Page 11 of Beautiful Cruelty

"I must have grabbed his dry cleaning by mistake when I left Mrs. K's." My cheeks burn as I speak. "Which means..."

"He has yours!" Megan's grin turns devious. "Well, now youhaveto call him."

"This isn't funny! This probably costs more than I make in a month. Maybe even a year!"

"Good thing you have his number then." Megan picks up my phone from the couch. "Want me to dial it for you?"

"Give me that." I snatch it away, my hands shaking slightly. "I can't believe this is happening."

I stare at my phone, heart pounding as I pull up the messaging app. My fingers hover over the keypad.

“Well?" Megan gets up off the couch and looks on my screen. “What are you waiting for?”

"I'm thinking!" But every possible line sounds ridiculous in my head. "What do I even say? 'Sorry I stole your suit'? 'Hey, remember me? The girl who yelled at you this morning'?"

“Just get started on something, you’ll figure it out.”

I start typing.

Hi, this is Lacey from Mrs. Klossner’s. I accidentally grabbed your suit this morning.

No, too formal.

Hey, we need to talk about our dry-cleaning situation.

Definitely not.

So funny story...

God no.

"You're overthinking this." Megan flops back onto the couch.

"It's not that simple." I run my fingers over the cashmere again, marveling at how luxurious it feels. "What if he's already noticed? What if he's already called the police?"

"For a dry-cleaning mix-up?" Megan rolls her eyes. "Pretty sure that's not a criminal offense."

"This suit is easily a few thousand dollars! If not a few tens of thousands of dollars!"

"Just tell him you have his suit and want to arrange a swap. Personally, I think you should put the jacket on in your birthday suit, take a picture, and send it to him.”

"Absolutely not!"

But whatwouldhis reaction be if I actually do follow through with Megan's suggestion? Will those storm-gray eyes widen as he opens a message from an unknown number. Will his confident smile falter for just a moment when he recognizes his own suit jacket on me, naked?

Will he look at every little detail in the photo while his free hand moves down to unzip his pants? Will he whisper that nickname he gave me at Mrs. K's? What was it?Zvyozdochka?

Will he send a pictureback?

I bet he’s got a huge cock.

Whoa… where didthatthought come from?

But now that it's in my head, I can’t dig it out.

I feel a flush rising on my cheeks.

"Earth to Lacey!" Megan waves her hand in front of my face. "You zoned out there for a minute."

---