Page 82 of Emerald

“Yes.” She grins. Rolling my eyes, I pull out my hand and pinky promise this woman. Honestly, I would pinky promise anything she wants. “You’re stuck with me now. No takebacks.” She giggles and it’s the purest sound in the world.

30

ELENA

The night away at Nash’s secret beach home was a turning point with us and I like this man. The crush I’ve developed on him seems to keep growing and I think the feeling is mutual. This is a new feeling, it’s different to Dimitri, we sort of found each other out of necessity in the messed-up world we lived in, and what I thought I felt for him wasn’t real. He might have had some affinity toward me, but there was no loyalty there. Not when he tried to put a bullet in my back.Would Nash do the same?Without a doubt, there is no way he would. The man is still trying to protect me even after finding out how deadly I am, and honestly, it’s nice to feel like a woman. Not that I can’t look after myself, but now I don’t always have to watch my back. Is this what security feels like? What a strange and liberating feeling.

Today we have to rent Nash a tuxedo and find me a dress for the gala next week. We are heading into the larger resort areas where they have luxury shops.

“Should we grab some lunch before heading back?” he asks.

“Are you trying to wine and dine me, Nash? You know I’m good for it,” I tease, which makes him slap my ass as we walk toward the shop. Then he stills.

“Shit, I shouldn’t have done that. This is Manuel’s world around here.”

I nod. “We can grab lunch back home if you want?”

He shakes his head. “No. I’d like to take you out. You deserve to be taken out.”

“Nash, I’m not one of those girls impressed by all this,” I say, pointing out the luxurious surroundings. “This is my workplace.” I see his face fall for a moment. “But I’m always hungry, especially after the appetite we worked up this morning.” I can’t get enough of this man’s hands on my body.

“Behave,” he warns as we walk toward the store.

“Never, you love it when I’m naughty.” I smirk, giving my ass a wiggle as I walk ahead of him.

We are greeted by a bubbly sales associate whose eyes landed on Nash and she went straight toward him.

“How can I help you?” she asks.

“We are here for a tuxedo rental,” I answer for him, pulling her attention to me. She gives me a quick up and down and then turns back to Nash. My spine bristles at her dismissiveness.

“I just need something for one night, I’m not fussed,” he tells her.

“Follow me, we have all our tuxedos this way,” she says, ushering him away from me.

“Guess I’ll go find my dress then,” I call out after them, but she is too busy talking or flirting for Nash to hear me.

I walk over to the racks of evening dresses, pick out some that might work, and remember that I have to wear something Manuel will like, so I pull out some dresses that are even sexier and head to the dressing room. One by one I try on dresses and send them to Manuel. My phone continues to beep withmessages from him with his thoughts on the dresses until he settles on the one he likes the most.

“Ellie, how are you going in there?” Nash calls out to me. I pop my head out of the curtains and see that he is finally alone, the girl is steaming and pressing the tuxedo. I step out of the dressing room and show him the dress I am wearing. It is a sheer dress with a thigh split and sparkles all over it. It dips low, exposing my cleavage, and it fits like a glove. “Fuck,” he hisses, seeing me step out. I do a little twirl for him. “You look stunning. Are you wearing this dress?”

I shake my head. “No, Manuel chose another.”

Nash stills at the mention of Manuel as if he has forgotten his existence. “I’m surprised, all eyes would be on you, and he would appreciate that.”

“Surprisingly enough, he chose the most demure dress, a black halter neck dress which is completely backless, so I guess it’s not that demure,” I say with a shrug.

He nods, pushing his hands into his pockets before the sales assistant calls him over, pulling his attention from me. I quickly get changed, bring out the dress that I’ll be purchasing, and head over to the counter to see Nash and the girl laughing together. Why the hell is she laughing? Nash is not that funny. Then I see her hand resting on his arm and he’s not removing it. I place my dress on the counter, take her hand, and remove it from his arm.

“I don’t appreciate people touching what’s mine,” I tell her. Her mouth flies open, and she gives me a load of bullshit excuses and apologies. One of her colleagues comes over after seeing the situation unfold and starts to ring me up before telling the girl to head into the stock room. “I’m paying for both,” I tell him, he nods as he takes my credit card and puts it through. Once we are rung up, we take our purchases and walk out of the store.

“What was that all about in there?” Nash asks genuinely, looking at me in confusion.

I glare at him, is he fucking serious? “That woman in there wanted you.”

Nash smirks and shakes his head. “So?” he answers.

“So?” I repeat back, the thought of making that woman disappear for good filters through my mind.

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