Free All The Pretty Lights (The "A" List #1) by Tara Oakes

to legitimately date her, because I’m 99.99 percent sure she’ll turn my ass down, and I can’t offer her to pretend to be my girlfriend, because let’s face it- she has too many morals to do something like that.
    I have to do this another way. I have to approach this completely differently.
    Maybe it’s my many years of hanging around douchebag agents and shady producers that have got me thinking of ways to make it work, ways to get around the obstacles.
    Ways to lie.

CHAPTER SIX
     
    DAPHNE
     
    He can’t be serious. Can he?
    Am I even qualified for this?
    I know Lori’s eavesdropping, listening to every word as she pretends to play with the floral arrangement. I don’t even need to ask her what her opinion is. I already know.
    I can see her practically jumping out of her skin, biting her lip and fighting against her self to not yell out.
    I’ve styled people before. For small time photo shoots with local magazines. Most of my clients hire me as a personal shopper to get them set with a season’s worth of clothing at a time. But that doesn’t mean that I’m there with them on a daily basis to help them pull it all together.
    “Let me get this straight.” I inch closer to the edge of the sofa cushion. “You want me to style you. On a daily basis. For every single press event, every premiere, every photo shoot.”
    “Yup,” he verifies the list of duties he’s looking to hire me to perform.
    “You want me to travel with you, all expenses paid. Europe. South America. Australia. Asia. Five weeks.” I finish the list. “Why?”
    I catch him off guard. “Why?” He repeats. “Because, I like you. I can get along with you. I trust you enough to know that you’re reliable, and you’re talented. I saw those sketches in your portfolio when you dropped them all over the terminal floor. I don’t want to look like every other guy walking the red carpet. I want to be my own person. And I think you can help me do it.”
    My mind races around all the factors I had yet to speak of. My apartment, my clients, my cat. Whiskers needs me.
    “I don’t know--”
    He interrupts me. “—Daphne, do you want people to see your talent, or do you want to stay here, hidden away, hiding it from the world?”
    “She’ll do it!” Lori can’t hold it in any longer.
    “Lori!” I reprimand her.
    Carrying the vase of flowers over to the coffee table, she confronts me. “Enough, Daphne. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Don’t worry about anything here, I’ll take care of everything.” She knows me well enough to know my reservations. “I’ll bring Whiskers to my place and watch him until you get back. You can handle all of your clients through email, and order for them online. If they’re not okay with that, then fuck ‘em. They don’t pay you enough, anyway.”
    Colt sits back and watches Lori make the final sales pitch for him.
    “You’ve always wanted to travel, and you’ll never have a chance like this again. You can network, meet people, get a foot in the door when they see how great your work is. It’s a no brainer and I’m not letting you pass it up.” She leaves me no room to argue, turning to Colt. “When does she start?”
    I can’t help but notice how I’ve been shut out, how Lori and Colt are now conversing like I’m not even here.
    “Today. Right now. We’ve got a premiere tonight.”
     
    ~*~
     
    How did I get talked into this?
    It was almost like walking through a war zone to leave my apartment and get here. To tell you the truth, I doubted whether Marcus would even be able to get me through. It was no less than a miracle I made it here in one piece.
    There was the barrage of reporters waiting for me when I left my place, the three cars that followed dangerously close to ours through the busy Manhattan streets, and then finally the people waiting at the hotel, pushing passed each other. Most of these people weren’t reporters or paparazzi.
    They were fans.
    Louder, more