The Billionaire’s Given Baby

“Yeah, I know Indira, I’m really thankful, I don’t know what I would do without you and Betsy.”

It was partly due to Indira helping her to land some of the more well-paying jobs giving her a heads up for the lucrative auditions, especially the one for the Livingstone Cosmetics before everyone else found out, so that she could be interviewed first. She and Indira had both done performing arts at the local university but they never started talking as friends until they were both hired by Crimson Elite. Both were glad to see a familiar face amongst the maddening crowd and a bond developed as they fought off various rivals and made their way up the top, trusting no one but each other.

“This is beautiful Indira.” Trish touched the golden dress that glimmered on the mannequin, she couldn’t wait to try it on.

“What are you waiting for, go ahead and put it on, so I can see if I need to make any alterations.”

Indira unzipped the dress, carefully taking it off the mannequin, almost in reverence handed it to Trish. Indira was very serious about her work, and loved to design for people in mind, taking into account what someone may consider their flaw and creating a masterpiece around it.

The dress was no exception, it hugged every curve Trish had, showing off her flat stomach and with a daring split to the side, to show her toned fabulously long legs. Indira literally had to tie her up in the dress, it contained so many strings that zig zagged and aligned to make the dress. Once Indira had enough notes for the necessary alterations, and taken enough photos of every conceivable angle, it took them another half an hour to get her out of the dress.

Armed with a copy of the photo of her in the dress, saved on her cell phone. She made her way to the makeup room so Cissy could torture her with various types of foundation, lipstick, eye shadow, concealer etc. until she finally had a eureka moment and got the right match for the dress.

“Dang, I don’t even have time to wash off all this make up.”

“Girl quit your whining, I’m practically done, it’s not like you gonna be late for a wedding, nah in your case it must be a funeral, you look like you haven’t slept or eaten in days.”

“Cissy don’t start that nonsense now about anorexic models, help me gather my stuff together. I promised Betsy that I would be on time for the dinner at some restaurant, and I have like five minutes to get there, and the address is about forty five minutes away.”

“Don’t worry girl I can take you there.”

“Normally, I’m not one to refuse a ride, but you speed like a maniac, like a lunatic driver in one of those need for speed games, you’re over the sidewalk knocking down pedestrians…”

“You lie!”

“How would I know, with the way you drive none would live to tell the tale.”

“Ha-ha very funny, grab your stuff and let’s go, flick the light switch behind you, wouldn’t want Miranda Chase breathing down my neck for her precious light bill.”

*****

Fifteen minutes later.

“Sorry to be late Betsy, so… where is the designer?”

“Girl breathe, stop huffing, you look like you ran a marathon. Was Chris chasing you?”

“Nope. Much worse, Cissy gave me a ride over here.”

“Girl you must have a death wish, you’re lucky that car didn’t fall apart while both of you were on the road. I doubt that girl even knows the car needs to be maintained regularly, it’s such a mini death trap.”

“I had to risk it Betsy or I’d be here much later and you would never let me live it down.”

“Lucky for you my friend was also running late, he asked to be excused to the rest room a little before you came, he should be back anytime now.”

“Okay cool. How do I look?”

“Your hair is a little windblown but you’re still as gorgeous as ever. What’s with all that make up, you know you don’t need it.”

“Ok. What part of I was running late literally did you not understand?”

“Sheesh, calm down, it’s just that you have people staring over here trying to figure out which of the celebrities you are. You know I don’t like the attention.”

“Ladies, hope I’m not interrupting anything?”

The deep magnetic voice came from behind Trish’s seat, she swerved around and craned her neck to look right into the steady walnut brown eyes of Harvey Kingston. Betsy took charge as usual while Trish was hyperventilating on the inside.

“Harvey meet my best friend Trish.”

“Hello Trish.”

“Hi Harvey, sorry to be late got held up at work.”

“Oh no, it’s not a problem I myself was late, had a little emergency at work to deal with also. I’m grateful that Betsy here, is so patient and understanding.” He pulled out his chair from under the table and sat down. Trish eyes were immediately drawn to his shiny bald head and then his collar bone. Where he had left his shirt open at the neck so it framed the hollow at his throat.

Betsy smirked. “Not a problem guys, you can both split my bill to make it up to me.” Everybody laughed.

“So Harvey, you must be a jack of all trades, first a world class photographer now your tackling fashion designing, tell me more about your future plans and how would I be able to assist you with them.”

“Wow, no beating around the bush with you, I’ve always liked that in a woman.” He flashed a gorgeous smile that showcased even white teeth tucked between two dimples.

“Well I’ve done photography all my life and made a name for myself in the business, now I need a new challenge and I feel I can take the fashion industry by storm by having the right people endorse my summer fashion line. You’re still a relatively fresh face in the industry with a proven track record of delivering. I’m expecting great things from you. Betsy also showed me some candid photos of you and I thought that you would fit in perfectly with my summer line. Interested?”

“Sure, I would be interested.”

“How soon can you start?”

“Well as you know I’m doing the Livingstone Campaign so my daytime in the week is pretty occupied but weekends are optional as well as evenings.”

“Not a problem I’m also willing to alternate the days so that you don’t get tired or overworked. I’ll use your first photo shoot for the Livingstone Campaign as a trial. If I feel you’re what I’m looking for, for my summer line, my assistant will get in touch with you to sign contracts, as well as work out the shifts and go over any concerns you may have.”