Auri's heart was drumming hard in her chest. It was time. Time to put on the greatest show of her life. Their eyes ran over her like she was a garment in a shop they were looking to buy. She was getting used to this but she still hated it. It was also the second reason her heart was beating like it was trying to escape her chest. They were looking at her. She needed to get into character.
She became immune to the flurry of movement in the room. She did not notice the other models look over with expressions varying from curiosity to envy. Her focus was on the two men in front of her. The gods of the fashion and modelling industry. They were in her space, looking at her. She could smell their colognes or whatever expensive scents that were waffling her way. Telling her to make her move.
As a model, she knew what these men meeting her meant. It was a good sign for her modelling career. They wanted her to model for them. She thought Oliver wanted her to model. She suspected Nicolas was looking for his next prey. She fought with all she had to not glare at him. She had to be elegant. She had to be professional. She had to seduce him. She was the huntress now. Nicolas Leroux was her prey.
She bravely met his eye and gave him a shy smile. She saw his eyes dilate as he probably saw the desire in hers. Of course, she was attracted to him. He was an attractive man. Every woman wanted to be in his bed. She did too. But she did not want to cherish him and keep him forever like they did. She knew his flaws. She was not walking into this with rose-coloured glasses. She had no illusions and no pretty dreams.
She wanted to break him. When she was done with him, she wanted him to hurt as much as her friend did. He probably could not love as deeply as her friend had loved him. She would settle for infatuation and friendship. When he was as committed to her as his rotten heart was able to handle, she would pull the rug and show him how he hurt the ones he left behind. She wanted to see a fraction of the hurt her friend had endured reflecting in his eyes. And when she saw it… She would rejoice in the fact that she had done it. She would have given him his just deserts. he would think of Mara. He would never forget her. She would make sure of that.
She realised she had been staring into his eyes for much longer than she had intended. She dropped her gaze and lowered her lashes. Pretending to be embarrassed. She could see that his chest was moving rapidly up and down as if he was fighting for air. Hers was too. But her breathlessness was due to anger. This selfish, selfish man was alive and well while her friend had battled for her life. He was on the prowl for another toy and probably did not even think of Mara at all. She wanted to scratch at him. She wanted to ram a knife between his ribs.
"Auri!" a voice startled her out of her vengeful thoughts.
She automatically turned her head in its direction. It was the designer.
"I'm sorry to interrupt but you need to get out of the dress, now."
"We are a bit busy," Sharon said an annoyed frown on her face.
"Everyone in here is," the designer mirrored Sharon's energy.
"It's okay," Nicolas Leroux surprised them all by saying, "Go ahead, Aurelie. We will talk later."
He called me by my name. Aurelie thought, does he know Mara's name anymore?
She looked up at him and saw that he was smiling at her. She forced herself to smile back. She could feel her face flush with rage.
Get a hold of yourself! She told herself firmly.
She let her eyes go big and doe-like as she had practised in the mirror.
"Thank you, Mr Leroux," her voice came out demure.
She sounded like a shy teenager. She kept her head bowed met his eye again and smiled.
"Nicolas," Leroux corrected firmly, his eyes flashing.
Auri did not want to come on to him too strongly. He was used to women throwing themselves at him. A little rejection or shy innocence would draw him to her faster than asking for a map with directions to his bed. Calling him by his first name was currently too intimate for the image she was projecting. She nodded her head in acknowledgement of his words and lifted her hand to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear. As she did, she let the hand tremble a little. She saw him notice. She saw the flare in his eyes. She ignored it. Or pretended to. She felt an answering flame from deep within her. She stifled it.
"Excuse me," Auri said as she backed off and went where the designer directed her.
She could feel Nicolas Leroux's gaze on her the entire way. She made her hips sway a little. Not too exaggerated. Just enough for it to look natural. It was natural… Mostly.
The designer and her assistant began to work on loosening Aurelie's dress. They carefully worked on the straps and Aurelie felt relief as the restrictive ribbons of cloth were uncoiled off of her skin. She let out a small breath of relief as the material of the dress immediately loosened. The designer slid the dress off her shoulders and Auri felt the cool air hit her exposed skin. A small shiver shook her shoulders. She pulled her arms out of the sleeves and the dress of the dress followed gravity and pooled down at her feet. She carefully stepped out of the dress and the designer scooped it up and left her standing there in her heels. She had to give those back too.
"Let me give you the shoes," Auri told the designer's assistant who had begun to turn away to follow the designer.
She glided over to her changing station. Nicolas's gaze on her felt like a warm hand brushing her skin. The mirror of the vanity table was at the right table for her to spy on him. She lifted her gaze to it and her heart sang. Nicolas Leroux was looking at her. She kept her expression innocent and blank. She was aware she was standing in nothing more than a crème pair of bra and panties. Nicolas suddenly looked at the mirror and their eyes met. She felt a jolt of electricity run down her spine. The heat in his eyes made her skin warm up. She had him. She knew she did.
Sharon was talking to Oliver Knight who was listening intently his face set and unreadable. Nicolas was not giving them any of his attention. He only had eyes for her. Auri could feel his gaze caress her skin as it roamed from the top of her head to her uncomfortable feet.
Shoes, she reminded herself, give back the shoes.
Aurelie sank into the chair in front of the vanity. She made sure every move was as elegant as she could make it. She bent down at the waist and reached down to carefully remove the shoes. She gave them to the designer's assistant. She looked up through the vanity mirror and she could see him. Their eyes locked on each other again. She stared back at him. Almost challengingly. And then she abruptly looked away. She pulled out a pair of slippers from under the vanity table. She put them on and pulled out her backpack from the same space. Her clothes were in there. Carefully, she pulled out a jersey dress. She made a show of pulling it over her head. She let it slide over her skin like a reverse strip tease.
She got up and slowly walked back to join the group. On her way, she watched as the headliner model approached Nicolas Leroux and began talking to him. Aurelie could not remember her name. The model's lithe body was angled so that he could have the perfect view of her cleavage. Auri inwardly smirked. Nicolas was a man who preferred to hunt. He had too many women approaching him with the basic tricks. He was immune to them if he had his sights on something else. Someone else.
He headliner leaned in and he took a step back his face stern. He then said something to the woman. She said something in return and Nicolas's mouth moved rapidly as he uttered something that Auri could not catch over the noise of the room. It must have been harsh or too direct because the girl walked away stony-faced and eyes brimming with tears.
Auri watched her go with pity in her eyes. She thought that the girl was better off. She had just escaped the worst kind of heartache.
She joined the group and Nicolas gave her a nod. He suddenly frowned, reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. His eyes ran over the screen and his face morphed into a scowl.
"Excuse me," he said his gaze on Sharon, "I have to go. You have my office number, correct?"
"Yes," Sharon nodded her head eagerly.
"Good," he nodded then his eyes met Aurelie's briefly before he turned back to Sharon.
"Make an appointment with my PA as soon as you make a decision," his eyes flicked over to Aurelie again.
She kept her expression innocent and doe-like.
"I hope to work with you," his voice was soft and husky as he said this.
Auri felt that he was talking only to her. She could not look away from his startling green eyes. She let the joy of that statement stretch her lips and leak into her eyes. Her chest burned and she realised she was holding her breath. She took in a breath and looked away from his eyes.
What is wrong with you? She asked herself.
She knew better than to fall for a pretty face. Although, Nicolas's face was not just pretty. It was the definition of perfection. It had the perfect blend of masculinity and softness. It was a face she could fall for.
Don't even think about it, she directed to her heart.
She would never. She knew better. He had to fall but she would never love him. Ever.
Sharon offered her hand to Nicolas and said, "We hope so too, Nicolas."
They shook hands and when his hand was out of Sharon's grasp, he offered it to Auri. For some odd reason, she had not expected that. She looked at his face startled for a second and then tentatively put her hand in his. It was warm and his grasp was firm but not overly so. She looked at his eyes and he was looking down at her. She smiled at him and he smiled back at her.
Nicolas let go of her hand and she fought the urge to wipe her tingling palm on her dress.
"See you around ladies," Oliver said with a nod in their direction and Aurelie shyly nodded back.
"Goodnight, Oliver," Sharon responded confidently.
The men turned away from the women and walked out of the room.
Aurelie turned towards Sharon, hoping to know what was going on. She knew whatever it was it was good. Nicolas had said something about them working together. Was she going to model one of Nicolas's pieces?
"We'll talk outside," Sharon said.
Auri looked around the room and noticed that some of the models were in groups giving her discreate glances. She knew as soon as she and Sharon left, they would be the main topic. She met Sharon's eye and nodded.
She had no friends in this room. Not real ones anyway. She knew everyone in the room and there was potential to forge relationships but she was not interested in making plastic relationships. They were a waste of time and would only hurt her in the end.
Aurelie went over to pick up her bag and the two women left the room together. They got into a hallway and walked towards an elevator. Aurelie looked over at Sharon as soon as they were together in the elevator.
"What is the gig?" she asked and Sharon laughed in jubilation.
Her smile was wide and her hands were fisting the air.
Auri felt that joy from the older woman spark excitement in her chest. She wanted to capture this moment because she was certain that this was the beginning of bigger and better in her life. It was the beginning of Nicolas Lerox's hell. She was so excited. This would be the perfect end to her night.
Sharon stretched her lips into a wide delighted grin. Her eyes sparkled.
"Tell me," Auri urged with a smile.
Sharon tried to compose herself and turned to Auri.
"Nicolas," her voice was an excited whisper, "and his associate were in the audience tonight."
"And?" Auri asked when Sharon paused for dramatic effect.
She was fighting to suppress her impatience. She had taken this gig knowing Nicolas Leroux would be here.
"Mr Leroux thinks you would be the perfect model for his next line," Sharon said her chest puffing out with pride.
"They saw you on stage and think you would be a good fit for Nicolas's designs."
Auri felt her eyes widen. The sound in the room was replaced by a ringing noise and she felt the world tilt. She braced herself and looked at Sharon's face looking for a hit of a joke. There was none. Sharon tilted her head at her. Telling her to respond. It was not a dream. She had done it. She was a step closer to her goal.
"Really?" Auri asked unable to contain the wonder, "Are you serious?"
This has to be a prank, right? She asked herself. How can it be this easy? Are men this susceptible to ass?
"It's awesome right?" Sharon asked.
Aurelie became silent taking it in and then she shrieked. Sharon laughed and shrieked with her. When the elevator doors opened the woman who had wanted to go in saw them hugging each other, laughing and crying like lunatics.