I don’t scratch my head for too long before I’m knocking on Gus’s door down the hall. He arrives moments later, freshly damp from the shower with only a towel wrapped low on his waist.
Don’t look, don’t look, don’t look!
I looked.Obviously.
“Oh, I’m sorry…” I say, blinking away, heat rushing to my cheeks. “I didn’t mean to interrupt. I—”
“Are you blushing?” he asks, surprise in his tone.
“Well, you are practically naked,” I point out.
He looks down at himself. I follow his eyes; a light trail of hair starts between the neat grooves of his torso then narrows as it reaches the towel. It doesn’t take much work to imagine what’s beneath that. I swallow and shake myself out of it.
Why did I come here again?
Oh yes, clothes.
“I have a problem,” I say.
“Is it me?”
“No, you’re just apain. I don’t have anything to wear.”
Gus regards me plainly for a minute. “And yet you’re not naked,” he says, a smile tugging at the corners of his lips.
“Funny.” I sigh, letting my arms drop. “Where are we going? Is it somewhere fancy? Somewhere I’ll need a dress? I doubt Cole eats anywhere that doesn’t have a Michelin star.”
“You’d be surprised. He’s actually a massive slob.”
“Stop shit-talking him to me, it ruins the fantasy.”
Gus only chuckles to himself. “Hang on, I’ll call him.” He heads back into the room and grabs his phone off the nightstand, holding it to his ear. Cole picks up straight away.
“Mate, where we eating?” he asks. I can hear the low drumbeat of Cole’s voice down the line. Gus nods along, keeping his eyes firmly on my face the entire time. I try to act like this isn’t incredibly intimate and making my heart beat faster than it should be and take slow discreet breaths to steady myself.
Finally, Gus says, “In that case, can I borrow your wardrobe? Our stuff is on the cruise.” He nods, hangs up then holds a finger up to me as he closes the door. One moment later he comes back out in a white dressing gown and slippers.
“Follow me,” he instructs.
“I doubt I’m going to find anything to wear in Cole’s wardrobe.”
“Oh yeah?”
“Yeah. For one, he’s six foot five.”
Gus makes a dismissive sound. “Please. He’s pushing six three.”
Gus leads me across the villa to where Cole’s master suite is, and – to my surprise – Aline is already waiting for us at an enormous wooden door. She doesn’t speak much English as she ushers us into what I can only describe as a walk-in wardrobe on steroids. She quickly finds a white shirt and some dark trousers to fit Gus before shooing him away and focusing her attention on me.
She closes the door behind him, so I don’t catch what he says as he leaves.
Aline looks me up and down with warm green eyes, nods and guides me to another corner of the room, with mahogany shelves and lit up mirrors. I wish I could ask her how long she’s worked here, she has a very gentle, nurturing energy about her. Her first choice, which she holds up against me so I can see my reflection in the mirror, is a long, tight red dress that, quite honestly, intimidates me.
It’s beautiful butwaytoo sexy.
As if she gets all of this from my facial expressions alone, she nods and takes it back. The next two outfits are the wrong fit. Finally, she pulls out a sleek black dress with a slit up one side. Its far more my style, even if it would annihilate my usual clothing budget, so I try it on.
Despite it being more fitted than I expected, the fabric sheer in places, it gives business sexy. And it’s completely my style. I turn to Aline as she’s picking out grey snake print heels for me to pair with it. “Why does Cole have so many clothes for women?” I ask, genuinely bemused.
