Page 70 of To the Grave

“I didn’t bring anything nice,” I said. A quick trip to Philly to talk to Professor Alvarez hadn’t seemed like cause for fancy clothes.

“There’s a dress in the bedroom,” Jace said. “I had the hotel staff put it in the closet.”

“You bought me a dress?” Why did Jace seem to enjoy buying me clothes? Maybe it was the choosing he liked, the way he’d filled my closet with shorter skirts and lower-cut tops when we’d first moved in together at the house.

“You can’t go to the restaurant in that.” There was no disapproval in his voice, and there was definitely no disapproval in his eyes as his gaze roamed my tight jeans and the curve-hugging sweater I’d worn in the car.

Wolf entered the room with the bellhop. “There’s something from Otis and me too.”

The bellhop unloaded our bags from a cart and I left to inspect the bedroom and bathroom. The mini-suite had a huge soaking tub and I was suddenly excited to soak. My body was stiff from the long hours in the car and I couldn’t remember how long it had been since I’d taken a bath.

I shut the door separating the living room and bedroom and kicked off my shoes, then padded to the bathroom. Ten minutes later I was soaking in rose-scented bath water up to my nose, feeling like I’d died and gone to heaven.

I added hot water three times before I got out, promising myself to take baths more often when we got home. I’d been so busy working on the house — with not just the labor but the endless online shopping required to decorate it — and at Cantwell that I hardly ever took any time to just relax.

It was dark by the time I walked back into the bedroom wrapped in one of the thick hotel robes I’d found hanging in the bathroom. Beyond the bedroom windows, the city gleamed like a jewel in the night.

The door to the living room was still closed, but I could hear the murmur of conversation as the Beasts talked. It was comforting, not just the sound of their voices but the fact that at least one of them was always close. I missed hopping in the Mustang and running around without having to coordinate my schedule like it was a presidential event, but I liked having the Beasts close and I liked that they liked being close even though I never would have admitted it.

I found the dress in the closet, just like Jace had said. I held it up to inspect it, gasping at the designer tag, the deep amethyst silk that would fall above my knees.

It was gorgeous, with a demure neckline that fell off one shoulder and a bias cut that would drape in all the right places.But my favorite part was the lavender feathers, soft and light and draped over the skirt in a feathery overlay.

Jace had nailed it, and not just with the dress. There were silver stilettos with the famous red bottom, light enough not to detract from the dress, and a clutch, studded with silver sequins, that was big enough to hold my phone.

I felt like maybe Jace had missed his calling as a fashion designer.

And there was something else: a small black box tied with a silky violet ribbon like the one that had been around the lingerie Jace had given me when we went to the Velvet Rope.

If the dress and accessories were a present from Jace, the black box must be the present from Wolf and Otis.

I sat on the bed to open it, pulling at the ribbon and setting it aside, removing the top from the box.

I dug through the tissue paper until my hands found a scrap of silky fabric that looked like a pair of expensive underwear in a deep purple that matched the dress. I was always happy to have new underwear, especially ones as nice as these, but when I lifted them out of the box I realized there was more to them than met the eye.

They were a little heavier than they should have been.

Nestled in a pocket in the crotch, I found the source of the extra weight: a slightly curved piece of rectangular silicone less than a quarter inch deep, barely there but obviously made to fit the pocket.

What the fuck?

I jumped a second later when it vibrated in my hand.

Double what the fuck?

The piece of silicone stopped vibrating, then started again. It took me a few seconds to put it together.

Someone else was controlling it.

I looked at the closed bedroom door, realized the murmur of conversation from the Beasts had dropped a decibel.

I marched to the bedroom door and flung it open. “I guess you think this is funny?” I asked Wolf and Otis.

But there was no humor in Wolf’s face when he shook his head. “Nothing funny about getting you off, sunshine.”

“What if I refuse to wear it?”

“Why would you do that, doll?” Otis asked. “Getting off is fun. Besides, aren’t you tired of sleeping alone?”

---