Page 43 of Embody

“Of course, but…” I mumble past his fingers, this time being stopped by his “sshh.”

“Can you stop being so damn stubborn and just let me take you out for a nice dinner?” He smirks.

I nod…it’s that damn smirk. I’d rather stare at it than attempt to make a point. A point that honestly, would be an attempt to conform him into being like every other guy. And I don’t want every other guy. I want uncensored, all he’s got, Jefferson Kendrick.

“Good, I’m hungry.” He hops out and comes to open my door, offering me his hand, which I take.

We walk to my apartment and he again makes that grumbly sound that I don’t yet know precisely what it means, so I pretend not to hear it and open the door.

“This is it,” I hold out my arms. “Not much, but it’s mine. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable and I’ll go change. Any particular dress code?”

He stops looking around my place and at me. “Whatever you want to wear is more than fine, Bellamy. You’d look gorgeous in a gunny sack.”

“Okay,” I blush. “Be right back.”

I dash to my room, throwing clothes around like a madwoman. I don’t have much in the way of fancy…and the Kendricks are pretty fancy, despite never boasting it.

To relax, I turn my clock radio on low, and laugh quietly to myself.Unsteadyby Chase Holfelder is playing…quite appropriately. I feel unsteady to say the least, wading into new, exciting waters in which I want to swim, float and bask…not drown.

Jefferson Kendrick, with his suave, charming demeanor and off-the-charts, sexy good looks, has drowning warnings practically flashing off him.

And yet, I’ve never been more willing to take such a huge risk in my life.

I can’t explain, even to myself, the inexplicable pull I feel toward him. It’s brand new to me. But I’m dying to explore it.

So I pull out my one, bargain find, “just in case” staple that I can only hope captures his attention half as much as he captivates mine.

The little black dress in the very back of my closet.

 

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