Page 49 of Let Me Say It Again

He wouldn’t hear it, though, shooting me an intense glare. Usually I’d argue, but I knew that this was his potential investment on the line, so if he wanted to piss away his money on clothes for me, then fine, I’d let him.

Hank snapped his fingers and raised his voice. “Susan, Ursula, and Quinn, out here now, please.”

They all swarmed out of the back room, looking like mannequins wearing off-the-rack clothing from the shop. They were the ultimate walking billboard for this place, and I couldn’t say I didn’t think that was a solid approach to marketing.

“I love your skirt,” I told one of the women, not sure who was who.

She smiled. “Thank you. It’s actually a new in-stock item. Would you like to try it on in your size?”

“She would,” Red answered on my behalf, and I narrowed my eyes at him. “She’ll need lots of options, and I’ll want to see them all.”

Okay, was it just me, or was this bossy, commanding side of Red sexy?

“Please, have a seat. We have a very comfortable couch and ottoman, and I can get you some champagne. Would you like some champagne?” Hank asked, his tone coming out slightly tepid.

Red waved his hand in the air. “She’ll take some champagne. Forget I’m here.”

Even I could get used to this kind of attention.

* * *

Reddington

I could have died right now, just like this, with my only regret being that Jade wasn’t my girl in the way I wanted her to be. But watching Jade come alive, her whole face lighting up, whenever she came out of the dressing room to show me the next thing? There was no way to describe it, but as the most beautiful thing I’d ever witnessed.

Jade came out with one of the women, fixing the knot that was coming loose around the waist of the dress. She was laughing, her mouth completely open and sincere, genuine laughter erupting from her. Where was a video camera when you needed one? Because I wanted to keep that sound forever and play it on repeat. I loved the sound of Jade happy, laughing. Knowing I had a part in making that happen was the greatest gift.

“What do you think?” Jade asked before doing something I never thought I’d see her do—spinning around and letting the fabric swish around her. “It’s a little poufy.”

I knew I’d said I’d pick out stuff for her and have a say in it, but she didn’t need that. I wasn’t lying when I’d said I liked her style, that it made her who she was. She didn’t need to wear luxury clothing brands to impress me. She impressed me just by being herself. Once again, with the caveat that we were trying to impress Mark. “How do you feel in it?” I asked, sitting back and waiting for her response.

She looked down and raked her teeth over her lower lip. Goddamn it, didn’t she know what that shit did to me? “I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but I like it.”

“Good. Then it’s yours.” A notification came through on my phone, and I brought my attention to it, watching out of the corner of my eye as she walked back to the dressing room, still playing with the fabric.

Chapter Eighteen

Jade

The day hadfinally come when the start of this Cavallo vow renewal extravaganza was upon us. It would’ve been easy to forget all about it with the long hours I had been working atBellissima, but apparently, I couldn’t do that. Between my sisters who’d insisted on helping me pack and Red, it just hadn’t been happening.

So here we were. Red and I had already made the journey to Providence. Now we were taking a ferry to Newport.

Considering that we were in public, on a ferry with other people, and we needed to show off our lovey-dovey bullshit, I seriously wished I would’ve voted we take the car the whole way there.

Finally, I took my hat off. Bianca had sworn I needed the floppy, light blue hat that matched my delicate blue dress with cap sleeves. Brushing a hand through my hair and trying to control the loose strands that flew around my face, I caught a glimpse of Red from the corner of my eye.

He was seated closer to the water. Probably not the best idea with the number of times he bothered me. Who knew? I might have been tempted to push him off.

My eyes concentrated on him as he looked out at the water. “You work too hard,” I said, somewhat out of the blue. Now if you were in my head, you would have known I was thinking about how happy and peaceful he looked. Almost like he wished he’d done this more often, but I knew for a fact he didn’t have time. “You’re rich enough, you can afford to take a few days off.”

He shook his head, smiling as his blue eyes met mine. “When I’m retired, I’ll do shit like this, and it’ll mean more because I’ll have worked my whole life and earned it.”

“Or you’ll give yourself a heart attack from working so much and never get to enjoy anything. Then again, look at my adopted parents. They worked their whole lives to put food on the table for us and where did that get them? They didn’t get to soak up retirement like they wanted. They passed away, and guess what? Death doesn’t give a shit about money problems. Those are troubles you can’t take with you. They’re just something people on earth worry about until it makes them sick and tired of the same old story. Oflivingthe same old story.”

Wow. I wasn’t entirely sure where that came from, but it was already out there, words that had flown out of my mouth and hung in the air between us for him to think about and dissect. Not that he’d understand, since he was loaded. Rich people only seemed to get richer. Whereas, for people like me and my adopted parents, it was a vicious cycle of paying the bills every month until the afterlife swept in and took those troubles away.

I didn’t like getting that deep with anyone, though, so would it be possible you could forget I ever said that? Do you think it was possible Red could?

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