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trying to see what was going on. Also some media, but she wasn’t worried. Publicity was what this event was all about.
    All she had to do was not throw up, trip over her feet, or something. Act like a consummate professional. Act like Gaea. She could do it. At least she could try her hardest to.
    A limousine finally pulled up under the awning, and a uniformed bellman went to the door. Kallie’s heart started to pump overtime in her chest and she wiped her hands on her skirt. Pasting on her most professional smile, she walked to the curb, but it was just Trisha. Of course, the group of onlookers went wild, and the flashbulbs when off all around, but she’d met the super model before, and Trisha even remembered her name. Kallie escorted her to the waiting stylist, made sure she had green tea, then rushed back outside. 
    Four more models showed up, and Kallie hustled them inside, and then, it happened. He arrived. One of the two male models, there to show off the fashion line geared toward men, he stepped out of his limo wearing dark jeans, a Marcella Girardi T-shirt and scuffed sneakers. Her heart jumped, leapt, skipped as he turned her way and smiled. Oh, God! That smile. That face. That hair. She couldn’t take it. She was going to expire, right here, and that would be okay because Dax had smiled at her as if she was a real person or something.
    “You must be Kallie,” he said.
    His voice. It was just as she’d imagined. Husky, low, perfect. She managed a nod.
    “Nice to meet you. I’m Dax.” He held out his hand. She panicked. Sweaty palms. Ugh. But she couldn’t wipe again. Not while he stood there. So she just swallowed hard and stuck it out there.
    His grip was gentle, but not wussy. He hesitated for just a few seconds. She knew because she counted every heartbeat. Then he let her go, at least her hand. Not her gaze. That, he held, and she was lost. Lost.
    “Where to?” he asked.
    “What? I don’t... Oh. Um, this way.” She spun around, almost losing her footing, but she didn’t fall, thank goodness, and she somehow walked him past all the photographers and gawkers until he was inside the hotel.
    Vaughn, the lucky man, was going to be Dax’s personal stylist for the event. There were going to be lots of photographers and TV cameras. But he didn’t seem to mind. He just sat down in the stylist chair, grinned and said, “Do with me what you will.”
    Kallie watched as Vaughn put a big cape over his body then ran his fingers through his hair.
    That was it. All Kallie could stand. If she watched for another second, she would die from the sheer grandeur of it all.
    She tore her gaze from the mirror, then from the back of his head. She forced herself to take a step, then another until she was around the corner. She slumped against the wall, desperate to get her breathing under control. She still had a lot of work to do. But for the moment, while she recovered, she could think about the way he’d smiled.
    She exhaled softly. It was going to be a bizarre and wondrous week.

Chapter Six
     
    Bas looked at himself in the mirror, and straightened his tie. He like the Versace tux and thought it worth the extravagant priced he paid. The tailoring was so well done he felt completely at ease and ready for the night ahead.
    He expected to find Gaea waiting for him in the living room, but the bedroom door was still closed. She’d arrived back at the room a little over an hour ago, given him a brief report on her day, including Arnold’s insistence that Bas wasn’t really her boyfriend, and then she’d closed herself in to get ready for the opening party.
    Bas started at the door for several moments, aware of the urge to walk in on her, to watch her as she dressed. In his mind’s eye, he’d imagined her sorting out her things, preparing herself layer by layer. Dressed in nothing more than a long silk robe, she’d passed by on her way to her shower. When she reappeared, her hair was fixed in a sensual yet classy