Adam sat down with her for almost thirty minutes, showing her various plans and explaining various aspects of the evening. It was fairly straight forward; about half way through the event all the models wearing showpieces would be brought on stage to show off the jewellery. Afterwards all she would have to do was walk around the event in. She wasn"t to speak to anyone, simply walk around so that everyone could see the piece. Surely even she could pull off that much."Do you think you can manage it?" Adam asked once he"d gone through all the details with her.
"Of course." Elle a.s.sured him. "It"s not really that difficult is it?"
"If you have any concerns you can message me directly."
"Is that all for today?" Elle asked as she watched Adam put the doc.u.ments away.
"There"s one more thing to take care of. Follow me."
Adam led her to one of the lower floors of MK"s ma.s.sive building. They entered what appeared to be a large workshop. There were fabrics strewn around the place, and delicate dresses hung on mannequins; beautiful, even in their unfinished state.
"This is Will, our head designer for MK"s fashion line. He makes all our custom pieces by hand." Adam introduced as they approached a man hunched over a design.
The man looked up as he heard Adam and Elle approach.
"h.e.l.lo boss. How can I help you?"
"This is Elle." Adam introduced. "She"ll be wearing the main piece at our jewelry launch."
The man"s face brightened. "Very suitable indeed. You certainly have an eye for these things Adam."
Elle was surprised to hear someone speak to Adam so informally. "He"s an old friend of mine." Adam explained. "We were cla.s.smates when we were younger."
"Yes, I latched on once I heard he was the heir to MK." Will elbowed Adam teasingly. Surprisingly, Adam didn"t seem to mind.
Elle smiled politely while secretly wondering how two so opposing personalities had managed to become such good friends.
"I"ll have one of the girls come do her fitting." Will said while reaching for his phone.
"No." Adam interrupted. "There isn"t much time left. You do it yourself."
Will appeared curious but didn"t say anything to refute. "Follow me then miss."
Will led them into a room in the back. It was a much smaller room but there were dozens of mirrors positioned at all sorts of angles which made the room appear larger than it really was. In the center of the room was a pedestal that Will had Elle stand on top of.
"Wait just a moment, I"ll go get the dress." He instructed.
He was gone for only a few seconds, and returned with a black garment bag in one hand and a pin cushion in the other.
"Put this on." He ordered Elle as he pa.s.sed her a bundle of blue fabric.
Adam and Will stepped out of the room for a moment while Elle quickly changed. "Come in." She called out as soon as she was finished.
The dress wasn"t a perfect fit, but even so Adam could immediately see that he had made the right decision.
The dress was an off-the-shoulder, light blue satin dress. The long skirt was pleated, but rather than regular pressed pleats, the fabric had been bunched to give the appearance that the skirt was flowing out from the waist. Underneath the skirt were layers upon layers of tulle that added fullness to the skirt.
Elle"s glossy black hair and dark eyes popped against the light fabric. She looked up to see him walk in, and Adam met her eyes. They were crystal clear, and there seemed to be no limit to the depth of them.
While Adam was secretly admiring her, Elle was secretly mortified. The dress was made to be worn by someone with a model"s figure, it was expected that she wouldn"t fit into it, but she hadn"t expected it to be this bad.
The dress was quite long; a large portion of the skirt was draped across the floor. They clearly expected someone much taller to be wearing it. The real problem, however, was that the bodice was much too tight. Elle had to suck in her stomach just to get it to slide over her, and even then she wasn"t able to zip up the low-back.
Will immediately set to work. First he put pins in at the bottom of the skirt, marking where the train of the dress should end. Then he began putting pins into the bodice, as he adjusted various parts of it. Elle couldn"t help but flinch each time she saw the pin draw near her.
"I"m a good tailor." Will said with a laugh. "I"ll only end up p.r.i.c.king you if you keep flinching."
"Sorry." Elle murmured.
She ended up shutting her eyes so that she could no longer see the pins. She hoped that would keep her from flinching, but even then she occasionally recoiled as she felt the cold metal brush against her.
Finally, after trying, and failing, to stand still for over twenty-minutes Will announced that he was finished.
As Elle opened her eyes she saw Adam staring at her with an amused look on his face.
"I charge extra for you to laugh at me." Elle warned, but her face was so flushed that it was unconvincing.
"I"m not laughing at you." Adam insisted. "I think you look beautiful."
He said it with such a straight face that Elle couldn"t tell if he was serious or teasing her. She a.s.sumed it was the later. Either way she was eager to get out of the dress and back into her bed before she could be embarra.s.sed any further.