Page 137 of If You Need Me

I try to deepen the kiss, but he pulls back. “I appreciate your love for my lips on your lips, but you have an appointment for hair, nails, and makeup in less than half an hour.”

“What?” The whiplash is a lot, as is my desire to get him home and into bed.

“Hair, makeup, and nails. We need to get you prom ready.”

“You’re ridiculous.”

“Ridiculously in love with you.” He kisses the end of my nose and grabs my purse, slinging it over his shoulder. “Come on.” He takes my hand and tugs me toward the door.

Twenty minutes later, I’m sitting in a chair with a woman expertly recreating the hairstyle I wanted nearly a decade ago. Essie is working on my makeup while a third woman paints my toenails.

“I can’t believe he sucked you into this,” I tell her.

“I mean, any excuse to bring back the mid-two-thousands and all that came along with them is a good excuse,” she says with a smile.

“Where the heck did you find that picture?” I motion to the clipping from a magazine.

“I have your moms to thank for that.” Dallas sits in the chair next to me, one leg crossed over the other. “Apparently, you had a whole scrapbook page dedicated to prom.”

“They did not send you my high school scrapbook.” My horror must be written on my face.

Dallas grins, and it’s a devilish, panty-melting expression on his gorgeous face. “Oh, they most certainly did. I had no idea you were an expert scrapbooker.”

“It was a brief phase.”

“Not that brief. The book spans all of high school. I love that your debate club was featured prominently. Can’t say I was all that surprised to see me with devil horns in several photos.”

“They suited you back then,” I note.

“They did. They still do, but for very different reasons.”

I hold up a hand to block his face. “It’s inappropriate to look at me like that in public.”

“You two are adorable. Were you high school sweethearts?” Anna, my hair stylist, asks.

“Dallas had a crush on me in high school,” I say.

“Oh, honey, I didn’t have acrush. I was head over ass in love with you.”

“You’ve been infatuated for a while.”

“Unabashedly accurate.” He winks at me and mouthsI love you.

I make a heart with my hands back at him.

It’s another half hour before I’m done at the salon.

I hug Essie. “I’ll see you soon.”

“For sure you will.” She winks and sends us on our way.

We walk the two blocks to Dallas’s, fingers entwined, and take the elevator to the penthouse.

“I need you to close your eyes when we go inside,” he informs me when we reach our floor.

“You have more surprises?”

“I do.” His smile is impish as he leads me down the hall.

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