Page 46 of Wedlocked

“Are you worried about what my brother might say? He’s not giving you a hard time, is he?”

I shook my head. “No. On the contrary, he’s been quite the…gentleman.”

“We are talking about the same guy here, aren’t we?” she asked with a giggle.

I couldn’t help but giggle along with her. “He surprised me, too.”

“Oh?”

“He took me for a motorbike ride today. Then we had a picnic at Liberty State Park.”

Isabella gaped. “Are you sure we’re talking about my brother? It doesn’t sound like him at all.” She cocked her head to the side. “Maybe he really does have feelings for you.”

“Do you think so?”

“Nothing else makes sense.” She stepped back to let me pass. “He screws women, he doesn’t romance them.”

“That’s good to know,” I said drily as I headed through the bedroom to the walk-in closet. “But then, he’s never married anyone before, either. No doubt he’s trying to make me forget about what he eventually has to do.”

Isabella inhaled sharply. “You don’t really still believe he’s going to—“

“I don’t know, and I don’t want to know,” I cut in, somehow not wanting to hear it out loud. Bad enough I’d been thinking about my coming death non-stop. I reached up a shaky hand and flicked through some of the dresses Ethan had purchased for me.

Isabella cleared her throat, awkwardness suddenly thickening the air between us. Then she said gaily, “So you’re coming with me, then? I do hate going to clubs alone and Ethan already said once he was free he’d meet us at the nightclub.”

“He did?”

“Yes. Believe me, you’re safe inside this building. Security would never let anything happen to you. If they did,” she used the tip of her finger to glide across her throat, “they’d be toast.”

“I bet,” I said drily. Still, a little thrill went through me knowing I was finally able to let my hair down. I smiled at her, then said, “Why not?” I turned back to flick through my wardrobe. “But what should I wear?”

“Nothing from here, that’s for sure. Your wardrobe is far too formal. Come on,” she said, handing me a bathrobe to shrug into, “you can borrow something of mine.”

Thirty minutes later I was standing in front of Isabella’s dressing room mirror, eyeing myself with a flushed face. “Are you sure this isn’t a little too much?”

“Are you kidding me? You’re perfect! Geez, live a little.” She sucked in a horrified breath. “I didn’t mean—“

“It’s all good, honestly. I really am going to just live in the moment from here on in. And this seems like as good a start as any.”

Isabella nodded, her stare shining, but whether it was from happy or sad tears, I wasn’t quite sure. “My brother’s eyes will be hanging out on strings when he sees you, that’s for sure.”

I smoothed a hand down the black, tightfitting pantsuit with its plunging neckline and sparkling, silver chain belt. “At least I won’t have to worry about anyone glimpsing my thong in this. My boobs, on the other hand…”

Isabella snorted even as she handed me big hoop silver earrings. “You have a killer body. While everyone else, including me, will be wearing micro-skirts and mini-dresses, you’ll be rocking that pantsuit.”

I clipped in the earrings. “I don’t need to tell you how gorgeous you look in that white dress.”

Isabella preened, her liquid-dark eyes beaming. “You think so?”

“Believe me. Every man there will be panting after you.”

She laughed. “We’ll see.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, they’ll be too busy focusing on the blonde bombshell to see the alluring dark-haired woman beside you.”

We burst out laughing before I shook my head. With my hair in a long ponytail down my back and my face accentuated by Isabella’s bright red lipstick, dark eyeliner and silver eyeshadow, I did look good. We both did.

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