Page 68 of My Best Friend's Mardi Gras Wedding

All of this was very out of the ordinary for him.

“This dress was supposed to be strapless,” she said.

He wasn’t sure why that was important right now, but he said simply, “Oh?”

She chewed her bottom lip and nodded, watching him.“I wanted to get a strapless dress.I found a really gorgeous one that would have been perfect.But I couldn’t wear it because I have tan lines.”

She worked outside and he knew it got hot in the summer in Iowa.“That makes sense.You probably wear tanks and T-shirts, right?”

Tori shrugged.“I basically have a farmer’s tan.”

He grinned.“You’re basically a farmer.”

She actually smiled at that.“I mean, it’s been winter in Iowa and hasn’t been warm enough really for tanks yet, but I get pretty tan in the summer and the lines never fully fade, it seems.”

He took a step forward.“Tori?”

“Yeah?”

“Why are you telling me this?”

She blew out a breath.“I guess Andrew just reminded me that I’m not really a strapless-dress-with-sequins kind of girl.I mean, I remembered that when I went to buy a dress for tonight, but I…forgot.With you.I didn’t think about the tan lines.I didn’t even feel the itching until we were standing by the stairs.”

When fucking Andrew had stopped them.

“You were scratching at the dress when you walked into the ballroom,” he said.It was just when Andrew was around, Josh realized.When Andrew was there, reminding her of who she was in Iowa.Or at least whohethought she was.Josh wanted Tori to realize that too.

“You noticed that?”

“Couldn’t take my eyes off of you the second I saw you,” he told her honestly.

She gave him a little smile.“I guess you distracted me from all of that.”

That was a good thing.She was comfortable and not thinking about all of the little things like not being a sequins kind of girl when she was with him.

But she didn’t look like she thought that was a good thing.

Josh shrugged, trying to act casual.“So, take the sequins off.I mean, naked is about as real-you as you can get, right?”But what he really felt was a bunch of emotions knotting up into a ball in his chest.

She nodded.“Yeah.Complete with tan lines and scratches and a rash.”

“I don’t care about any of that.”God’s honest truth right there.In fact, a little of him wanted to see all of those things.Because, for the first time maybe ever, he wanted the woman in the dress to have all of those imperfections, and to let him see them.

Yes, he wanted her.Yes, he found her gorgeous.But he was used to women who did everything they could to look good and seductive and like hot-weekend-fling material.And he took them up on it.For sure.He wouldn’t deny that.He was a breast man.And a leg man.And an ass man.And a bright red lipstick man.He loved it all.But this was more than that.

Tori had told him about her animals and the things that made her feel a little weird.She’d adorably stumbled on her high heels and gotten a rash from the sequins in her dress.She’d lit up when she realized he could dance, which told him she liked to dance and didn’t do it often.She’d been clearly delighted when he’d thrown her over his shoulder, which told him guys didn’t make a big deal about her or get a little caveman with her…but that she also liked when they did.

She’d let him see little pieces of who she really was.She wasn’t here for hot sex with a Louisiana boy so she could go home and tell her girlfriends about her wild New Orleans weekend.Hell, she didn’t even really want to be here.Not at the plantation and the wedding, anyway.She was in no way at her best or her most confident and yet, he was getting to see it all.

He liked her more and more every minute they were together and yeah, he wanted to see her tan lines.So fucking much.

“If I take this dress off,” she said after a long moment.“I’ll be naked.”

“Exactly.”

“In aplantation.In Louisiana.With a hot bartender who I met at Mardi Gras and barely know.”

All of those were reasonstoget naked for the women he usually hooked up with.With Tori, of course, they were reasons she was hesitating.He was going to have to accept that this girl was different from all others in nearly every way.

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