Page 42 of Unravel You

Anabelle offered a nervous smile. I’d bet this dress would fit her perfectly. I slow-blinked and sauntered to the walk-in closet. Thanks to Em and my friend Annie, I had plenty of dresses to wear to the photoshoot. I picked a silky, long dress with spaghetti straps. The silver fabric had a slimming effect on my chest. Maybe. Argh. Who cared what Lilly thought?

“I’m sorry, Valentina.”

“Sorry for what?” I was beginning to lose patience with Derek’s mom. “Sorry that I’m too busty to fit Lilly’s dress? Or sorry that I’m not what Derek needs.”

“If you only give her a chance, you’ll see how lovely she is.”

“I’ve been here for two full days. If she wanted to show me her lovely side, she would’ve done it already.”

“Well.” Her gaze fell to my dress. “I can tell you Derek will come in his pants when he sees you in this.”

I barked out a laugh at Anabelle’s crude words. “I can’t believe you just said that.”

“It’s the truth. Lilly can’t tell Derek what to do or who to fall in love with. Trust me—if she had that kind of power over her sons…” She waved her hand in dismissal. “Talk to her. I was thinking maybe if you ask her to move here indefinitely, she might see it as a peace offering.”

“What do you mean? Ask Lilly to come and live in Derek’s house?”

“Yeah. Would you mind that? It would mean a great deal if she heard it from you.”

Mind? I couldn’t think of a single reason why I would care if Lilly lived in Derek’s house. In twenty-seven days, we were leaving and hell if I was planning to come back. I glanced down at my dress. We? Were we leaving? Or would it be just me going home at the end of this trip?

“Not at all. Everything in this house is here because she put it there. She deserves to enjoy this place.”

Anabelle flashed me a smile. “Tell her that. She’ll at least see that you’re not here to replace her.”

Replace her? Jesus Christ. Out of fear or sheer stupidity, Derek had made a real mess of things between his mom and me. That aside, I wasn’t ready to give up on him.

“This house isn’t mine. I can’t tell Lilly to move in without Derek’s consent.”

She glanced down at her hands. “Zack told me Derek was planning to give the house to his mom. He didn’t tell you?”

“No.” I squeezed my eyes shut. “He just doesn’t trust me.”

“Come on. Let’s go. The photographer has been waiting a long while.”

I followed Anabelle to the drawing room, where the photographer and her assistant had set up her lighting and rearranged the furniture. Derek stood by the window, drink in hand, while his mom placed an arrangement of flowers on the mantel. For her, this was more than an engagement photo. She wanted the work she’d done with this house showcased on the front page of the social section. Derek, as usual, looked as if he’d stepped out of a magazine spread.

The second he spotted me by the door, he made a beeline toward me. “You look beautiful. What happened to the dress Mom got for you?”

“It was too small,” I blurted out, then bit my tongue before I mentioned the fact that Lilly had bought it with Anabelle in mind.

“I’m sure it was an oversight.” He cupped my elbow, and my entire body melted into him. “God, I missed you.” His fingers grazed up my arm.

I’d missed him too. I wasn’t ready to give up on Derek. If I had to spend another night away from him, I would scream and possibly beg him not to leave me. We belonged together.

“Could I have the lovely couple over here, please?” The photographer gestured for us to join her.

Derek looked like he was born to be in front of the camera, perfectly comfortable in his three-piece suit. The dark fabric made his blue eyes stand out in this lighting.

“Don’t fidget, dear.” Lilly gripped my shoulders and moved my hip a few inches behind Derek’s side. “Maybe less backside,” she said to the photographer, who’d been snapping pictures that whole time, checking the frame on her camera after each shot.

“They look perfect.”

“What’s wrong with my backside?” I whispered to Derek.

A wrinkle touched his eye as he slanted a glance behind me. His hand slid down to my lower back, leaving a hot tingling trail on my skin. “Nothing. I think it’s perfect. I love your curves,” he whispered against my temple.

His blue gaze fell down to my lips and then my cleavage, and my face flushed. My mind flooded with fleeting images of the last time we were together: his full mouth sucking on my nipple in that way that just made me lose all sense of time and space.

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