Page 68 of My Secret Bandit

“I know! And it fucking sucks. He broke your trust! Mine, when I’d just given it back to him. He could have written it himself, he didn’t have to bring her into this.” He looked down at his watch. “Shit! I need to go. I’m meeting Suzanne for lunch. You’re okay, right?” He gave me a quizzical look, and I nodded.

After Jeffrey left, I wandered the halls, too wound up to focus on writing or even staying seated very long.

I stopped when I reached Sierra’s office.

“Hey.”

“Oh!” She startled. “Just the woman I wanted to see. Take a seat.”

“What do you need?” I waited, thinking she’d have me proofread or look over something for her. Instead, she turned back to her computer, minimized the document she was working on and pulled up a website decorated with a delicate script font on top.

“So, Mateo’s birthday, right? Ta-da!” She gestured to the screen with one hand palm up like a modern-day Vanna White.

I scrolled through the screen.

“Boudoir?” I asked, shaking my head. She responded by nodding hers, her blue eyes wide with excitement.

“I can’t.”

“Oh, but you can. Mateo willloveit. I promise you. Plus! This is the perfect opportunity to put all this hot new confidence to use. Bonus plus, it’ll be the last thing he expects from you.”

The last thing he’d expect? Hell. It’s the last thing I expect from myself! I’ve never even taken a plumped up shot of my cleavage before.

But Sierra held an uncanny ability to find that hidden part of me thatwantedto be fierce and sultry.

“Ugh. Fine, okay,” I said, mentally replacing the faces in the photographs, imagining myself seductively situated on Mateo’s bed instead. I would do anything for him. Even let a total stranger take half-naked photos of me, if it resulted in him flashing his sexy, dimpled smile my way.

She clapped her hands together like a giddy child. “Perfect. It’s on Saturday. They’ll do your hair and make-up, all we need to do is pick out a few outfits.”

“Outfits? I don’t even own a bra that matches any of my underwear.”

“Uh… yes, I’ve seen the inside of your drawers. Guess that means we need to go shopping!” She bounced in her chair, even more excited at the thought of a shopping spree. “Can we go now? Please? I need to get away from this playoff loss. Seriously, it’s depressing.”

I sighed. “Might as well.” There was no living with Sierra when she got like this. She became unstoppable when she put her mind to something. And the idea of getting a sexy outfit to wear over to Mateo’s didn’t sound bad either.

“What if nothing fits?” I asked, unable to keep my thoughts to myself. My anxiety swelling as she drove.

“Stop worrying. Lingerie is not mutually exclusive with single digit sizes.” She grinned. “And I already scouted out the stores to see which had the best selection.”

“And that’s why you’re my best friend.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t get you into this then leave you hanging with mismatched underthings.”

A sweet peach scent met us at the door, followed by a voluptuous saleswoman. Something about being examined, measured, and basically fondled by a woman shaped like me put me at ease. Not that a thinner woman wouldn’t be able to do the job just as well or better. I just knew this woman had first-hand knowledge of what would look and fit the best. With a pencil behind her ear and a tape measure around her neck, she led us over to an entire wall of items in my size.

Engulfed in an entirely unknown world of lace, leather and frilly ruffles, I hesitated.

Noticing my deer in the headlights look, the saleswoman and Sierra gathered a mound of things for me to try on.

A handful of outfits later exhaustion settled in.

It took me at least fifteen minutes figuring out how to get in the strappy pieces and even longer to get myself out of a latex shitshow Sierra insisted I try on without the recommended can of Crisco that should’ve come attached.

Stripping myself of the latest piece, I changed back into my normal clothes and sighed at the comfiness of them. I chose my favorites, and as I finished checking out, my phone rang. My heart rate spiked when Mateo’s picture came into view.

“Is everything okay? What happened? What did they say?”

Mateo insisted everything would be fine, but his attempts at soothing my mind remained ineffective. So, I expected the chuckle that answered me. “Everything is good, just like I said it would be. What are you doing?”

---