a tux. After seeing him in next to nothing every day while he trained and fought, it was a total spin seeing him all done up in a penguin suit. I imagined trying to get him to dance again and smiled. This time, I’d make sure we wouldn’t be interrupted.
Pulling the curtain aside, I stepped out into the room and positioned myself in front of the mirror. I stared at my reflection and took in the lines of the gown I’d picked out. It fit my curves perfectly, the low neckline flowing down between my breasts accentuating my assets rather than flopping them out. It was a classy kind of revealing.
“You know,” Violet began, emerging from behind her curtain in her own dress. “We haven’t had any time together since the wedding.”
I could already see where this was going, and I didn’t like it.
“You’ve been so buried in work lately I just wanted to make sure you’re dealing okay.”
“I am dealing,” I replied, smoothing down the fabric of the dress I wore. Flipping out the train, I admired the sparkle of the embellishments in the light.
“You broke up with Hamish in front of everyone,” she retorted. “You were so invested in trying to make it work with him and then boom.”
“It was never going to work,” I replied, turning my gaze back to my reflection. “We both knew it. It was past due.”
“Is there someone else?”
I glanced at her and frowned. How did she know? I began to run over scenarios in my mind, trying to place the moment I’d let my composure slip.
“Josie, you can tell me,” she said when I didn’t answer. “You’re one of my best friends. I’ve never had best friends before you and Ren. Whatever you say to me is between us. No judgment.”
How could I confess my crush on Dean to Violet when I couldn’t confess to Ren…or myself? I wasn’t a ‘from afar’ kind of woman. I took the bull by the horns and went for it, no matter the outcome, which was probably why this whole thing had me shaken off my axis.
What was stopping me now? I never stopped…
“I know I shouldn’t have let it play out like that,” I began. “I shouldn’t have dragged Hamish over the coals in front of everyone, but it had to end. We were both weighing one another down.”
“I know that,” Violet said. “But is there someone else?”
I began to panic a little, not wanting to get into it. The crush I had on Dean was my own private little thing. A fantasy that played out just for me. Saying it aloud made it real.
“Why are you asking that?”
“I heard what you said,” she murmured. “I don’t think anybody else caught it, but I sure did. Lincoln and I were dancing behind you.”
I hesitated, knowing exactly what she was getting at. The moment where I told Hamish there was someone else and the bit after where he accused it of being Dean. Clueless fucking Dean, who was still hung up over Monica Miller.
“Vee, please,” I said, not wanting to get into it. I wasn’t even sure how I felt. Was it just a crush or something more? And if I acknowledged it, I’d be forced to do something because it’d be out there. I wasn’t ready. Was I?
“Do you have feelings for—”
“I said don’t,” I interrupted her. “I’m under a lot of pressure right now. I’m just doing my best to get through it. I can’t entertain the idea of starting something new with someone so soon after Hamish. Not right now.”
I said the words, but I didn’t really feel them. Not really.
“If you say so,” Violet said, moving back into the change room. Sweeping the curtain across, she added, “You know you can always talk to me, and it’ll stay in the vault.”
“I know…”
Taking in my reflection once more, I couldn’t help it when the bad boy twin, who was the bane of my existence, came to mind. His awkwardness at the wedding when I’d forced him to dance with me was comical, but all I could think about was the feel of his hands on my waist. We’d known each other for a few years now, and in all that time, he’d never once touched me like that. I didn’t think he’d ever really touched me at all.
“Did Lincoln hear?” I asked, gaining the courage to say at least a little something now that no eyes were on me.
“No,” came Violet’s reply. “Just