“I got you.”
She turns, and I close the distance between us, fingers brushing the smooth, bare skin of her back as I tug the zipper up slowly, careful notto touch too much, but already touching too much. She shivers. Or maybe I imagined it.
When the dress is on, she turns toward me.
And I stop breathing.
It’s green. Deep, silky, clinging to her in all the right places. Elegant and a little messy, like she just stepped out of a modern fairytale.
“What?” she asks softly.
I blink. “You look…”
Don’t say perfect. Don’t say breathtaking. Don’t say everything.
“…great,” I finish, my voice rough. “You look great.”
She smiles, but there’s something uncertain in her eyes. “You think your parents will like me?”
“I don’t care if they do.”
She blinks.
“I mean, I hope they will,” I add, stumbling. “But I like you. That’s the part that matters to me.”
Her lips part, but she doesn’t speak. Not right away.
Then she grabs a tube of lipstick off her dresser and says, “We should go.”
“I wish we could skip dinner,” I whisper. “Lock the door. Stay right here.”
She turns her head slightly toward me. “And miss the pleasure of meeting your charming parents?”
“I’d take your pleasure over theirs any day,” I say before I can stop myself.
Her laugh is breathy, a little shocked. “Ash…”
She doesn’t pull away.
I lean down.
Our lipsmeet.
It starts soft. Gentle. But the moment she presses back, it spirals into something deeper—something heady and hungry and aching.
Her hands find my shirt, fingers curling into the fabric.
I slide mine to her waist, tugging her closer until we’re pressed together, her back against my chest, her mouth tilting up toward mine like she’s been waiting all day for this moment.
Then—
Buzz.
Her phone lights up on the dresser. She groans against my lips. “Reminder. Dinner. We shouldn’t keep them waiting.”
We peel ourselves apart with reluctance and head downstairs, where my driver’s already waiting.
The car is cool and dim, city evening unfurling outside in a ribbon of honeyed brake lights. I slide in beside her instead of across. The driver nods in the mirror. We pull out.
