Excerpt from "In Your Wildest Dreams"
A Warner Forever Release
July 2005
ISBN: 0-446-61487-4
©2005 by Toni Blake
Page 3
As she walked farther into the club, she decided now would be a good time to start doing just that. If all you are is cleavage and curves, sell that. Feel it. Be it. Like Melody said. Just for tonight. Everything depended on it.
Men watched as she passed, clearly thinking her a different sort of woman than she was, even without the knowledge of the "private party" she'd come for, and again the juncture of her thighs suffered a slight tingle. Strange, maybe even shameful, to feel that now, yet as she was drawn more deeply into the place, she understood Melody's advice. You couldn't do this halfway. If she were to pull it off, she had to let herself feel every forbidden bit of it. So as she exited the door past the stairwell, she attempted to relish the fresh sensitivity in her breasts, to embrace the soft, slight throb between her thighs.
A large, dark-skinned man wearing a familiar red vest and black tie waited outside the door. "Private party?"
"Yes." She'd turned the one simple word silky, sexy. Practice.
"All the way to the top." He pointed up a wooden stairway painted white. Old brick walls surrounded the steps on all sides, and as she ascended, she realized she was outside again, in an enclosed courtyard. It seemed as if she were traveling a maze to reach the soiree tucked deeply within Chez Sophia - but she supposed that made sense. A thin line of perspiration trickled between her breasts.
Four half-flights of stairs later, she found another doorman, this one young, blond. "Welcome to Sophia's private party." He held the door open with a ready smile.
A wild sense of nervousness barreled down through her chest as the reality of what she was about to do struck her full force. But as she entered the room through red velvet curtains drawn back by gold cord, she struggled again to condense her feelings to the sensual, the sexual - nothing more.
The scene before her was awash in elegance, from the crystal chandeliers to the gentle clink of wine glasses to the soft jazz permeating the air. Men in well-tailored suits stood chatting with beautiful women in cocktail dresses, some shimmering with sequins and beads. Others sat on the plush couches and graceful divans that sprinkled the space in bold splashes of scarlet, amethyst, cobalt.
That's when it hit her. She could do this. Outwardly, the crowd didn't appear unlike those in her world. This was just another cocktail party. The only difference was that instead of selling an ad campaign, tonight she was selling herself.
She scanned the crowd for Tina. Her heart sank when she didn't find her, but she hadn't expected it to be that simple anyway, and now she had to mingle, pretend, convince. She had to flirt. But she was horrible at flirting, so even if this was all about selling, something she could do, she needed a drink to bolster her courage.
<< Previous Page | Next Page