Read An Alien To Love for Free Online Page B

friend, Ellie, squealed on the other end.
    Danyka yanked the phone from her ear and rubbed, before listening again.
    “We’re waiting outside—in the limo.”
    Double shit . She needed a shower and time to dress in her eighteenth-century inspired designer gown. Closing her eyes, she pinched the bridge of her nose and fell back on the bed, staring at the ceiling, trying to gain some control over her body. “Give me half an hour to get ready. Can you come back?”
    Ellie sighed. “Fine, it’s your dollar. See you in a bit.”
    No, it wasn’t her dollar, but her boss’s. Personal assistant to Josh Summers, film producer, she’d intended to enjoy her two weeks off—while he traveled across Europe on his honeymoon—and her sizable bonus. She’d picked up the envelope that had held the extra cash and three tickets to the Kartha Studio’s charity ball and pulled out a note.
     
    Danyka,
    Take two friends and have fun! Connie from Connie’s Couture, will take care of all of your gowns, and a limo will provide transportation there and home (if you need it then). Enjoy yourself while I’m gone, because we’ll be working crazy hours when Tamara and I get back.
    Thanks for your dedication these last two years!
    Josh
     
    She’d fist-pumped the air before spinning in circles around her apartment when she’d read it. The ball would be A-list celebrities and industry giants from wall-to-wall. She’d phoned her friends, Ellie and Vanessa, right away, barely able to contain her excitement. But when they’d visited Connie’s to find dresses, she’d been filled with a sense of dread, reminded again of her freakish size. While she’d been granted womanly curves and a considerable bust, she towered over most men. She even had a couple of inches on Josh.
    He’d never seemed to care, but when it came to finding a boyfriend, or even a date, her options were limited. Any guy she’d met taller than herself seemed to prefer women half her size. Those shorter than her gawked from a distance, but their eyes bulged out of their sockets when she approached them. On occasion, a short slimeball would come on to her, wondering what it would be like to do a giant. There would be civilized, respectable men at the ball. At least, she hoped so. In the end though, she expected to spend the night alone.
    Her friends had found their dream gowns after trying on what seemed like hundreds of dresses, but she hadn’t had a single choice. There had been one she’d admired. Connie took her measurements and promised to search for a similar one in her size. Instead, on the day she went to pick it up, the woman had surprised her with a custom-made dress.
    Sliding off the bed, she groaned. Her knees were already sore from the impending precipitation. Her joints were as good a gauge as any other high-tech gadget to measure the barometric pressure. Plus, she planned to wear heels the entire night, making it a double-whammy. There had better be someplace to sit down, because it’s not as if anyone is going to ask me to dance anyway .
    After a quick shower, she pinned her hair up, sprinkled glitter all over, and slipped on a black thong. Then she carefully placed her pasties. Okay, time for the gown .
    Unzipping the polyester bag, she gasped. The magnificence of the dress still shocked her every time she saw it. She brushed her hand across the pleated red silk of the skirt. But she didn’t have time to bask in its elegance. At least not until she had it on. She stepped into her red net petticoat, sliding it up to her waist, and spun in a circle. Oh, how she missed her childhood ballet classes. Even then, she’d towered over the rest of the students. Though classes hadn’t made her any less clumsy, as her parents had hoped, the friends she’d made there never let her believe she was anything less than a prima ballerina. As they pirouetted in front of the mirrors, in leotards and tutus, she’d forget her size.
    With her stature and blazing auburn