I turn to break out of the intensity of his stare and pretend to scan the dresses on the rack beside me. My eyes catch on a stunning red dress and I pluck it off the rack. His eyes follow my movement, darkening when he takes in the slip of fabric, the slimmest straps I’ve ever seen in a dress, the cowl neck.
“If you can get Jason to convince Kate to change the color to literally anything more flattering, you can pick out which dress I buy.”
“You don’t want to wear . . . whatever this is?” Amusement is alight in his eyes, the corner of his lips tugging up as he takes in the puffy peach dress again. I put my hands on my hips, pretending I feel much more confident in this dress than I actually do.
“I don’t know, do you think I should?”
He takes another step closer. When he finally stops a breath away from me and his eyes flick up to mine, holding firm as he murmurs, “I think you’re much too beautiful to be wearing something like that.”
My breath catches in my throat. Did Reid Matthews just give me a blatant compliment? I have to be imagining this. I break his gaze first, taking a step back and pushing dresses to the side as casually as I possibly can, fully pretending his compliment and his proximity have absolutely no impact on me.
“Then think about how beautiful I can look in something else,” I say with as much bravado as I can muster.
I risk a glance at him out of the corner of my eye. He seems to consider my words for a moment, his eyes scanning the racks before sliding back to me. His lips twitch as he looks at my peach dress again, then he nods and silently walks away. I’m not proud to admit that I watch him as he walks off and strides right to my sister.
After fifteen minutes, Reid strolls up to the rack I’m silently lingering by and starts pushing dresses back and forth. I watch him with bated breath, waiting to hear if he succeeded in his mission. Finally, he lifts a sky blue dress from the rack and holds it up to me like he’s envisioning me wearing it. I swat his hand away.
With a smirk lingering on his lips, he hands me the dress. “This one.”
“This one what?”
“You said I get to choose your dress if I get her to change the color. I choose this one.”
My fingers curl around the satin as I soak in the words. “Wait, you actually did it?”
He shrugs. “It wasn’t too hard.”
“Yeah, I’m sure all you had to do was tell her rejecting her was the biggest mistake of your life and you would win any bet you could,” I mutter.
He rolls his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous, Jane. I obviously just told her she looked stunning, but she’d look spectacular surrounded by everyone in . . . whatever this specific shade is to you.”
He holds up the dress and I glance down at my new fate. “Is this the color then?” He dips his chin in a nod, a hint of pride starting to radiate on his features.
“What made you choose blue?”
“You’ll look stunning in it.”
My head snaps up to look at him. He’s watching me, his eyes filled with a heat that makes my heart start to beat faster. Another compliment? What in the world is happening today? Suddenly, I can’t wait to put on the dress just to see how he’ll react, how he’ll look at me, what he’ll do.
“Go on,” he says, leaning closer to me. His voice is a low whisper that has those goosebumps back on my arms. “Try it on.”
“Don’t tell me what to do.” The words don’t come out nearly as menacing as I hoped they would. I clear my throat. He smirks.
“I’m not. I’m just here to offer my support.”
“Didn’t ask for it.”
“And my input.”
“Didn’t ask for that either.”
His lips curve up into a grin that has me spinning on my heel and quickly walking to the changing room just to get some space so I can clear my head. It doesn’t work, but I sure am trying.
“He has no business being so hot,” I mutter to myself as I yank off the peach monstrosity I was still stuffed into. I slip on the blue satin dress, a cool whisper of fabric against my skin. Once Izip it up, I stand back and admire myself in the mirror. It’s a much more flattering color. Thin straps, a square neckline, and a slit up to my mid thigh. I look elegant, timeless, and sexy all at once.
I don’t want to admit he was right and that I look stunning in it, but for whatever reason I feel the need to strut out and show him that I can look hot in a wisely selected dress. With a grin at myself in the mirror, I push open the curtain and step back onto the pedestal proudly.
I immediately look for Reid’s eyes in the mirror, suddenly desperate to see his reaction. While I was getting dressed, he changed into a pair of classic black pants and a crisp white button-up dress shirt. The top three buttons of his shirt are still undone like he was only half trying it on and got bored. When I finally pull my eyes from his exposed tanned chest, I find his gaze in the mirror, his attention is already fixed completely on me and the thought of that makes my heart race. His blue eyes darken, his nostrils flare. I arch a subtle eyebrow, silently asking him his opinion.
