. She caught up with the woman and followed closely through the halls.
There were images of various stages of design or clothing on the walls. They
made two turns before the hallway opened to another seating area. There was
another receptionist, this one was much younger, Gwen would guess in her early
30s and very attractive. She had fiery red hair that fell down in tight
ringlets just past her shoulders and bright green welcoming eyes.

"Tiffany here will let you
know when he is ready to see you." The stern woman from the front said
before disappearing back down the hallway. Gwen smiled shyly toward Tiffany.

"Oh, don't let her bother you.
She is the gate keeper. She has to deal with all the crazies that try to sneak
up here. Please have a seat. Can I get you a refreshment?" Tiffany, the
stunning redhead, asked from her standing position behind the desk as she
gestured to a small sitting area.

"Oh, no thank you. I'm okay."
Gwen said moving to once again take a seat. She waited a moment to make sure she
had enough time that her butt would get to actually touch the seat rather than
a mere grazing of the seat as it had the last time she tried to sit. Once
seated, she crossed her ankles. She looked down at her plain navy blue pencil
skirt and navy fitted blazer. It was perfectly cut to show off her figure but
not show off too much skin even when she bent forward. Wouldn't want the boss
looking down her top now, would she? She shifted the thick portfolio on her lap
as she waited and looked around the waiting area. There were only two big
leather high backed chairs and a small coffee table in the area. No magazines
cluttered the table, she didn't see any at all in fact. Interesting. The phone
on the desk rang once before Tiffany answered and spoke in hushed tones.

"Gwen? You can go in now.
Please head through the door. Careful the door is quite heavy." Tiffany gestured
at the door to Gwen's left. She stood, adjusted her coat slightly and took a
deep breath. "Don't let him see your nerves. Be confident, I've seen quite
a few of your designs, you are great. Now you just have to show and prove it to
him."

Gwen just nodded slightly. She
hadn't expected a pep talk from the receptionist but it was nice. She held her
shoulders back and pushed hard against the door. She walked into a massive
office. There was a couch, loveseat and lounge chair in one corner, large
bookshelves covered the far wall and were filled with books. A round table with
four chairs around it sat midway into the room. Finally her eyes landed on two
more of the high backed chairs from the waiting area and an extremely large
desk that had a massive computer screen along with stacks of folders on the
corner. The center of the desk had been cleared except for a pad of paper and a
pen.

The chair at the desk had its back
to her. The man in it must have been looking out the wall of windows that had
large curtains pulled back on either side. As Gwen quietly took a few steps
into the room, she noticed there was another door leading from the room on the
same wall as the one that she had entered, which she found interesting. She
stood between the door and the circular table, not sure where she was supposed
to sit. She watched as the chair turned around almost in slow motion to reveal
Cole Cressley sitting in it. His eyes were flat and rested on her chin rather
than her eyes like he normally did. He had on a black perfectly tailored suit
with a pale green dress shirt, no tie.

"Please sit." Cole said
as if he hadn't even recognized her, his voice was cooler than she had ever
heard it. She slowly walked over and sat down in one of the high-backed chairs.
She was extremely confused. This had to be a joke. What was he doing here? His
eyes flicked to look at the folder in her arms. Holding out one hand, he asked,
"Can I see your portfolio?"

"Um...” Gwen hesitated. He
leaned back in his chair. He threaded his fingers together, pressing his
pointer fingers to his lips, pursing his lips. Now his eyes met hers but they
weren’t the vibrant eyes she was used to seeing, they were darker, meaner
looking. She stood and set the portfolio on his desk, turning it so the images
would be displayed right when he opened it. She sat back down in her chair,
both feet on the ground, hands laced in her lap. She felt like she was in a meeting
with a man she’d never met before. She had never seen this side of Cole, although
admittedly she hadn’t spent all that much time with him outside of the subway.

Cole flipped open the top of the
folder. He flipped through each page, taking his time to look at each image. He
wrote something down for each image. He didn’t look at her, didn’t say another
word so she just had to sit there and wait until he had gone through the whole
folder. He closed it and pushed it across his desk and moved the pad with notes
on it directly in front of him. Gwen moved to take it back but his harsh voice
stopped her. “Did I tell you to take it?”

“No?” Gwen answered softly unsure
of what she was supposed to do. She looked down at her hands where she was
picking at her fingers nervously.

“What makes you think you would fit
in here at MHKR? Do you think your designs are good enough for my company?”
Cole leaned forward putting both his elbows on the desk.

“Your company?” Gwen said before
she could stop herself. She thought Cole was just one of the managers or VPs of
one of the branches.

“Yes. MHKR is my company. My father
and I started it long ago. You know, you might’ve wanted to do some research
about your potential future employer. Or even the company that you once worked
for.” Cole almost sneered at her. Gwen had no idea what had caused this sudden
change of attitude in him but she found it oddly extremely hot. He had always
seemed confident but seeing him here in this office, using a tone of voice that
left no room for argument, the way he  accepted nothing but the best had her
heart racing.  “So I will ask you again why should I hire you?”

“I’m sorry, Sir. I thought I was
well informed about the company I once worked for and was hoping to one day
work for again under a new capacity.” Gwen spoke softly at first, but as she
continued she gained back her hard earned confidence, “However, I didn’t think
it pertinent information who owned and ran the company. I was more concerned
about the core values of the company. I was more focused on how the company ran
and whether I would even want to be a part of such a business. When I
previously worked for your company, I was interested in being the best
assistant that I could while learning what I could from Victoria, the designer
in which I worked for. She taught me many things about operations and
procedures that MHKR had in place. When I agreed to take this interview it was
because I know that I have unique designs that would help give you a competitive
edge on the competition. Not to mention that I am fully able to take my designs
from what is in my mind and make it a fully wearable garment without any
assistance and in a short amount of time. Meaning that I would be able to take
unique orders and get them out to the customer quickly, which would help
increase profits for the company. So, maybe I should be asking you, why should
I work for you? I have numerous other prospects so I don’t have to accept just
any offer you put on the table.”

“I’m not sure that we will be
putting an offer on the table.” Cole stood and slipped his jacket off his
shoulders, hanging it on the back of his chair before sitting back down. “I see
potential, but I think maybe MHKR would benefit more if it let you work for a
competitor for a few years and get all that ‘new’ out of your system.”

Gwen stood, slapped both palms down
on the desk in front of him and glared at him. “Then why did you waste my time
with this meeting? You knew before now about my work experience! What? You just
wanted to harass me? Show what a big man you are? Did you think I would beg for
you… to hire me? I’ll find somewhere that will respect my talent and what I
have to offer them.”

She snatched up her portfolio and
stomped to the door. This was not at all how she had thought the meeting was
going to go. As usual, he never did what she expected. She thought for sure from
the way Bethany had spoken with her and the fact that she had a great record
with them that she would be getting an offer of some type. She had never seen
or heard Cole be so cold and rude. She realized that he had always been so
gentle with her. Apparently, he didn’t want her anymore and his normal
personality was coming out. That worked for her but he didn’t need to be an ass
to her.

 Just as she reached for the door,
she was pulled back by hands on her hips. Her back slammed against Cole’s
chest.

“God, woman you drive me crazy.” Cole
said huskily in her ear. He slid his hands up to cup her breast and squeezed
tenderly. Gwen froze in shock. “Do you know how much I want you? You are so
unbelievably sexy when you get all fired up. I was so pissed when you told me
to go to hell without giving me a chance to explain. You’ve been running from
me and letting this thing between us be something it’s not.”

Gwen groaned when he ground his
hips into hers, his hard erection pressing into her lower back. She tilted her
head as he licked up her neck and sucked her earlobe into his mouth. Her body
was betraying her mind. She tried to speak normal but it came out as a throaty
whisper, “I still hate you.”

“Mmmm, yes. Now you will listen.”
Cole continued to massage her breast and grind into her ass. He spoke right
into her ear, his voice was low but clear. “I was indeed married. I was in the
process of getting a divorce from her. You see, I detest being in the lime
light and had to keep her happy until the divorce was finalized or she would
make it a big deal and draw a lot of unwanted negative attention to the company
and my personal life. When she caught you in my bed, I couldn’t say anything or
else she would have come after you and dragged you into the mess. I was called
out of the country for a few weeks the very day you walked out. The day I
returned, I was taking her to sign the divorce papers and on the way there she
was telling me all about some new guy in her life.

“That’s when I saw you outside the
restaurant we were meeting our lawyers at. Then I was once again called out of
the country, this time for nearly 12 months. I had no chance to get back and
believe me I tried, but it was impossible. I had already had my recruiters
offer an interview to every single Gwen in the fashion school before our night
together. I had seen your work and knew you’d be an excellent hire. But you’d
never showed for an interview, not till weeks later. I was so consumed with
work that by the time I found out you’d been hired it had been months. Once I
knew you were hired, I've done everything I could do to make sure you
succeeded. I made sure you knew about opportunities that would be coming up or
people that would be able to help you along the way.

“Victoria and I spoke on a regular
basis about your progress and ideas. But your designs and work ethic are what
has gotten you to this point. Of course, I want to hire you as one of our new
designers. However, I don’t know that I can stand to look at you every single
day and not get to touch or fuck you. And you’ve already made it very clear at the
gym that you no longer desire me like that.”  

He released her, Gwen turned around
to face him. He was breathing quickly, his very large erection pressed out from
his dress slacks. He grunted and ran a hand through his hair. His eyes met hers
again and there were the vibrant expressive eyes she knew.  He stepped closer
to her and she stepped back against the door. “I can’t seem to control myself
around you. Every time we are together you seem to rip away all my control. You
make me so hard just looking at you. All I can think of when I look into those
big bedroom eyes of yours is how bad I want to fuck you right here where we are.
You make me so damn crazy. Do you know how hard it has been to stay away from
you since I got back into town?

“This is not how I wanted to
explain things. I wanted to take you somewhere nice and talk over everything
that has happened. I wanted to convince you to give me a chance to prove I can
be better. Just to let me spend time with you. I want you to be with me. I want
to take care for you. I wanted to show you how good we can be together.” Cole
grabbed fistfuls of his hair and groaned turning his back to her. “But as usual
you show up and I can’t think straight. Don’t get me wrong, I am aggressive
with my business and I was angry with you when you showed up today, but I can’t
just let you slip away again without making sure you know what happened. And
you kept running from me when I tried to speak to you. Don’t run from me. Have
patience with me, please.”