“Yes,” he answered cheerfully, “I have quite the apology in mind. But first,” he ducked suddenly into a store, pulling me inside with him, “we need to make a few stops.”
I caught my breath, clinging onto his arm for support as he tugged me inside. Then I blinked around in confusion as my eyes adjusted to the fluorescent lights.
“Dior?” I actually said it out loud, suddenly a bit anxious.
I had just been in Dior just the other day—for the second time in my life. Well, it was the millionth time in terms of going for clients. Only the second time in terms of going for myself. It had been to buy a certain dress, for a certain date, that a certain someone had interrupted. It had been a rare splurge—a dress that had set me behind several months in terms of rent. None of that was supposed to be a problem—except the dress had gotten mysteriously soaked in a fountain.
Suffice to say, I wasn’t particularly thrilled to be back right now.
“What are we doing here?” I asked nervously, trying to pull my arm away as Nick began wandering up and down the aisles. “You know you’re in the women’s section, right?”
Not that he was exactly a stranger...
“Oh—Mr. Hunter!”
As if on cue, a regal-looking woman came bustling out of a back room. Her pantsuit was tailor-made to perfection. Her gray hair was swept up into a perfect coif.
She kissed Nick twice on each cheek, taking care not to transfer even a speck of her bright crimson lipstick—as women on the Upper East Side have all been trained to do.
“Forgive me, we didn’t know you were coming in this morning. I would have cleared out the floor, or at the very least, requested some of the ladies to come in early and help you.”
I resisted the urge to roll my eyes.
What? Is Miss Manners over here actually pimping for him now?
“It was a spur of the moment decision, Ruby.”
Of course her name was Ruby. Just like my mother’s cat.
“And I don’t think we’ll be needing any help.” He glanced at me quickly, before turning back to her with a charming smile. “I think my friend and I will just browse for a while.”
She looked completely taken aback. Clearly, this was not the normal way of things. I could only imagine how many times he’d come in here, looking for a dress, or a diamond, or a pair of trillion dollar shoes for his new flavor of the month. My guess was that he was asked to describe the flavor in three simple words, and the rest of them would pick things for him.
But not today.
“Oh...of course, dear. Whatever you like.”
She took a tentative step away, but seemed incredibly uncomfortable not to be ‘hands-on helping’ in some way or another. Nick sensed her plight and provided a gracious request.
“But we might like a little champagne...?”
Her face lit up with an indulgent smile, and she pinched his cheek in a way that implied the two of them shared a great many secrets. He returned the smile as best he could, then turned away the second she was gone—rubbing gently at his reddened skin.
“I wish she would stop doing that,” he muttered. “It’s getting to be worse every time.”
I grinned, pleased that at least something in his perfect world was out of sync.
“She’s an old lady—what do you expect? It’s adorable.”
He flashed me look, lowering his hand quickly as Ruby made her way back.
“It’s only adorable because she’s not doing it to you.”
We fell silent at once and looked up with matching smiles—thanking her for the champagne at least three times before she finally left. After she had done so, Nick clinked his glass against mine, eyes twinkling over the rim.
“To my apology.”
I clinked back.