AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Cristiano made the introductions. Nicholas Zhang clasped her hand in a firm grip, his sharp gaze assessing. Then he introduced his daughter, Ming Li, who proffered a delicate hand to Jensen, an animated expression on her beautiful face.
“Thank you so much for the dress. It’s perfect.”
“Thank Pascal,” Jensen deferred to the brilliant designer. “You look gorgeous in it.”
“Youare even more beautiful in person. I begged my father to bring me with him, because I wanted to meet you.”
“That’s very sweet of you to say.” She acknowledged the compliment with a smile. “You are quite stunning yourself.”
“I want to be a model,” said Nicholas’s daughter, her chin lifting, “but my father is dead set against it. He wants me to go to business school so I can run the company someday.”
“Which you will,” her father inserted evenly.
Jensen stifled a smile at the exchange. “It isn’t all glamour, you know...modeling. It’s a lot of hard work. Long days.”
Ming Li rolled her eyes. “So is keeping my four-point-zero GPA.”
Jensen noted the very American term. “You go to school in the US?”
Nicholas’s daughter nodded. “Father wanted me to have an international view to the world. I go to boarding school in Connecticut.”
Jensen wasn’t inclined to disagree with her father. Modeling was a viciously competitive world. Few models ever made it to the top. And even when they did, that success could be fleeting. It had always been her biggest regret having begun modeling at sixteen, that she had just a GED designation to her credit through her private tutors, her schedule making it too difficult for her to attend school. Something she’d always felt she’d missed out on.
But she also wasn’t in the business of raining on other people’s dreams, because she knew what her own had meant to her. How reaching for the seemingly unattainable could push a person past what they thought they were capable of. She flicked her gaze to the two men, intent on giving Cristiano the time with Nicholas Zhang he’d desired. “Perhaps I can introduce Ming Li around? There are scads of famous designers and models here tonight. Some real legends.”
Ming Li’s eyes lit up. “That would be amazing.”
Her father eyed her with a firm look. “If you behave yourself.”
“Of course.” Ming Li hooked an arm through Jensen’s. “Introduce me toeveryone. Don’t leave anyone out. I want to meet them all.”
Cristiano shot her an amused look, his gaze seeming to convey a mixture of gratitude and wariness. She sent him a reassuring look back, ordering her heart not to beat in triple time at how insanely handsome he was in the dark tux. Then she and Ming Li disappeared into the crowd.
“God,” the teenager said, exhaling on a sigh, “it is sostiflingbeing with him. I need a break.” She scooped a glass of champagne off a waiter’s tray and laced her arm through Jensen’s. “Cristiano, on the other hand, is amazing. I know he’s too old for me,” she said at the look Jensen threw her. “I’m not totally deluded. However,” she added on an airy breath, “I want the full scoop on everything. The prince. The affair. The truth behind all the rumors.”
Jensen plucked the glass from her hand and returned it to a passing waiter’s tray. “That will not endear me to your father. Secondly,” she added, procuring a frothy nonalcoholic cocktail for the teenager, “I hate to burst your bubble, but there is no affair with the prince. I can, however, introduce you to David Swanson. He’s here somewhere. Will that do?”
A dazed look crossed the teenager’s face at the mention of one of Hollywood’s leading men. “You aren’t serious.”
“Very. He’s a personal friend of mine. In fact, I see him now. Let’s go say hello.”
Cristiano watched as Jensen worked the crowd, Ming Li at her side, the brightest light in a sea of glittering stars. Clad in an ethereal creation of Francesco’s, its blush-nude hue the perfect contrast for her dark eyes and olive skin, the bespoke organic silk georgette gown had a flowing, fairy-tale-like silhouette. But the gown was not all innocence with its plunging neckline that skimmed the curves of her breasts, its clever cutouts that revealed tantalizing glimpses of smooth, creamy skin, and elegant crisscrossing straps that left her back bare to the waist.
She was shockingly beautiful. There wasn’t a man in the crowd who hadn’t had his eyes on her at one point or another. It was, however, the light that seemed to emanate from her that captured him. How everyone she talked to seemed drawn to her in that inevitable way that he was. There wasn’t a sign of the vulnerable, complex creature he’d witnessed at dinner the other night. Instead, it was all the glittering glory of Jensen Davis, supremely in her element. And while he appreciated the perfect show as the representative of his brand, what he himself had asked for, he found himself wondering what was going on in her head as she flitted from group to group, as elusive as the most vibrant butterfly.
What made her tick. Why she refused to let anyone get too close. Why she spread those delicate wings of hers and took flight when anyone did. If the truth be known, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head all week after that almost-kiss, which had seemed to occupy far too many of his thoughts. They had a physical chemistry that couldn’t be denied, that was clear. But it was more, this curiosity of his he couldn’t seem to escape.
She had been tireless in her work ethic since she’d arrived, completing every one of her responsibilities with that vivacious energy she possessed, including a charitable event with young, at-risk girls in which, according to his staff, she’d shone, her natural warmth and empathy on full magnetic display. Perhaps, he pondered, it had been her own chaotic upbringing that had contributed to that sense of connection between her and the other women.
“She is a shining star,” Nicholas Zhang murmured, following Cristiano’s gaze across the crowd to where Jensen stood. “A masterful play on your part, Vitale. Brands can no longer afford to simply sit on the sidelines and ignore the fact that influence is fast moving to the social space. To marry that strategy with such a legendary brand, to take that risk, was pure genius.”
Cristiano had long ago decided the risk was worth the reward. That big gambles were the only way he was going to save his legacy. A play he hoped wouldn’t blow up in his face, given the complex, multifaceted plan he’d crafted, the gamble he’d taken on the man standing in front of him the key to it all. It wasn’t a vision he could second-guess now, at its most critical juncture.
“I think,” he said deliberately, transferring his gaze from Jensen to the cutthroat billionaire, “it’s time we take the gloves off and discuss the real issues at hand, don’t you? Get this deal done.”
Nicholas Zhang’s dark gaze gleamed at the challenge. “I never did like doing business with a suite of lawyers in the room. Throw in a ’46 Macallan and we can get down to it.”
Jensen returned Ming Li to her father after dinner, which gave Cristiano a good deal of time to work through his issues with Nicholas Zhang. She felt lighter than she had in weeks. Buoyed by her success as she and Cristiano waved the Zhangs off. Not only had she shown Ming Li a good time, chock-full of all the biggest celebrities, she’d also had the brilliant idea to take the younger woman backstage at Pascal’s debut show. A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity she hoped would help cement Cristiano’s deal.
