Page 102 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

‘You’ve been gone five minutes,’ I say, standing to inspect the dress in his hands. Black, shiny, ruffly and short short. ‘Nineties prom night does it for ya?’

His eyebrows are raised as he stares at the nearly nude mannequin standing between Jim and me. ‘Steampunk does it for you?’ he asks as I drop back down to my knees to yank the pants off my new mannequin friend.

‘Fair point. Will, this is Big Jim; his wife’s a fan of yours.’

‘Oh yeah?’ Will asks, extending his hand to Jim.

Jim wipes his hands on his pants before taking Will’s hand, nodding his head silently.

‘You helped this weirdo choose this?’ Will asks.

‘Nooo,’ Jim says uncomfortably. ‘Just helped her undress him. She’s kind of bossy.’ He whispers that last part, but not quietly enough.

‘Jim.’ I say his name like I’m offended, earning a grin from the stout, serious man.

Will nods his head, glancing around the place like he’s about to tell Jim a secret. ‘I can’t take her anywhere. Look at her,’ he jokes, his eyes on me while my head is at this mannequin’s waistline, trying to yank the pants off him.

I burst out a laugh as Jim nods like he agrees.

‘We ready?’ Will asks as Jim hands me my newly acquired clothes.

‘Thank you, Jim,’ I say to him before walking away with Will. ‘Are we wearing these out?’

‘If you think I’m touching anything in those dressing rooms, you’re nuts. I brought Febreze and Lysol for the clothes, even. My car has dark windows. We’ll change in the back seat and no one will be the wiser.’

‘Yeah.’ I laugh. ‘That doesn’t sound like a dangerous idea.’

Will flashes me a smile as he hands the lady at the register his debit card. He looks totally handsome even in his T-shirt with the word ‘DORK’ across his chest.

‘Thirty-two bucks?’ he asks, laughing as she shoves the nicest clothes we could find into two used Walmart bags.

‘I think you may be a little too “rich boy” to make this your regular clothing store. I bet your underwear cost more than that,’ I say to him as I crawl into the back seat of his SUV.

He stands outside the car, Lysoling the hell out of everything we bought, tossing them in to me one by one, before getting in and closing the door behind him.

‘Are you sure nobody can see through the windows?’ I ask.

‘The only person looking at you right now is me.’ He winks, not wasting a moment stripping off his shirt and undoing his jeans, shoving them to his knees as I sit next to him.

I remove my shirt and throw it at him to make the playing field even, pulling off my jeans and tossing those his way too.

His gaze is on me until he finally lets out a breath and runs a hand through his hair, looking away with a laugh. He pulls off his glasses, setting them on the center console in front of us.

‘What are you doing?’

‘The only thing I know to do so I don’t accidentally seduce you.’

I laugh.

‘You were definitely right,’ he says, his eyes on me. ‘Changing in my car might have been a bad idea.’

‘What do we do?’ I ask, afraid to look at him, holding a hand his way so I can’t see him even though I’m not trying very hard as I separate my fingers to look through them.

‘We shouldn’t touch.’

‘OK…’ I say, reaching for the dress he’s chosen.

He goes to grab his stuff, but the jacket falls to my feet, almost as if it was pushed by him. He leans forward, brushing his arm against my calf intentionally as he grabs for it.

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