Page 32 of Her Beastly Billionaire Rock Star
Emilia rolled her eyes. “They do this every time.”
The doorbell rang, and Malakai stood. “I guess that’s your wardrobe arriving.” He pointed at Emilia. “And you need to hide.”
Nodding, Charlotte took a deep breath. Just as she’d retrieved her laptop, Octavia had called to inform her that dresses would be arriving. She’d sent Charlotte a selection to pick through. All of the dresses would work for the event, but she wanted photos of each to make sure it was the right dress for Charlotte to wear. Octavia didn’t trust her sense of fashion since it mostly consisted of jeans and t-shirts or blouses and knee-length skirts.
The timing was interesting too. Just the day before, Charlotte had mused aloud that she had nothing to wear. She’d decided to find the nicest dress she owned, a little blue lacy dress she realized she’d loved too much when she noticed how faded it was. Octavia always seemed to call at just the right moment. Then again, Octavia did have a knack for knowing when something was needed.
Before Malakai pulled the door open, Emilia darted out of the living room. Once she was out of sight, he opened the door and a woman with a rack of dresses and two men followed behind her. The woman was roughly six inches shorter than Malakai and slid her sunglasses down just enough that she could rake her eyes over him. Jealousy so dark green hit Charlotte, and she was sure she was actually turning the color.
The emotion was silly. She didn’t have any claim on him, and that woman was more the type to be on the arm of a famous rock star. Certainly, more fit than Charlotte could ever be. The woman stood ramrod straight, her makeup was flawless, and, unlike Charlotte, this woman enjoyed seeing her face on magazines.
“Hi, I’m Tiffany Flores. Octavia Ellington said someone was needing my help.” She turned her gaze to Charlotte and lifted an eyebrow. With a lift of her chin, she pulled her sunglasses from her face. “Two hours? I guess I can try my best.”
“It’s an hour and fifty-five minutes longer than you need to make her beautiful.” Malakai caught Charlotte’s gaze and winked.
Charlotte’s cheeks burned to the point where they hurt, and she covered them with her hands. “He’s just kidding.” She tipped her head toward the stairs. “My room is upstairs.”
Tiffany stepped inside and turned to the men behind her. “Can you two manage the dress rack?”
Rolling his eyes, Malakai took it and walked up the stairs. Charlotte hurried after him with Tiffany and her henchmen following. When they reached the top of the stairs, Malakai set the rack down and picked Charlotte up by the waist. “You could wear exactly what you have on and be the most beautiful woman in attendance. I’m looking forward to going out with you tonight.”
For a second, Charlotte’s heart pounded so hard against her ribs that it made her dizzy. Then reality hit, and her heart sank to her toes. He was only acting like that because they were in front of strangers. They’d been out in public once already, and according to Octavia, the public was already eating up that Malakai had beentamed. He didn’t mean a word he said, which Charlotte understood, even if it did hurt. It was part of the gig, and to think otherwise was silly.
She circled her arms around his neck and touched her lips to his cheek. “You’re very sweet.”
“And being completely honest.” He set her feet on the floor. “I’ll see you in a bit.” He winked.
“Okay,” she replied, trying to push away all the butterflies dancing in her stomach. The last time she’d felt so giddy was when she’d crushed on Travis Bing in middle school. He’d been friends with Sophia Parker and Hillary Shaw. They’d both gone on to be pretty famous, and last Charlotte had heard, Travis was going to be on the nextCelebrity Bachelorette.
She tried not to look back at Malakai as she took Tiffany and company to her room, but just as she reached her door, she did, and he was still standing in the same spot, watching her. It had to be a show; she just knew it. Still, it gave her goosebumps.
Just as she closed the door, Tiffany turned to her and gave her another head-to-toe scan. “Do you need to do anything before we get started?”
“I don’t think so. I took a shower this morning.”
“Good.” Tiffany began flipping through the rack of clothing. “Guys, go ahead and start on her hair and makeup while I try to put something together. We want a fresh-faced look…soft curls and light with the foundation. Play up her eyes.”
Once the orders were given, Charlotte was no longer part of the conversation, which was fine by her. She needed to figure out how she was going to handle walking the red carpet. Hopefully, there wouldn’t be six-inch heels in the equation. She mostly stuck with kitten heels. It wasn’t like she could hide the fact that she was short. Plus, the others made her feet hurt.
Maybe luck would shine on her, and she’d give a flawless performance—or at least good enough that Octavia would be pleased. Charlotte also knew she’d need to keep herself grounded. She could envision getting wrapped up in Malakai and forgetting why she was in the picture.
She could call him a friend, but that was as far as she could let herself go. Her heart was already bracing for the impact of leaving. That thought alone was hard enough to swallow. If she allowed herself to fall even further, she wasn’t sure she’d ever recover.
Chapter 14
Bracing his hand against the doorframe of his bedroom, Malakai palmed his forehead. Of all the nights to change his look, it shouldn’t have been this one, because now all he could do was question himself. Hopefully, Charlotte would like the change. More than anything, he wanted her approval.
After a few more deep breaths, he pulled the door open and strode to her door, knocking on it. He was five minutes early, but he needed her reaction before he could relax—and that was a big if. Even if she did like the changes, he still had a gauntlet of press to fight through. He could only imagine the questions he’d be pelted with, especially showing up in a black tux that covered all the tattoos lining his arms. In the past, he’d flaunted them by wearing dress shirts with the sleeves torn off.
The door opened, and Tiffany answered, her mouth dropping open. “What on earth did you do?”
“I—”
Charlotte came into view, and her hands flew to her mouth. Was that a good sign? Bad? He shouldn’t have—
“Oh, Malakai,” she said and pushed past Tiffany. “You look…you look great.”
He rubbed the back of his neck, feeling the absence of hair that had been there for over a decade. “You think so? I cut it myself, and I feel a little naked.”
