He taps his finger on his lips and I spare a quick glance at Addison. This isn’t awkward at all. She laughs at me.
“I’ll put our stuff over here.” She walks to a set of chairs and drops all our bags on the floor, taking a seat on one.
Roberto clears his throat and I jerk my attention to him. He twirls his pointer finger in the air, gesturing for me to spin around.
When I complete the circle, he asks, “Where are you going tonight?”
“Um… I’m not sure.” I peer over at Addie. “I guess I can text Ryker.”
“Ryker Dallas?” Roberto beams. Panic builds that I shouldn’t have said that.
“Yes, Roberto, it’s Ryker. Don’t get all starstruck,” Addie teases. “Do you have a phone? You can text him.”
I run over to my bag and dig for the metal device. Staring at it. “What button do I press for a text? He showed me, but…”
Roberto’s confused expression jumps from Addie to me and back to Addie. She ignores him and comes over to show me. After pressing send, I stare at it, waiting for him to text.
“Did he already get the text?” I ask after a minute of no response, holding up the phone.
“His phone did, but if he’s busy, he probably won’t see it. But he’ll check soon, I promise.”
She was right. He ended up texting me moments later. I repeated the name of the restaurant to Roberto, and he immediately got to work. He hands us two glasses of champagne and flittered around the store, grabbing several pieces of clothing, mumbling to himself, “Not too fancy.”
Once satisfied with his selection, he ushers me into the dressing room. When he shoves the first dress in my hands, I stare at him.
“You expect me to wear this in the snow?” I hold out a dress that will barely cover my breasts and butt. Typically, I’d be on board, but hello frostbite on places that shouldn’t be frozen.
He tsked me. “Don’t be an Addison.”
I peek my head out at Addison as he ignores me and walks away. She chuckles and scrunches her nose at him as he stands by her. “Let’s just say I try to be more conservative,” she snickers.
He huffs. “Try. That’s the keyword.”
“I’m not conservative, but I’d like to be warm,” I yell over the closed door.
“I like her,” he yells back. I’m sure jabbing Addie.
When I walk out I already have goose bumps blanketing me. “This isn’t going to work.”
His grin grows. “Gorgeous, this was to get an idea of your body. You had too many layers on. And you have an amazing figure.”
“Why didn’t you just ask?” I unzip the dress and step out of it, baring my body. Thank goodness I wore cute panties.
Addie gasps, covering her eyes. Roberto claps once. “I really like this girl. Are you a model?” he asks, ushering me into the room, handing me the next outfit.
I furrow my brows. “No. Why?”
“Just a guess. You’re very confident in your body. And you could be.”
“She’s French,” Addie adds, still covering her eyes.
“Ah, yes. The beautiful French. It all makes sense now,” he replies, shutting the door.
Roberto has one rule for winter outfits. Either you show off your legs or breasts. I chose legs. But he helped with that, too.
The outfit is definitely sexy.
“I just booked your next stop.” Addison and I stare at Roberto, confused. “If I know Addison, she didn’t book you an appointment for hair and makeup.”
“Roberto, thank you, but that’s not nec—”
“It is,” he interrupts, holding his hand to his heart as if I’m disappointing him if we don’t go. “You’re naturally gorgeous, so their work will be easy.”
Addie sighs. “There’s no sense arguing with the stubborn. Let’s go get our hair done.”
“And makeup,” Roberto yells, as we step out the front door.
“He was fun,” I say, sarcastically.
“Him and my best friend always gang up on me. But he knows what he’s doing. He makes me beautiful in everything he’s dressed me in. And you’re drop-dead gorgeous in that outfit.”
As we walk to the salon, we talk about my home again.
“So, does your mom and dad both live in Bora Bora, too?”
Once upon a time. “Just my dad. My mom left when I was a baby. I think she’s living in the US. Well, maybe?” My voice is heavy with uncertainty.
“Have you ever considered trying to search for her?”
“All the time,” I answer truthfully. One reason I wanted to come here after I graduated college was to see if I