In the Spotlight (Max Verstappen - Book Two)

Chapter Twenty-One

When we walk into my hotel suite we're met with a lot of noise, mainly my mother speaking to a man with an Italian accent and when I walk into the living room I say two bottles of champagne, one empty and one half drunk and both my parents looking rather merry. "Hello?" I call out and immediately I'm met with excited shouts back as I'm pulled into the room by my mum.

"They're all gorgeous!" She gushes as she motions to the dresses on the rack and my mouth drops seeing around ten gowns, all quite clearly stunning.

"Holy sh-" my mum scowls at me and I shut my mouth, turning to see a tall Mediterranean man with dark hair whom I assume is Stefano. "Hello," I greet him in Italian and he smiles brightly at me and returns it before looking behind me and seeing Max.

"Miss Carter, Mr Verstappen - welcome!" He says and I giggle at the formalities as I give him a kiss on either cheek and let him take my hand and walk me towards the clothes rack. "Here's a set of samples, we have a few suits here but we thought that if you two were going together then perhaps your partner would prefer to have one that would compliment your dress and so for him we mainly just need measurements." He begins to explain and I look over to see Max staring intensely at Stefano's hand on the small of my back.

"You okay with being an accessory to my outfit?" I ask Max jokingly and he looks up at me, his expression softening as he nods, a smile dancing over his face.

"Fantastic, Mr Verstappen, Sandra will take your measurements quickly so that you can watch Miss Carter try on dresses afterwards?" Stefano suggests and Max nods before walking off with a blonde girl into the bedroom for some privacy. "Now, what do you like the look of?" He asks, brown eyes staring into mine as I look at the multiple dresses.

"I really want to stick with the theme, which is space right? So something celestial..." I tell him as I leaf through them, several dresses looking like the night sky are pretty but that doesn't feel quite right.

"Absolutely, Olivia filled us in on that and so we only brought dresses that matched that requirement, some ballgowns, mostly a-line as that is our speciality. How do you feel about a long dramatic train?" He asks and my eyes light up as I look at him, nodding emphatically.

"I love it! However I am rather short, I have long-ish legs but I would prefer some sort of a slit up the leg," I say after a few moments as I think further about my usual asks when it comes to dresses, my eyes darting back to one dress in particular.

"Of course, even if a dress doesn't have that right now, it can be put in later," he assures me and I nod thoughtfully. "Any neckline preference? And cut-outs?" He asks and I shrug.

"I don't mind on either, I'm in pretty good shape at the moment so I don't mind cutouts at all, same goes for sleeves." He nods, pulling a gold jewelled dress off the line and offering it to me and I nod, holding it as he looks around for the heels that are paired with it. "Also I'm going with Cartier...I'm assuming you know that so they need approval and input on jewellery."

"Of course, they have pre-approved all these dresses, and I have photos of their suggestions of the accompanying accessories for each outfit," Stefano reassures me as Max and Sandra walk back out of the bedroom, vacating it for me to go and get changed in.

"Amazing, you're a lifesaver! The dress is here, I can feel it!" I say to him as he takes the dress and shoes from me, bringing them to the room with Liv trailing in as well before closing the double doors to give me privacy.

I slip out of my clothes before carefully pulling the material up and over my body, Liv only turning around when I say for her to so that she can do up the back of the dress. This dress is long-sleeved and plunging at the front, with gold stitching and crystals hanging off it. I pull on the heels carefully, making sure that I don't step on the delicate material of the dress before looking in the mirror, smiling at the sight as my hair cascaded down loose.