Chapter 1
ThiswasthedayClaire had been working toward for twenty-three years. Today she would prove her design worked and would save thousands, no, hundreds of thousands of lives. And she and her boss and Aqua-Line Swimwear would make millions on the patent.
Claire extracted the prototype from the safe in her office. She held out the turquoise and lime-green spandex bathing suit that she’d designed and sewn by hand herself. The slip of fabric wouldn’t cover one of her thighs.
Alisha, the fitting model, whose long, shapeless legs reminded Claire of a flamingo’s, crossed her arms over her breasts. “What’s that contraption?”
“A life preserver.” Claire shook out the one-piece suit with trembling hands. Rick had found flaws in all her previous prototypes and shot down every one of them. But he would not find even one tiny glitch in this design. It was perfect. “Just put it on as if it were any other swimsuit. Rick’s going to love it. It’ll be the best-selling maillot of next season.”
With eyebrows lifted in what Claire figured was skepticism, Alisha pulled the Spandex up over her flat hips, nonexistent tummy, and small breasts, then slid her arms under the shoulder straps. Lime-green ruffles draped her biceps. She leaned over, jiggling her breasts into the bra cups, smoothed the straps and stood tall. “It’s loose around the bust.”
“It’s not hooked, yet.” Claire fastened the strap in the back and looked out of the door adjacent to the reception area, searching for her boss. She called out to his assistant, “Eleanore, please tell Rick we’re ready.”
Alisha pulled the fabric. “Still loose around the bust.”
“It won’t be. Feel this button?” Claire guided Alisha’s thumb to the ON button that was sewn into the shoulder strap. “When Rick gets here and I say, ‘Go,’ press the button. Got it?”
“This puffy thing?”
“Right.”
Alisha nodded just as Rick entered Claire’s studio. Alisha gave him her dazzling smile, rested her hands on her hips, pushed out her pelvis, and turned on her five-inch heels, snapping her head around making her long black curls whip around her neck. She was a flirt but also a perfect fitting model. Claire gripped her hands like she was praying for her life.
Stroking his graying beard, Rick circled Alisha, examining the suit. He flicked a hand. “Baggy and boring.”
“It won’t be.” Claire pinched her thumb and forefinger. “Go!”
Alisha tilted her head.
“Go ahead. Press the button,” Claire urged.
A whooshing sounded as Alisha pressed the strap. Air pumped into the ruffles at the top of her arms, and they puffed out, like a child’s water wings. A rubber tube, inserted in the lime green strap circling her chest, inflated like a bicycle tire. Alisha’s breasts rose against the plunging neckline, giving her flat chest lovely cleavage. Smiling, Alisha twisted to the right and left before the full-length mirror as her bosom seemed to enhance itself.
Rick’s eyebrows popped up. “What the—”
“I’ve done it. This suit has a built-in life preserver,” Claire cried. But then she noticed Alisha’s bust continued to enhance.
That was enough inflation to give him the idea. “Okay, release the button,” commanded Claire.
Alisha let go of the button. The sound grew louder as her breasts began to bulge over the neckline.
Claire stepped closer. “Release the button.”
“I did!”
The tube continued inflating. Claire grabbed the strap and clamped her fingers on the button, pinching it hard.
Alisha pulled the Spandex straps. “Get this thing off me.”
The whooshing sound wound higher. The tube bulged beyond Alisha’s breasts, growing as large as a child’s swim ring circling Alisha’s chest. The turquoise Spandex stretched, the color fading as it expanded to accommodate the inflating ring. Claire had no idea the tube could stretch to such a size, but it would keep an adult afloat.
It was working!
But it wasn’t stopping!
“Help!” Alisha screeched and shoved at the tube, now the size of a motorcycle tire, struggling to push it down to her waist. The tube bulged. She couldn’t grip the slippery fabric covering it. “I can’t…breathe.”
“Get it off her,” Rick shouted.
