“Sammy did it. I get sweaty and angry when I try to do anything more than a messy bun.”
“Where is Sammy?”
“Throwing on her dress. She took Meatball for a long walk after she did her hair and makeup.”
“Andy, are you ready?” Sammy, someone who believed that if you were on time, you were late, called.
“Yep,” she called, heels clicking down my hallway.
I grabbed my heels and clutch before following them out barefoot.
“Damn,” Sammy said, nodding at me.
“Right?” Andy asked.
“You look amazing too,” I told Sammy, eyeing her simple bias-cut slip gown.
“Thanks. Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“No, I’ll wait here,” I said.
I could tolerate being stood up at home where no one could see. I would die of humiliation if it happened in a public place.
“Okay. We’ll see you there then,” Sammy said. She slid an arm around Andy’s back, guiding her away before she could say anything else to me.
I shut the door and exhaled hard.
It was going to be okay. Even if he didn’t show up, it was going to be okay. If anything, maybe it would be good. I would at least know that he was over any attraction to me.
If it had ever existed at all.
Men didn’t kiss you like he’d kissed me if they hadn’t been interested.
Ugh.
I really needed to stop using that single kiss as a reason to justify my stupid crush on a man I’d barely spoken to since.
I glanced over at my Christmas tree, relaxing my eyes until the lights went all blurry and magical, always finding something calming about that.
I was still standing there like that when there was a knock on the door.
A startled yelp escaped me as I whipped around.
I inched toward the door.
“It’s me,” Venezio called before I could look out the peephole.
A deep exhale escaped me, chasing away the tension in my shoulders. But replacing it was a swooping sensation in my stomach.
I pulled open the door.
Then there he was.
He looked devastatingly handsome in his expensive, well-tailored suit: black suit, matte black shirt, black tie. It was all perfectly appropriate but also kind of, I don’t know, dark and dangerous. Especially with all his tattoos.
“Wow,” I exhaled.
“Fuck,” he said at the same time.
