Kickin' It (Red Card) - Rachel Van Dyken Page 0,36
thing.
With shaking hands, she grabbed the dress from me and slowly stepped in. It fit her like a glove as I pulled it up and zipped all the way to the neck.
LaLa had great taste.
I wasn’t sure how long I stared at Parker in the mirror. Sans makeup, with her hair in a ponytail, she outshone even the prettiest model I’d ever partied with.
“Better?” I managed to get out as she stared at herself in the mirror, a look of shock on her face.
She nodded just as my cell rang.
“Yelloooo!” Willow yelled in my ear.
I pulled it away and winced. “We need to work on your phone skills. What do you need?”
“So the team had to move the dinner up. I said you guys could meet at the hotel bar in a half hour.”
“A half hour?” I repeated. “That’s cutting it kind of close, but we can manage.” I was already dressed in slacks and a dress shirt, my typical uniform when I wasn’t training with Parker. “We can make it, we just need shoes.”
“Shoes?” Willow said like a kid who’d just heard the word candy. “Why do you need shoes? Are you shopping without me?”
“Er . . . no.” I gave Parker a panicked look while she burst out laughing. “Shit.”
“DAMN YOU, MATT KINGSTON! YOU DON’T SHOP WITHOUT ME, EVER! We made a pact!”
“I was seven and you were a monster!”
“Whatever. What’s she wearing? Wait, did you buy her a dress? Maaaatt? Hello? Matt?”
Was I staring at Parker again? Shit, I needed to focus.
“Yeah, what?”
“You’re shopping.”
“It’s a possibility.”
“With Parker.”
“Maybe?”
“You don’t shop.”
“She needed to feel confident, and God knows what you sent her away with.”
“My best Gucci, the one I wore last New Year’s!”
“The little black number that looks like training tape? Right.” I rolled my eyes. “Look, we’re low on time. She’s wearing the new Versace—”
“The white cocktail Versace with capped sleeves and a crystal-beaded scalloped bodice? The one on preorder?”
“Yes?”
“Get me one.”
“Willow!”
“Uh, fine, you’re going to want to pair it with the Valentino slingback pumps, in a nude color or even something darker. They have studs, they’re low, she won’t trip, but it’s going to cost you another grand. Okay, love you, bye!”
“What did she say?” Parker had her hands on her hips expectantly.
“That she has the perfect shoes.” I chuckled. “What else?”
“Of course she does.”
“And our dinner just got moved up, so let’s grab your clothes and have LaLa grab your shoes. Sound good?”
She looked ready to puke. “Yup, great!”
I pulled out my credit card.
Parker put her hand on my wrist. “I’ll pay you back.”
LaLa approached, and I shook my head and handed her my card, fired off the name of the shoes, and didn’t take my eyes off Parker. “It’s a gift.”
“For what?”
“Just think of it as a presigning bonus, because trust me, I’m going to get you one. Why not celebrate early?”
“You’re a miracle, Matt Kingston.” She looped her arm in mine.
I smiled down at her, then kissed her cheek.
Completely without thinking.
I stunned myself probably as much as I stunned her.
But LaLa was already back with two boxes, and I was letting Parker go, wondering why that was getting harder and harder each time.
Chapter Sixteen
PARKER
I wanted to hold his hand.
But I would die before admitting it.
I was wearing a dress that made me feel like a princess—powerful, confident, renewed. I would never confess it to anyone, least of all the man who made me feel worthy of wearing it, when I’d been a mess on the inside for so long.
A barrage of thoughts struck me when I saw the way he looked at me in the dress, the biggest one being that this could be more than a fresh start for my career. It could be a fresh start for everything. He looked at me like I belonged next to him, in this world, and for the first time in months I had hope. I could kiss him for giving me that opportunity, I would marry him in this dress and never look back.
And that’s when I realized I was slowly pulling down the walls I’d erected and succumbing to Matt Kingston and his smiles, the way his eyes crinkled, the way he touched me like he was afraid I would break.
Or maybe afraid he would too.
The shoes were perfect, I’d never worn Valentino before; they were nude with a kitten heel, and were studded, which made me feel like a rock star. All in all, they were too expensive for me to purchase on