princess flowers, Joelle tossed the card onto the coffee table and jammed her hands on her hips. “Can you believe this guy? He ignores me for days, and then he assumes I’d be free for an entire weekend. It’s like he thinks I’m just sitting around, waiting by the phone with bated breath for him to remember I exist.”
“That’s kind of accurate, actually.”
“Completely beside the point.” Joelle waved an impatient hand. For heaven’s sake, whose side was Alice on? “The point is that he’s made the assumption that I don’t have anything better to do with my life than jump when he barks an order.”
“He didn’t bark any orders, Joelle. He wrote a note and stuck it in some princess flowers.”
“Same difference.” Obviously. Why couldn’t Alice see that? “I have half a mind to not even be here when he shows up at three, just to show him who’s boss.”
“Uh-huh.” With a patient sigh, Alice turned and headed down the short hall that led to the master bedroom.
With her scowl fading into bewilderment, Joelle trailed after her. “Wait, Al. Where are you going?”
“I’m cutting to the chase.”
What in the world. “What does that even mean?”
“It means I know you, Jo.” Alice made a beeline for Joelle’s walk-in closet and began rifling through her neatly hanging clothes. “What’s the weather going to be like later on tonight? Autumn is always such a tough call in Chicago—sunny one minute and blizzarding the next.”
“I think it’s supposed to be warm all weekend. Please, Alice—”
“Warm is good.” Snagging up a few items, Alice moved back out into the bedroom and threw them onto the bed. “It makes dressing for the occasion so much easier.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I’m talking about what you’re going to be wearing when Gus picks you up at three this afternoon.”
Joelle’s chin went up. “Excuse me, but it’s not decided that I’m going anywhere with that man. He’s an arrogant ass.”
“Yeah, but you’re still going.” Alice held up a metallic bronze halter dress and a deep teal silk wraparound dress. “These two are my favorites so far. Not only are they the right colors for autumn, something I know you look for in fashion, but they’re both made to get a woman naked in under ten seconds. Which one do you prefer?”
Joelle stared at her. “Didn’t you hear me? I don’t think I’m going to go. In fact, I’ve just decided—I’m not going out with Gus. At least not tonight. He needs to learn the lesson that he can’t take me for granted that way.”
Again, Alice sighed. “Jo, you’re going. I know it, and so do you, so now the question is what you’re going to wear. The halter dress is probably easier to get naked with—basically all you have to do is unhook the fastening at the nape and it just falls off the body. I don’t know, though. Everything about this dress is so obvious, you know? Like you’re freaking begging him to make you naked. He has been kind of inattentive the past four days, so you don’t want to look like you’re going too easy on him. My money’s on the wraparound dress. Fully clothed and demure, yet one tug on that belt and you’re Lady Godiva without the horse.”
“Alice Kathleen Halliday, you need to listen to me. I’m not going simply because that arrogant man ordered me to.”
“You’re right. There’s no way you’d go because of that.” Laying the two choices back on the bed, Alice turned to face her, arms crossed. “You’re going to go because deep down it’s what you want to do. Admit it.”
Joelle hissed at her. “Sometimes it really sucks, you knowing me so well.”
“If it makes you feel any better, this Gus guy’s not really in control of this situation. You are. You’re going to choose to accompany him because you’re a powerful woman who knows her own mind, and it pleases you to have some fun with him.”
“Hm.” Joelle sent a dubious look at the clothes on the bed. “It certainly feels like he’s the one in control.”
“Do you want to go out with him?”
“Of course I do. He’s riveting and sexy, and for crying out loud, he has dimples. For four days I’ve thought of nothing else but Gus and his dimples, but I don’t want to cede anything.”
“You’re not ceding a damn thing if you go after what you want. Go and enjoy yourself, because that’s what you want to do. What you don’t want to do