The Chase

Raine dashed to the window. “It’s them.”

She sounded giddy.

Heavenly suddenly felt very nervous. What if this didn’t go as planned?

“Quick! Bend over and toss your hair,” Raine instructed, helping by fluffing the curls with her fingers. “Okay, stand and flip your head back.”

“Won’t I look like I have…sex hair?”

“That’s the idea.”

Shaking her head at Raine’s apparent excitement, Heavenly complied.

Her friend clucked and fluffed and sprayed her tresses in place, then stepped back to survey her handiwork with wide eyes. “Oh, my god. They’re going to freak!”

As Raine dashed around the room and gathered up her things, Heavenly closed the bedroom door to stare at herself in the full-length mirror. That siren who somehow appeared innocent and vampy at once was her?

“If you’re that stunned, imagine the guys’ reactions?”

“This dress is see-through.”

“Only in certain light. When you’re in a dark restaurant, no one will see. Look, I’ve got to go.” She kissed Heavenly’s cheek, and they embraced. “Love you. Call me tomorrow.”

“I will. Thanks for a great afternoon.”

“I’d say it’s my pleasure, but I’m pretty sure it will be yours.” Raine winked, then she was gone, clattering down the stairs in a pair of springy wedges with her purse slung over one shoulder and a big bag of her beauty implements and shopping finds in hand.

Downstairs, she heard the front door open. Anticipation tightened Heavenly’s stomach. Everything about her appearance screamed do me! She had ten seconds to decide whether or not to change into the more understated gray dress she’d chosen for tonight. It wasn’t unsexy.

Compared to this dress, it’s a nun’s habit.

“You two can thank me later,” she heard Raine tell Beck and Seth.

“For what?” Seth sounded suspicious.

Raine merely laughed. The door shut. Out the window, she saw her friend walk to her car.

“Heavenly?” Beck called up the stairs.

She looked at herself in the mirror again. It was too late to change…and she didn’t want to. She felt like a whole new person. Like a woman.

It was freeing.

“Be right down. Just need to grab my purse, then we can go.”

“Need help with anything?”

“I’m good. Two minutes.”

She grabbed some essentials from the fancy Louboutin bag Beck had bought her in Vegas and tucked them into a chic little quilted clutch Raine had talked her into because they matched her shoes so perfectly.

Then she took a deep breath, exited the bedroom, and tried to remember Raine’s advice.

As she descended the stairs, her trembling fingers clutched the cool metal railing. She could hear the guys having a low-voiced conversation at the bottom about whether they’d rather take her out for steak or Italian. Honestly, she was so nervous, she wasn’t sure she could eat at all.

Halfway down, she crossed the small landing, then turned to descend the last few risers. Then she spotted them.

Beck saw her, too—and his entire demeanor changed from casual to predatory in an instant. “Holy shit.”