“I’m not sure this is better,” I mutter, heading toward my closet with curved shoulders. “I don’t know what to do about him.”
She gets up and follows me, a pep in her steps. “Youdon’t need to do anything necessarily. Just don’t keep your walls up. Nature will take care of the rest.”
Or I will, Wolf pipes up.
“My wolf keeps threatening to hump him.” I yank open a drawer, pretending I don’t see the tiny twitch of amusement on Liz’s lips.
“It’s not the worst plan,” she says, inspecting her nails. “But I think an outfit that knocks him on his ass will be enough of a statement for tonight.”
Wolf hums smugly.She’s right. Wear something Cade can’t ignore.
You’re supposed to help me survive,I snap internally.Not play fairy godmother to my love life.
Same thing,Wolf purrs.
“You two are going to be the death of me.” I grab jeans and underwear from the drawer before turning toward the shirts.
But Liz is blocking the way, holding up a forest green top like it’s already decided.
I reach past her for one of my plain tees, but the vampire is quick and snaps it out of my hand like she’s intercepting contraband.
“Jeans are fine,” she concedes, eyeing the pair in my hands. “They make your legs look like you could strangle a man with them, which, honestly, good for you.”
I blink. “Thanks?”
“But this?” She plucks lightly at the cotton tee still on the hanger like it’s an affront to humanity. “It screams ‘high school gym class,’ not ‘pretend informational training session with the shifter you’re obviously in love with.’”
“I am not?—”
“Uh-huh.” She cuts me off with the smoothness of someone who’s been shutting people down since birth. “Try this instead.” She tosses the green number at me, something I’m not even sure came from the closet of new clothes I never asked for.
It has a low neckline. Not necessarily scandalous, but enough that little will be left to the imagination.
Maybe that will take the glower out of Cade’s golden eyes, Wolf says with too much excitement.
“I’m not wearing that,” I tell Liz, keeping my arms tight around the robe like it might protect me from her insistence.
“Yes, you are,” she says smugly, shoving it into my arms. “It’s casual enough not to look like date clothes, but sexy enough to make him sweat.”
Wolf all but howls her approval.You can’t hide your desire for this moment from me. You know you want to wear it.
“I hate both of you,” I mutter as I get a better hold of the shirt. The fabric is soft under my fingers, and the color is dangerously flattering against my skin tone.
Wolf is right.
There’s a part of me that’s eager to know what he wants to discuss tonight instead of continuing to bruise my body. I also haven’t been able to get the way he cared for me after the wolf attack out of my head. The closeness and tenderness were…everything. A fact I’ve tried to push down, but the longer I’m around him, the harder that is to do.
“You’ll thank me later.” Liz’s grin sharpens as shesweeps out of the closet, leaving me no room to argue. “Or he will.”
I groan, but the sound isn’t half as miserable as I expect. More like a reluctant admission that maybe—just maybe—she’s right.
I pull the outfit on quickly, tugging the silky top over my head before I lose my nerve. The fabric slides across my skin like it was spun just for me, and when I turn toward the mirror, a grin sneaks across my lips. It can’t be helped.
Liz was right.
I look good. Dangerously good.
Even with my hair tumbling in natural waves around my shoulders and my face bare of makeup, my skin glows, my eyes catch the light in a way that feels almost supernatural. For one dizzying second, I hardly recognize the woman staring back at me. She looks like someone who belongs in this world. Like someone who could actually be something.
