Dress after dress that Tatianna brought me zipped right up. I was able to walk out and model some of the pieces for Max and had a total Cinderella with her Fairy Godmother moment.
As a bigger girl, that makeover scene you see in the movies is never something I’ve been able to picture for myself. Hollywood has gifted that story arc to the size two girls who can fit into items straight off the rack.
A shopping spree for girls with curves is more like an Olympic sport you have to train for your whole life.
First, you have to find the limited shops that carry your sizes. Then there’s the squeezing, the yanking, and the crushing disappointment that overwhelms you when something you try on doesn’t button up or accentuates all your worst features. Shopping for bigger girls is something you need to be in peak physical and mental condition for. You have to tell yourself that just because this looks bad doesn’t mean you look bad. This just isn’t the style for you. Keep looking. You’ll find something that will make you feel beautiful.
And honestly, shopping for smaller-sized people isn’t easy either. Everyone has flaws they see in themselves, no matter what size they wear. Just because a person’s pant size is in the single digits and mine are in the double doesn’t make her immune to misery in a dressing room. That is a one-size-fits-all sort of pain.
Which is why that makeover scene in a movie makes girls of all sizes swoon hard. We all want to experience that moment when a dress doesn’t just make us feel beautiful but it makes us feel desired.
Confidence is a game I can play on my own. I’ve gotten pretty good at it, as a matter of fact. But that moment when you put on a pretty dress and a man looks at you like you’re the most beautiful thing in the world…fat or thin—that’s a game that requires two players.
And Max played his part like a king.
As Max samples the red wine the sommelier suggested we order with our steaks, I stare at him like my own personal meal. He is nothing like the countless CEOs I came across during my time in the corporate world. How has he managed to stay so sane with all this success he’s found? He literally just flew me here on a private jet, bought me a dress that will be delivered to his Aspen home by morning time, and he’s not checked his phone once since we arrived at this restaurant.
Is he really even human?
“You look like you’re having loads of dirty thoughts,” Max says, his indigo eyes narrowing wickedly as he swirls the freshly poured red wine in his glass.
I lick my lips and lean forward, lifting up my own glass. “How can you tell?”
His heated eyes rove over my face, causing me to flush. “You have a facial tell.”
“I do not.” I laugh, feeling butterflies erupt in my belly at the sexy, happy look on his face. Am I really what puts that there?
The alluring muscle in his jaw shifts as he smirks. “Your nose gets red when you’re thinking about sex.”
Instantly my hand touches the tip of my nose that feels surprisingly hot. “Does it really?”
He takes a sip of his wine and quirks a brow. “Were you thinking about sex a moment ago?”
“More or less,” I answer with a grin and cover my face with my napkin.
He winks. “You have a tell, sweet cheeks.”
My body curls in on itself when I think of all the times I’ve had dirty thoughts around him. It was before we ever kissed…well before we started hooking up. Did he know every time? Did he know during my interview?
“What’s your tell?” I watch him curiously, his gaze fixed on me in a way that makes me feel completely naked.
“Mine is a bit more obvious.” He waggles his eyebrows lasciviously and holds his hand out to me. “Give me your hand, I’ll let you feel it.”
“Such a pervert,” I exclaim, and his wolfish grin is panty-melting.
“It takes one to know one,” he volleys back.
He’s not wrong.
I chew my lip and sip my wine, musing a bit before asking, “How do you make it look so easy?”
“What?” He sets his glass down and gives me his undivided attention.
“Life,” I reply simply. “You seem to have such incredible balance. Everly, work, friends, family. You literally do it all, and now you’ve whisked me away to Aspen on a moment’s notice without even breaking a sweat. What is your secret?”
Max’s face grows serious as his jaw slides back and forth. “If it looks like I’m not sweating, it’s because I have an army of people who are wiping my face.”