‘Should I come back?’ Bree asked hesitantly.
‘Don’t mind me.’ He shrugged.
‘I thought you were on the phone,’ Lara snapped.
He shrugged again. ‘I was. That was round one.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘I’d say round two will start in about five minutes. Let’s see how much you can try on in that space of time.’
He stood up and walked over to her, flooding her with a waft of his aftershave. ‘The dress is perfect for you.’ He looked towards Bree and pointed at the wedges. ‘And I like the natural-coloured ones. Not so plastic looking. Get them.’
His phone buzzed in his pocket and he ignored it. He looked at the huge amount of clothing hanging from the hooks. ‘What else do you like?’
She was stunned. She wasn’t quite sure what to make of this. There was no way on this planet that Reuben Tyler was the least bit interested in women’s clothes. Not unless he was removing them. What was he playing at?
Bree was smiling anxiously behind him. It would be rude not to respond. She ran her hand down some of the items hanging in front of her. ‘I like this one, and this one. Not so much that one or that one.’ She pulled out a pair of white Capri pants. ‘I still need to try these on.’
Reuben’s eyes fixed on something else, and his hand brushed across hers as he reached between the clothes and pulled out something shimmering underneath. It was a gold evening dress. Almost invisible net fabric covered in tiny gold sequins and jewels adorned with fringes—almost like a really chic flapper-style dress.
He held it up against her. ‘I think this will really suit you.’
She gulped. It was gorgeous but she could tell from just looking it was way out of price range. On a normal day she’d be too scared to even touch a dress like this.
She shook her head. ‘It’s probably too fancy for a cruise ship.’ Her voice came out almost as a squeak.
Reuben’s phone sounded in his pocket again. He completely ignored it, his eyes fixed firmly on hers. He leaned forward, the stubble at the side of his jaw scraping her cheek as he whispered in her ear, ‘Go on, try it on. For me.’ He stood back.
Bree was wide-eyed behind him. ‘I have the perfect sandals for that dress,’ she said quietly, before turning on her heel and disappearing.
It was weird, the effect he was having on her skin. Was it the voice? The smell? Or just the masculinity that seemed to exude from his pores? A million little butterflies were currently beating their wings against her skin, making her unable to focus on anything else.
It didn’t help that she couldn’t seem to draw her eyes away from his hypnotic gaze. Those deep brown eyes just kept pulling her in and she felt her body drift towards his almost subconsciously. And his was moving too, as if pulled by an invisible magnet. His hand caught at the back of her head, tangling in her hair.
She had a wave of déjà vu. Back to earlier in the café downstairs. Back to the feel of his lips against hers. Back to feeling stunned when they’d finally pulled away.
‘These ones! I told you they were per...’ Bree’s voice tailed off as both parties jumped back.
Reuben muttered a curse under his breath and stalked back over to the chair. Lara tried to suck in the air around her but that was a bad idea. Because all she inhaled in was the remnants of his aftershave and that did funny things to her ability to concentrate. She made a grab for the shoes. ‘Thanks.’ And whipped the curtain closed in front of the stunned Bree’s face before sagging against the mirror.
She squeezed her eyes closed. It could have been so much worse. They could have actually been kissing. Come to think of it, she was quite sure people had been caught in much more compromising positions than they had in these fitting rooms.
Something coiled inside her. Something odd. She might be feeling a little off balance but part of her felt cheated. Cheated out of what might actually have come next.
Her hand went automatically to the glass but it was already empty. Her throat had never felt so dry but the last thing she should do right now was ask for more. It had obviously gone to her head already.
She peered round the curtain to locate Bree. ‘Could I trouble you for a glass of still water, please?’
Bree nodded and disappeared, leaving Lara with a few seconds to try and think straight.
She took a deep breath and looked at the dress again. It was gorgeous. Better than she could ever have imagined. Reuben had asked to see her in it, and how wrong was it to play princess for five minutes?
The dress slipped over her shoulders as if it had been made just for her. It covered everything but gave the illusion of not quite covering everything at all. The gold jewelled sandals did match perfectly, with just enough of a heel to give her some elegance without having the fear of falling on her face.
Her hand toyed with the curtain. She loved it. But what would Reuben think—and why on earth was that important?
She pulled the curtain back and stepped out into the room. The brighter lights in the larger room caught the beadwork, sequins and fringes on her dress, sending little shards of colour scattering all around the room.
The rainbow effect made Reuben look up from his phone. His eyes widened and his tongue ran slowly along his lower lip. ‘Oh, wow...’ His voice was low and throaty.
Bree reappeared with the glass of water in her hand. ‘Gorgeous,’ she breathed.
He waved his hand towards Bree without taking his eyes off Lara. ‘This one’s definitely a keeper.’
She was caught. She loved this dress. She loved everything about it. But it was just a dream. Like the rest of the clothes behind the curtain. A dream that could never be hers.
‘We’ll take it.’ He’d lost his huskiness. Now his voice was determined.
‘What? No. No, we can’t. I don’t even know how much it costs.’ And probably don’t want to know, because that would definitely spoil the dream.
‘It doesn’t matter. I’d said I’d cover it. That...’ he glanced down at her bare legs ‘...and the shoes. And the rest of the clothes she tried on and liked.’ He walked back over to the range of clothes and picked up a slinky electric-blue dress. ‘I like this one too, it matches your eyes. Try it on and if you like it we’ll have it too.’ He nodded towards a bright pink dress with sparkling circular beads. ‘And that one.’
He punched a number into his phone and put it to his ear.
Bree started flapping around her, a wide smile reaching from ear to ear. She lifted out the clothes that Lara had preferred. ‘Okay, I’ll put these ones over here.’ She pointed to the capri pants and blue dress. ‘Take your time and try those on too. I’ve got a gorgeous pink printed blouse that will match those pants.’ She disappeared before Lara had a chance to speak again.
Lara looked down. It would be so easy right now to say yes. But she c
ouldn’t. She just couldn’t. She didn’t want to feel as if she owed anything to Reuben. And it didn’t matter that he didn’t give her that vibe—money was no object to a man like him. She just didn’t want to feel like that.
Reuben’s voice started to rise. ‘That’s enough. You have a responsibility to the club. If you renege on the deal now it could affect the club’s shares.’
Lara was hesitating behind the curtain. It didn’t look like now was a good time to talk to Reuben. She shifted from foot to foot then grabbed the white capri pants and tried them on. Bree was back a few seconds later with the printed pink shirt.
Bree’s taste was impeccable. She hadn’t picked a single thing that hadn’t complemented Lara’s skin tone and shape. The pink shirt was printed with little birds and tied at the front. It was perfect.
Bree gave a little sigh. ‘That’s fantastic. Is there anything else I can get you?’
‘No.’ Lara said the words quickly before she could change her mind. This was getting out of hand.
She slid the shirt and pants back off and handed them to Bree, who disappeared while she pulled her skinny jeans and T-shirt on again. She pulled back the curtain as she tugged on her boots and shouted over to Reuben. ‘Reuben, we really need to talk.’
He glanced up from his phone and waved his hand at her. This was getting old.
She marched over in front of him. It was clear he was mad. His voice had risen even more and now he was just plain shouting. ‘I’m tired of this. Fed up having to try and placate an adult who is acting like a two-year-old. Enough! I’m done dealing with you.’ He hung up and jammed his phone in his pocket as his other hand kneaded the side of his temple.
* * *
If Reuben had been in the same room as that player he would probably have killed him with his bare hands. Troubleshooting was becoming exasperating. This one footballer had signed for a lesser-known club, taken part in the announcements and then decided to back out of the deal—after the club’s shares had already soared and they’d spent a huge amount of funds on printing his name across their shirts. Kids were already fighting to get one.