sir?” The sales assistant sweeps over to me, draping another long gown over her arm for me to inspect as she speaks to me in English.
“Like I said before.” I smile politely. “Whatever Ms. Harper likes.”
She leans closer to where I’m sitting in the waiting area, my laptop set up on the low table in front of me. I clear my throat as she lingers and her perfume surrounds me, tickling my windpipe.
“This one is very forgiving.” She lowers her voice. “I’d also suggest some of our control garments.”
“Control what?”
She licks her lips and bats her eyelashes at me. “Special lingerie, very popular with women carrying some excess wei—”
“Don’t finish that sentence.” I slam my laptop shut.
Her eyes widen as I glare at her.
“Mia?” Another woman rushes over to us. “Take your lunch.”
“But—”
“Take your lunch,” the new woman repeats with a tight smile.
Mia’s eyes dart toward the changing room Maddy is in. She looks back at me, her eyes roaming over my suit and then my face before she purses her lips. “I was only trying to help.”
“Your help isn’t required any longer,” the new woman says, effectively dismissing Mia, who then stalks off.
“I’m Elena. I manage this store. Please accept my apologies, Mr. Rich. Mia hasn’t been working with us long.”
I doubt it’ll be much longer if that’s how she talks to her customers. I stand and shake her hand.
“It’s lovely to meet you in person.” Her smile grows. “Our store has supplied many of the designer gowns for your mother.”
“So you have.” It’s why I brought Maddy here. And because the staff all speak English fluently. I wanted Maddy to feel comfortable.
“Your mother has exceptional taste. So elegant.” Elena’s eyes narrow as she thinks, one finger tapping against her lips. “But for Ms. Harper, I think we should try something a little more…” She tilts her head with a smile. “Alluring. I’ll pull some gowns and see what she thinks.”
“I appreciate it, thank you.”
I sit back down and open my laptop. Elena enlists the help of two other staff members who begin whirling around the seating area I’m in. A rainbow of gowns swish past, held in one girl’s arms as another carries a pile of shoe boxes.
I settle down to work, firing off a quick text to Mum first. We spoke yesterday and she seemed relieved to tell me that Gabrielle laughed in Spencer’s face when he suggested the idea of us marrying. Mum’s update quelled some of the unease hanging around in my gut.
“I don’t think it’s the one. But at least it fits.”
I look up as Maddy walks from the changing rooms in a long blue dress. The material’s floaty and she’s frowning and fidgeting with it as she walks closer to look in the giant mirror on the wall.
“It’s nice.” I stand and shove my hands into my pant pockets as I step closer to her, meeting her eyes in the reflection.
She shakes her head.
I nod. “Okay. It’s a no.”
She turns to face me. “You don’t have to stay if you’ve got work to do.” Her eyes travel to my laptop on the table.
“It’s fine. I can do it here.”
Her brow creases as she frowns. “Okay. I’ll try the next one, then.”
She glances back at me before she disappears back into the changing room. Elena follows her.
I abandon my laptop and stroll toward a display of crystal figurines. I pick up a large one; an undistinguishable lump shaped like a dildo.
“That one’s said to bring harmony in the form of physical love. Each one is unique. These are signed by the artist.”
I arch a brow at the sales assistant who is unboxing a pair of shoes nearby before bringing my eyes back to the crystal dildo.
“We have one that just came in that’s a little smaller. It symbolizes truth and union.” She begins to stand. “I can fetch it for you if you’d like to see.”
“No, thank you. That’s all right.” I turn to place the ugly dildo back on the shelf.
“What do you think?”
I turn my head toward Maddy’s voice.
And drop the giant crystal dildo.
The fucker cracks me on the foot and then bounces onto the floor where it smashes into a million pieces like a sheet of ice.
“Logan.” Maddy rushes over, her eyes round.
I ignore the throbbing in my foot as she stops in front of me and looks at the shattered crystal all over the floor.
“I’ve got it.” A sales assistant swoops in with a brush and pan and bends to retrieve the glittering pieces.
“My apologies. Let me help.” I crouch, but she shakes her head fiercely.
“No, Mr. Rich. I insist.” She sweeps fast, gathering all the pieces in seconds.
“Please add it to my tab.”
The pan full of crystal shards clinks as she stands. “It’s seventy thousand euros.”
I nod.
I turn my attention back to Maddy.
She looks uneasy as the sales assistant carries the broken crystal away. “Seventy thousand,” she whispers.
“Who cares about an overpriced dildo? Show me the back.”
She looks unsure for a moment, then slowly spins.
I can’t tear my eyes away from her. “Green suits you.”
“You think?” Her face lights up as she moves to the mirror and looks at her reflection.
The dress has two pieces of silk that cover each breast and then wrap around her waist. And it has this long skirt that glides over Maddy’s curvy hips and then spreads out wider at the bottom. I’m a guy, I don’t know what the hell a woman’s dress like this is called. But in my language it’s called an inappropriate sexual fucking fantasy, starring your friend’s little sister as the main character.
I swallow, my throat thick. “I do. What do you think? Nice?”
Her eyes meet mine in the mirror as I stand behind her. She bites her bottom lip and then turns side to side, looking at herself with a small blush on her cheeks.
“Nice,” she agrees. “I can’t believe we’re going to the opera, and I can wear this.” She looks at her reflection like she’s seeing herself for the first time.
“Okay. Then we’ll take it.” I turn to call the sales assistant.
“Wait.” Maddy grabs onto the lapel of my suit jacket with one hand and lowers her voice, her eyes flicking around the store. “Check the tag for me.”
“Why?”
She lets go of my jacket and holds her long dark hair up, turning so the neckline of the dress at the back is exposed.
“Just do it.”
I pull the tag out and she’s holding her breath. “Well?”
“Well what?”
“How much is it?” she whispers.
I tuck the tag back inside the dress, my fingers brushing the base of her neck before she drops her hair, and the long curls tumble down her shoulders.
“Why does it matter?”
She huffs, turning to face me. “Just tell me.”
“Nine.”
Her eyes widen and then she looks down, mumbling something.
“Okay.” She smiles. “And if it’s nine hundred I can probably get some shoes too and keep it all under a thousand.”
The sales assistant shuffles nervously near us. “I’m afraid the dress is actually—”
“The last one you have? Yes, we’re aware. Thank you. She’ll take it.” I keep my eyes on Maddy. “And whatever shoes and things she needs. Just put it on my tab.”
“Of course, Mr. Rich.” The sales assistant leaves as Elena walks back over.
“Stunning.” She assesses Maddy, walking around her in a circle. This dress was made for your figure, Ms. Harper. You look sensational.”
Maddy blushes, meeting my eyes for a second and then looking away.
“Of course, you’ll need the correct lingerie.” Elena holds up a finger. “One moment.”
She glides across the store. She better not be bringing those control garments Mia mentioned or I will lose it. And it won’t be an ugly dildo getting smashed.
“How much is it really?”
“What?” My jaw tenses as Elena pulls open some giant drawers in the center of the store and pulls out something black.
“Logan,” Maddy hisses. “The dress?”
“I forgot.”
“Bullshit.”
I turn to her after Elena pulls another small scrap of black material from a different drawer.
“Nine thousand.”
“What?” she shrieks, spinning in front of me. “Unfasten it. I need to get it off.”
“No. You’re getting the dress, Mads.” I fix her with a look in the mirror and to my surprise she snaps her mouth shut. But she glares at me.
Elena reappears as the two of us are having a staring match. If Maddy thinks she will win, then she’s mistaken. Like I said, I inherited Dad’s stubbornness, and then some.
“Here,” Elena sings brightly. “These will be perfect.” She holds up the black silk bra and matching G-string proudly in the gap between us. “There’s a matching garter belt if you’d like?”
“No, thank you.”
“She’ll take it.”
We both reply at the same time.
Maddy’s glare intensifies, and Elena looks between the two of us.
“They’re beautiful.” Maddy breaks eye contact with me to stare longingly at the fabric. “But I only came to look for a dress.”
“Do they come in any other colors?” I ask Elena, my eyes staying on Maddy’s face. A muscle in her jaw twitches as she looks back into my eyes.
“This set comes in the black as well as red, cream, and green,” Elena says.
“We’ll take them all. And the dress.”
“Logan,” Maddy hisses.
“Very well, Mr. Rich.” Elena smiles professionally, ignoring the tension seeping from Maddy’s pores. “I’ll go and box these up.”
“What are you doing?”
I step closer to Maddy. She has to tilt her head back to continue her glaring at me.
“You want to go to the opera, don’t you?”
She pouts.
“Don’t you?” I press.
She rolls her eyes. “Yes. But that doesn’t mean you should be—”
I lean close so I can whisper in her ear. “Then let me buy you the fucking dress.”
She stills and her breath hitches. Her throat contracts as she swallows slowly and then nods.
“Fine. But not the panties.”
I lower my voice further, playing with fire. “Especially the panties.”
She shivers but says nothing.
“Good girl.”
I stand tall. She meets my eyes, her usual fire still there, but muted by what looks like confusion as her brows pull together.
I call across to Elena, keeping my eyes firmly on Maddy’s. “Ms. Harper would like to know if you also sell slippers?”
A sharp jab lands in my gut.
“Asshole,” she mutters.
I chuckle as she walks back into the changing rooms, a fired-up vision in green.
