Facade

eyebrows thinking of all the food that would go to waste. At least 46
    Zahra
    Owens
    four people could eat quite a hearty breakfast from what was packed, quite neatly he noticed, onto the trolley.
    Since last night’s meal of raw fish had been rather good for his waistline, Jonas decided to indulge himself this morning, putting a bit of everything on his plate and getting comfortable on the plush sofa with the three morning papers that came with the breakfast. He smiled when the images of the night before played out in his memory again and realized that for the first time, Nicky hadn’t returned to being a morose, pouting brat after their lovemaking.
    Maybe he was feeling more relaxed about it, maybe he was just tired. Or was it that Nicky knew he’d better treat Jonas right since they were going to spend the rest of the week together?
    Jonas wondered what the day had in store for him. He knew London Fashion Week was a high point for any designer, but he had no idea whether that meant Nicky would be pretty much busy all day long or whether he’d need company at some point. He knew Nicky didn’t talk to the press much and had even turned down a personal call from Anna Wintour asking for an interview for Vogue.
    Jonas picked up the phone and dialed Tanna’s number.
    “Hello stranger,” she answered in mock seductive tones. “Had a good night’s sleep?”
    “Quite nice, thank you,” Jonas answered.
    “Breakfast to your liking?”
    Jonas couldn’t help noticing her voice was subdued, as if she couldn’t talk out loud just then. “Want me to call you back later?” he replied.
    “No, that’s okay,” Tanna answered. “I just can’t make too much noise because Nicky is fitting a young member of the Royal family with a gown for her first big ball and he’s making quite a spectacle of himself.” She giggled quietly. “Luckily the Princess is very beguiled by him. She’s giggling and blushing. I swear he’s making her feel that if she played her cards right, he’d be coming home with her tonight. Naïveté is such a sweet thing to behold.” Jonas was surprised to hear about another side of Nicky he hadn’t seen. “I wish I was there to see that,” he admitted to Tanna.

    Façade
    47
    “I have something better for you.” She giggled again. “Be ready by eleven, smart casual will do. I’ll send a car to pick you up in front of the building.”
    Tanna didn’t even wait for him to answer. Jonas heard her click the line shut and continued his breakfast, taking his time while flicking through the morning’s news.

    AT ELEVEN sharp he was downstairs in an off-white suit with a black turtleneck underneath. It wasn’t a designer suit, but he figured that if Nicky didn’t like it, he would make sure he got another one.
    He just hoped that his definition of casual was the same as Nicky’s.
    Despite the heavy traffic, the car took less than fifteen minutes to get to where they needed to be. The driver double-parked and stepped out to open the door for Jonas. Before he had the chance to look around to see where he needed to go, he spotted Laurent looking excited and eager. Jonas doubted it was because he was supposed to meet him here on the curb of one of London’s most fashionable streets; there had to be more to his flurrying so Jonas waited patiently as the young man guided him into the small office of a modeling agency.
    Jonas was glad for the relative quiet of the tiny cupboard of an office space, especially when Tanna came to greet him. She looked radiant as always, her hair tied back rather more artsy than usual, but still with an immaculately fitted dress and perfect makeup.
    “I need your expertise,” she stated enigmatically instead of greeting him, before placing a careful kiss on his cheek and wiping off the trace of lipstick it left.
    “Expertise?” Jonas asked, eyebrow raised. He wanted to add that he only had one field of expertise and it didn’t seem called for here, but he decided to keep his mouth shut.
    “Nicky wants you to pick his models for him.” 48
    Zahra
    Owens
    Jonas gave her a stunned look and then realized she must be joking. “I don’t know the first thing about runway models,” he told her.
    “Well, he doesn’t want ‘runway models’,” she replied. “He wants real men, who know how to walk. Don’t worry; I’ll do the first cut. I know the shape of the clothes and roughly the sizes we’re looking for, and anyone who doesn’t measure up gets dropped.