the fallout of that. Abby was in her own world of friends and boys, Lainey has always done her own thing and I was having issues of my own. So, Karly has always made it her responsibility to keep us as one big happy family.”
Something in Corey’s tone made me want to reach out and hug him. “That’s not so bad is it? I mean just think about it, please? Karly seemed to be really looking forward to this and to be honest—I am too. I think it will be a lot of fun to go out with all of you.”
“You do?” His tone was serious, as if he didn’t expect me to mean it.
“Of course and I promise you, if you become really uncomfortable or want to leave—we will. No questions asked—I’ll even try to keep my whining to make you stay to a minimum.” A rich, hearty laugh echoed through my phone. The sound warmed my heart and I wondered if playing hooky today, wouldn’t be so bad after all.
“Fine, we’ll go.”
“Yay! Now, I told Karly I’d call her back, once I talked you into it. Do you have a preference on what time we go?”
“Not really.”
“What if I ask her to meet us at your place at nine, we can do a few pre-party shots. Then all share a cab?”
“Why don’t I just drive us?” Corey offered.
“No it would be better if we just shared cabs.”
“Fine.” Corey was simply agreeing with me now to make me happy.
“It’ll be fun, I promise!”
“Yeah, yeah—we’ll see. You owe me for this.” “Fine.” I know I should have hung up and got back to work but I just couldn’t.
“What are you doing for lunch?” My eyes dart to the wall clock, 11:45.
“No plans, why?”
“Come to the bar and I’ll make you something.” I couldn’t have said no, even if I wanted to.
“Would you be offended, if I brought some paperwork I need to get done?”
“Not at all.”
“See you in ten.”
Corey cleaned off a spot at the bar for all my papers and me. In between my amazing lunch, I filled out the necessary information. Corey spent his time eating off my plate and on occasion would pick up a report and question me about it. His genuine interest in my job was always something I enjoyed. He also had a great business sense and was able to point out things to me that I maybe wouldn’t have noticed before.
On a few random occasions he would lean over the bar and surprisingly seal his lips over mine. I never yanked my head away and let him decide when he had enough. When I asked him about it, he just said it was only the beginning of my payment for making him go out with us this Saturday. Not that I believed it really concerned him. Truthfully, I think it bothered him more that he wasn’t that upset about a night out with his sisters.
Pretending…If Only For a Night
Saturday night rolled around and Corey informed me before heading to his place, that I would indeed be spending the night with him. Since I didn’t seem to be physically capable of walking away from that man, I had no problem agreeing.
As strange as it seemed, I genuinely wanted to impress his sisters—even though I’ve already met them. I wanted to show up and look like a girl that deserved to be on Corey’s arm. Which of course was crazy, it shouldn’t matter to me what his sister’s thought. That didn’t stop me though from going the extra mile to get ready.
There was only one dress that came to mind—it was the same shade of blue as my eyes. The dress clung to every curve and dip of my body, sitting high on my thighs. The front scooped down revealing a small amount of cleavage—while the back was practically gone and stopped an inch or so above my bum. The sleeves were long and loose with the shoulders left bare; I slipped on a pair of my black leather boots with a 4-inch heel.
After blow-drying my hair, I took the time to curl the bottom couple of inches, letting the rest hang long. I kept my make-up natural with shimmers of browns, and gold’s lining my eyes with black liner and mascara. It was only 8:30 when I arrived to Corey’s place and the bar was already in full swing. The light was on in Corey’s apartment so I decided to go up to meet