He arched a brow, waiting for me to ask. Suppressing the overwhelming urge to shunt this rack of clothes straight into his hard body, I ground out, ‘How was your day?’
He smiled widely. ‘Good, thanks for asking.’
‘This is painful.’
‘I agree. You’re making it much harder than it should be.’
My mouth opened in protest. When he rifled through the hangers again, frowning at the various types of suits on display and not finding what he was looking for, I noticed the dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than ever. Lines of stress creased his brow, and something in me softened.
‘What are we doing here, George?’
‘How’s this?’ He held up a grey suit against his chest, ignoring my question.
I scanned the wrinkled material. ‘If you’re interviewing for a job at a bank, perfect. If you want to look like you have an ounce of personality, horrendous.’
His brow furrowed at the suit in his hand. ‘Fuck.’He put it back, dejected.
‘Is this what you needed my help with?’ I eyed the clothes and his apparent ineptitude around fashion.
He heaved a sigh. ‘Yes. Figured I’d kill two birds with one stone. Start your very first lesson on dating and get your opinion on a suit.’
‘And I thought men couldn’t multitask.’
The same smile that sent a shot of heat through my core curled at his lips. ‘That’s very stereotypical of you, sweetheart. Men can do a great many things.’
I couldn’t stop myself from scoffing. ‘Sure they can.’ This was apparently how I was spending my lunch break, so I stopped fighting it. Blowing out a long breath, I stepped closer and swatted his chest to get him to move out of the way. With a curious expression, he let me take over. Stepping back and peering over my shoulder, watching me quickly flit through all the limited options.
My forehead wrinkled. ‘I don’t think any of these will fit you.’ The sizes were all over the place, ranging from extra small to five XL. George was somewhere in between. Tall, broad, and entirely too close for me to think clearly. My hands grazed over a thick black suit and pulled it out.
I felt his heat on my back and forced my body not to shiver at the contact. I’d done remarkably well not to let my treacherous brain think about last night. The way I’d imagined his fingers ghosting over my bare skin…
Fuck. Pull yourself together.
I was about to move away when his hand reached past me to check the label on the suit I was holding. His breath tickled my ear.
‘It’ll do.’ He murmured. ‘Hopefully, I’ll only need to wear it once.’
He took the garment from my hands and looked it up and down. I took two careful steps back, needing space to catch my breath, and folded my arms over my chest.
‘Why do you need a suit? Most of your wardrobe is flannel and jeans. Why the sudden need to go corporate?’
George’s sigh was weary and resigned as he headed towards the changing rooms. I trailed after him, leaning against the chipped paint wall. He flung the flimsy curtain closed. Concealing him from view.
‘I need a loan,’ his muffled voice sounded.
‘And the suit is…’
‘Banks like suits. I’ve finally got a meeting with someone and don’t want to do anything to fuck it up.’ The exasperation in his voice intrigued me.
‘Why do you need a loan so bad?’
‘Cora’s…’ He trailed off.
I waited, but he didn’t continue. My mouth opened, ready to ask a slew of questions, when the curtain flew open. If my day had been any worse, this, right here, might have made up for it. A crisp button-down shirt moulded to the contour of his thick shoulders, the top buttons opened, showing the soft curls of his chest hair. It was tucked into black dress pants; his thighs looked one squat away from splitting.
Jesus Christ.My entire body nearly liquified at the sight. He slipped on a blazer, flipping up the collar and strolled to the full-length mirror. All the moisture in my mouth evaporated.
‘Well?’ When I didn’t answer because all my blood had shot to the lower half of my body, leaving very little for my brain, he peered over his shoulder. ‘Rosie?’
