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“And that will matter because?” The lift pings as we arrive at our floor. “I mean, surely I arrive in the dress, I leave in the dress. And if it gets dirty I’ll live with it.”
“Ah.” It hits me as the doors open. She doesn’t know. “We’ll be there for two nights.” Shit, didn’t I make this clear? “Is that a problem?”
The personal shopper is waiting for us as we walk into the marble entrance that leads to the private shopping area. “Mr. Hunt,” she says. “Welcome. I’m Elise. Can I get you both a drink?”
I glance at Georgia. She shakes her head. “No, we’re fine, thank you.” Then I lean in. “We can abandon the idea. No problem at all. But either way we’ll be back here on Christmas Eve.” I already have plans for us. And for Christmas Day, if she’ll spend it with me. And after that… well, I don’t want to think about after that.
“Abandon my future dinner party story?” She frowns. “No, it’s fine. I can bring my laptop with me.”
“You’ll be working?”
“Just writing a proposal. And doing a little research, that’s all.” I tell him about the reorganization at my work, and the possibility of having to find a new job after the holidays. Then I explain how his mention of tech bros gave me the idea for the pitch. “My boss is lovely,” I tell him. “And he knows a lot of people. I don’t want to let him down.”
“You won’t.” He looks kind of pleased that he had a hand in my idea. “You’ll do brilliantly.”
Elise opens the door to a room. “If you’d like to come in here to wait, Mr. Hunt, I’ll take Georgia to try on some of the items I picked out.”
“Picked out?” Georgia mouths at me. I shrug. Because of course I sent Elise details. Or, rather, Jess did when I asked her to. She owed me after the Scrooge disaster.
Elise points me toward the overstuffed leather armchair while Georgia follows her into the dressing room. I pull my phone out, listening to their muffled voices in the changing room, checking emails that have come in since I left the office to bring Georgia here.
A few minutes later, the curtain swishes open, and I almost drop the device. Because she’s there, wearing a deep green silk dress that skims her body, making her look like some kind of emerald goddess.
It’s high necked and elegant, the kind of dress that would work for any formal Christmas party. But when she turns around, the fabric falls away to the small of her back, the smooth expanse of her skin held together by nothing more than a lattice of thin green straps.
For a second I forget how to breathe. Or exist.
She turns to smile at me. The color makes her eyes brighter, her skin warmer. She looks like Christmas and temptation wrapped into one.
And all I can think about is how I’m going to unlace those straps after the party and kiss her naked skin like I own it.
“What do you think?” Georgia asks me.
I exhale and nod. “I think it’s the one.”
“How much is it?” she asks, turning to Elise.
“It doesn’t matter, we’re taking it,” I say firmly.
Georgia blinks. “Of course it matters. I can’t let you buy me a dress without even knowing how much it is.”
“This is more for me than you,” I promise her. “I really like looking at you in that dress. And I’d like to look at you in it all night at the party.”
Her mouth twitches. “I hate it when you’re persuasive.”
I brush my fingers against her smooth back, letting them linger for a second longer than necessary.
She inhales softly, her eyes lifting to mine. And for a second neither of us says a word.
Elise clears her throat. “I’ll bring a few options for the rest of the weekend’s outfits,” she says smoothly. “Something for the country. And perhaps a more relaxed dinner look?”
Georgia nods quickly, her gaze still locked with mine. “That would be great.”
Elise disappears through the side door, the latch clicking shut behind her, and the mood in the changing room shifts.
“You’re used to getting your own way aren’t you?” Georgia whispers, stepping toward me.
A smile pulls at the corner of my lips as I pull her the rest of the way. “Only when I’m right.”
