“Now, I’m not planning to announce my relationship with Eric just yet,” Emma explained calmly and confidently. “With his help, I know my career could advance by leaps and bounds, but I don’t want anyone to say that my success is due to being his wife. Three years ago, I became a top model in New York through my own hard work. I’m confident I can do it again. If you’re still willing to help me, then let’s do this together. But if you want to move on, I won’t pressure you. I’ll even help you find another position at a better company. Of course, I’ll stand by your side.”
“I want to become the manager of the next international supermodel,” Lisa replied enthusiastically. “But are you planning to stay at Global Entertainment?”
“What do you think?” Emma gave Lisa a look, letting her figure out the answer herself. “Nathan has used me over and over, and I plan to make him pay.”
Lisa burst out laughing as she leaned into Emma. “Emma, I never knew you could be so sneaky. So, what’s the next move? Should we release the video?”
“No, let’s secure the spokesperson deal first. To be precise, let’s take what should have been mine right out of Amber’s hands. Afterwards, when Amber’s fans are complaining, then we’ll release the video. In the meantime, can you help edit the clips from the Bellamy show and post them online?”
Lisa was impressed with the changes she was seeing in Emma. Who knew she could be so powerful? Emma sent Lisa home and then headed back into the beautifully scented bedroom. Eric was sitting on a sofa, enjoying a glass of red wine. He was gorgeous, with a strong jaw and a sculpted body. Just looking at him made Emma’s heart flutter. She was nervous but walked over to sit beside him. He reached for her and softly kissed her, his lips tasting of the full-bodied red wine.
Emma was caught off guard and blushed. Eric laughed and gently kissed her on the tip of her nose. “Do you like the taste of wine on my lips? Perhaps you should try some more.”
Emma nodded. “Let’s do it again then.”
Eric took another sip of wine and kissed Emma gently at first, then with more and more passion. As Eric’s kisses slowly made their way down her body, she began trembling. She had never felt such electric sensations before. She was weak as a sandcastle ready to be swept away by the waves.
“Eric,” she stammered, “let’s go to the bed.”
Eric sat up and looked at Emma’s long, lean, beautiful body before wrapping her in his bathrobe. He lifted her up and took her into the bathroom, placing her gently into the tub. “What is it? Don’t you want me?”
Eric wrapped a towel around his body and knelt before Emma. He lifted her chin and spoke. “I want your heart first. When I’m the only person in your heart, then I will make you completely mine.” He smoothed her hair, calming himself at the same time. “I desperately want you. I think you don’t even know how attractive you are. But I want all of you, body and heart, and I want to wait until you’re certain.”
Emma nodded, grasping Eric’s hands. “It’s been such a long time since a man has treated me with respect.”
Though he wanted to crush Nathan into pieces, he had faith that Emma could take care of herself.
The next morning, the war between the two models was already old news, and the rumors about Nathan and Amber had been buried under Global’s newest press releases. Interestingly, Emma’s straightforward response to the media had an unexpected benefit. She gained a huge number of new fans who were now searching online for her old appearances and photos.
Amber and Nathan had failed to notice that Emma’s popularity was on the rise. Her performance with the Crown Star during the Bellamy show had been spectacular. Her new fans felt that she should get the recognition she deserved, so they shared her videos online and bombarded Bellamy with fan mail.
Based on the fans’ reactions, Bellamy’s founder, Julius Taylor, began watching the videos of Emma’s performance. He was amazed by her beauty and suddenly realized that the model he’d been so angry with was the perfect match for his jewelry. It was like they were made for each other. Now that he had the time to calm down, he realized that Emma’s elegance and professionalism were infinitely better for representing the Crown Star than Amber had ever been. Ironically, because Emma had admitted wrongdoing, Julius even felt he could now trust her.
He called a meeting at Bellamy to discuss changing the spokesperson. After watching the videos, the group reached the only possible conclusion—Emma had to be the next spokesperson.
“Julie is called the head of Global Entertainment,” Mr. Taylor Nathan said as he answered the phone. “Amber has almost completely recovered from her injuries and should be able to represent your company very soon. I’m not calling about that, Mr. Davis. Bellamy has decided to change spokespersons. We would like Emma to step in for Amber,” he said.
Mason didn’t know how to react. “Mr. Taylor, I don’t think that’s right. We haven’t signed the contract yet. If you’re not willing to have Emma serve as the spokesperson, we would prefer to cancel this collaboration and work with another company. But we have other models, ones that are more famous than Amber. We only want Emma.”
Taylor had made up his mind, leaving Nathan with no choice. This deal was supposed to have cleared Amber’s path to the top 10 model award. Telling her she was no longer the spokesperson was going to be tricky.
The news quickly spread to Lisa, who called Emma right away. “Emma! Emma!” she yelled over the phone. “Don’t get ahead of yourself, Lisa. Amber isn’t going to just let this deal slip away.”
