“Take me with you.”
“And have you miss your Cinderella experience? We couldn’t do that to Nina.”
“Damn you for being right.” I sigh. “I’ll text you when we’re done.”
“I’m just going to the office, I’m not far away if you need me.” He slings the bag over his shoulder and heads for the elevator. “And hey, don’t forget your key if you go out.”
“I…” I glance toward the table in the foyer, where I left it. “The one Pierre used?”
Jake stops mid-stride, his expression rapidly shifting from confused to chagrined to amused. “Yeah. Hang on.” He jogs to the foyer and comes back holding the key. “So I was thinking you should have a key to my place. This place. So you can come and go whenever. And so you’d know you’re always welcome.”
I’d seen where he was going with this when his face displayed that circuit of reactions, but it still makes me all warm and feel-y inside. “Are you sure?”
“I’ve been thinking about this for a while,” he murmurs, pressing the card into my hand. He doesn’t let go once I take it. Instead, his fingers circle my wrist as his other hand cups my face. “I like knowing I’m coming home to you.”
Boom. I don’t know if this is a big moment or a little moment, but there goes my heart again, exploding all over the place.
“Okay.”
“I l—” He cuts himself off as the elevator dings behind him.
The dresses.
My heart is pounding. Damn Cinderella moment getting in the way of my other special moment.
“Later,” he whispers.
He makes his way around Pierre and two impossibly petite women, both dressed head-to-toe in black. Neither of them give Jake a second glance. They’re both laser-focused on me.
“You must be Jana,” Intense Girl 1 says.
“We’re so excited to dress you for the Met,” Intense Girl 2 says. “I’m Kyra, and this is Nikki.”
I hold out my hand. Okay, Kyra’s got a decent grip. Marcus would be proud. “Thank you for bringing me…” I wave at the giant cart behind them. “All of Nordstrom, maybe?”
They laugh.
Good. If they like awkward and dorky jokes, we’re going to get on just fine.
“I’ve got my best friend here for—” Uncensored judgement, probably. “Moral support.”
I introduce them to Nina and they decline her offer of coffee. Apparently Jake showed her how the fancy machine works.
They get right down to it. Their cart unfolds to reveal four garment bags hanging inside, as well as a set of shelves filled with shoes and small, white boxes.
“Undergarments,” Nikki says when my gaze lingers there.
“I have…my own?”
She smiles. “Just in case.”
And with the first dress, a stunning emerald green one-shoulder dress, I realize what she means. I don’t know if my strapless bra will work with that, the way it dips in the back.
“This one has a built in structure, so you probably don’t need a bra. Would you like to try it on here, or in your bedroom?”
Jake’s room, but I don’t correct her. I blush. “Here is fine.”
They’re pros about that, too, and quickly I’m being zipped in. It’s gorgeous, but it’s so tight across the hips I’m not sure I can sit in a limo for the drive to the museum. “It’s a bit tight,” I admit.
“But perfect through the waist and bust,” Kyra says, nodding brusquely. “On to option two.”
My breath catches as soon as they unzip the second garment bag. Acres of creamy tulle and lace spill into Nikki’s hands as she lifts out a classic long-sleeved gown. It looks like something Grace Kelly might wear, and I want it so much it hurts, but this, too, doesn’t fit when I try it on.
“Oh,” I say, my voice cracking. It’s just a bit too big. The sleeves are too long, and the shoulders too broad.
“You’re a petite thing, for all your curves,” Nikki says. “I think the next dress might be perfect.”
“This one…” I’m putting the cart way before the horse. I don’t know if I’ll have another reason to wear it. “Could it be altered? Not for Monday, but for another event?”
“Of course. Would you like us to arrange for that? Mr. Aston said you should keep any and all of the dresses you like.”
I run my hands down the ivory bodice. It looks like a wedding dress. “Maybe…”
“Consider it done. And now, option three. This one is the most in keeping with the design standards of this year’s honorary chair. Of course, you don’t need to choose it for that reason, but we believe it’s the one that will most match the common themes others go for.”
“Oh, now you’ve got me curious.” I hug the lace dress to me. I think my heart has already been lost to a dress I can’t wear. So now we might as well be logical about the next two options.
Except when they reveal the next one, it’s not just the most fashion-forward design so far, it’s also sexy as hell. “Wow,” I breath. It’s got a black satin bodice, cut sharply, and then a billowing chiffon skirt that fades from black at the hips to a stark white at the bottom. Flames of gray lick up and down the skirt as the fabric flows. It’s modern and monochromatic and I like it a lot. “Yes, this one, maybe.”
They unzip me out of the lace, and I step into the new dress. The skirt swirls around me in layers as they fit it to my body, and Nina is already clapping before I turn around.
“Yes, that’s the one.” She nods proudly. “You look like a model.”
“I even have shoes for it,” I say, not quite believing how perfect the dress is. “Nina, they’re on the low dresser in Jake’s bedroom, can you grab them?”
Kyra whips out her measuring tape. “Now let’s just figure out what bra size you are, and then we’ll move on to undergarments.”
“I’m a—”
She shakes her head. “Oh, honey. Whatever you think you are is probably wrong. And for this dress, let’s just start from ground zero. We want to get it right. Arms up, good, and down.”
It turns out my band size was an inch too loose, and my cup size a letter too small. They have one bra on their cart in my new size, and they’re right—it does fit better.
“We can bring you more options in that size on Monday, if you’d like,” Nikki offers.
I shake my head. “Nina? Let’s go lingerie shopping.”
Kyra beams proudly and hands over a quick handwritten list. “Excellent. Look for these brands and these sizes and shapes. I think for Monday, you want a full body suit to hold in your adorable tummy.” I raise my eyebrow at her and she blushes for the first time since this whirlwind dressing thing started. “I mean…”
Nina laughs. “She means your tummy is adorable and I know Jake agrees. But for Monday, we want that sucker flat all night. Get one with an extra panel. Don’t worry, they come in sexy versions, right?”
The stylists nod.
Three against one. Time to do some shopping.
26
Jake
On Sunday morning, Jana joins me in my gym just as I’m finishing my run. She’s sipping a green smoothie and hands another for me.
“Are we being healthy after the excess of Friday night?”
“Something like that.” She eyes my treadmill suspiciously.
“Would you like to have a run?”
“No.” The answer comes fast enough that I know it’s not quite what she meant to say, and we both chuckle.
“Are you nervous about tomorrow?”
“Oh my God, yes.” She sags against the treadmill arm and makes a face. “Also, I don’t know how to make a good green smoothie. It’s missing coffee, whipped cream, and a Starbucks barista to prepare it properly.”
I take a sip of mine. It’s great, for what it is. I lean in. “I’ll let you in on a secret. The only people who truly love these things don’t have taste buds. Or they’ve never had a Frappucino.”
“I don’t think one day of a green smoothie and pretendin
g to exercise is going to make a difference,” she says. “So we should go to Starbucks.”
“We definitely should. And on the way, you should tell me why you’re nervous about tomorrow.”
“I told you months ago that we’re going to have an awkward run-in with a supermodel ex.” She’s teasing, but there’s a kernel of fear that’s very real to her at the core of that.
I pull her close and brush my lips against the curve of her ear. “There is no drama in my life that will touch you. I wouldn’t put you in that position.”
“No supermodel exes?”
“Two of them. I don’t think either of them will be there, but there definitely wouldn’t be any drama. One of them is pregnant with her second kid and very happily married. The other is very happily unmarried and living in Paris. Neither of them thought I was that great a boyfriend, to be honest.”
“Well, they’d be wrong.”
“Would they?” I like the fierceness in her voice.
“You’re smart and sexy and full of surprises. What’s not to like?”
“You bring out the good boyfriend in me.”
“You didn’t make the supermodels coffee?”
I didn’t have the supermodels stay over at my place. “They weren’t serious relationships.”
She bites her lip, I’m sure to keep from pointing out that coffee in the morning is not a marker of a serious relationship. It is for me, though. Or it was. I’ve got bigger plans up my sleeve.
I drag her into the shower with me, where we both get a bit of a workout that she’s definitely agreeable to, then we head to Starbucks.
It’s warm, so once we have our drinks, we head into the park. It’s busy this morning. Lots of runners, people out with their dogs, and lots of people with kids. Central Park is like having the most amazing backyard, full of history and pleasant strangers.
It wasn’t always that way. I grew up here. This was my backyard, in a very different way. New York in the Eighties was a very different place. The park was dangerous at night, and not much better during the day.
“Want to see where I used to play baseball as a kid?”
“Uh, yes.” She laughs. “Yes! Of course I do.”
“It’s a bit of a walk.”
She slides her fingers through mine. “I’ve got all the time in the world. Show me your childhood.”
I tell her about the park conservation program that turned Central Park around through my later childhood, and how my mother made me volunteer with the gardeners when she caught me smoking. “That was the most mother-like thing she ever did.”
Jana doesn’t say anything. She hasn’t met my mother yet, because the day after I told Mother I had a girlfriend I wanted to introduce her to, she flew to Italy for a so-called retreat I hadn’t heard anything about.
It’s possible the two aren’t related, but I’m not holding my breath.
We curve around the back of the Met and I point it out. “We’ll walk back down Fifth so you can see the front. They’re probably putting up the tent for the covered entrance today.”
A pair of runners sprint past us, and Jana watches them for a few seconds before asking me why I don’t ever run through the park.
“I do, all the time.”
“Not when I’m at your place.”
“Because you’re at my place. The treadmill is faster and I can multitask work, and get both out of the way faster so I can rejoin you in bed, or on a walk.”
“This view is incredible,” she says as we reach the path around the lake. On the other side, the apartment buildings of Central Park West rise above the trees. “Maybe I’ll take up jogging. Or walking briskly.”
“Are there any great parks in Baltimore?”
She snorts. “No. We’re more like New York, circa 1982.”
Ah, well, there’s always my treadmill. “Because I bought a building yesterday. In the Inner Harbor.”
She trips over her feet and spins around. “My Inner Harbor? Baltimore’s Inner Harbor? That—”
“Yes.”
“What sort of building?”
“A tall one. Good for business-ing and things like that.”
“Jake!”
“What? You said you like it when I’m full of surprises.”
“I meant showing up in Vermont for an afternoon of sex.”
“We can have many afternoons of sex if I work in Baltimore. Middle of the nights, early mornings…”
“Only a billionaire would think the solution to us being apart is for you to move your entire company to me.”
“Not the entire company. Just a division. The CEO’s office. The rest of the building we’ll lease to other companies.”
A breeze picks up and she pushes an errant strand of hair off her face. Her eyes are bright and wide, and her cheeks are flushed.
I love you. I really shouldn’t say that just yet. I should let her process.
“This is…you just gave me a key to your place. I think the next step is a drawer, not a real estate transaction.”
“You don’t think that’s a logical solution?”
“It would make way more sense for me and the cats to move closer to you.”
“Closer?”
“I was thinking New Jersey.”
New Jersey? I love you. Maybe it is time to say. I tug her to the side of the path as another group of runners storms past. They’re loud. Maybe this isn’t the right place. I don’t know, I’ve never done this before. I love you.
It’s pretty easy in my head.
She searches my face. “Don’t worry. I’m not inviting myself into the penthouse or anything.”
“You should. I love you.” It turns out, it’s easy to say out loud, too. I grin. “And that’s why I bought a building in Baltimore. Because I love you.”
“Buying a skyscraper isn’t romantic.” She laughs. “Except it is, sort of. My heart’s all fluttery over it,” she whispers. “Oh, Jake.”
I pull her into my arms and kiss her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.”
“We can fight about where we’re going to live when we get to the East Meadow.”
“What’s that?” she breathes, her voice all husky.
“Where I used to play baseball.”
“That doesn’t sound private.”
“It’s not, you’ll need to contain yourself.”
“But you love me,” she whispers, wiggling closer. “That feels like we should celebrate with dirty sex.”
I take her hand and pull her toward the next exit out of the park. Grass show-and-tell time can wait.
27
Jana
The make-up artist does a final swipe of nail polish. “How does that look?”
“Perfect.”
“Okay, now it’s Nina’s turn.”
My bestie took the day off work to come and be pampered at Jake’s apartment with me. She’s not going to the Gala, but that’s no reason why we can’t take advantage of the pampering and make it for two instead of one.
We even get Daisy on a video chat and promise her she can come up for the next one.
“I wasn’t expecting quite this much…fuss,” I admit to them both when the stylists are steaming my dress in another room.
“Get used to it,” Nina says with a pleased smile.
“Stop taking credit. You thought Jake was a delivery driver,” I point out.
“And so did you. I swear you fell in love with him from the first delivery.”
“Second,” I say. “The first one I was on the phone with the cable company and I didn’t really notice much other than he was hot.”
“What happened during the second delivery?”
He’d gotten down at cat level and had a serious hello-nice-to-meet-you moment with Trick and Jared. Larken had hidden, of course. “He was sweet to my cats.”
“Awww.”
And now they were going to move here. Kitten, too, although she isn’t much of a kitten anymore, but that’s her name now fo
r good.
Kyra and Nikki emerge from the never-used second bedroom and pronounce the dress ready to put on.
I stand up and tighten my robe around me. Beneath it I’m wearing a push-up black silk body suit that’s basically a bra and panties with a silk panel in between to hold my “adorable tummy” in, as the stylists said. I was skeptical, but it’s actually seriously sexy, and I can’t wait for Jake to peel me out of my dress at the end of the night.
I excuse myself to go check on my boyfriend, who’s in his office, working.
I find him on the phone, but he catches my eye and holds up his finger. He ends the call, then stands and prowls toward me. “What do you have under that robe?”
“That is for me to know and you to discover later tonight. How much time until we need to leave? Should I put on my dress now?”
He tugs on the soft cotton of the robe and holds me close so he can kiss me. “We’ve got enough time for me convince you—” An alarm sounds from his phone. He groans. “No we don’t. Well played.”
“I like surprises, too.” I stick my tongue out at him. “Do up your bow tie, Mr. Aston. We have a gala to attend.”
He catches my hand and brings my fingers to the black bow tie hanging loose around his neck. “You do it.”
Heat swirls in his gaze as I take the two ends of the tie and…do nothing. “I don’t know how to tie a bow tie.”
“Oh, I can teach you.” He smiles, slow and lazy. “Take the left hand side, and cross it over the right hand—no, your left. My right.”
I fix it, then rest my knuckles against the hard planes of his chest. Jake in a tux is eye candy. Touching Jake in a tux is foreplay. “Got it.”
“Now loop the top one around the bottom one and bring it up through the loop around my neck. No hanging jokes.”
“Never.”
“Now you’re going to fold the hanging bit up and to the right, so it makes a bow, with the loop pointing to the right. Good.”
“My right, your left,” I tease him, and his muscles flex beneath my fingers. I want to stroke the smooth cotton of his dress shirt, but my hands are full of black satin tie.
“Now drop the top tail down, so the skinny bit covers the middle of the bow, and…”
Take Me to Bed: A Collection of Naughty Bedtime Stories Page 59
