Page 38 of His Fantasy Bride (Things To Do Before You Die)

“Not yet.”

“Jesus, Gabby.”

She took a deep breath. Time to get real. “Phone him tonight. Tell him I’ll come and see him in the morning.”

“Really?”

“Really.” She sighed. “Just let me have this one last night. Then I’ll be good.”

“You’ve goddamn fallen for him, haven’t you?”

“No.”

“You fucking love him.”

She gritted her teeth. “I do not love him.” She didn’t, did she? “I just like him.”

“You just like him. Vito D’Ascensio, the one man you definitely should not like. You know what his family did to ours.”

“That was his grandfather, and it was years ago and nothing to do with Vito.”

Teresa shook her head. “I doubt Luca will see it like that.”

“Well, it’s just as well Luca doesn’t need to know. I’ll just tell him that it didn’t work out. That I found out nothing of any use so there was no point in talking to him.” She bit her lip. “Then I’ll tell Vito everything.”And he’ll hate me forever.

Theresa leaned across and patted her on the arm. “You know it’s for the best. You might like him, but there’s no way you can continue seeing him with this hanging over you. He’d find out one day.”

“I know.”

Gabby stood up and glanced down at herself and scowled. “Sod this. Who am I trying to impress, anyway?” If this was her last night with Vito, she wanted to make an impression, and that didn’t include him thinking she was “nice.”

She yanked down the zip on the black dress and shimmied out of it, tossing it to Theresa who caught it, her brows raised. That left her in the pale pink underwear Vito had bought her. That had to go as well. She stalked into the bedroom and across to the wardrobe, opened it and stood searching inside. A glimpse of scarlet caught her eye. She snatched the dress of the hanger, then rifled through her drawer and found a scarlet and black bra and a matching thong, grabbed them and headed for the bathroom. After stripping off her underwear, she donned the new stuff and then tugged the scarlet dress over her head and smoothed it down over her body. It was skin tight, low cut but with long sleeves, and it finished inches above her knees. She hung her head upside down and zapped her hair with spray, tossing it back and running her fingers through it, tousling it into a sexy bob. The pink streaks clashed beautifully with the red dress. She rimmed her eyes with kohl and added lashings of mascara and then matching scarlet lipstick, and she was almost ready to go.

When she came out, Theresa was still standing in the middle of the room. She took one look at Gabby, crossed to the wardrobe, fumbled inside, and came out holding four-inch red stilettoes. She handed them solemnly to Gabby, who slipped them on her feet and then turned to study herself in the mirror.

There was no sign of Gabrielle at all. Not a trace of good girl left. The dress clung everywhere. She looked like a tart, but a very, very sexy tart. She’d give Vito a glimpse of what he wasn’t going to get.

She felt immediately guilty at the thought.

None of this was Vito’s fault.

And anyway, who was she kidding? She was in full seduction mode; if she had her way Vito was going to get all of her tonight. Not that he was going to need much seducing—he’d made that more than clear.

She turned to find Theresa staring at her, wide eyed. What?” she snapped.

Theresa’s lips twitched. “Nothing. You look…nice.”

Hah!Nicewas one thing she did not look. With a last tug at her hem, she headed for the front door. “Watch out, Vito—here I come.”

…

Vito stared at the door then at his phone lying on the white tablecloth. Should he have warned her?

His parents had flown in a few days early. They were eager to meet Gabby, and he wanted her to meet his parents. It would make the whole relationship seem more…real?

But while she’d agreed to meet them, she hadn’t seemed too keen—was she worried they wouldn’t like her? Maybe she thought his missionary parents would look down on a dancer? But she was hardly a stripper. And his parents weren’t judgmental people despite their choice of professions. All the same, he had an idea that Gabby would have backed out of the evening if he’d told her beforehand.

This way was better. She wouldn’t have a chance to get worked up. They’d meet the real Gabby. Whoever that might be.

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