When her cell phone rang, it startled her out of a deep trance. She saw Jaxon’s name and answered immediately. “Hi, Jaxon. Everything okay?”
“Fine. I just…”
“Spit it out,” she heard Linc say, laughing.
“I guess there’s no good way to tell you. I forgot about a mandatory black-tie team fundraising event Saturday night that we both need to attend.”
She groaned. “I don’t have anything to wear for a formal event.” She paused. “Although I could wear the white dress from Damon’s wedding, but it’s not floor-length,” she said, not liking the idea.
“I’ve got you covered. Bri and a personal stylist will be over with dresses this afternoon.”
“Oh!” His words shocked her. “You didn’t have to do that but wow. Okay. That’s amazing. I know what those baseball wives are going to look like, and I want to keep up,” she said, he figured more to herself than to him. “Jaxon, thank you!”
She disconnected the call and was about to dial Bri to find out what time she’d be over when her doorbell rang. She answered it and found her friend standing on the step. “Surprise!”
She grinned. “I just got off the phone with Jaxon. I hear we have dresses coming.”
“We do.” Bri walked into the house and Macy shut the door. “And you should know this was all his idea. Not mine.”
A warm feeling flowed through her at the knowledge. He could have handed her money and told her to go buy a dress. Instead he’d taken care of the situation himself. “This was generous of him,” she murmured. “And I’m grateful because I don’t have a formal gown.”
Bri put an arm around her shoulder. “In about an hour, you will.”
Sure enough, in sixty minutes, the doorbell rang and a young woman named Ari Zanders strode in. Behind her was a man rolling a rack of clothing, long gowns with sequins and other decorative items adorning the dresses.
A jolt of excitement rippled through her. Call her shallow, but she was a woman excited by the opportunity to dress up in fancy clothes and pick her favorite.
They hijacked the master bedroom, and for the next forty-five minutes, she pivoted, twirled, and spun as she tried on each piece, finally settling on a gold dress that wrapped around her body as if it were made for her. A strip of sheer material covered her stomach in a classy way.
“This is it!”
Bri clapped slowly. “I agree.”
“So do I,” Ari said, then called for the man in the truck to take the other dresses back to the store. Ari had come in her own car. Then she helped pin the bottom of the dress for tailoring, promising it would be delivered by Friday so Macy would have it for the event on Saturday night.
“I can’t thank you enough,” Macy said, her hands clasped together.
“It was my pleasure,” Ari said.
Macy glanced in the mirror once more. “I just love it.” She held her hair up, debating if she wanted a sophisticated bun or long ringlets falling over her shoulders.
An impressed whistle sounded, and when she turned, Jaxon leaned against the doorframe, his hot gaze settled on hers. “Spectacular,” he said in a gruff voice he used when she affected him on a sexual level.
“Told you I’d handle it,” Bri said, grinning at her brother. She picked up her handbag. “I’ve got to get going. Call me,” she said to Macy.
“I will. And thank you.”
She winked. “Any time for you.”
Jaxon, still leaning on the doorframe, watched Bri gather the rest of her things. “I know you love me, sis.”
“I have to. You’re my brother.” Having had the last word, she started for the door and Macy chuckled.
“You two,” she said with a shake of her head. “It must be nice to have a big family.” She had Hannah, of course, but until she grew up, their relationship would be more like parent-child.
Jaxon let out a low laugh. “It has its moments.”
“If you just take off the dress, I’ll take it to the seamstress,” Ari said, gathering her things.
“Yes, Macy. Take off the dress.” Jaxon’s sexy gruff voice caused her nipples to pucker beneath the fabric and her cheeks to flame.
“Oh, my.” Ari also blushed and fanned her face.
“And I’m out,” Bri said and swept past her brother, taking her exit.
Macy narrowed her gaze at Jaxon.
The sexual undercurrents were vibrant and unmistakable and should be confined to the two of them alone. She ducked into the bathroom and changed out of the gown and into the lightweight dress she’d left there, returning to hand Ari the garment she’d draped over her arm.
As Macy wrapped things up with Ari, she felt the heat of Jaxon’s stare, and it was all she could do to say goodbye to the woman without a tremble in her voice, but she managed.
“Alone at last.”