Page 60 of Plus Size Player

“You’re right,” he agreed.

The music got louder, and the crowd became thicker as we got closer to the main event. His hand rested on the small of my back as we navigated the density of people. I shook my shoulders to the beat as we moved.

Russ slid his left hand to my hip and drew me into him. “I need to head that way.” He pointed with his other hand toward the right side of the room. With a squeeze, he put his lips to the shell of my ear. “See you soon.”

I giggled, playfully pushing him away. “Text me when you’re done.”

“Give me an hour, tops,” he said before turning and disappearing through the crowd.

Pushing my feelings to the back burner, I switched gears. I’d barely taken a step toward the DJ booth when I saw a vaguely familiar face.

“Every time I see you, you have a good-looking young man on your arm,” the older lady I’d seen on the dance floor remarked, wiggling her eyebrows. “Your boyfriend might get jealous of that one.”

Oh shit!

I forced a laugh in response as I continued on my path.

Linking back up with Russ while at the ball was not going to happen. I’d spent almost two hours, half of that on the dance floor, with Dru and so many people saw us together. The narrative about me would shift quickly and harshly if I walked out hand in hand with Russ. Technically, I could do whatever I wanted to do. But because I wanted to see where the RLF partnership could take me, I knew I shouldn’t do it.

I’ll meet up with Russ at his hotel later,I decided silently.

“And this is Nina,” Lori stated as I approached.

Four beautiful people of varying shades, sizes, and heights turned around to look at me.

“Nina,” Lori continued. “This is Taisha”—she pointed to the dark-skinned, slim-thick woman closest to her—“Jacqueline”—she pointed to the tall, slim, pale-skinned woman with blond hair.

Both women flashed bright smiles and lifted their hands in a wave. “Hi!”

“Hi,” I said back.

Lori turned and gestured to the six-foot-two-inch, brown-skinned, muscular Colombian man with the shaved head who had stuck his hand out toward me. “That is Matias.”

“How are you?” he asked, shaking my hand.

“Good, thank you. You?” I replied to the good-looking man.

“And this is Jonah,” Lori continued, patting the shoulder of the six-four, thickly built man with the close-cut Caesar fade.

“What’s up, Nina?” Jonah greeted me with a smile, showing off his dimples.

“What’s up?” I responded to the sexy man, who was most certainly checking me out.

“It’s so good to meet all of you,” I added.

“Nina is the newest addition to the RL Fashions brand ambassador team. Most of you came on at the beginning of the summer so you know the ropes. Remedy herself saw Nina and knew she would be a perfect addition to the team.”

They gave me a warm welcome and she facilitated small talk for a few minutes. I got good energy from each of them.

“The five of you will represent RL Fashions as we burst onto thescene with our first full line,” Lori told us over the music. “The coming weeks will be busy. You’ll have appearances in addition to your other duties. But one of the things that came up tonight with some of the people from the executive team is the idea of a group shoot, with all five of you being showcased. So as a team-building activity, your first assignment is to come up with a photo idea and demonstrate it on film. You have fittings on Monday. On Friday, I’ll meet with you and give you the schedule. At that meeting, if we like what you’ve come up with in the photo, we’ll share that with marketing. Once all that is over, if there’s time, you’ll meet the board.”

It was a lot of information and I felt overwhelmed.

“All of this will be in an email that if you haven’t already gotten, you’ll get tomorrow,” Lori concluded. “But I just wanted to let you all know what some of the executive team had decided about the group picture so you can all exchange contact information and plan accordingly. There’s still plenty of time left in the party, so get to know each other, mingle, have a good time. I’ll see you on Monday!”

Lori damn near danced away as the beat to the next song dropped.

“I didn’t know coming to this thing was going to result in homework,” Jacqueline complained. “I can’t enjoy myself knowing we have work to do.”

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