Cassie pulled out a sensible pair of khaki shorts and a button-up silk shirt. It was a pale pink.
“That's what you're wearing?” Brianna asked, wrinkling her nose.
“What's wrong with it?” Cassie asked. “I like the color.”
“It's sensible. It's plain. It's one of your work shirts. It's not letting loose and having fun. Did you bring anything remotely fun?” Brianna got up and started pawing through Cassie's things.
“Hey!” Cassie shouted. “You'll mess up my system.”
Brianna stepped back and gave her a sad head shake.
Cassie sighed. “Fine. I just have this.” She held up a maxi dress with blue and red flowers. It was the most “fun” dress she owned.
“We're going shopping,” Brianna announced. “If we can't find anything, you can wear that, but not the shorts. Those are old-lady shorts.”
Cassie frowned. She liked the shorts, but as she looked at them, she realized that she could easily see her uptight grandmother wearing them. They were old person shorts. A fun-loving vibrant woman that liked to be spontaneous and flirty wouldn't be caught dead walking down the beach in those shorts.
“Okay. I'll let you pick for me,” Cassie told her. “I can't seem to pick anything that isn't for work.”
Brianna grinned. “This is going to be fun.”
And suddenly Cassie was nervous again.
Two hours and more money than Cassie planned later, she was the proud owner of cute clothes. They'd found a fun little shopping area near the beach and Brianna did her thing. Cassie currently wore a flirty little sundress with strappy sleeves and cherries printed on it. She had short shorts and cute tank tops in one bag. In another, there were two more sundresses made of a light silk material that made her feel almost naked wearing them. Brianna had insisted she get both.
“Just imagine dancing on top of a bar with this on,” Brianna told her when she'd hesitated to buy one.
“People would look up my skirt,” Cassie replied, putting it away.
Brianna rolled her eyes and had stuffed it back into Cassie's hands. “Fine. Imagine dancing on the floor. You'll be the hottest girl there.”
Cassie did feel different wearing the dresses. They were sexy and fun. She still had long legs and the dresses were flattering around her middle. She liked the idea of being the hottest girl, rather than just an old lady. The dresses were who she wanted to be this week. She was letting her hair down, and these d
resses with their short hems and low cut tops were the first step.
So, she bought the dresses. All of them. She bought clothes she would probably only ever wear here on this island. These were entirely against corporate dress code. It wasn't like Cassie to buy things that she couldn't reuse a million times.
It felt liberating.
Brianna and Cassie hurried from the shops and back to the central tower of the hotel. It was almost time for dinner and Brianna still needed to change. As they entered the main building, that's when Cassie saw him again.
The guy from the bar. He was headed toward the hotel lobby again, walking across the entrance.
Somehow, in the two hours since she'd seen him last, he'd gotten more attractive.
He saw her, grinned, but kept walking toward the bar. Cassie paused for a moment, trying to figure out what she should do. Should she follow him? Talk to him? Give him her room number?
“Cassie?” Brianna called. She was already at the elevators. Cassie glanced back toward the lobby, but the man was gone. She'd missed her chance.
Cassie hurried over to Brianna and made it right as the elevator arrived. She didn't tell her friend that she'd seen the hot guy again. Cassie knew Brianna would push her out of the elevator and tell her to go catch him and Cassie wasn't ready for that. Besides, what would she even say?
It was for the best, Cassie decided. Baby steps on this going wild thing was a good plan. She wondered if there was something in the corporate handbook she could use.
Corporate handbook?
Cassie sighed internally. Here she was coming up with responsible steps on how to go wild. She really did need a break from her rule-filled life.
Still, she hoped she'd run into the handsome man again. Cassie could do big girl steps then. Maybe even be spontaneous. She was “Vacation Cassidy” after all.