Page 45 of Mated to the Enemy
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Klaue stared at the door to the washroom, thoroughly confused.
Something was different.Verydifferent. He’d been in the bedroom when Jessica waltzed back in from Nat’s, and she’d gone straight into the bathroom with barely a pause to say hello. The way she’d spoken, her body language, the tone of her voice as he sat in a chair talking to her through the door. It was all different.
Was it her confidence, perhaps? He couldn’t pinpoint it.
“Yeah, it was fun,” Jessica answered in that distracted tone of voice that said she was doing something, probably in the mirror, yet talking to him at the same time. “Nice ladies, really. Though I have a question for you.”
“Go for it.”
“How the hell do you keep it a secret that all of you aren’t human? Don’t any of the regular humans invited to this thing ever think it’s weird that you’re all huge and jacked?”
“All the time,” he said with a laugh. “We just laugh it off as being something in the water and proceed to have fun. You’d be surprised how quickly people can adapt and stop wondering about it. Otherwise, as long as we don’t, you know, shift into our animal form on the dance floor, it’s pretty tough for them to know about our true selves.
“I guess.”
She didn’t sound convinced, but that was the simple truth of it. As long as everyone acted normal, the memory of it would fade from people’s minds easily. This wasn’t the first wedding that Ursidae Manor had hosted that involved a swathe of regular humans mixing amongst the shifters.
“How long do you need?” she asked over the running water of the tap.
What the heck is she doing in there?
“Uh, I’m ready,” he said, pulling the jacket of his suit forward so it sat properly on his shoulders, top button only done up. It was a plain black number with sharp-cut lines. Underneath, he wore a white shirt so bright it almost looked silver, and a blood-red tie to complete the ensemble.
“Shoes?”
He looked down. “I’ll put them on when we leave?”
“Have they been shined?”
Klaue frowned at the door. “Are you dressing me?”
There was no hesitation in Jessica’s reply. “Yes.”
“I had them shined yesterday,” he answered, shaking his head as a smile tugged at the corners of his lips. He was enjoying the banter.
“What time is it?”
“4:46. We have fourteen minutes to get there,” he announced, glancing at the silver wristwatch he’d donned for the occasion.
“Shoes, please.” Jessica called.
“Where did you leave them?” he asked, looking around the entryway and on the couch nearby as well.
“I have mine. I meant yours, put them on please.”
“Oh. Okay.” Klaue was thoroughly disoriented by the change in dynamic between them, but he found himself putting on his shoes anyway because…why wouldn’t he? Yeah, that was definitely the reason. He was doing it because he had nothing else to do in the meantime. Not because she’d asked him to.
The water in the bathroom shut off, he then heard the sounds of heels clicking on the tiled floor. He stood up straight, adjusting his suit to ensure it was properly tucked in and sitting normally. When Jess walked out of the bathroom he wanted her to see him and be—
“Oh, wow,” he gasped as she opened the door. “You look like an angel.”
The light from the bathroom was still on, and it fell across Jess in a soft glow that picked up the soft rose-pink dress and created a shimmer about her. It was stunning.
“You’re stunning,” he said.
The dress hung in an angled cut starting a hair above the knee and dropping to mid-shin on the other side. It clung tightly to her hips and across the curve of her waist. The hemline plunged low enough to show ample cleavage, but left enough to the imagination not to be too scandalous. Thin straps looped over her shoulders to hold it in place.
