Maybe other people would've been excited to ride in a limo with a celebrity, but this whole ordeal just exhausted me. I didn't want to be treated like I was special for a day—or seven. I only wanted to be left alone, to live my life with my head down. This guy Fabian was the opposite. He strutted around with his chest puffed out in his head held high like a haughty peacock. Meanwhile, I was one of those dingy brown little birds that melted into the background.
"Yeah, sure," I said nonchalantly.
Before we entered the elevator, Alice and Donna caught me and wished me good luck. I forced a smile and thanked them. As much as I hated this, they were trying to do a nice thing for me in their own way.
"By, Stan!" Alice called, waving as the elevator doors closed. "Have fun!"
I won't, I thought.
The elevator began to move. I was alone with Fabian. I went out of my way to stand far away from him. Even the smell of his peach-flavored lip gloss alone was too much to handle.
"So," Fabian began, turning to me with a smile, "excited for the week?"
I looked directly at him. "To be honest? No, I'm not."
Fabian raised his eyebrows. They were half natural and half drawn on. "Oh? Why is that?"
I shrugged. "My coworkers roped me into this. I didn't actually enter the contest. They did it for me behind my back."
"That's a kind thing to do."
I wrinkled my nose. "Not if you know me, it's not."
Fabian regarded me closely. "For many people, this would be a dream come true."
"Well, for me it's a nightmare," I said before looking away and staring at the wall.
From the corner of my eye, I saw him raise an eyebrow. I guessed I wasn't the kind of client he was expecting. Maybe he'd get sick of me and ask for the runner-up instead.
"A nightmare, you say?" Fabian tilted his head to regard me. "That's a bit of an exaggeration, no? You act like you're about to be thrown into a vat of boiling oil and deep-fried."
"I'm definitely being thrown into something flaming, all right."
Was that a little ruder than necessary? Sure. But I was still hoping to worm my way out of this disaster by making Fabian drop me like a hot potato. Unfortunately, the evil plan didn't seem to be working. Instead of being offended, Fabian actually threw his head back and laughed.
"What's so funny?" I asked, frowning.
He smirked. "You're a sassy one, Stan. It's not what I expected at all."
I blinked at him before ripping my gaze back to the elevator doors. Something about the way he said my name felt odd. My name was boring and normal, but he made it sound star-studded.
"What did you expect?" I asked without meeting his gaze. Looking at him for too long was difficult, like staring into a human manifestation of the sun.
"Excitement, joy, maybe a little squealing of happiness…"
I snorted. "Do people really do that?"
"Of course." Fabian chuckled. "Not everybody has an attitude problem like you."
I huffed, facing him. "I do not have an attitude problem. I'm just a regular guy who got sucked into this whole ridiculous affair. If it were up to me, I'd be back in my office working at my day job. Hell, I'd even give up the week off."
Once again, I expected to upset Fabian or make him angry, but he just looked at me with a slowly widening grin that revealed his unnaturally pearly white teeth.
What was his problem? I was getting seriously annoyed that he wasn't affected by my goading. Most of the time, I was a pretty calm guy. Nobody ever riled me up this much. But Fabian awakened something in me, an intense surge of feelings I didn't understand.
To my surprise, Fabian leaned in towards me, destroying that space I'd put between us. He was taller than me—typical alpha—so I was forced to look up at him as he encroached upon me. My cheeks went hot with surprise and anger. What was he doing, getting so close to me?
"You always have a choice, Stan," Fabian said softly, as if he only wanted me to hear despite nobody else being around. "You can absolutely choose to give up this experience. I'm not about to slap handcuffs on you and kidnap you to my studio."
