agreed slowly. “And I still have that ‘anything I want’ card to cash in.”
“Yes you do.”
“It’s going to be a great day.” He squeezed my thigh again, and I smiled as I watched him.
“It already is.”
Thirty-five minutes later, I might have been revising my opinion, though the simple pleasure on Archie’s face kept me from protesting as we walked into a boutique store that just screamed “you are underdressed and can’t afford to breathe our air, much less shop here.” We got the side-eye almost immediately, then Archie pulled out a credit card and informed the woman we needed to see the most stunning dresses they had in stock and those kept in the back, but only if they complimented me.
The woman about tripped over herself, and I had to bite back a laugh at the smug, arrogant look on Archie’s face as he dismissed her. The sparkle in his eyes when he looked at me was just about irresistible. Which was how I found myself sitting with him on a white sofa as the woman hustled her staff into motion.
For such an expensive shop, they didn’t have a lot of customers. Then again, I hadn’t seen a single price tag on a dress. That usually meant “they cost too fucking much.” They brought us drinks, and Archie had his phone out. There were a couple of messages from the guys, and he answered both.
Jake just had one question, Okay? And Ian’s was an equally succinct, Good?
Head tucked against Archie’s shoulder, I settled in as they not only brought out a series of dresses, but actually had a couple of the girls wearing them.
“Let me know which ones you like,” Archie murmured as he kissed the top of my head. I was meat drunk and feeling pretty damn loved at the moment. The last few days slipped behind us, and I left them there.
“You tell me which ones you like, too,” I said as we were treated to the parade of different dresses with everything from the little black dress to a pure white one that looked fabulous on the girl wearing it and I could never wear. I’d dump something on myself before I even left the bedroom.
There were body-hugging dresses and dresses with flared skirts. Strapless. Sleeveless. Halter topped. Spaghetti straps. Corset style that promised I’d look fabulous, even if I couldn’t breathe. He curved his hand against my side and ran his fingers up and down as we watched. I had my hand on his thigh, and I stayed as tucked close to him as I could get without climbing into his lap.
I didn’t want to be away from him and from the way he held me, he felt much the same. There was a dress in chocolate brown that made me think of Archie’s eyes, and it was body hugging with ruching. No way I could eat much in that, but when I bit my lip, Archie raised a finger to choose that one. Then we were moving on. Teal colored dresses. Dark blue. Pale icy shimmering colors. Dark green. Red. So many red dresses. In fact, there were at least two red dresses for every other color they showed us.
“What can I say?” he murmured when I commented on this. “I love you in red.”
Okay, red it was then.
It took over an hour to see them all, but I picked out three along with Archie’s five, and it was my turn to head into the dressing room. Most of the dresses required losing everything but my panties to try on. When I walked out to model each one, Archie’s smile grew. It was ridiculous and silly. The last time I’d done this, it had been with Coop and… Yeah, there went my smile.
Like Coop, Archie had taken snaps of me in every single one, but Cheryl had been there helping me pick out a dress when she knew the crap Mitch had been doing. The door behind me opened before I’d even closed it all the way, and Archie slipped into the dressing room behind me.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just…my brain being weird.”
Crowding me right up against the mirror, he tugged the zipper down on the dress. “Tell me.”
It was written all over his face. Let him fix it, and I kicked myself for letting anything spoil today. When the dress spilled off me, leaving me in just the panties, he pressed his lips just behind my ear.
“Tell me.”
Between his nibbling kisses against my throat and the way