“Mile…” Her eyes widen. “I don’t have my wallet.” She pats uselessly at the dress. “Or my phone. We left so fast I didn’t grab anything.”
Her shoulders sag.
“It’s a good thing you have me then.” I wink at her.
She doesn’t say anything, but some of the panic seems to disappear.
The station isn’t packed, but there are enough people around that conversations start going quiet as we walk the aisles.
Hard to miss a woman wandering through a gas station in a wedding dress.
“I wouldn’t say T-shirts and sweatpants are my thing,” Penny says as she grabs a lilac T-shirt with a bunny and the gas station logo printed on the back, “but right now, this looks like couture.”
I snort.
She grabs gray sweatpants that look suspiciously similar to mine, then glances around.
“Need help?” I nod toward the back of the store. “Bathrooms are that way.”
“Yeah.” She gives me a small smile that resets my heart. “I definitely need help.”
“Alright.” A grin pulls at my mouth. “Let’s go. We’ve had enough attention for today.”
She laughs under her breath as we head toward the bathrooms.
“I can’t take this off by myself,” she mutters all matter-of-fact. “And I’d rather not get arrested today, so we should probably use the family restroom.”
“Lead the way.”
I grab the endless train of her dress and have to put in more effort than I thought.
“This damn thing is heavy,” I say as I shut the bathroom door behind us.
“Heavy, hideous, and all shades of wrong,” she grumbles while trying—and failing—to reach the zipper on her back.
“Stop moving.”
I step behind her and easily grab for the zipper. “Here.”
The moment my fingers brush the bare skin of her back, I want to forget where we are and sink my teeth into her shoulder. Nibble on her hard enough to make her gasp before making it better with my tongue.
But I can’t. At least not yet.
We still have way too much to talk about.
Once the zipper is fully down, I step back. “I’ll wait outside.”
“Wait.” Her voice stops me before I can reach the door. “Just one more thing.”
I turn around.
She’s looking at me with those huge doe eyes that wreck every ounce of self-control I have.
“What is it, sugar?” The nickname slips out before I can stop it.
My eyes widen slightly, but I don’t take it back.
“Can you please put this monstrosity in the back of the truck?” Penny asks as she carefully steps out of the wedding dress.
