She turns away from the mirrored walls, her smile beaming as she looks at Jane and me. “I feel like a princess. Your work—both of you—is amazing. Every woman should be able to feel this beautiful and sexy at least one time in her life.”
I can’t help but agree. Every time I design an expensive, bespoke piece of lingerie like the ones Avery is wearing, I wish I had the means to create this kind of magic for every woman. And I can’t deny that so often, I wish my designs weren’t reserved exclusively for flawless bodies and limitless bank accounts.
But right now, nothing can diminish the satisfaction I feel at seeing Avery so openly delighted with what I’ve created for her.
She glances at the mirrors once more, smoothing her palm over the sheer floral lace and the delicate cups that lift her breasts like bonbons. “Nick’s going to lose his mind when he sees me in this. I can’t wait to see his reaction.”
I smile. “If you like this one, I think you’re really going to love all of the other sets we’re working on.”
“I’m sure I will.” She turns to let me carefully unhook the bra for her, then she steps off the dais and enters the changing stall. From behind the closed door,she asks, “How long before I can take this one home with me?”
I glance at Jane in question.
Lips pursed, she gives a small wave of her hand. “The original measurements I took were nearly perfect,” she says, without a trace of humility, something I’ve come to expect and appreciate from the older woman. “So, to finish the work shouldn’t take me long. If I start immediately, I’m sure I can have it ready in the morning.”
“Thanks, Jane. If you like, Avery, I would be happy to swing by tomorrow and hand deliver the finished pieces to you at your home.”
“No, I couldn’t ask that of you.” Soft rustles sound as she takes off the lingerie and puts on her own undergarments and clothing. “Besides, I’ll be at an event in the Bronx all day with Nick. We’re hosting a big outing for the kids and families who are part of the youth recreation center in Chelsea.”
I’m familiar with the project she mentions. While Dominic Baine had eschewed a lot of the publicity surrounding his generous gift to the community in the months since it opened, the rec center hit the press with a splash. Success stories about the kids it serves and the people who have benefitted from Nick’s generosity continue to run on local news and internet articles on a regular basis.
“The original plan for tomorrow was bumper cars and Ferris wheels at an amusement park,” Avery says. “Nick just informed me about an hour ago that he had to change the venue. So, now we’ll be hosting the party at the zoo instead.”
“That sounds even better to me. I used to love goingto the zoo when I was a kid.”
“Would you like to come?” She walks out of the dressing room wearing jeans and heels and a gray silk blouse. The bra and panties are folded neatly in her hands. She thanks Jane as the seamstress takes the pieces and shuffles out of the room. “A few of my friends are going to be there too. Why don’t you join us, if you don’t have other plans?”
“I don’t have plans,” I admit, and after a stressful week—topped off by a kiss that’s left me breathless and utterly confused even two days after Gabriel Noble stalked out of my office—the thought of spending a Saturday afternoon in one of my favorite childhood places seems like exactly the kind of escape I need. “All right. I’d love to come.”
“Great,” Avery says. “The event starts at eleven, but we’ll be there early, so stop by the park anytime. You can text me when you arrive and I’ll make sure you can find me.”
“Okay. Shall I bring the finished lingerie with me?”
She grins. “You’d better not. If Nick realizes what it is, he won’t stop until he’s got me in it, no matter where we happen to be. And then he’ll be unbearable until he gets me out of it.”
I smile. “Isn’t that the ultimate point of beautiful lingerie?”
“Yes, but I’d rather imagine the kids getting an education in animal husbandry from the actual animals tomorrow, not from my insatiable and utterly shameless, hot husband-to-be.”
I laugh, but hearing her talk about the passion she has with Nick makes me relive the smoldering possessiveness I felt in those brief, searing moments thatGabe’s mouth came crushing down on mine. I’ve been telling myself I’m glad he hasn’t come back, that I am thankful I haven’t been asked to return to the Baine Building to meet again with Avery and risk running into Gabe in the process.
I’ve spent the past two days trying to convince myself that this man and his kiss hasn’t cracked something open inside me, that it should be easy to banish the memory of his lips on mine with the same disregard he seems to have for me.
Yet, meanwhile, for all of these past two days, he’s continued to invade my thoughts.
And at night, he invades my dreams.
Avery studies me now, as she collects her purse from the velvet-upholstered settee near where we stand. “I understand Gabe is overseeing some security enhancements here at L’Opale.”
“Yes, he is.” My bitterness toward him is still ripe enough that it slips out of me on a short scoff. “Lucky me.”
I’m not sure how she could tell I’d been thinking about Gabriel Noble, but there’s no mistaking the curious gleam in her eyes now that she’s mentioned his name and caught my reaction.
“Don’t tell me you two are still locking horns?”
Among other things.As the fiancée of the man Gabe works for, Avery doesn’t need to be burdened with the details of my last encounter with him. But she doesn’t seem inclined to let it go. She studies me with the kind of look Paige or my other friends tend to give me when I’m trying to be evasive.
“If I’m pressing, please tell me. But . . . is something going on between you and Gabe?”
