Page 31 of Housebroke

“Yeah, they are.”

He opened his truck and she climbed in, surprised to see it so clean in there.

“No work tools or anything,” she said.

“I cleaned it out earlier.” He gave her a knowing smile.

“I see.”

They drove to the mall—the trendy, fancy, high-dollar one. Shit.

“Linc.”

“Yeah?”

“I can’t afford this mall.” She wanted to wither up and die right here in the car. And, maybe, if she was lucky, she’d subsequently disappear in a cloud of mortified ash.

“Oh. Sure. You know, I could buy—”

“No. Absolutely not.”

He gave a quick nod. “Got it. Where would you like to go?”

She gave him directions to a discount store, and fortunately, he didn’t say another word until they got there.

He got out with her.

“You don’t need to come in with me,” she said, not wanting him to see her flail around to find something she could afford.

“But I want to.”

“Okay.”

They went inside and she headed to the dresses, hoping he wasn’t embarrassed to be seen in here with her.

Apparently, he wasn’t, because he started going through the racks, zeroing right in on the correct size, too. She didn’t know whether to be supremely impressed or irritated that he knew so much about women.

He pulled one off the rack. “This would look great on you.”

He had a good eye, that was for sure. It was a blue-and-white short-sleeved dress that would hit her at the knees. She wanted to immediately grab the price tag, but she could do that in the dressing room. “I’ll try it on, but I want to pick out a couple other dresses, too.”

“Okay.”

She found two other dresses she thought were reasonably priced, then headed back to the dressing area. The first thing she did was check the price tag on the one Linc had chosen, holding her breath as she read the tag. She exhaled when she saw it was on sale, and though at the top of her price range, at least it was in the ballpark.

She undressed and tried on the two she had chosen. They were serviceable, but she didn’t love them, so she slipped on the dress Linc had picked out, feeling it slide over her body like silk. When she turned and looked at herself in the mirror, she smiled.

Oh, yeah. This one was nice. Really nice. It hugged her curves, and the scoop neck showed off just a tiny bit of cleavage. Sexy without being overt, but perfect for a nice dinner out, and it wouldn’t break the bank.

She left the dress on and came out of the dressing area. She could swear she saw Linc’s gaze sparkle with interest, but that was probably just her imagination.

“You look amazing in that.”

“Thanks. I think this is the one. I just need shoes now.”

“Okay, let’s shop.”

She was happy that he didn’t put up a fuss about her doing this on her terms.

---