Lately, it’s like I’m beyond caring.
“You’ll tell me if it doesn’t look good?” Amy whispers, her eyes scanning the blue dress. The vulnerability in her gaze hits me like a wave, and I find myself wanting to protect her, to make her feel safe.
“I’ll be honest,” I tell her, my voice softening. “But I’m biased. I like the way you look in pretty much everything.” I wish I could tell her that I’m dying to see her without anything on, but now isn’t the time. Not with the film crew hovering around us.
I’ll save that for when we’re alone.
Amy disappears into the fitting room, and I wander over to the couch just outside. Victory pumps through my veins. I never thought I’d be here, waiting for my little Amelia to try on a dress for me.
This was the right move. I’m getting everything I wanted from her in high school. The intimacy I always craved.
When she emerges from the fitting room, she’s wearing the blue dress, and it looks just as good as I thought it would. It hits her curves in all the right places, and the blue makes her eyes look like they have a lightbulb behind them.
“Wow,” I mutter. “You look incredible.”
That hesitance creeps into her face once again, so I launch from my seat and walk over to her. I reach out and gently run my fingers down her cheek. “But don’t take my word for it. Get whatever you like. Go crazy. Buy the whole store if you want.”
She shoots me an assessing look before her eyes flash with something mischievous. Does she think I don’t mean it? That I’ll balk if she picks out too many outfits?
Bring it on, Amelia. Let me show you just what it will be like if you let me have you. I’ll buy you the whole damn world. I’ll shower you with kisses. Let me show you what it means to be mine and only mine.
This is only the beginning.
Amy
Fuck, he’s getting into my head again, and I don’t like it.
He’s never had a date like this with any of the past contestants. The amount of money this date must cost his parents is a red flag.
He’s manipulating me, making me feel special.
But why does he have to seem so damn sincere? His gentle voice combined with the adoring looks he’s giving me is making my stomach flutter against my will.
I need to use this to my advantage. When I decided on a makeover, I kept clothes out of the equation. I can’t spend my money so frivolously, no matter how determined I am to take Tristan down.
He said I can buy the whole store, and by God, I’m going to do it. I’m going to spend a fortune.
I know his parents are wealthy, but he probably doesn’t expect me to spend more than a few hundred.
I’ll spend at least five K if it’s the last thing I do. That’s the amount of the betting pool according to Nick. Since Tristan is going to win the bet no matter what—determined as I am to sleep with him and then ditch him—I’ll make sure I clean his family out of that money beforehand and then some.
“Alright, let’s do this,” I say, and Tristan smiles. He has no idea what he’s in for.
I grab an outfit from every single rack, pausing only to find my size. A few minutes later, the heavy load of cloth drags on the floor as I make my way to the dressing room. One of the camera guys has huge eyes, and he’s staring at Tristan, probably waiting for him to tell me he was exaggerating when he said I could buy the whole store.
“Wait,” Tristan says, and a slow smile spreads over my face. He’s about to tell me that he didn’t mean it literally, that I can’t actually take all of this home.
He walks over to me and removes the clothes from each of my hands. “It’ll take you forever to try all of that on, and I have something planned.” He looks around the store until he spots the store attendant. “Would you mind ringing all these up?” he calls out.
My skin heats. “What are you doing?”
He turns to me, smiling. “If there’s anything you don’t like when you try it all on, you can exchange or return and get a refund.”
My mouth drops open. “This place is expensive. That was probably thousands of dollars’ worth of stuff.”
He shrugs. “Like I said, no budget. Now how about we do this.” An almost boyish grin spreads over his face. “How about you let me choose one thing for you to try on for me.”
I lower my eyes to the tile floor. “Um…okay.”
