Page 117 of Say It Isn't So

“Of course you would because not doing so would be an insult to her and you wouldn’t do that. Besides, she was Regina Morelli.”

At that last part I laughed. “You can’t just keep saying our names like we’re special.”

He laughed with me. “You are special. The whole lot of you. Don’t you understand? That’s why your father was so hell-bent on protecting you all those years ago, and even now. He knows you’re special and doesn’t want people taking advantage of you.”

“But that’s exactly what I’d be doing to make a name for myself if I used my connections—I’d be taking advantage of people.”

He shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “Big deal. Do you know how many people your mother helped? Rina was just one of many I bet.”

I’d never thought of it that way.Why had I never thought of it that way?Everyone got help at some point, right? And if I needed help, then I didn’t need to suffer or fail at this on my own. It wasn’t taking advantage, really, it was just getting help. “You know what, you’re right. If I need the help, I can ask for it, but I think I can do this.”

“I know you can do this. These designs are those of a designer. You, Bianca, are a designer.”

I licked my lips and looked down for a moment before picking my gaze back up and staring at him as I nodded. “You know, you’re brilliant, Knox Rhodes.”

He pretended to act bashful and waved me off, but I meant it. He was brilliant. I couldn’t believe how perfect all of this was. This was exactly the right time. It wasmytime. I couldn’t waste another second of it. This was what I’d always wanted to do and it’d be hard work, but it’d be all my own and I would love every second of it. So that was it. I was doing it; I was going to be a wedding dress designer.

Suddenly the words from the headline of my dreams popped back in my head.Bianca Morelli Breaks into the Fashion World, What’s Next for this Young Lady?Except this time I could see it coming to fruition.

Maybe it wasn’t ideal because Mom wasn’t here to see it, but I had no doubt that she was watching and would continue to watch it all from above. I had a feeling that, if she could, she’d even help me make this thing work.

Angelo didn’t know it yet, but he’d done me the biggest favor ever by freeing me from my role at the magazine. Because it put all of this into motion and allowed me to finally free myself from the shackles I’d put on myself that kept me from moving forward.

I needed to remember that I wasn’t one thing. I didn’t need to box myself in. I once was an advertising executive, sure, but I was a designer, too. I was Bianca Morelli, and I was about to strut into a new phase of my life.

The wedding industry better watch out, because I was coming fast and furious.

Chapter Thirty-Six

Knox

It was justBianca and me. We were in an empty storefront.

All I could see for miles were racks. Empty racks. Racks upon racks.

I wasn’t sure what they were for until Bianca walked out in a big, white dress and spun around.

I tried to touch her, but she was always just beyond my reach. I chased after her, but she kept flitting from rack to rack.

“You can do it,” I kept saying. “You can do it.”

But suddenly, I was alone. There was no Bianca. Now, it was just me and my voice that was starting to echo in my head.

Running, I was running, so fast and so hard. Until I finally came to a stop. Bianca was back and we were now in my bedroom, but it wasn’t my bedroom. The walls were gray, the furniture unfamiliar.

But she was on the bed, her knees pressing into the mattress as she stared at me in nothing more than a white bra and the laciest white underwear I’d ever seen.

“Come here,” she said, her voice breathy, and as if I was controlled by her, I moved forward and dug my hands into her hair.

Our lips pressed against one another’s and I couldn’t seem to stop our kiss. I needed her like I needed oxygen in my lungs.

But Bianca had something else on her mind, as she always did, and she pulled back, dropping her head behind her and running one pink-painted fingernail down her neck between her ample breasts. She didn’t speak, but she didn’t need to.

I had all the encouragement I needed to wrap my hands around her and spin her so her back was to me. Trailing my tongue down her neck, I started kissing her, inhaling her sweet scent, my hands already busy at work. One on her hip, steadying her, the other snaking around her torso to find a breast, to feel her through the delicate fabric.

I knew I needed to explore her, but even in this alternate reality, I knew I needed to go slow, to savor every inch of her.

As if she, too, felt impassioned, she let out a moan and threw her head back, her back arching as her nipple hardened under my touch, pressing into my palm under the barrier that I wanted to rip away with my teeth.

---