Dirty Sexy Alphas (Twenty Book Box Set) - Hannah Ford Page 0,199

and I hadn’t even done anything yet. I’d never make it though. “I just don’t think I can pull this off.”

Finally, Kait turned to look at me. Her eyes were a hard gray blue, and when she spoke there was no hesitation in her voice. “You’ll do it, or you’ll find somewhere else to work.”

“I told you Kait,” said Alexa. “She’s not qualified. She’s going to blow it.”

“I’m telling you, I can do it,” said Bethany.

“Sophie is doing it. I have a feeling, and I always trust my gut,” Kait said with finality. “Now let’s get her fixed up.”

We went to the fashion editor’s section, where her office was basically inside the massive closet where all the samples from designers were held. Everything from jeans and dresses to every kind of accessory and shoes, shoes, shoes galore. I wasn’t that into clothes, but even I was impressed with the loot.

“She’s got a great figure,” said Mel, the fashion editor. She dug through the closet, holding up dresses to my frame for quick assessments. “But these might be a little snug for her.”

“Even better,” Kait said. “Put her in the yellow and accessorize.”

They all stood around the fashion closet while I held the dress and shoes Kait had chosen for me with the help of the fashion editor.

“Now all you have to do, darling,” Kait said, “is put the clothes on.”

I felt like an idiot, but at least Mel shot me a sympathetic look. I didn’t know if Kait was always so curt, or if it was me who brought it out in her. As I stood there in that closet full of gorgeous designer clothes—most of which weren’t even in stores yet—I should have been having the time of my life. Instead I felt like a kid raiding a woman’s closet—an unwelcomed kid.

Next stop was Rebecca, the beauty editor’s office. Bethany and Alexa were there as well, hovering and waiting for me to back out, it seemed. As I watched, Rebecca went through her supply of beauty products that made Sephora look like a starter store. Meanwhile, Kait filled me in on what was about to happen—how I would get in with The Panty Dropper.

“Bethany, Alexa and I came up with a backstory last night,” Kait said. I wondered why I wasn’t involved in it, but then again, when I left the office I sort of ran out of the building with the hopes that my first day had all been a dream. A very terrible, horrifying dream. “You are no longer Sophie Scott. You are Sophie Adams, and you’re an aspiring actress. My husband, who is a casting agent, got you an audition today for Epix’s new action film. Something called Destruction Overload,” she said, checking her notes. “Just another mindless shoot-em-up movie, same schlock Armstrong always does. The role you’re going for is Grace, who is the wife of a Navy colonel held hostage by terrorists.”

“Of course the wife is like thirty years younger than the Naval colonel,” said Bethany, rolling her eyes.

“Here’s the page you’ll be reading from,” Kait continued. “The scene you’re reading is Grace pleading for sympathy from her captors.”

She handed me a page from a script—a real movie script, something I’d never seen before—and my pulse raced. Going undercover was bad enough, but I’d have to actually act as well?

“Don’t look so green,” teased Alexa. “Remember, it’s all a role. All for the article. Just act, and you’ll do fine. We hope,” she added.

Rebecca had wrangled my long hair into soft, beachy waves. And even though she’d put what felt like a ton of makeup on my face, when I looked in the mirror it looked fresh and minimal. My skin glowed like the surface of the moon.

But I didn’t see a beauty. I saw a frightened girl from a small town in New England.

“I don’t know what makes you all think I can do this.”

“You’ll have to prove that you can,” said Bethany.

“Think of the great story you’ll get if this actually works,” Alexa said. “We’d all kill for this assignment. Not just going out with Leo Armstrong, but exposing him for what he really is. So don’t complain. Just do your job.”

“She’s right,” Kait said, looking at me in the mirror before us. “Don’t forget the goal, Sophie. To expose Leo Armstrong for the womanizing bastard that he is. Now,” she said, pulling my long hair back and draping it over one shoulder. “You’re ready to meet him.”

Chapter 3

I tried my best