Page 6 of His Alone

Chapter 3

There were no words to describe how grateful I was that Emily and I exchanged phone numbers on my first day of work. Early in the afternoon of the company party, I stumbled through her door with both arms full of clothes. I dropped them on the couch unceremoniously, making a ‘ta-da’ gesture as she watched me with raised eyebrows.

“When you said you needed help choosing an outfit, I wasn’t expecting you to bring over your entire closet.”

“Yeah, I need major help,” I muttered as I started to form piles of dresses, skirts, and tops. “I couldn’t even narrow it down myself. I’m not used to dressing for attention.”

“Well, you called the right girl,” she said as she stepped up to help me shuffle the items around. “I still can’t believe nothing’s happened with you two yet.”

“He’s been busy at work. I hardly ever see him.”

“But you said he knows you’re a virgin. How’d that happen if you haven’t talked?”

“We’ve had a grand total of one conversation.”

“And that’s what you ended up talking about? Wow. One of you is very forward—not sure which, though.”

I rolled my eyes and tossed a skirt at her. “It wasn’t like that. It kind of spiraled from one thing to another and onto dating in general and I just… I wanted to be honest, I guess.”

“I’m just teasing you. I get it. Now let me take a look at what we’ve got…”

She trailed off and we sorted through the items I brought over, eventually narrowing it down to two choices. She laid out the final options on top of the pile, humming thoughtfully as we took them both in.

“Well, I know which one has my vote. Do you have a preference?”

“I don’t know…” I said, trailing off as I held up the two dresses that made the cut. “Maybe I should have brought some pants or something. It’s cold out.”

“The party’s inside, you’ll be fine,” she said, waving her hand through the air as if dismissing my concern. Before she could speak again, a set of footsteps approached from down the hall. “Perfect timing. Honey?”

“Yeah?” David called as he entered the room. “Hey, Piper. Good to see you again.”

Before I could respond to him, Emily held up the two dresses and said, “Piper’s trying to impress a guy at the party and we could use a man’s opinion. Got a preference? The green one is more Christmassy, but the black one—”

“Is hotter,” David finished. “Go with the black.”

Emily grinned so she must have had the same opinion. I deferred without protest, knowing I was already out of my element enough as it was. Emily started looking between the few pairs of shoes I brought while David turned to me with a smirk.

“Trying to snag yourself a doctor?”

“Not just a doctor. She’s trying to snag James.”

His smile dropped immediately, a scowl taking its place. With a muttered curse that sounded an awful lot like ‘prick,’ he turned on his heel and marched out of the room, leaving me standing there completely confused.

Emily must have sensed it because she said, “He doesn’t like James very much.”

“Why not?”

“It’s a long story. Come on. Let’s get started on our hair.”

* * *

Standing in Emily’s bathroom fully dressed, I couldn’t help but be a little impressed. Not so much because of my appearance, but because of her mastery of creating the perfect outfit. She went above and beyond when she helped curl my hair in loose waves and did my makeup to be a little sexier than usual.

All in all, I looked pretty good. I felt pretty good, too, until I looked behind me in the mirror and spotted her sitting on the edge of the tub, checking her phone for the hundredth time since I showed up.

“Are you okay? You seem kind of anxious.”

“Hm? Oh, I’m fine. Just checking to make sure my mom hasn’t texted me.”

---