Page 23 of What the Heart Wants (Desires of the Heart 1)

I knock on his door, and he looks up from his computer. I smile slightly at him. He’s such a hard worker. Well, they all are, but Levi seems to take everything more seriously.

What I wouldn’t give to see those frowns disappear. I see him smile and such on occasion, but it’s not often. It makes me wonder if he is doing this because he likes me, or only because the other men like me.

It’s all or nothing with them. I can’t have just one or two or three, but I’m completely okay with that. I just wish that Levi would let me show him that I am capable of loving them all at the same time.

“These were dropped off for you. You know, if you did have dry cleaning to pick up, I could have done that for you,”I tell him as I hang up the garment bags on the hook by the bathroom door.

“That’s not dry cleaning,” he tells me with a slight smile.

“Oh, well whatever it is. I could have grabbed them,” I say as I turn back to face him.

“It’s fine. One is for you and the other is mine. I made reservations for tonight at Sergio’s,” he says looking at me with an expression I can’t quite read.

“Oh wow,” I say shocked, I know that place is a really fancy and classy restaurant. Usually, they are booked for months in advance making it terribly difficult to get in. Not that the wait list was what had stopped me from going before. It was always a restaurant very much out of my budget range. Sure, my parents would have taken me if I had asked them to, but I tried not to ask my parents for much.

“As much as I love your pencil skirts,” he starts as his eyes drift down to the skirt I’m wearing. He bites his lip as he takes it in, and I can’t help but flush under his gaze. Levi has never sent me a look like that before. “They aren’t really the kind of dress this place allows. I ordered a dress for you that I think would look quite stunning,” he says as his eyes move up to find mine. The heat in his gaze sends a shiver down my spine.

“Wow, thank you. I sure hope that you got the right size,” I say, immediately wanting to slap myself on the head for saying it. The guy is taking me to a classy restaurant, and buys me a dress so that I can dress appropriately, and that’s all I can really come up with to say?

“I’m sure that I did. I spend enough time looking at you; I’m confident that I got something that will fit,” he says as he gets up to walk closer to me.

I’m still standing by the wall next to the bathroom since his gaze seems to have locked me in place.

Slowly, and without breaking eye contact, Levi walks over so that he’s standing in front of me. He is so close that I can feel the heat of his body. I can also smell his cologne and find that I want to drown in the scent of it. Levi reaches over and grabs one of the garment bags. He brings it between us to place in my hands. I didn’t realise that my breathing picked up until this moment.

“Why don’t you get ready,” he whispers gesturing his head toward the bathroom.

I nod and move to the bathroom to change.

I don’t know what the heck that was, but the look that was in his eyes definitely makes me want to get on his desk and offer myself to him.

When I get into the washroom, I blow out a breath and lean against the closed door to collect myself.

I reach the garment bag on the back of the door and open it to see what Levi had picked out for me.

I gasp when I look and see a deep red, almost crimson coloured dress. The top part has thin straps, and the dress appears to be form hugging to show off my hips. The bottom is a flowing skirt that is short in the front and then ruffles the rest of the way down with the back part to my ankles.

I think that this dress might be the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen, although doubts spring to mind when I think of my scar. The dress is not terribly low in the cleavage area, but it would definitely show off the top part of my scar.

When I pull the dress out of the bag, there is a black shawl that is short over the front and longer in the back.

Tears well in my eyes when I realise that he thought about me always either wearing sweaters, or high-neckline shirts.

I know that they know there is a reason why I like them but, so far, they haven’t asked me why. He did this to think of my comfort without knowing how much it even means to me.

I start to get ready. I just fold the clothes I was wearing, put them on the counter, and start the process of putting the dress on.

When I have everything on, I finally look in the mirror and gasp at my appearance.

The dress fits perfectly and hugs my body in all the right ways.

I had worn my hair down in soft waves and I even was already wearing red eyeshadow in a kind of smokey eyed fashion, and red lipstick. Somehow, it all came together perfectly.

I feel like I am looking at a different person in the mirror.

When I’m ready and get over the nerves of Levi seeing me, I open the bathroom door and see him walking back into the room. He must have gone to another one of the men’s bathrooms to change.

He’s wearing a suit that’s black with a dark red shirt that matches my dress, and a black tie.

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