Page 70 of Check the Halls
“You’re about the same size and height as she is,” Chanda chirps, already eyeing the racks like she’sdeciding what outfit she wants to stuff her Barbie doll into.
Same size and height? I have at least four inches and a solid twenty pounds on Annika.
“I don’t think we need to do that, do we?” I hedge, desperation creeping into my tone. “I could just, I don’t know, hold the dress up to Ben?”
“But I’m such a visual person,” Chanda insists as she plucks a sapphire blue gown off the rack and thrusts it toward me like an olive branch. “Please?”
Claus is nodding along with her, and when my gaze shifts to Ben, I’m met with the worst reaction of all: barely contained amusement. His lips are quirked in that maddeningly smug half-smile that says he thinks this turn of events is funny.
Oh, screw him.
“Of course,” I say brightly, pasting on my bestthis is finesmile. “No problem at all.”
I take the dress from Chanda’s outstretched hands and head toward the dressing room.
This is fine. Everything is fine.
As I close the dressing room door behind me, I catch a glimpse of Ben in the mirror, still smirking. My cheeks burn, and I mutter under my breath, “This is fine.”
CHAPTER 23
BEN
Iam not enjoying this.
Oh, who the fuck am I kidding? How could I not?
Watching Maddy play dress-up might be the highlight of my entire year. This isMaddy, after all. The girl who spent her teenage years in a rotating wardrobe of jeans, oversized hoodies, and sweats. The girl who had to be bribed by her mom with Joel Plaskett concert tickets to wear a full-length gown to our high school prom. And now here she is, reluctantly modeling dresses like she’s on Project Runway.
As for my part in this fashion show, the second tuxedo I tried on was the clear winner. I don’t want to sound arrogant, but if I were anyone else, I’d absolutely have sex with me.
Unfortunately for Maddy, Chanda is holding Annika’s wardrobe to a much higher standard. The first dress was too fancy. The next? Not fancy enough. Every gown Maddy modeled had some fatal flaw her boss couldn’t overlook, and I’ve been watching her patience erode with every dismissive shake of Chanda’s head.
One obvious issue is that none of these dresses are made for her. They’ve been chosen for Annika’s dancer’s frame, not Maddy’s soft curves. I watch as she tugs at hems and shifts in place under Chanda’s scrutiny, her frustration building.
“I’ve got a good feeling about the next one,” Chanda says brightly, her optimism undeterred.
I hope she’s right. If this doesn’t work, I wouldn’t put it past Maddy to choose violence.
Suddenly, Chandra inhales sharply next to me, her hand flying to her chest. “Ohhh.”
I turn to follow her gaze, and the sight before me slams into my chest like a bullet train.
Maddy floats toward us in a dark green gown. The fabric is rich, almost shimmering, catching the light as she moves. The deep shade of emerald compliments her fair skin, while the neckline draws my gaze for longer than it should. The gown cradles her curves, skimming over her hips and dipping into the hollow of her waist like it was custom-made for her and her alone.
I can’t look away. My breath hitches in my lungs and my pulse pounds in my ears. She looks beautiful. Stunningly beautiful. Her expression is hesitant and all I want to do is pick her up, throw her over my shoulder, and take her far away from here.
After the stunt Valentina pulled, I highly doubt she’d come willingly.
God. Why did she have to show up when she did? Or at all? Valentina’s timing could not have been worse and the shock and hurt on Maddy’s face? That’s something I’m not going to forget anytime soon.
After Maddy left, it took every ounce of self-control Ipossessed not to go after her. But the shitty thing about respecting someone’s boundaries and giving them space is that you have to do it even when you don’t want to. I learned that from the self-help book, but I wish I hadn’t.
Valentina was aloof as always when I confronted her. She couldn’t understand why I was upset. It turns out that the guy she’d recently been dating turned out to be involved in some kind of money laundering scandal. Her management team thought it would be good for her image to reconnect with me. Apparently, people liked her more when she was dating a popular athlete as opposed to a criminal.
She laid the entire thing out like it was a business transaction.
I made it abundantly clear to her that I had no interest in improving her brand. She’d pouted like a spoiled child, and when that didn’t work, cut her losses and left me to my misery.
