AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Even though I hoped she would be.
At least, there is a part of me that hopes she might be. I’m not going to hold my breath where Penny is concerned, but I have to admit there is something intriguing about her.
She’s not the girl I once knew and that makes me want to find out who she is now, beyond a beautiful woman with more talent in her little finger than most people have in their entire body.
There is no way that I can go back to seeing her as Grayson’s little sister, even if I am keeping an eye out for her.
Chapter four
Penny
Luckily,duringthefirstfew days before the fashion show, Parker Hamilton's and my paths have not crossed, so it has been easy for me to ignore him. I can almost pretend he wasn't there.
Although, to say that might be an exaggeration, since the damned man makes himself noticeable wherever he goes.
At nearly six feet tall, Parker is the kind of guy you look at whether you want to or not. Devilishly handsome, with black hair and skin lightly tanned by the sun, he looks like a modern version of a Greek god. Not that he minds the attention it brings him. For as long as I’ve known Parker, he’s loved being the center of attention.
Wherever he goes, Parker is always surrounded by an entourage of sorts. Sometimes it’s event-planner personalities who arrange final details to suit his specifications, or, more likely, models who give him flirtatious looks as soon as they see him pass by.
After all, Parker is well known for being a player, especially since he has appeared in renowned fashion magazines from a very young age. He’s the kind of man who has a new woman on his arm every couple days. He has been linked to the most attractive models and celebrities in the world.
It’s not surprising that even now, a beautiful girl is hanging off his arm, smiling at him in the most flirtatious way possible.
Whether Parker truly notices her is less obvious. He directs his team as he paces back and forth across the stage, dictating orders like the emperor he thinks himself to be.
"I know you hate him," Sarah says to me suddenly, rolling her eyes in solidarity at the handsome man. He had robbed me of sleep as a teenager, and he is still the star of my nightmares. "But,wow. You can't deny how attractive he is."
With a bitter smile, I turn around, watching as he struts around. It’s true, I can't deny how fucking attractive he is, but it is a lot easier to ignore that reality when I think about his obnoxious personality.
"Trust me," I mutter to Sarah, balancing a pin between my lips. "It's just a pretty face. If he looked on the outside like he does on the inside, he’d be hideous."
"I don't think so." Sarah gets back to work. "I've heard that he sponsors a lot of charities, and that he's in charge of funding more than one environmental organization."
"That doesn't make him a good person." I snort. “It just makes him a smug guy with a lot of money to spend and an equal desire to earn a good reputation. It’s all performative."
Sarah immerses herself in work with a roll of her eyes. She won't be able to change my mind about Parker in any way.
There is no forgiving Parker after everything that he’s done to me, no matter how nice Sarah thinks he is.
Unfortunately, Parker Hamilton is the least of my problems at that moment. No matter how much I got done, I keep thinking about how much more I need to accomplish in order to pull off the best fashion show of my life.
Some of the designs I planned to present had been damaged on the way, thanks to the poor organization of the shipping company I hired for the occasion. The incident earned me a refund and a well-deserved apology, but that would not fix my problem.
To top it all off, one of the models I hired to wear one of the main designs of the night is injured. I’m left with the predicament of finding another model with similar characteristics to wear the dress that crowns my line.
Sighing, I stand up, fussing over the dress in front of me. It is long, elegant, black, and encrusted with precious jewels that I’m sewing on by hand. The delicate fabric falls in ethereal, precise layers that shimmer at the slightest of movements.
On the outside, I may be smiling at the piece, but on the inside, I’m fretting over every detail. I’m a perfectionist and I can't help but want my work to fully represent my vision.
It’s as I stand up, let down my hair, and put on my jacket that my phone starts ringing. I pull myself away from the dress, giving it one last glance.
"Stay here," I say to Sarah. "I'm going to go interview some substitute models. I'll be right back."
"Okay. But try to relax a little," Sarah looks up at me with a smile. “You look like you have a stick up your ass. Relaxing would do you some good.”
"How can I?" I grimace and shrug. “There’s too much to do and not enough time to do it.”
She ignores me as I walk away. The last few days have been taken up by calls from my older siblings and my mother. Grayson and Mom keep worrying about how everything is going.
