Page 39 of Tempt My Heart

Jesse turned off the stove and clattered around, grabbing bowls, before she placed the food down on the table. Surprisingly, it looked good.

The eggplant was garlicky and a perfect golden brown, and the pasta was only slightly overdone.

Jesse smiled when they didn't speak, just munched happily after thanking her for dinner.

"Do you want to see the dress?" Ali asked after their bowls were nearly cleared.

"The dress that closed an entire store?"

"The dress that led to, quote,the best head of your life?"

She glared at her two friends until they all burst out laughing. "Is that a yes?"

"Fine, fine, show us the sex dress."

She wrinkled her nose. "It's not a—"

Jesse waved her off as Freya tried not to snort pasta out of her nose.

Ali pushed away from the table and crossed the communal space to her room, slipping the dress out of its garment bag and carefully pulling it on. It was probably the most expensive piece of clothing she owned, but at least it was versatile enough to be worn for different occasions.

She stepped out of her bedroom and Jesse hooted as Freya's eyes went wide.

"Damn, no wonder you sent the man to his knees."

"You like?" She gave a little twirl and beamed when they both nodded and cooed over her.

"You look beautiful, Ali," Freya said and Ali smiled.

"I wish you guys could come to this thing."

"You'll be fine." Freya carefully set her cutlery down as Jesse wrinkled her nose.

"The magic of the dress is almost enough to make me go, but not quite," Jesse said and Ali sighed.

"It's okay, I'm just worried that I'll seem out of place."

Freya shook her head. "You'll be with Christopher, but even if you weren't it would be okay. Just own it. They will probably stare, they might even whisper, but who gives a fuck?" she finished, sounding eerily like Jesse who grinned and gave her a high-five before turning to Ali.

"Yeah, what she said."

Ali laughed and wished she could steal a little of their confidence, but she would just have to work out how to find her own and pretend like she belonged in that world, with Christopher on her arm, in the meantime.

ChapterTwenty-One

“Are you ready for tonight?”

She’d been chasing up some paperwork at Cassie’s desk when Christopher approached, his low voice making her shiver. “Well, I do have the perfect dress,” she teased and was pleased when his eyes turned molten.

A giggle came from a couple desks down and she tried not to grimace. They’d been the talk of the office for a couple of weeks now, and she’d quickly found that it was impossible to go anywhere without one of the girls asking if Christopher was a good kisser or one of the guys suddenly trying to ask her out now that she was unavailable. It was… odd. Like being in high school and sitting with the popular kids.

“I can pick you up from your place,” Christopher said, either not caring or not noticing the looks they were drawing.

“That would be perfect.” She smiled at him and her breath caught in her chest when he leaned in and pressed a lingering kiss to her cheek before striding away.

She stared after him and then frowned when she caught people watching her intently. God, they were going to be incorrigible now.

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