Page 160 of Plus Size Player

His girl.

I didn’t know why those words spread warmth throughout my body, but they did. He’d asked me to be with him. He’d called me various terms of endearment. But it hit differently in that moment. I fell back against my pillow and grinned.

“All I kept thinking about was how bad it would be for us if they saw you coming into my room,” I told him. “I was nervous as hell.”

“I’ll admit, when the elevator opened on your floor, it hit me how risky this whole thing was.”

I chewed my bottom lip for a moment. “Yeah. Everything we talked about when we first found out about this… conflict of interest came flooding back.”

“Yeah. Our careers are on the line.”

“I don’t want to be an HR embarrassment and a PR nightmare for you,” I whispered.

“You aren’t an embarrassment or a nightmare. You’re… everything to me.”

My stomach fluttered as I let his words cover me. “I feel the same way,” I admitted. “I just don’t want to look like I fuck for work.”

“We were fucking way before you were offered work.”

“True. But that would be the perception. And my reputation would take a hit. Both of our reputations would take a hit.”

“So, we just lay low this weekend. Play it cool until we get through Fashion Week. We’ll get the paperwork on Tuesday and then…”

“We’ll be free?”

“We’ll be free.”

We were both quiet.

I exhaled. “I wish we were having this conversation in person.”

“I wish we didn’t have to have this conversation at all,” he countered.

“Do you wish…” Inexplicably, nerves twisted my gut. “Do you wish we would’ve never started?”

“Absolutely not.”

“Do you wish Remedy would’ve never crossed my path?”

“Would it have made my life easier? Yes. But every time you tell me how much this opportunity means to you and your career, I want it for you even more. Watching you do your thing and seeing the photos of you in my campaign make me proud. So, I can’t say Iwish Remedy wouldn’t have offered the job to you. You deserve the job. You’re good at the job.”

“So are you. You’ve worked your ass off for your company. The fact that you started this as just T-shirts and it grew into this. You’ve built something really special and that has everything to do with the fact that you’re special. The way you do business and the way you run your business is special. I’m proud to wear your clothes, to represent your company…” There was more I wanted to say but my sentence trailed off as a wave of emotion gripped my throat.

“Nina…” He paused. “That means a lot. You mean a lot.”

“I’m not going to let our relationship cost you,” I promised him softly.

“And I’m not going to let it cost you.”

I let out a breath. “What are we going to do?”

“After the show, we’ll get back to Richland and my lawyer will have the forms ready for us to sign. I’ll take it to the board, and we’ll go from there. I’m not giving you up.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

24

The weekend was a blur. The number of models, stylists, fashion students, celebrities, designers, and buyers that I connected with was valuable networking. Between rehearsals, fittings, behind-the-scenes footage, it was a hectic weekend with little sleep. Because Gabby was doing my appearances at the stores, Lori and Angelica had me creating content with the models as they came for their fittings. I was styling pieces and then getting on-the-street feedback. But on Monday, there was no time for anything except runway preparation.

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