Shawn was a red-haired, green-eyed heartthrob with an infectious smile and charming personality everyone loved. “I wish, man,” he said. “Our conversation before the meeting was friendly chitchat. But during the meeting she was looking at you. Which is just as well, since I think Taylor might throw a few penalty flags if she caught me flirting with a colleague.”

Jake laughed. “Your wife might have a problem with that? You think?” A reminder pinged on Jake’s computer. He clicked on his calendar. “Damn.”

Shawn stood. “Forget about a hot date?”

“Hardly. It’s this Hollywood educational benefit where I’ll rub shoulders with celebrities and influential movers and shakers... maybe rustle up a few deep-pocketed sponsors for our program.”

“That’s definitely your arena, man. I’m not the black-tie type.”

“Me either,” Jake said, putting away the folder and reaching for his duffel bag and keys. “But duty calls.”

3

3

Dominique ran her hand discreetly over her abdomen as she stepped into Hollywood’s W Hotel’s great room. Having grown confident in and comfortable with her plus-size figure years ago, she still thanked God for the body shaper that smoothed, toned, and highlighted the curves that flowed in all the right places. Her freshly done twists accented the high cheekbones in her otherwise round face and her auburn hair with gold tones sparkled under the light of the chandeliers. In this room of size twos, Dominique felt good about how she looked. She went to black-tie events all the time.

So why is my stomach fluttering?

Was it because of the stress of a deadline a week away, Reggie’s continued depression, or the fried catfish with jalapeño cornbread she’d had for lunch? No matter, Capricious rarely missed a PR opportunity and tonight’s event benefiting education was one that would get major press. When solicited last year, Dominique and the board had immediately agreed to be one of the night’s sponsors and she’d also agreed to provide complimentary subscriptions to one hundred lucky student winners. In an age when girls under sixteen were having plastic surgery and a size 10 was considered big, the magazine’s brass felt it more important than ever to tout their message: beauty comes in all shapes and sizes, and in every Capricious magazine! So even with a looming deadline and the knowledge that she shouldn’t stay long, Dominique had braved an hour of LA traffic to show her support.

Secure that she was a walking ad for “fat, fit, and fabulous,” she looked around, recognized the organizer whom she’d lunched with last month, and headed in her direction.