This Fearless Girl (St. Clary's University #2) - E. M. Moore Page 0,29
with the guys while we put all our brain power toward figuring out the map.
Once Wyatt quietly shuts the door, I get out of bed and head into the shower. Now that I have all the essentials and inessentials, it takes me longer to get ready than it ever did before, but I enjoy the process. Well, I like the outcome.
This time when I go through my closet, I find more clothes. There are dresses, skirts, jean shorts, and more tops. Some dressy, some plain. Was I a goober and didn’t see these yesterday? Or are they completely brand new?
I pick out a dress that I absolutely fall in love with. It’s not fancy though there are fancy dresses in there. I don’t know where Stone thinks I’m ever going to go in those, but this dress is casual. It has a strappy top with a skirt that flares slightly on the bottom. Just when I think I’ll have to wear sneakers with it, I spy a pair of nude sandals in the bottom of my closet.
Jesus, that control freak thinks of everything. I can’t find it in myself to hate that fact while I sit on my bed and pull my new sandals on. They fit perfectly. When I walk to the door, it’s as if I’m walking on clouds.
I hesitate with my hand on the doorknob. It seems so dumb to be nervous about walking out there, but this is the first time I’ve worn a dress in my life. They weren’t conducive to hiking up the mountains, and Dad never bought me one from the second-hand store. Probably because we never went anywhere that I needed one.
With a deep breath, I pull the glass door open and step out into the hallway. The Arizona heat is something else today. There’s not a cloud in the sky, allowing the sun to bake everything underneath it into muted browns and rusty reds. The pool’s blue liner sparkles in contrast to everything else. It’s captivating.
Footsteps sound and Stone reaches for the sliding glass door, stopping when he catches a glimpse. His hands are full of breakfast plates, and he scrambles to steady them. He blinks before taking me in all the way down to my sandals. I tried not to stare at myself too much in the mirror, but I had the same reaction Stone is having right now. I could hardly believe my eyes.
“Are you going to get the door?” Lucas calls out behind him.
He turns toward me when Stone’s attention doesn’t waver, and smiles broadly, gripping the plates in his hands tightly. Unlike Stone who just stares, he walks up to me. “Wow, Dakota. You look stunning.” He shifts the plates to one hand and slides his free arm around my waist to tug me close. He nuzzles my neck and lifts his lips to my ear. “I might have to take that off you today.”
The glass door slides open, and Stone walks out, leaving us alone behind him. He walks toward the stone table without a glance back, shoulders ramrod straight.
Lucas chuckles. “He hates that I can touch you and he can’t.”
I pull away from him to give him a teasing smile. “Oh, you can touch me, huh?”
The devilish glint in his eyes spark. “I think I remember you saying you’d let me do anything I wanted to you.”
I pretend to think about it. “I don’t remember that.”
He backs me up against the glass. Forget the damn plates, Lucas could be carrying around a pile of dirty laundry and I’d still be turned on. “I don’t mind proving it to you again, Wild Girl.”
A choked sound comes from our right. I turn my head to find Wyatt limping down the hallway. “I’m going to walk around permanently hard with you two in the same house.”
“Says the guy who slept in her bed last night.”
Wyatt’s cheeks pinken, but Lucas saves him from saying anything by stepping away from me. The cowboy’s attentive gaze zeroes in. “Jesus, Tits. I might have to thank your father for dressing you like a boy all those years so you were still available when we came along.”
“She’s never been available,” Lucas says, his eyes claiming mine. “She’s always been ours.”
“If she is, then she can escort me to the patio for breakfast. Please tell me Stone ordered from the restaurant I asked him to. I can’t imagine eating your guys’ pathetic attempts at food again.”