Page 23 of Wonderlust

“What do you mean by that?” Glaring, I took the dress from him.

“Most womenlikedress shopping, Straight Lace.”

“I like shopping, I just don’t particularly like shopping with you.”

“Ouch! You like wounding me, huh?” His lips curved into a smile.

“Maybe,” I giggled, unable to keep a grin from my face as I darted into the changing room.

The dresswasshort, and extremely revealing in the back. There was no way that I was letting him see me in this. He’d made me put this dress on purpose.

“Straight Lace, are you coming out?” he called from behind the red curtains.

“No, it doesn’t fit,” I lied. I heard one of the assistants tell him they could get another size for me.Dammit.“Wait,” I sighed, pulling the curtain back. It was better to just get it over with.

Alex’s eyes widened at the sight of me. It looked as if he was memorizing every single curve that I had as his eyes traveled up and down my body.

“You should wear dresses more often. You have an amazing figure.” His eyes were hooded when they met with mine. Wow, was it getting hot in here?

“I wore lots of dresses at my last job.”

“Your last boss was averylucky man.”

“He didn’t perv on me, though. I felt safe wearing them.”

“So that’s why you always wear shorts and T-shirts that don’t reveal anything.”

“You’re learning fast.” Maybe he wasn’t such an idiot after all.

“That doesn’t stop me from perving, though. I used my imagination, and looking at you now, I wasn’t far off.” I rolled eyes and pulled the curtain closed. Alex had seen enough. I didn’t want to encourage him anymore.

“Thank you for the dress,” I whispered as we left the store.

“You’re more than welcome. Don’t forget to put your sunglasses on,” he muttered, touching the small of my back again as he guided me out. It felt wrong, but I liked his protectiveness toward me. I managed to put my sunglasses on just before flashing lights came from every direction. How did he live with this on a daily basis? He walked through the crowd of paparazzi with his head held high. I had to admire his strength. I wouldn’t be able to do that.

Chapter Seven

“Darling, it’s so lovely to see your face,” my mother cooed while we were Skyping. “How is the new job going?” My parents were amazing. I was an only child, but had never been spoiled. I was simply loved. They taught me to be independent at an early age by having me help out with the family business. They were both retired now, but had owned an antique shop in Soho, London all my life. My childhood was full of memories of that shop. After finally selling, they’d decided to take a world cruise and had been gone for almost six months now.

“It’s going great,” I smiled. My mother looked well. She was Italian, but had met my father over forty years ago while on holiday with her family in London. When the holiday was over, they wrote letters to each other every week for a year. The rest is history.

I looked a lot like my mother. In fact, people quite often mistook us for sisters when we were together.

“I really hope we can meet up in Malibu.”

“I’ll speak to my boss about getting a few days off. I’m sure he’ll be okay with it.”

“We need to talk about thisbossof yours.” I was wondering if she’d worked it all out yet. My face had been all over the papers since my shopping trip with Alex a few weeks ago. “He has an uncanny resemblance to that rock star you had a crush on years ago.”

“That’s because heisthat rock star, Mum,” I snorted, shaking my head at her.

“Oh, mio Dio!Martin, you were right. She is working for that drug addicted rock star!” I couldn’t see my father, but he must have been somewhere in the room. He was probably sitting in a corner somewhere reading a book, trying to have some alone time.

“Mum!”

“What? Are you being safe?”

“I’m not sleeping with him, if that’s what you're implying. He’s myboss!”

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