Page 68 of All the Drama from New York

My show won’t be a disaster.

She turned to Ryan who was working on his laptop at his makeshift kitchen counter desk. “He is going to get in touch with one of his best printers and ask them to do a special order for him. Fingers crossed we could have the silk for the cocktail dress in a couple of weeks.”

Ryan glanced up and gave her one of his warm, panty dropping smiles. But as Camille moved toward him, he held up his hand. “I’m going to have to put you on sex rations for the next couple of weeks Ms. Royal. And don’t pout—it’s not a good look.”

Camille laughed. “I wasn’t pouting. I was thinking.” She ignored the less than convinced look Ryan offered her in reply.

The sex between them was off the charts good. She’d become near insatiable around him. Ryan was her very own prince charming.

Prince Charming. That’s what’s missing.

“We need something for Prince Charming to wear. I could make a special one off man’s jacket for the show, and the lining could coordinate with the Cinderella cocktail dress. His would have an actual cab motif and a vector of Cinderella in the cocktail dress.”

Buttoned up, it would look like a well cut dinner jacket, but the second the prince opened it, the fantasy in the city themed lining would appear.

If I can pull it off, it would be an absolute show stopper of a final piece.

As soon as she could get the concept sketched, she’d call Karl and beg him to add it to the specially rushed order.

If they were going to go with the theme of the prince being a New York cab driver, then it would make sense for him to not look like the typical runway model. What she needed was an ordinary guy.

Camille’s gaze lingered on Ryan, tracing over his torso. She had come to know that body all too well. “Would it be alright if I used you as the makers model? I can’t go changing the settings on the dressmakers dummy we brought with us as it’s already got pieces pinned to it. But if I could use your body...”

“I thought you were already using my body,” he replied, giving her a saucy grin.

Her excitement quickly gathered momentum. “You could play Prince Charming on the runway. We could choreograph your steps.”

The smile on Ryan’s face disappeared. “No. I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’d look like an idiot in a fancy jacket—and I’d probably trip over my own feet. You should get a proper male model instead.”

Camille wasn’t about to cave that easily. She knew what she wanted. “You’re missing the point, Ryan. A model wouldn’twork. I need a guy who looks like he might have just stepped out of a yellow cab, but who could also be a secret prince. If anyone knows the storyline of a guy being plucked out of nowhere and becoming a star, it’s you.”

The more she thought about it, the more sense having Ryan feature as Prince Charming made.

In her rapidly forming storyline, the prince would offer the glass slipper, a sly code for a fairy tale wedding, to each of the Cinderellas. One by one they would refuse. They were modern women who would rather wear Camille Royal’s clothes and have their own careers than marry a prince and go off to live in a drafty castle.

“Just think back to when you were on the show, and you had to pretend to fall in love with that girl. And like you said, you had to act all heartbroken at the end. Playing the role of a confused and rejected Prince Charming won’t be too much of a stretch.”

Ryan silently closed his laptop and slowly rose from the kitchen bench. The look on his face was heartbreaking and Camille sensed she’d somehow crossed an invisible line. She’d pushed him too far.

“Is that what I am to you? Confused. Rejected. Nothing more than a guy who drives a cab? Or rather a guy who makes coffees. Excuse me for not being born into a super-rich family.”

The bitterness in his voice was like a slap to her face. “No. I didn’t mean it that way,” she began to protest. But his anger had now lit her own. “Don’t put your failures in life back on me Ryan. I’m not the one who has hit thirty and still not got his life sorted. You can take you pity party and shove it.”

With a face like thunder, Ryan stormed past her, and straight out the front door. He slammed it so hard it rattled on its hinges.

Her victory of only a few minutes ago was now forgotten as a flood of tears filled Camille’s eyes. “Stupid. Stupid girl.” She’dbuilt him up, only to tear him down. Little wonder he’d lashed out.

CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

An hour later

For a brief moment Ryan had been tempted to do as Camille asked, to play the role of Prince Charming, but as memories of the TV show came flooding back, he knew he couldn’t do it.

And just as he’d been about to explain to her why he couldn’t put himself in such a position of vulnerability again, he’d gone and lost his temper. Said something hurtful, and Camille had struck back.

They’d had their first fight, and it had been a doozy. It was now close to an hour after he’d stormed out the front door. Pacing back and forth across the yard, Ryan was slowly calming down.

He knew he should go back inside and apologize. But the pain. The shame of failure sat heavy on his heart.

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