Page 27 of Little Gray Dress

Liam leans back for a minute, his lips pursed and his eyes clouded with confusion. “You want me to be your date, to your brother’s wedding? The one where your ex will be?”

“Yes. I know it’s ridicul—”

He cuts me off mid-sentence. “I’ll do it.”

“You will?”

“Sure, you’re beautiful, sweet, desperate, and you never know when I myself might need a favor in return.”

“As long as your favor doesn’t put me in jail, I’m in.”

“I’ll try to save that one until you know me a bit better then.” He runs his hand through his hair before leaning against the chair-back in front of him again. “Just one question: are we making him jealous so he’ll dump the new girl and beg you to come back, or just going for heartbreak that he’s lost you all together?”

“Why do I feel like you’ve done this before?” I ask him with a nervous laugh. “I think the later one, at least for now.”

“Perfect…” He pulls a black leather wallet from his back jeans pocket and pulls out a business card, sliding it across the table at me. “This is me, my number, email, everything you need to get me the details of this wedding date.”

“OK.”

“Is it black tie?”

“No.” For a guy, he pays attention to the details most men miss.

“I’ll be there.” He stands from his chair and puts his wallet back in his pocket. “And Emi?”

“Yeah?” I clutch my purse, still nervous even though he’s agreed to do this.

“When this wedding is over, he’ll know just how crazy he was to do what he did. Sound good?”

I nod with a hesitant smile. This could go great, I could achieve whatever it is I think I’m looking to achieve, or it could become a disaster. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure.” With a nod of his head he stands up, walks round behind the bar, and disappears through the door.

Chapter Eight

Three and a Half Years Ago

Lincoln City, Oregon

The Proposal

“Pack a bag,” Jack announces as he walks through our apartment door.

“But I was just getting ready to make dinner.”

He looks at the counter covered in sauce jars, spaghetti noodles, and seasonings. “I love your spaghetti.” He wraps his arms around my waist. “But I’m thinking maybe tonight we go fancy and head to the coast for the weekend. It’s all booked, paid for, and I promise high amounts of romance.”

“What kind of romance? The kind that gets me into bed or the kind that makes me swoon and fall even more in love with you?”

“Hopefully both,” he laughs, before kissing my neck making sure that my answer isn’t no.

“How fancy?” I ask, following him into our room. I pull out our two black suitcases and lay them on the bed.

“The gray dress, fancy?” His smile grows and his brown eyes sparkle as he pictures me in the one dress he loves. I only have one gray dress and he requests it anytime he can. He picked it out one day while we were shopping and even though it’s a few years old I don’t think he’ll ever get tired of it. It’s a dress I wore for the first time to one of Jack’s office parties. It’s a gray dress that is short but has a longer lace overlay and long sleeves that are complete lace. It shows off my boobs nicely and fits like a glove (the regular kind).

“Whoa, we are going fancy. Does that mean—”

Like the soul-mate he is, he reads my mind. “Yes, the gray pinstripe suit.”

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