Page 54 of Love, Academically
“Yes,” he interrupted Miquita, clearing his throat because his voice didn’t work well.
“May I suggest shoes?” Miquita asked, giving him yet another pointed look.
“I have shoes,” Lila said, lifting the skirt with both hands and poking her toe out.
“It would be better if you wore something else with that gown.” Miquita was full of tact.
“Shoes,” Rhys said roughly. “Yes.”
Miquita strode out of the dressing area and Lila looked down at the dress.
“Rhys, I feel like a princess,” she said with a giggle.
Gently walking to the mirrored wall, she twisted and turned so she could see all angles. There was something in the way the dress shimmered softly when she moved, the line of her neckand curve of her bare shoulder and Rhys could not tear his eyes away.
Henry II could be reincarnated and ask him to go on Crusade with William Marshal, and Rhys would still be here, his chest expanding, staring at Lila Cartwright.
“What do you think?” she asked, catching his eyes in the mirror.
“Yes,” he said, nodding. His eyes wandered across her collarbone. “You look...”
There were no words that would do justice to how she looked.
She ducked her head with a shy smile and a flush crossed her cheeks. He hadn’t seen that smile before and he filed it away for future reference.
It was difficult to sit down when Miquita came back into the room and bent down to change Lila’s shoes, because surely he could do that. It was even more difficult when Lila stepped back into the dressing room and he couldn’t see her anymore.
His mouth was dry and his hands were not.
His heart stuttered.
Lila
Rhys was indecipherable as they drove home. Something had changed in him when she’d walked out of the dressing room inthatdress. A softening around the eyes. A slight slackening of his jaw. The intensity with which he didn’t take his eyes off her for one second.
He had said she was beautiful.
Yeah, she looked nice, but who wouldn’t in a dress that practically came with its own entourage? Would it be too much to think that Rhys Aubrey, on some level, had stopped seeing her as an annoyance or an opportunity to prove something to his family and possibly as a woman?
Yes. It would.
She wasn’t the type of girl that men wanted. She was the fun girl next door, the buddy, the pal. There were no dramatic grand declarations of love for her. Lila was not Jasmeet, and she was okay with that. And she wasn’t looking for a relationship. Not at all.
Lila hadn’t lied when she said she had felt like a princess. What girl wouldn’t? It was the most perfect dress she had ever set eyes upon and Miquita had earned every part of her commission, including the shoes and the bag that she’d gently pressed into her hands, with another terse ‘yes’ from Rhys.
Shame that she’d have to sell them all after the evening and give Rhys the proceeds. There was absolutely no way she could possibly keep them. Where, pray tell, would she wear them again? Oh, perhaps every now and again for the hoovering.
“Do you want to come in for a sandwich?” Lila asked when he pulled up behind Petunia.
“Uh,” Rhys swallowed and looked awkwardly into the distance.
“You don’t have to,” she said quickly, unclipping her seatbelt and putting her hand on the door handle. “I’ll see you at work on Monday.”
“No, uh.” Rhys’s throat worked and she waited. “I’d planned to tell you more about my family today. If you’re happy to hear it.”
It should have been a question, but she let it slide because The Family Discussion was a big thing for him.
“Yeah, great.” Because surely a girlfriend would know these things. Also, how long had they been together? Where did they meet? Who chased who? This was going to be a lot more complex than randomly bumping into Jason.
