Page 37 of Welcome to Forever
“I’m not stalking her.” Micah pretended to look through the dresses some more. “What’s this dress for again?”
“Sabrina’s christening. My sister elected me to stand beside her for the event.”
“Probably because of the hat,” Micah joked, knocking his hand down on the cowboy hat’s rim.
Lawson readjusted it, and then his eyebrows rose. “Hats aren’t allowed in church, man. It’s because I am the favorite uncle.” A large grin spread across his face.
“Aren’t you the only uncle?” Micah laughed as his friend’s smile faltered.
Lawson’s gaze lifted back to the women. “Don’t look now, but you’ve been spotted.”
Micah whipped around and looked at Kat, who was still in the women’s dress section, oblivious to his presence. A low growl of frustration emerged as he glanced back. “Very funny. I better go over and say hello before I end up strangling you.”
“Right. And I better say hello to Jewels,” Lawson said.
“Julie,” Micah corrected. “Her name is Julie.”
“Right.” Lawson walked ahead of him, taking the lead.
Micah prepared himself for when Kat turned around, knowing that her beauty and those expressive eyes of hers would make him feel like a hormonal teenager again. He’d never enjoyed being a teenager. He preferred to operate according to his head, not what was inside his boxer shorts. He shoved his hands into his pockets, and then she turned around, taking him by surprise. She really did get prettier every time he saw her, in contrast to his ex-wife, who’d only lost attractiveness with time because of her bad attitude.
Kat smiled as he approached, and that’s when he knew the whole, indisputable truth. It wasn’t his head or what was inside his boxers that he needed to worry about.His heart was in deep trouble.
—
“Don’t look now,” Julie said, standing in Seaside’s finest dress shop, “but your boyfriend is here. And he’s walking straight toward us.”
“Boyfriend?” Kat turned and her heart skidded to a stop. “Micah.” She hurriedly placed the dress back on the rack and forced a smile, willing her breath to slow down. He was just a guy—an incredibly gorgeous guy, who just so happened to be another Marine. Some luck falling for two uniformed men in one lifetime.
Falling?Had she really just thought that she was falling for him? Because that wasn’t allowed. They may be going to the USMC ball together, but she absolutely was not going to give her heart to him.Nuh-uh.They weren’t even really dating.
“Hi,” he said in that deep voice that gave her immediate hot flashes.
He’d gotten to her faster than she’d expected. Opening her mouth to speak, she prayed comprehensible words would come out. He was just a man. “What are you doing here?” she asked, her voice shrill. Just a man, she reminded herself—a heart-stoppingly gorgeous man with dark chocolate eyes that did funny things to her knees. Not only that, he was good with kids and a devoted father.
Micah grinned. “Dress shopping. You?”
“Me, too. But, um, why areyoudress shopping?” she asked.
He gestured to his friend standing beside him. She recognized him from the bar the other night, and offered a friendly smile.
“It’s for my niece, actually,” Lawson said, holding up a child-sized white dress. “She’s getting christened on Sunday.” Then he gestured toward the dress that Kat had been looking at. “Looks like you’re buying a dress, too.” He drove an elbow into Micah’s side. “What do you think? Think it’ll look good on your date?”
Micah cleared his throat and, if Kat wasn’t mistaken, he looked a little embarrassed. “Of course.”
Kat looked back at the rack, taking a moment to regain her composure. Every time she saw him, he was way better looking than she’d remembered. How was that even fair? “Yeah? I’m not sure.” She ran her hand over the silky fabric.
“I am. I’m sure you’d look great in a heap of rags,” he said.
Nervous laughter tumbled off her lips, as clumsy as the rest of her body seemed to be when he was around. “I’ll take that into consideration,” she said.
“Great pickup line, man,” Lawson teased. “I’m sure you’d look great in rags, as well, miss,” he told Julie, who responded with a cool look of disinterest.
Kat took the black dress back off the rack. “I guess this’ll do. I’m tired of looking.”
“Not a shopper?” Micah asked.
She dared to look at him again. “Not usually.” Usually she had too much work to do to be out shopping on a Saturday afternoon.
