Page 69 of Tall, Royal Hater
He too was trying to tame his laughter, but it was far quieter and softer than mine. “This is the dress Candy believes will suit you best.” He held out the hanger with a blush pink dress on it—not my first choice of colour, but it was gorgeous. “If you need help with the back straps, I will assist.”
“Thanks.” Swiping the dampness from under my eye with one hand, I took the dress with the other.
I burst out laughing again halfway through stripping out of my jeans and jumper as I listened to the continued conversation on the other side of the closed curtain. The uncontrollable wheezing coming from me meant I needed Kyle’s help tying the straps at the back. But I had to admit, seeing myself in the mirror properly helped tame my amusement.
“I love Candy,” I declared as I threw the curtain aside and strutted out.
Gasps echoed around as Kyle stepped to the side out of my path.
“Whoa,” Esmeralda said, her mouth agape as she dragged her gaze slowly up my body.
Honestly, other than the faint leaf-pattern detail stitched from the low, slightly curved neckline to the dip of my waist, the dresswas simple. But all the wow factor was in the way it melded to my body up until my knees before pooling like a waterfall at my feet. Plus, the zigzagging straps tied at the midpoint of my back where the fabric came up to was fucking sexy.
“You look beautiful, Mariyah,” Queen Leila said, beaming.
“Really, truly beautiful,” Katiya emphasised.
I returned their grins. “Thank you.”
Gigi smirked and crooked a thin white brow. “I can’t decide if Shehryar will or won’tbe pleased.”
My grin instantly collapsed.Why had Gigi mentioned him?
“A bit of both, I think,” Esmeralda said, matching Gigi’s smirk.
I looked around at all four women and the way they smiled at various levels of open and hidden mischief. “Okay, why the fuck are we suddenly talking about him?” I said.
“Are you not getting on with Sher?” Katiya asked.
Cussing out her son didn’t seem like it was going to earn me any brownie points with anyone in the room, so I opted for, “The wedding prep is going fine.”
Katiya’s brows lifted. “Oh, I wasn’t referring to the wedding preparation. I trust you’ll do no less than what Arsh and I asked for, but…” The gleam in her gaze was suspicious. “What about you and Sher? How are things between you two?”
I narrowed my eyes. “How are things in what sense?”
“She’s asking if you have bedded her son,” Gigi said.
It was Esmeralda’s turn to laugh and my turn to splutter in shock as my cheeks ignited. “What?”
Katiya cleared her throat, trying to hide a smile but failing to. “Well, I wasn’t quite asking that…”
“Pierre caught Mariyah and Sher in the corridor,” Esmeralda announced through her laughter.
“What?” Katiya said, her eyes wide either in alarm or delight.
“See. Beds are involved,” Gigi said.
An explosive burst of anger, embarrassment, and outrage finally returned my ability to speak. “There are no bloody beds involved!” I turned a glare on Esmeralda, who flashed me an unapologetic grin. “And we were just talking in the corridor, and it turned into an argument, but that was it.”
“You don’t look or sound so sure,” said Gigi.
Heat funnelled to my cheeks. I opened and closed my mouth like a fish as images of Shehryar crowding me in flicked through my head. “I am sure.”
I didn’t sound sure though. And going on the slow, catlike smiles Gigi, Queen Leila, Katiya, Esmeralda, and even Kyle gave me, they all heard the uncertainty.
A new wave of blood surfaced to my skin, and I gritted my teeth over it. “Look, I’m gonna be real here with everyone.” I set my gaze on Katiya. “Shehryar and I don’t really like each other. We barely get on. We’re only putting up with each other to plan the wedding. That’s it.”
Gigi pulled a questioning face. “None of us claimed you had to like him in order to bed him.”
