The Beauty and the CEO

“And we owe this to my fabulous sis.” Dixon gave a silent round of applause. “If you hadn’t broken your nail after trying to negotiate things at Pink Stilettos Cosmetics, we might never have had this opportunity.” He gave a harrumph. “Will ain’t the only one who can play hero.”

“Oh, my God, don’t get me started,” Katie gasped. “Did you hear him talking about beat-faces and winged eyeliner? You would have thought he took a class.”

Through the seething anger, Zoe’s heart swelled with pride. So Will had been listening to her all this time.

“Whatever,” a male voice said. “He still thinks he’s going to be Grandma’s savior.”

“That’s because he never had to work hard a day in his life,” the woman sneered.

Well, Zoe shrugged, before knowing Will, she might have agreed there. But that didn’t mean she agreed with whatever these people were saying. They truly were trying to ruin the company. Zoe turned around and headed back toward the pageant. She spied Will’s broad shoulders immediately. He sat heads above the rest of the judges at their own booth with his back to her. A red velvet rope separated them from everyone else roaming around. If she had superpowers right now she’d use telepathy to get Will to turn around.

“You know I can’t let you get any closer,” said a security guard.

Zoe read the name tag of the man-wall. “I’m sorry, but Mr. Anderson, it’s imperative that I speak with Will Ravens.”

“And you can,” the giant man turned Zoe around, “after the pageant.”

“Fine.” Zoe scooted off and realized she didn’t have Will’s cell phone number. She had last week, but was sure she’d thrown it away after her interview. Zoe swam upstream in the sea of mothers and daughters. A cloud of hairspray choked her and she had to stop and catch her breath for a moment.

“Zoe, right?”

Zoe glanced down at the beefy hand on her shoulder. She glanced up and tilted her head to the side, trying to recall the name of the man who’d let Will land his plane on his property. When she had met him he was wearing a pair of greasy overalls and now he wore a tailor-made dark-blue suit. Sharp, Zoe thought to herself.

“Dominic,” he offered. “Will’s frat brother. You guys were at my place earlier this week.”

Earlier this week seemed more like a lifetime ago. “Hi, yes. How are you?”

“A bit out of place.” Dominic chuckled. He slid his hands into his pockets and looked around. “This isn’t really my speed.”

“Yet, here you are.” Zoe widened her eyes. She decided to skip the obvious. The man was here supporting his friend and checking out the women. “Are you enjoying yourself?”

“It’s a bit insane,” Dominic admitted with a quick nod of his head. He fanned away another cloud of hairspray from a mother spraying her young daughter as they rushed by. “I can’t believe people willingly put themselves through an ordeal like this.”

“All in the name of the crown,” Zoe offered.

“That is the end game, right?”

“Say, how much do you know about what Will’s going through at his company?”

Dominic extracted his hand from his pocket to scratch his chin. “You mean, about half the family wanting to shut down the operations?”

“That would be it,” said Zoe. “Well, his cousins are here and I just overheard them plotting about his decision for today’s contestant.” She relayed the story, and Dominic listened with fierce intent. Clearly he cared for his friend. “And I can’t get close enough to warn him.”

“So you’re afraid if he doesn’t select your work as the overall winner, he’s going to lose the company?”

The tone of his voice changed more into an accusation. Zoe took a step back. “Well, I…”

“Sounds to me like you may care more about your future job than his.”

A jolt of embarrassment shocked Zoe’s system. “I care a lot about Will.”

“As long as you’re in the running for this position he has to fill?”

It was then that Zoe realized Dominic’s eyes were a fiery light brown that practically glowed red with anger. “Hey, I think we got off on the wrong foot here. If you’re asking me if I want the job as Creative Design Director, well, the answer is hell yes. I’m sure you’re just looking out for your frat brother here, but I can assure you I could get any job that I want.”