And for what?

Still, she couldn’t admit this to Gabriel. Definitely not now. No, she just had to keep going, and hope that what he said was true, that it would all blow over.

And Villa Dolce Vita’s grand reveal would be the pinnacle of everything she’d worked for and more.

Chapter 26

Then

“Do you really think I need this much eye makeup?” Colette asked, as her gaze shifted uncertainly between the mirror and her friends.

The three women were in the bedroom she shared with Kim and she was (incredibly) getting ready for a dinner date with Luca.

“Definitely,” Annie replied. “It’s about time you glammed up your look, if you ask me.”

“But what’s wrong with how I look?”

“It’s a bit... I dunno...like a middle-schooler,” Kim replied as she applied more eyeliner. “Annie’s right. Time you upgraded and sexed up your style.”

“And did something with your hair,” Annie chimed in. “Your ends badly need a trim and the rest could do with a good deep treatment. Give me a decent go at it, and I could work wonders, honestly.”

“Well, I don’t want it to be a different color or anything,” Colette said quickly, Luca’s words from before still lingering in her mind.

“I wasn’t going to suggest it—most people would kill for that kind of natural shade. Me and Kim just think there are a few more things you could do to make the most of yourself. You’re very pretty, but you hide it all,” Annie stated. “You have to show a guy like Luca that there’s more to you.”

“He seems to like me well enough just as I am, though.” She was dubious.

“He does like you as you are,” Kim agreed. “But there’s way more to you than what he’s seen so far. I think it’s time he saw that. Don’t you?”

“Yep,” Annie replied for her. “We are going to make you look so good Luca won’t know what hit him.”

“I don’t want him to like a pretense,” Colette argued.

He did like her as she was. For some reason. She didn’t mind making the packaging a little nicer, but she still wanted to feel like herself.

“He won’t,” Kim assured. “We aren’t changing who you are, Colette. We’re simply bringing out your full potential.”

“OK...”

Her friends believed a makeover was exactly what Colette needed and it seemed they were determined to give her one.

Once Kim had finished doing her face, they flicked through her own designer wardrobe for something for Colette to wear.

She was surprised to find that she and Kim were pretty much the same size, though the leggy American’s stuff was a good bit longer on Colette’s shorter frame.