Total pages in book: 89
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84401 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 422(@200wpm)___ 338(@250wpm)___ 281(@300wpm)
Choosing not to risk another embarrassing incident, I turned on the espresso maker, which came to life with a satisfying hiss. As I waited for it to heat up, I perched on a barstool and spread the newspapers out in front of me, and immediately wished I hadn’t. Xavier having left the party with another woman who had been in the last season of The Bachelor was worth only a side note. His new assistant, aka me, filled up the rest of the article.
As I started reading and scanned the photos, I could feel the color draining from my face. The first photo was the deer-in-the-headlights look as Xavier had called it, but that wasn’t even the worst. Somehow they had chosen the perfect angle to show the two half-moon-shaped sweat stains on my too tight beige dress right under my butt cheeks. I must have sweated while reading the stupid non-disclosure clause. The subtitle logged a lump in my throat. “Never heard of antiperspirant? You need it for your butt.”
The next photo was a close-up of me on the beach in my shorts with a nasty comment about my missing thigh gap. The last few photos finally showed me at the party. The dark blazer and pants with the white blouse made me look like a penguin in the photos as I skulked a few steps behind Xavier. Even worse than the photos, which seemed hardly possible, was the accompanying article. It speculated that Xavier had chosen me because his advisors had forced him to pick an off-putting assistant for once. They called me fat, mousy and boyish. I had been submitted to my fair share of mockery in high school and convinced myself that comments about my appearance couldn’t hurt me anymore, but this article got to me. Despite my best efforts, tears burnt in my eyes. I couldn’t believe the press chose to attack me, but I should have expected it. Xavier was a constant guest in the tabloids and I was a new piece of gossip. Even if I didn’t want their attention, they wouldn’t allow me to stay in the shadows. It was what Xavier had warned me about I could only decide on what kind of scandal they focused.
“What kind of bullshit did they come up with today?” Xavier drawled from behind me.
I jerked on my stool, not having heard him approach. Before I could cover the embarrassing article, Xavier stepped up beside me, once again in those infuriating Calvin Kleins, and started reading. I slid off the stool and busied myself with the espresso unit, hoping my face didn’t give away how much this got to me. It was ridiculous.
“Usually they attack me,” Xavier said quietly.
The strange note to his voice made me turn to him. His eyes scanned my face, lingering on my own eyes, which still felt a bit prickly. “I guess I should ask for a bonus. After all, I’ll be your shield from the nastiness of the press now.” My voice came out surprisingly flippant, for which I was glad.
“You aren’t supposed to be,” Xavier muttered.
I gave a small shrug as I prepared the milk foam, then poured it on the espresso. It wasn’t as fluffy as Xavier’s foam had been, but for my first attempt it wasn’t too bad. I handed him the cup. He leaned back against the kitchen island and regarded me as he sipped his coffee. “You should ignore them. If you show them that what they say bothers you, they will attack even worse. They want to get a rise out of you, or me.”
“It doesn’t bother me,” I said. Both Xavier and I knew it was a lie. My voice betrayed me, and my eyes did too.
Xavier’s mouth pulled into a daring grin. “We could prove them wrong, you know?” He raised his eyebrows in a suggestive way. “Have a nice public make-out session. Give them a little show.”
I laughed. “Yeah, right. Not going to happen.”
Xavier chuckled. I doubted he had any kind of interest in me. He’d tried to lift my spirits, which was surprisingly nice, and yet felt like a letdown. It wasn’t that I wanted to sleep with Xavier, but it would have been nice if he showed at least the slightest interest in me. I had seen how he undressed pretty much every woman at the party with his eyes. That he didn’t look at me that way was a worse blow than the stupid articles, even though it shouldn’t be.
“So what’s on today?” Xavier asked eventually.
“Training, and a meeting with a local sports label that wants you as their poster boy, literally. Apparently they want to create an exclusive Xavier line of sports fashion. They need to take your measurements, and have you choose the designs and fabric for the clothes.”