When they walked into the ballroom, it was just as beautiful as Winter had imagined it would be.
“Wow, this is pretty nice,” Taheim said as he followed her to their seats. They made it just in time to see Rocco come onstage to kick off the fashion show. It was always great seeing people go after their dreams and succeed.
The fashion show was amazing and seeing the breathtaking European designs cross the runway inspired her for a new lingerie line that she couldn’t wait to sketch when they got back to the hotel. Rocco’s intermission and final performances were even better than the first one.
“Rocco asked that we wait here for him,” Winter informed Taheim after she read the message he’d texted her.
“I haven’t seen an editorial fashion show like that in a while. Most of the fashion shows I’ve been attending lately are street or urbanwear with the occasional business fashion intertwined.” She watched him glance around the room, enjoying the look of awe in his eyes.
“Lately, it seems that the audience for the fashion shows I attend or participate in tends to include celebrities, movie stars, hip-hop artists and singers. I can’t recall the last time there were more high-fashion designers in a room than celebrities.”
“Sometimes it’s good to change up the scene and get out of our comfort zone and allow our creative expression to grow and flourish.”
“I agree. But every now and then, life just gets in the way.” He draped his arm across the back of her chair and Winter shivered at the closeness. “Have you always attended fashion shows?”
She turned slightly to him and smiled. “Ever since I was a young girl, I’ve always loved going to fashion shows. There’s something about the runways, photographers, industry professionals and of course the unique clothing styles and designs that has always made me feel at home.”
Taheim nodded his head in agreement. “I know the feeling. For me it wasn’t fashion shows that made me feel that way—it was music videos.”
Winter leaned over to ask him for more details, only briefly closing her eyes to take a quick whiff of his appetizing scent.
“Besides the music, what did you love about music videos?”
“Well, I’m not sure if you’ll agree, but today’s music videos aren’t anything like what they used to be.”
“I agree completely,” she said with a laugh.
“Growing up, I felt like artists not only cared about the message they were sending through music, but they also used their videos as a way to display the latest trends in clothes, shoes and hairstyles. It was a form of creative expression. A way for them to reach a wide audience of people and defy what was considered the norm in fashion. I’m not saying we don’t have artists around that do that now, but back in the day, most of the videos released were trendsetters...the first of their kind. When I initially released Collegiate Life, I knew I wanted to target the eighteen-to-thirty age market with an emphasis on the college scene. But somehow the Collegiate Life brand grew to lengths that I never saw coming. Before I knew it, I was still keeping my urban-meets-business flare but also creating clothing for the thirty-plus market, as well...for those who probably remember music videos the way I do.”
“I knew I liked you when I first met you,” a voice said from behind Winter and Taheim.
“Hey, Rocco,” Winter said, standing up to give him a hug. She turned to face Taheim. “Rocco, this is my friend Taheim Reed.”
“Yeah, I remember you from when we met in London some years ago,” Rocco said as he leaned out to shake his hand. “I never did get a chance to ask who designed that jacket you were wearing.”
“Actually that design is part of my Collegiate Life clothing line now. As soon as Winter mentioned that we were seeing you perform, I told her about that night, but I wasn’t sure you would remember me since my friend Grant was talking to you nonstop about starting a career in music.”
“Did he ever get that career started?”
“Nope,” Taheim said with a laugh. “A few months after that trip, he began teaching at an art school in Chicago and married, and now he has a baby on the way. But every now and then, he talks about what could have been.”
“Speaking of marriage, would you both like to have dinner with me and my fiancée? She was backstage for the first half of the show until she had to tend to some business, but Vanessa would love to see you again, Winter.”
Winter glanced at Taheim, who nodded his head in agreement. “We’d love to.”
As they followed Rocco out of the exhibit hall to his parked car, she wondered if Taheim was feeling inspired since landing in Vegas. She knew Taheim had a lot of connections of his own, but since her connections differed in industry and type from his, she hoped it was sparking some new creative juices.
* * *
“So you and Winter aren’t dating?”
Taheim took a sip of his tequila before glancing around to make sure the women were still in the bathroom. “No, we aren’t dating.”
Rocco gave him a look of disbelief. “Why aren’t you dating? You both seem into each other.”
Up until now, the conversation had been pretty casual, but he shouldn’t have been surprised that Rocco wanted to know about him and Winter. He’d be lying to himself if he said that he wasn’t enjoying his time with Rocco and Vanessa. They were definitely a dynamic couple, and every time they looked at each other, Taheim could feel the love between them. On a couple occasions, he had to remind himself that despite how much chemistry he had with Winter, they weren’t a couple and he’d accompanied her on this trip only for business.
“Our friends actually set us up on a blind date a few months ago and it was so bad we knew we could never date each other.”
Rocco looked around. “So how does two people not dating equate to you both ending up on a trip together? I mean, I know y’all have the fashion show in Chicago that you’re working on, but why vacation together if you’re just friends?”
“Since we’re working together, we had a deal that we would try to be friends. I’m actually surprised at how well we get along considering how bad our first date was.” He took another sip of his drink. “Honestly, it’s my fault that the date went bad in the first place. She’s different from any woman I’ve met.”
“Tell me about it,” Rocco said. “I think about the man I used to be and I’m not really sure why Winter befriended me back then. I was a long-haired guitar-playing rocker who didn’t care about anything but drinking and getting high.”
Taheim looked at Rocco, unable to believe the clean-cut man sitting next to him had been the type of man he’d just described. Rocco was known for his smooth rock music with soft melodies that mingled with sharp chords. He still had a rock edge to him. “How did you meet Winter?”
Rocco smiled. “She had just started college in New York and had snuck into a bar with her friends. I was twenty-one at the time and really didn’t give a shit about anyone back then. Mom was a drunk. Dad was in jail. And I was headed down the path of self-destruction. I remember everyone in the bar was dancing to my music except this brown-haired beauty in the back. After the show I asked her why she wasn’t dancing and she said that I wasn’t really as good as everyone thought I was.”
“Sounds like Winter,” Taheim said with a laugh.
“She was right, though, man. She saw right through the image I was trying to portray. After a few dates, she said she didn’t want to date me anymore, but she did want to be friends and told me that she’d help me get my shit together. To this day, I don’t know why I approached her that night or why we remained friends, but years later, I owe her my life. It’s because of her that I applied for an internship with a record label and learned the ins and outs of the business, and within four years of meeting her, I was headed to London for a new phase in my career.”
Listening to Rocco talk about Winter mad
e him realize just how little he knew about her. He did feel as if he was getting to know Winter, but he didn’t know a lot about her past. Since when do you care about a woman’s past? The question lingered in his mind unanswered. The truth was there, waiting for him to figure it out. But he wasn’t quite sure he was ready to hear the answer.
Rocco’s voice broke through his thoughts. “On the outside, Winter is strong willed, a go-getter if I’ve ever seen one. She’s fierce in the way she loves those close to her heart, and with what seems like little effort, she can change your entire perspective on how you see things. When I first introduced her to my fiancée, Vanessa hugged Winter harder than I’d ever seen her hug anyone...mainly because she knows I wouldn’t be the man I am today and wouldn’t have met her in London if it weren’t for Winter taking pity on a lost soul.”
The words he’d voiced to Winter in his studio came rushing back to him. He’d known Rocco for only a few hours, but if Rocco was being honest, Taheim could be, too. “I’m pretty sure Winter hated me when we first met. But in working together and trying to at least build some type of semblance of a friendship, I told her that I needed to be inspired. Sometime over the past six months, I’ve felt like I lost my creative spark, and I need to get it back before the Chicago fashion show that we’re planning. Everything with us has sort of been a competition and a lot is riding on this masquerade fashion show being a success since it’s my brother’s grand opening for his new lounge, Inferno.”
“If you think Winter’s only helping you out because she wants the fashion show to be a success, then you’re wrong. Of course she wants the show to be great and your designs to collaborate nicely together. But Winter doesn’t just get invested in projects. She gets invested in people.”
The ladies returned to the table just as Rocco finished his statement.
“What did we miss?” Winter asked as she took a seat and immediately took a sip of her red wine. Damn, she’s beautiful. Tonight she wore a black dress that hugged her curves as well as the mint-green dress she’d worn the day before. Her lips today were burgundy, and as always, every movement of her mouth got his undivided attention.
“Do you mind, Taheim?”
That was another thing he liked about her. She genuinely cared about people. He could tell that through meeting her friends Nick, Brian and Rocco, but also, he could tell by how she interacted with the models during practices. Always asking them if they were okay or making sure they didn’t just walk the runway, but rather that they understood the vision behind the fashion show. She wasn’t just beautiful on the outside. She was beautiful on the inside.
He felt an elbow nudge his arm and turned to find Rocco and Vanessa staring at him with knowing looks in their eyes.
“I’m sorry, what did you say?” he asked, realizing that he didn’t know what she was asking him.
She smiled in a way that hit him right in his groin. “I asked if you wanted to stay for the burlesque performance. Vanessa and I heard it was a great show.”
“Oh yeah, sure. That sounds good.”
Now all he had to do was sit through the performance and think of anything other than the woman sitting next to him, dominating most of his thoughts.
Chapter 11
Winter glanced at Vanessa and returned her smile. Just as Vanessa had predicted, Taheim couldn’t keep his eyes off her. She wanted to pretend as if she weren’t enjoying the attention, but there was no use pretending around people who knew her as well as Rocco and Vanessa knew her.
When they had excused themselves to go to the bathroom, Vanessa had wasted no time telling her that she couldn’t stop watching the way Taheim was staring at her.
She’d brushed off Vanessa’s words, telling her that they were nothing more than friends who happened to be planning a fashion show together. But even as she’d said the words, she’d known they weren’t true. There was something brewing between them. Something that she wasn’t sure she could ignore anymore.
Now the burlesque performance was about to start and all she could do was hope that the show kept her interest more than the man sitting beside her.
The lights dimmed and a spotlight turned toward the red curtain. There wasn’t really a bad viewing spot in the restaurant, but they were sitting at the front tables to the left of the stage with an unobstructed view.
“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Madame CeCe’s Burlesque Fairy Angels, where all your fantasies come true.”
Winter glanced down at her arm at the sudden goose bumps that appeared. That’s strange. Usually she got them only when she was nervous or uncomfortable about something.
She ignored the goose bumps as the spotlight dimmed and the curtain opened to a man sitting in a chair with a woman on his lap wearing a red corset and ruffled black bottoms. She stood and started dancing seductively in front of him as she talked into the microphone.
“In a land of beauty and enchantment, a clan of pixies reside. But unlike what you’ve heard in fairy tales, our world is much harder to describe.”
The burlesque dancer moved slowly across the stage, her voice reminding Winter of a character in a Disney movie. “We don’t fly or cast spells like you mortals believe and we don’t use our magic for good. For all those stories and tales you’ve heard in the books are just fairies who were misunderstood.”
The man rose from the chair and went to stand behind her, almost as if he was just there for decoration.
“Have no fear, because tonight we welcome you to our world, so sit back and watch how our secrets unfold... After all, fairies are some of the most delicate of creatures...” She took out her whip and lashed it across the stage. “Or so the story is told.”
The lights got brighter and the curtain opened even wider as the man and woman left the stage and more women walked on. She was just starting to get into the show when her goose bumps came back. Hmm...that’s interesting.
“Is everything okay?” Taheim asked as he placed his hand over the arm she was staring at.
“I’m fine. I just keep getting goose bumps.”
“Here, take this.” He took off his black blazer and handed it to her. She thought about telling him that she wasn’t cold, but it was such a sweet gesture that she curled up into his jacket instead.
“Thanks.”
The voices on the stage got their attention.
“Wow, that’s some outfit,” Vanessa said as the woman who had opened the show returned with a large red feather piece on her head that matched the long feathered skirt she wore with a high slit on the side. It was definitely a showstopper, but what intrigued Winter even more was the way the woman moved across the stage.
The way she swung her hips into a circular shimmy and then cross-stepped into a powerful stance was clever, appealing to the eye and very...familiar.
Her heart rate increased while she watched the dancer as flashes of the first time she’d seen this dance crossed her mind. There had been a time when all she’d wanted in the world was to gain the approval of the only person who had ever made her feel as if she were nothing more than a dream-crushing mistake.
Without really thinking about what she was doing, she stood up as the dancer got closer to the side of the stage where their table was located.
She was sure that bright lights restrained the dancer from really getting a good look at the audience, but Winter had seen all she needed to see.
“Why are you standing, sugarplum?” the woman asked flirtatiously.
“You tell me,” Winter said sternly. “Maybe it’s from the shock of seeing the same dance moves performed onstage that all but took my childhood.”
Surprise crossed the woman’s face before it was quickly masked. “Winter?”
Winter sighed before running her tongue across her teeth in frustration. “Hello, Mom.”
* * *
“What are you doing here?” her mother asked, interrupting the show.
“You’re the one prancing around onstage and you have the nerve to ask me what I’m doing here?”
As their voices rose a notch or two, the person controlling the lights dimmed them on the side of the stage where Winter and her mother stood.
“We can’t do this out here.” She looked around the room. “Intermission is about to start. It’s fifteen minutes long. Come around back so we can talk in private.”
Winter watched her mom leave the stage and tried to comprehend everything that had just happened. When she sat back down, she heard Taheim’s voice. “Do you want to go back there and talk to her?”
She looked at him before glancing at Rocco and Vanessa, who also had looks of concern on their faces. Not exactly how she wanted to end an otherwise great dinner.
“Not really, but I have a few questions that I need answered.” Her mother might appear approachable in public, but in private it was a different story.
“How long has it been since you’ve seen her?” Vanessa asked.
Winter sighed as she looked onstage at the other dancers. “Over three years.” Over three years and I run into her in Vegas? The irritation running through her veins was enough to make her want to punch something.
Taheim stood and grabbed her hand. “Come on. I’ll go with you.”
She looked at his hand hesitantly at first. Let him go with you, a voice inside her head encouraged. She then stood and followed him to the entrance leading backstage.
“I’ll be by your side the entire time unless you want me to leave,” he said, offering her comfort, although she doubted he knew to what extent she needed his comfort.
“Thanks,” she said softly as the guard—who’d clearly been expecting them—moved aside to let them pass and pointed to another set of swinging doors. When they opened the door to the large dressing room, her mother Sonia was already waiting for them.
Enticing Winter Page 10
