Page 30 of Mafia Toy

I picked up my pace to match hers. Constantino followed after us, lingering behind and picking up clothing off the rack for Sage.

Once Viola ushered Sage into a large fitting room, I sat on a blue velvet couch in the same area.

Constantino walked over with four pieces of clothing hanging off his forearm and handed them to Viola. “Have her try on these.”

Viola nodded, opened Sage’s door—earning a squeal from Sage, who was probably in the middle of undressing—and handed her the clothes. “Oh, I see women naked all the time, dear. Don’t worry about it. We all have the same parts.”

My lips curled into a small smile, and I crossed my legs, excited to see Sage in something that Constantino had picked out. He might’ve had Viola style me when we started dating, but he picked out most of the clothes I liked wearing now.

When Constantino sat next to me, a man in a white button-up and gray suit jacket walked over to us with two glasses of champagne. “Champagne while you wait?” he asked, holding out the glasses for us.

I took a glass and sipped.

“Make sure you come out here once you finish putting on each piece of clothing, dear,” Viola said to Sage, then walked out of her fitting room and closed the door. “What kind of clothing are we looking for, Mr. Buratti?”

“Clothing for every occasion,” Constantino said.

A moment later, Viola disappeared into the clothing store on a mission to find Sage clothes for every occasion, like Constantino had requested. I took another sip of champagne and smiled to myself, butterflies erupting through my stomach as I thought about this morning.

We had walked through the entire museum together today, and she hadn’t wanted to leave once. Even though she enjoyed art, I’d expected her to get bored at some point. Bethany had been so excited the first time that she came with me, but a quarter of the way through, she had asked to leave.

Hell, even Constantino had walked through it all with me, but hadn’t particularly enjoyed it.

I hadn’t wanted Sage to feel bad, but she hadn’t wanted to leave today. She had actually seemed like … she wanted to be there.

Sage walked out of the room, dressed in black leather pants and an oversize black blazer that tied around the waist, nothing underneath. With her shoulders slumped forward, she stepped in front of the mirror and scrunched her nose.

She looked so sex—

“I look so frumpy.”

Constantino stood and walked over to her, resting one hand on her shoulder and tugging it back so she stood up straight. “You can’t slouch when you wear clothes like this,” he said, lifting her chin so she wasn’t staring down. “Chin up.”

“This feels so weird,” Sage said, chewing on the inside of her cheek. “What do you think, Laila?”

“What doIthink?” I asked, standing and walking over to her. “You look so sexy.”

Cheeks flaming red, Sage glanced away and walked back to the fitting room. “Okay, I guess I’ll try the next one on then.”

Fifteen outfits later, Viola waited outside Sage’s room and tapped her shoe. “Sage!”

“It’s not zipping. I think I need a bigger size,” Sage called from inside the room.

“Nonsense,” Viola muttered, walking into the room without an invitation.

Sage yipped again and closed the door.

After some rummaging around, Viola cleared her throat. “Suck in.”

“I’m sucking,” Sage said. “It’s too tight.”

“We can make it fit.”

“Ow,” Sage whimpered, followed by the sound of zipping.

“Voilà!” Viola clapped her hands. “Beautiful!”

The door swung open, and Sage scurried out of the room in a skintight, silky black dress with silver snakes that hugged the curves of her breasts, dipping between them, their forked tongues reaching out for the other.

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