Page 176 of Steamy Ever After

“What the…?” Nikki stared as well.

“Wait for it,” Giovanni warned, practically licking his lips in anticipation.

Erin lifted the bulky, tiger print, faux-fur coat with a collar big enough to make all the pimps of the world jealous, and swung it over her shoulders with appropriate flair. She then cocked the lace fascinator on her head and sauntered to their table, not flinching or sparing the slightest concern for how Nikki and the other patrons gawked.

“I believe you’ve been waiting for me,” she said as if this were a planned rendezvous.

The words all my life filled his head but he swallowed them back. “You’re...” Words failed him. Brilliant. Exceptional. Stunning. Everything he always wanted… “Enchanting,” he finally said.

“I’ll pass your praise to my personal shopper.” She gasped and brushed a hand over his sleeve. “Why, is that genuine Muppet fur you’re wearing?”

He glanced down at his ensemble and rubbed the shag of his sweater between his fingers. “It is. Very exotic and very expensive,” he informed her in his snootiest voice.

“May I sit down?”

He waved a hand. “I’d feel robbed if you didn’t. I’m afraid I missed your name.”

Without skipping a beat, she lowered into the chair, holding out a hand that displayed the doorknob shaped ruby ring he grabbed from the register display at the thrift store. “Madame Jezebel McHuffinpuff the third, panderer of flesh and connoisseur of men.”

He took her offered hand and kissed her fingers. “The pleasure is mine, Madame.”

“And you are?”

“Lord Luther Van Tiger Duke, great, great, great grandson of Beau Brummell, the English dandy and fashion leader of the regency—break-dancer extraordinaire.”

She snorted, unable to hold a straight face a moment longer.

“I’ll, uh, be back for your orders,” Nikki said, her brow pinched in confusion.

She backed away from their table as if fearful she might catch the crazies. He and Erin laughed for several minutes, unable to contain themselves long enough to finish a single sentence.

“We look ridiculous,” Erin finally admitted, yet somehow, with her cheeks rosy from laughter and her eyes glistening with tears of joy, she’d never looked prettier.

“I can’t wait to get you into bed tonight.”

Her laughter cut off and her smile transformed into something shy and fragile. Then her blush deepened.

He was slowly coming to understand the qualities she didn’t openly share. Glimpses of vulnerability slipped out whenever her guard came down, and he loved puzzling all her personality traits together. She was nothing like the girl everyone assumed she was.

“You just want to get me out of this ridiculous outfit.”

“That ridiculous outfit is stirring a serious response in my psychedelic pants, Madame.”

She batted her eyes and waved a ruby-laden finger at him. “Careful, my lord. I charge by the hour and I’m very expensive.”

No, she was priceless, he thought.

They shared a dish of homemade lasagna and had cannoli for dessert. Everyone who came into the restaurant noticed their attire and tried hard not to stare. After a while, the conversation became more interesting than their clothes, and he forgot how they were dressed. But, when they paid the bill and stood, he took in her tacky getup and lost it all over again.

They laughed to a point of tears and when they made it back to Erin’s house, their clothes didn’t make it to her bedroom. Hideous pants and faux-fur littered the hall. But he made her wear the boots and that little lace fascinator for fun.

Erin was turning out to be the greatest, unexpected surprise to his life. He loved how unpredictable she could be and how strong she was.

Only a woman of great confidence could have done what she did tonight. So many people cared what others thought, and changed to please strangers more than themselves. But not Erin. Erin did whatever the hell she felt like doing, and he absolutely loved that about her because he tried to live his life the same way.

CHAPTER 16

Giovanni opened the door to the pub, nudging Erin inside. But the moment she saw all his cousins filling the tables, she pivoted, ducking under his arm and shooting back into the cold.

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