dress I wore to Adam and Mia’s wedding. It’s island-dressy.”
He raised his eyebrows. “Which means?”
I straightened. “Well it’s very pretty and for warm weather. The weather is nice out today so I won’t be cold. And it’s classy as far as I’m concerned.”
He shrugged. “If it’s pretty and you like it, then wear it.”
I made a mock sniff of irritation and snarked. “So glad I have your approval.” But suddenly a wave of nervousness boiled up. His skepticism and mysterious behavior was only making me more aware that I probably shouldn’t screw this up.
His smirk widened. “Don’t jump the gun. I haven’t seen you in it yet.”
I had a little over three hours until we had to leave. Under normal circumstances that would mean I’d have at least two hours to spare in order to get ready. But his talk got me so nervous that I took a lot longer to prep than usual. I spent extra time with my makeup, doing my eyeliner with a slightly shaky hand. Was there any way they’d know that I didn’t buy my non-designer makeup in some high-end fancy store?
I also spent time on my hair, brushing it until it gleamed, way past my shoulders and halfway down my back. I was overdue for a trim and suddenly nervous that they would look closely and find split ends. I opted to fish out my curling iron—that I hadn’t used since the aforementioned wedding—from a cardboard box helpfully labeled washroom.
Finally, every curl meticulously planned was then strategically implemented. After a slight tweeze of my brows and the best makeup job I could manage, I was ready to slip on the dress.
Fortunately, I’d immediately hung it up in plastic after having it dry cleaned, so it was ready for me to wear. The dress was a strappy number made of milled silky fabric in a delicate ice blue. I’d planned it that way—to attend a winter wedding, even if smack dab in the middle of thirty-degree Celsius Caribbean weather. It hadn’t felt too much like winter but I’d wanted to acknowledge that beautiful New Year’s Eve joining in some way.
Plus, this color looked really good next to my skin. Gave it a glowy, porcelain appearance. I was pale, both due to DNA and the country of my birth. And living a few years in California had only served to remind me of that. The southern California sun could rip the hide right off anyone not used to it. And even then, the use of sunblock and sunscreen was a religion here. With my skin, I had to be extra diligent.
I took over two hours to prep and primp, unheard of in my normal regimen. But I was ready, slipping my feet into glittery high-heeled sandals.
Feeling like a princess, I actually giggled at myself in the mirror. Getting dressed up like this was so rare that it was almost a treat. I wasn’t so much of a tom boy that I didn’t like being a pretty girly-girl once in a while. But no more than once in a while. Doing this every day would be too damn exhausting. And boring, too, to be honest. I rarely spent more than a half hour on my daily beauty routine mostly because I didn’t find it interesting to spend any more on it.
My heels echoed on the hardwood floors as I walked down the hallway to the front room. I was a few minutes early, hoping to one-up Lucas, who, I knew from work, very much prized punctuality. He’d factored in the length of the drive, the time he wanted to arrive and given me a time by which I needed to be ready.
And here I was, five minutes ahead of schedule and hoping to be here first. But no, he was already there, standing near the door and looking at his phone.
I could hardly be stealthy when my shoes made the same amount of noise on his floor as a galloping baby goat. But I stopped when I entered anyway because…
Because he looked so incredibly hot that it took my breath away.
Lucas was wearing a dark charcoal gray suit, a lighter colored grey shirt. The only splash of color in his entire ensemble was from the deep blue silk tie. But wow. I’d never seen him in a suit before. All of us employees in the Den were casual at work and in most functions surrounding work.
That suit was tailored to fit him perfectly. It accentuated his fit