Page 85 of InfraRed

Even though a lot has changed in those few short weeks, the thought of beingthatpublic makes me nauseous.

I love Graham. He loves me. It shouldn’t matter. Itdoesn’tmatter. But the thought of all that scrutiny makes me shudder. People are cruel and petty. My heart isn’t strong enough to be ridiculed by everyone.

“I hate last-minute shopping,” Ashleigh grips as her head drops back and she covers her face. “But I haven’t had time to even look for a dress.”

“I’ll just wear something I already have,” Lily says, making herself another cup of caffeine. “I own an excessive amount of clothes because they send them to me. May as well use them. It’s what I get paid for, right?”

“You’re still doing that?” I ask. Lily has been an influencer for a while. She was also a model when she was younger for a hot minute. I assumed once her album dropped, she wouldn’t do that anymore.

“Yep. And I have too many things to let them go to waste.”

“Same.” My shoulders tip toward my ears. “Not the excessive clothes part, but the rest.”

“Casey, no. You have to get a new dress. Apart from your dance costumes, you barely have anything,” she demands.

“I have plenty.” It’s true. My closet may not be full, but I have the necessities. A few shirts, hoodies, jeans, shorts, sweaters. Even a couple of cocktail dresses and one evening gown. Nothing extravagant, but the job gets done. “I’ll wear my black strapless dress. Besides, my budget doesn’t include designer evening attire.”

A tan, thick hand slams down on the counter between all of us. We jump and gasp, so deep in our conversation that we didn’t notice him slip up behind us. His hand lifts and he slides the black credit card toward me with two fingers. “You don’t have a budget,” he growls, then leans across the counter, getting rightin my face. “You never had a fucking budget. If I hear that word or anything remotely insinuating you can’t afford whatever you want, or that anything of mine isn’t yours, I’ll find a creative way to remove those words from your vocabulary.”

“Yes, Daddy, please,” Lily says with a smirk as she brings her coffee cup to her lips.

My eyes cut to her, narrowing as a slow heat crawls up my throat. I’m not sure if I’m embarrassed or turned on. “Cut that out.”

“Why?” she asks. “I’ve read about that in books, but holy shit.”

“My dad isn’t like that?”

“Liam isn’t clinically insane, and you’d have to be to give me that kind of power.”

“Henry is,” Ashleigh crosses her arms and narrows her eyes at Graham as if he’s just spit in her orange juice. “And it’s fucking annoying how, because you have too much money, you think you can swoop in and take care of us. We can take care of ourselves without you or your millions, billions, trillions, or whatever.”

“Says the girl driving a Range Rover she didn’t pay for.” Lily snorts.

Graham ignores them both, his eyes never leaving mine with promises and warnings sparkling in them as he drags his bottom lip between his teeth. I’m captured in the salacious gaze, my entire body flaming with need. My breathing picks up along with my heart as unspoken desire passes between us.

“Oh my God. If you two don’t look away from each other, the fucking apartment will melt.” Lily’s tease replaces the heat of lust with embarrassment at getting caught.

I drop my eyes first, and Graham chuckles. He lifts my chin with his finger, a playful smirk pulling his lips up. “I booked you—all of you,” he looks at Ash and Lily for a moment beforereturning his attention to me, “appointments for everything you could need today. Natasha at Bancroft’s has arranged a private showing for you to get dresses. When you’re ready, Will will take you to the resort where I have hair and makeup along with any spa treatments you want ready when you get there.” My jaw drops because oh my God. I may have grown up in the Davis household, but my mom didn’t want timewasted on someone who would never appreciate it. I’m not sure if I’ll appreciate it the way she wanted, but I’m flabbergasted that he’s done all of this. I shouldn’t be surprised, but I am. He kisses me quickly, then walks to the door. He pauses and looks over his shoulder. “Will won’t leave your side today. When I see you tonight, I expect you to be in nothing less than what you want.”

*****

“Ashleigh, no.” My hand flies up to cover my eyes as I sink into the comfy leopard print chair. “Uncle Henry will kill you.”

She turns, looking at herself from behind in the three-way mirror as her naturally pink lips curve into a positively devilish smile. “Every time he throws a dress into a fireplace, I buy another worse than the last. It’s a game we play. He tries to control me, so I dress slutty as possible. Then we have fun.” She waggles her eyebrows at me through the mirror.

First off, gross. Second off, she doesn’t look slutty at all. She’s stunning. The dress has strategically placed crisscrossed pieces of sparkling white over a flesh-colored underlay. Nothing is technically exposed, but it definitely looks like it is, which is what will make Uncle Henry have a coronary.

“It will piss him off and doesn’t cost more than my first car.”

“And I’ll take this one.” Lily’s black dress, on the other hand, doesn’t have an underlay disguising where lace filigree cutouts trail from her right mid-thigh to below her breast. The lacedesign continues up over her breast to her neck. The other side has intricate beading from the top to the end of the small train. It clings to her curves before flaring at the bottom the slightest bit. She looks like a gothic princess.

“You haven’t tried on a single thing, Case,” Ashleigh points out much to my annoyance.

Everything Natasha brought us has been beautiful, but none of it appeals to me. It’s either too tight or revealing, or it’s absolutely matronly. And, honestly, I hate black and white. I love colors. Bright splashes here or there. That’s why my apartment has random items scattered throughout with big bold splashes of yellow, red, purple… every color of the rainbow.I swear it doesn’t look like a color explosion.

“I’m sorry, but none of these are me.” I smile warmly at Natasha, then pat the simple black sheath dress next to me. “I’ll just take this one.”

Natasha’s brows dip, and my eyes drop. I’ve upset her.Ugh. I should’ve kept my mouth shut.

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