Page 42 of The Artist

Janine poured him a glass of champagne before setting the bottle in a bucket of ice on a stand to the side.“Here you go.Please get comfortable.We have some magazines, if you’d like to read.”

“Thank you, but I’m good.”

“Very well.Call me if you need anything.”Janine walked to the back of the showroom.

Peter pulled his phone from his shirt pocket and began scrolling his emails while he waited.It didn’t matter what time of day, he had hundreds of emails to go through.”

After a few minutes, Alexis emerged from the dressing room in a red strapless dress.She was all smiles.

The dress was fitted all over and definitely emphasized her assets, but something about it didn’t sit well with Peter.

“It’s lovely, but what else do you have?”he asked Annie.

Alexis frowned but then shrugged and followed Annie back to the changing rooms.

The next dress was black, slinky, and had a slit up one thigh that opened with every step.It drew his gaze to her leg.He shook his head.“What else?”

Annie sighed.“I have one more.You know I always save the best for last.”

“I do know that.”

Several minutes later, Alexis entered the room.

She grinned wide and Peter knew this was the dress.The bodice pushed Alexis’s bosom to amazing heights thanks to a hidden corset underneath, but it didn’t look like she was just wearing underwear, like some of the dresses he’d seen.Flowing gently from the waist, the skirt was full enough to allow dancing and gently swayed as Alexis walked.The dress was a midnight blue with spaghetti straps that were probably just for show and the gown was covered in what Peter knew were tiny, sparkling diamonds.Annie never worked with fakes.

“That’s it.Alexis what do you think?”

She turned around in front of the mirrors, checking the dress from all sides.“I love it.Do you really think this one is it?”

“I do.”

Annie smiled and fussed with the back of the gown, smoothing nonexistent wrinkles.“He’s never wrong, dear.If he likes it then it looks phenomenal, which is true.This is definitely the dress for you.”

Peter stood and went to Alexis.He took her hands and looked into her eyes.“We’ll take it, Annie.Thank you.You’ve come through yet again.”He held Alexis’s gaze.“You look beautiful.Even more than you usually do.”

She smiled and turned a pretty pink color.“You’re crazy.I’m not beautiful.Cute…maybe, but not beautiful.”

“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, remember?”He leaned forward and kissed her cheek.He wanted to do more than that, but he would have to wait for that…if she would let him.

Annie stood nearby, her hands clasped in front of her.“Shall I wrap it up, Peter?”

He kissed Alexis’s hand.“Yes, we’ll take this one, along with the undergarments you have her wearing with it.”

“But, of course.You could do nothing else.”She turned toward Alexis.“Come, my dear.Let’s get you out of these clothes and get them ready for travel.If I know Peter, he’s got you ensconced in his home, which is some distance away.”

As Alexis drovethe Mustang back to Peter’s house, she glanced over at him.She wasn’t sure she was happy that Annie thought she was just another woman that Peter brought home.“So, do you have a lot of women you buy clothing for?”

Peter chuckled.“Are you jealous?”

“No.You’re allowed to buy clothes for whoever you want.I’m not the fashion police.”

He cocked his head to one side and lifted an eyebrow.“Wasn’t that the show where Joan Rivers critiqued what celebrities were wearing to events?”

She laughed.“If you remember that show, you’re showing your age.It’s been off the air for about eight years.I know, because I loved it.It lost something with the death of Joan Rivers, though.”

“I bet.She was a one-of-a-kind talent.”

“Yes, she was.”She was quiet for a while.“You didn’t answer me.Do you buy clothes for a lot of women?”