“I know why. I’m sorry I didn’t stop it myself. We… we have to stay friends, Wren. For Angel. And I want you to be able to be around me without feeling weird.”
“I want that, too,” I say softly, finally getting the zipper to budge without ripping the dress.
“So… how do we do that?” she asks hoarsely as I slowly pull the zipper lower, letting my index finger follow its path, touching her spine all the way down to the end.
She tenses against my touch, and I contradict the words I’m saying when my body keeps doing whatever the hell it wants to.
Leaning down, I inhale her scent—strawberries and subtle vanilla—as her silky soft hair lightly tickles my face. She sucks in a breath as my hands slide down to the slits on her dress, and I groan as I feel the skin of her hips.
It takes all my strength not to slide my hands over, touch her the way I want to. I pull her against me, letting her feel my erection against her back, and she melts against my touch.
“You can start by wearing your fucking panties,” I whisper against her ear, hating and loving the small shudder she has when my teeth graze her earlobe. “I’m only so strong, Allie.”
She shivers once again, and very reluctantly, I walk back out of the fitting room. There’s no pretending it didn’t happen. All we can try to do is ignore this… thing between us until it’s gone.
“I have some lingerie to add to the pile,” the girl with red hair says as she walks back over, and she hands me several racks of lacy ensembles meant to unman stronger men than me.
Allie snickers softly on the other side, even though I can tell she’s trying to smother it, and I groan as I curse this day.
I’m so fucked.
Chapter 16
ALLIE
Wren was quiet after we left the store. I was essentially catatonic. And the elephant in the room between us was pretty freaking massive.
He dropped me off without hardly speaking at all, and I haven’t spoken to him since the fitting room incident the other day. He hasn’t said if he’s still coming to pick me up for the party, and if Melanie hadn’t already picked Angel up to give her the royal treatment, I’d be cancelling.
Staring in the mirror, I find my hands on my hip bones, brushing over the covered flesh that still burns from his touch.
“I’m only so strong, Allie,” he had said, and for some reason, I think I moaned. Or maybe I whimpered. Or maybe I didn’t make a sound.
I was so confused.
Now, I’m even more confused. How are we going to go to a Christmas party at his mother’s house? How are we going to pretend that we weren’t both fighting the urge to strip bare and tear into each other in that… No. No. I won’t go there… again.
I just have to talk to him about it. Talking is all we can do. We can’t have this between us.
The door shuts, and I jump. Sheesh. Why am I so on edge?
“Allie?” Bella calls from the living room, prompting me to take a deep breath and leave the bedroom, prepared for her to—
She squeals when she sees me, then covers her mouth before saying, “Holy shit! You look… Wow!”
I was expecting her to laugh.
“You sure?” I ask, looking down at the silver dress that hugs me very tightly down to my hips, then flares just a little to let the fabric flow to the ground. A large, wide split rides up to my thigh, but it’s sexy elegant.
At least I’m wearing panties—definitely wearing panties. I only took off my panties in the store to see how that particular dress would look, since it was showing the pink lace. It really was beautiful, but I didn’t have the… Well, I didn’t the balls to try to pull it off.
“Allie, I swear if I was a guy, I’d totally be hard right now.”
I burst out laughing just as she does, and she walks over, circling me slowly. “I have some earrings that would look great with this,” she says, running toward her room.
I take a steadying breath, glancing in the mirror on the wall that shows me from the waist up. My hair is loose and flowing in large curls that took me over an hour to accomplish. My makeup is a little heavier than usual, but it still isn’t more than a natural look.
The strapless dress fits perfectly around my chest, which still shocks me. How do those girls know what size you are without asking? It’s as though they took one look at me and had my measurements pinned.
And these shoes… The silver beauties on my feet have a sling back heel, and they shimmer under the light. The tops crisscross, giving just a peek of my toes. Angel is going to love these.