I stand at the sound of her voice and move closer to the door that separates us. “Yeah?”
“If we’re matching, then you need to find a sailor’s costume. I’ll find you once I get dressed again.”
“Okay.” I leave her to see if I can find the costume. Because I don’t feel like doing the search myself, when a salesperson asks if I need help, I ask if they have one. According to her, I’m in luck. There’s one left and it’s in my size.
“Good,” Meredith says, appearing next to me, “you found one. Let’s pay and get out of here, so I can get ready for this thing.”
She’s holding an entire outfit in her hands. I’m tempted to ask if I can see it, but knowing it can take her forever to get ready, I decide against it. I’ll see it soon enough. When we get home, Mere orders me to shower in the guest bathroom, be sure to take Leo for a walk, and to be ready when she is. It’s funny how I need to be ready to go when she is when I’m going to be ready way before her. That’s why she wants me to make sure Leo uses the bathroom before we leave. I’m the only one who’s going to have time to do it.
As expected, I’m ready in no time. It’s a little odd to walk Leo in my costume, and I’m relieved when no one sees me. I’m surprised when I walk back into my apartment to see that Meredith is ready. All I can do is stare, though. She’s wearing fishnet stockings that stop mid-thigh, blue heels, and a blue dress that flares like there’s a tutu underneath it at the bottom. Her legs look amazing, her cleavage is to die for, and I’m second-guessing this whole wear-something-sexy-so-I-can-show-you-off idea.
She looks too good, if that’s possible.
Leo runs over to her, so I drop his leash before he runs too far and gets yanked back. Meredith smiles and leans over. I groan. She just flashed me with a spectacular view of her ass.
“You can’t wear that.”
She turns around as she picks Leo up and unhooks him from his leash. “Why not?”
“You’re too hot and if you’re going to flash someone, it should be me and only me.”
Mere rolls her eyes. “It’s not like I’m going to bend over like that at the party, Noah. I know the dress is too short for that. Besides, you can’t tell me what to wear or to not wear. Get over it.” She flashes me a grin before walking over to Leo’s crate. She moved it while I was gone. Now, it sits in the living room where he has a view of the door and so he can watch TV. Yeah. She turns on the TV to a kids channel and lets him watch cartoons while no one is home. Leo curls up on a small pillow she put in there and goes right to sleep. Meredith walks over to me, her heels clicking on the floor, and takes my hand. “Let’s go.”
With a hand on her lower back, I pull her against me. “We have some time.”
“No.” Her hands are firm on my chest. “I took time to put myself together, you’re not about to undo it before the party. You can do whatever you want to me when we get back.”
“Whatever I want?” I ask.
She nods. I nudge her out the door and lock up. The sooner we go, the sooner we can leave and I get to do whatever I want.
Last year, this party was a ton of fun. Kids aren’t allowed, so those with kids get their activities done, drop them off with a babysitter, and then come to the party. I’m excited to be able to do something with Mere. We’ve been on one date since she came to North Carolina, and that shouldn’t really count. It was only lunch and showing her the practice facility.
The party is already in full swing when we get there. Because friends of friends can also be invited, Brayden has to host it at a banquet hall. Plus, he didn’t like the mess that was left at his house last year. This way, he doesn’t have to worry about anything but showing up and paying people to do their jobs.
“Meredith!”
That’s all the warning we get as a mostly naked man runs up to my girlfriend, lifts her up, and twirls her around before planting a kiss on her cheek. Meredith is laughing as Marc sets her down, but I’m glowering. He does that shit on purpose. He slings an arm around her shoulders and grins at me.
“What the hell are you?” I ask. He’s in a Speedo that’s the Canadian flag and there’s a medal hanging around his neck.
“Obviously, he’s an Olympic gold medalist swimmer from Canada,” Meredith answers.
Marc nods. “Yep. Plus, this is a great excuse to wear my Speedo. Yo, EJ!” Marc waves down the guy as he’s walking by with some girl.
“What?” he asks.
“Take a picture of us.” Marc picks up his cell from the table nearby and tosses it to EJ.
Meredith reaches out to grab my hand and pulls me in next to her. She’s in the middle with a man on each side. When EJ shows us the picture he took, she’s grinning the widest.
“What sort of caption should I use when I post this on your Instagram?” he asks me.
“My what?”
“Instagram; you know, the social media site where you post photos. I created one for you.”
“You did what?” I ask as Meredith says, “Oh! Let me see.”