Vicki almost didn’t want to go to the ball anymore.
It was three days away, and the dress was all but finished, but sitting in the high school gym watching the debate the night before had made her realize how close it all was to over. Zane had looked calm and handsome and—most importantly—like everything her heart had ever wanted.
And he was going to go back to Los Angeles after the ball. She couldn’t blame him. His life was there, his clients, his design studio, his everything.
Everything except her.
So if she didn’t go to the ball, obviously that would mean he had to stay. Vicki wasn’t quite sure how that worked, but little details like how reality actually worked weren’t the point when she was deeply involved in magical thinking.
She tried to keep herself cheerful as she taught that day, but she caught a few kids giving her worried looks, and suspected she wasn’t doing as good a job as she would like. After class, as they packed up their stuff, Noah came over and gave her a hug. “It’ll be okay, Ms. Hawthorne. The dress will be really pretty, andif it’s not, my mom is a good sew-er. I bet she can make you a costume really fast.”
Vicki laughed and returned the hug, genuinely touched. “Thanks, Noah, but Mr. Bellamy has almost finished my dress. I’m going over this afternoon to try it on.”
His eyes widened. “Can I come see?”
“Nope! Nobody but me and Mr. Bellamy gets to see it until we’re on the red carpet.” Her stomach gurgled horribly and she suddenly wondered if she didn’t want to go to the ball because she wasabsolutely terrifiedof the idea of walking a red carpet. That was not an item on her bucket list.
Noah, awestruck, whispered, “Are you going to be onTV?”
“I suspect so.” Vicki’s stomach gurgled again. “I think I may not be ready for that.”
“You’ll be great! We’ll all watch you!”
That was not really the reassurance Vicki wanted, but she couldn’t exactly say that to the enthusiastic six-year-old. She smiled instead, and remembered just in time not to ruffle his hair. “Thanks, Noah. I’ll wave at you, okay?”
“OKAY!!!!” Noah tore off yelling about how he was going to be on TV, so Vicki was at least smiling as she made her nervous way over to Zane’s studio, carrying a bag ofstuffranging from shoes to shape wear. They were going to have to talk about so many things, and it all seemed so impossible and overwhelming.
Maybe it would be better not to talk at all. Maybe she should just live in the fairy tale right up until the moment the clock struck midnight, and then go home with her magical dress and her glass slippers, and have a fond memory of what it had been like to be a princess for a little while.
That honestly sounded better than trying to deal with messy, messy reality. She actually felt a little lighter of heart as she rapped on the studio door, then let herself in.
As had happened many times before, she gasped when she stepped into the room. Today, the chaotic whirlwind that was Zane’s workspace hadn’t just been cleaned up. It had been put away entirely. The scraps everywhere were gone, the bolts of fabric and the wall of threads were gone, even the tables had disappeared. The dressing room mirrors were out now, reflecting the only other things in the room: her dress, gracefully waiting on a dressmaker’s dummy, and Zane sitting tailor-style at its hem, a thread and needle in his fingers as he finished the last stitches.
He looked up with a smile, shimmering blue fabric spilled over his lap and his shirtsleeves rolled up again so he could work. His thick hair was tied back so it wouldn’t be in his way, and he looked both casual and impossibly, formally gorgeous in his slacks and vest. “Darn it, I meant to be done when you got here!”
Vicki, speechless, shook her head and came to kiss him, surprising him as she bent to do so. For an incredibly heated heartbeat, she felt his vulnerability with her above him like that, and knew, with a piercing sweet ache all the way through her body and soul, that he would do anything she asked in that moment. She could knock him back and take him with ferocity, and he would be completely hers.
Or she could tell him to stay, and he would agree. She knew it. Sheknewit, in the way she knew they had a connection, whether it was shifter fate or just pure human luck in love.
And she knew what Virtue would be risking to have a fashion designer of his calibre, of his celebrity, back in town for more than a few weeks. Her desire to have Zane all to herself, forever, wasn’t fair to the whole town, never mind Zane and his career. So she held onto that kiss as long as she could, devouring, hungry, desperate, memorizing it, searing it into her mind, andfinally broke away, tears in her eyes as she lifted her gaze to the dress. “It’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen, Zane.”
He said, “Wow,” hoarsely. “If only all my clients thanked me that way.”
She gave him a look, and he gave an equally hoarse chuckle. “Well. Maybe notallof them. Do you want to try it on? I can make sure there aren’t any flaws in the hemline.”
“I’m almost afraid to,” she whispered. “It’s so beautiful, Zane.”
“Almost as beautiful as its wearer.” He rose and pulled her into a startlingly gentle hug. “Vicki, I was thinking we should?—”
“Try it on,” she said in a rough, hasty voice. “You’re right. I need to make sure I know how to get dressed!”
He paused, then chuckled again, more smoothly this time. “I do expect to have an entire team of people there to help you get ready, but in the worst case scenario, right, you should be able to dress yourself, I suppose. Did you bring the shoes?”
“And the horrible underwear, just in case.” Vicki dug the shape wear, which really was horrible, out of the bag, and then pulled her shoes out.
“I feel confident you don’t need the horrible underwear ohwow. Victoria. The shoes! Holy shit! They’re glass slippers! Where the—how did you—where did yougetthese?” Zane took the shoes from her hands, balancing them on his own palms in awe. They had three inch heels, the way she’d promised, and were set with glimmering, glittering faceted blue-white crystals that caught the light and shone like blue glass. Zane moved them closer to the dress, watching how they picked up its colors, then turned to her with an admiring, astonished gaze. “They’re perfect. Wheredidyou get them?”
“Etsy.”
