Page 13 of The Fix Up

“How does that length feel?”

She tore her gaze off his crotch and blinked at the clerk. “What length?”

“The pants.” Marcus gave her a tiny smirk before looking up at Ben. “I think they’re perfect, but some men prefer about a quarter-inch longer.”

“Longer, right,” she babbled, feeling like an idiot. “Um, finding the right length can be hard.” Shit. “Nothardin the sense that?—”

“I think I’ll defer to your judgment on the pants,” Ben said to the clerk before yanking the tie again.

She took a step back so she wouldn’t do something stupid like grab his ass.

Ben looked away from her and turned to the mirror, pivoting to check out his reflection. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance of having the jacket altered in time for an event this evening? I’m happy to pay extra, of course.”

“Let me go have a chat with the tailor and see what we can do,” Marcus said, whipping out a measuring tape. “Can you turn for me just a little? There you go. Wow, you’re certainly a big fellow, aren’t you?”

Ben said nothing, but Holly felt her face grow hot and ordered herself to keep her gaze above Ben’s waist. Was she imagining things, or did everything out of anyone’s mouth sound like a phallic reference?

“That’s a little stiff, isn’t it?”

She coughed, then regained her composure when she saw Marcus adjusting the collar of Ben’s dress shirt.

“It is a bit stiff,” Ben agreed, meeting her gaze in the mirror. He gave a small smile, and she hoped like hell he had no idea what she was thinking.

God, she just needed to stop looking at him. She turned to study a rack of women’s clothing behind her so she wouldn’t risk letting her gaze drop to the front of Ben’s pants. She flipped blindly through the garments, not really seeing any of the slacks or skirts or blouses as the temperature of her cheeks slowly returned to normal.

“That would look outstanding on you, sweetheart,” Marcus said behind her.

Holly stopped flipping and froze with her hand on a blue silk dress with a plunging neckline.

“It’s totally your color,” Marcus added. “That’s our last-chance rack. There’s only one left.”

She glanced at the tag and realized it was in her size. She hesitated, stroking the edge of the cap sleeve. “It’s lovely.”

“It’s a total steal at that price,” Marcus said. “That bias hemline would show off those gorgeous legs of yours, too.”

“Get it,” Ben said, startling her with the directness of his words. She looked up and saw an expression of mild embarrassment on his face. “If you want to, I mean,” he said. “My treat. Since you’re stuck accompanying me to the event tonight, it’s the least I can do.”

“I couldn’t possibly?—”

“I mean it,” he said. “I owe you. You had to rearrange your whole schedule just to fit me in.”

“I guess I could try it on.” She looked at the dress again. She bit her lip, not sure how she felt about the idea of a man choosing her clothing. She remembered Chase laying out dresses at the end of the bed, intent on telling her exactly what to wear to his next office party.

Then again, this blue silk dress was much more her style than Chase’s picks had been.

No harm in just trying it on…

She looked at Marcus. “Can you point me to the women’s fitting room?”

“Right over there,” he said, pointing down the hall. “We’ll just finish up here and I’ll run the jacket down to the tailor.”

Holly held up the dress. She didn’t usually accept expensive gifts from clients, but she could always insist on paying for it herself. She hesitated. “I guess it won’t hurt to try it on. You’ll be okay here for a minute?”

“As long as you approve of what I’m wearing as a viable option for tonight,” Ben said.

“It’s perfect,” she said, swinging her gaze back to him and feeling glad to have a legitimate, work-related reason for checking him out. “You look very sharp.”

“It’s not too—I don’t know. Fussy?”

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