Page 74 of Dominate Me

Chapter Eighteen

Haley

“Woah! You’re gorgeous.”

I turned to Claire and grinned. “I know, right? Jensen bought me the dress. Had it delivered yesterday.”

Her eyes went wide. “I think I like this new guy of yours.”

I did, too.

Something changed for us the other night.

All over a conversation of tater tot casserole. I still wanted to laugh. Like Jensen told me after he dried us off and we climbed into his bed, there was so much we didn’t know about one another. I had just assumed he was more a “silver spoon in his mouth” baby.

The fact he wasn’t made me like him even more than I already did, which was a lot.

“Yeah,” I said, turning back to the full-length mirror in the entryway of the Inn. He would be here any moment to pick me up for the benefit dinner and I was a ball of nerves.

Not to see him, but to meet his friends and coworkers, and he hadn’t said anything but the way he talked about his parents made me suspect his mom would be there, even if she did live in San Diego.

“He’s all right.”

Behind me, Claire snorted. “Yeah. All right. Hot dogs are all right. Halloween is all right. I haven’t even seen this guy yet and I know he’s about a fifteen on a scale of one to ten.”

I rolled my eyes. She was way wrong. Twenty-five, minimum. “What makes you think that?”

“Am I wrong?”

“No.” I turned to her. “He’s the best man I’ve ever met.”

“You love him.”

Did I? I was starting to. I knew that for certain. Hell, I probably already did. I just couldn’t bring myself to admit it. I’d loved and lost once. I wasn’t exactly willing to be that vulnerable to someone again. Not yet. Ironic considering the other positions I put myself in for him.

“I like him a lot.” I pulled my eyes off Claire’s and smoothed out my beautiful, black dress.

It was short, more of a cocktail dress than an evening gown, one shoulder strap was a cluster of what possibly couldn’t be real diamonds but look liked them, with an asymmetrical collar line and a ruffle that started at the other shoulder down to the opposite hip. In silver, strappy heels with an almost deadly-ankle-breaking high heel, I’d never been so beautiful.

Possibly not even on my wedding day.

It was beautiful and classy, but simple and flirty. Jensen said while the event was formal, it wasn’t overly so, and I figured he’d choose something for me that was appropriate.

We were raising money for his friend’s non-profit, and he didn’t want everyone spending thousands on clothes when it could be donated to a good cause instead.

Gosh. Could he be more perfect?

Behind his dark eyes and controlled emotions, Jensen was an undiscovered softie.

I wanted to discover every dip and plane, every valley, every line of his body just as much as I wanted to delve inside of him and discover the hidden corners of his heart.

“Thanks for making sure everything will run smoothly tonight.” I turned around and flashed her a grateful smile. Claire generally only worked during the week. That she was willing to work the late shift on a Saturday when she should have been going out and partying with her friends was a huge favor to me.

And a testament to the kind and beautiful girl she was.

“Wouldn’t have missed seeing you like this, ever,” she replied and stepped forward. “You look happier than I’ve seen you in a long time.”

“I hope I’m the reason for that.”

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