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Having Dylan with me nearly all the time is easy. We don’t feel the need to have conversations constantly. She’s turned my entryway and part of the living room into her alternate studio, which creates the sexiest shadows as the sun sets. We move and dance around each other like we’ve done it for years, not months.
I’d thought a lot about how we’d mark our first holidays together. This used to be my season with Tori. I’d been going along with whatever my family wanted with just a little less heart. I haven’t decorated my home since she left. I know the holidays aren’t especially fun for Dylan either.
Her parents prefer to travel instead of staying home. They were flying out on Christmas Day this year, so it worked out that we spent Christmas Eve with our families. After Dylan dropped her parents at the airport, she came back to my place and waited for me after brunch with Wes and his family.
I walk in the door to a chill. As I round the corner, I see the balcony door open and Dylan bundled up on the floor just inside. Outside in the lightly falling snow is the smallest tree I’ve ever seen, with one string of lights from her loft wound in and through the branches.
Crouching down at her side, my lips find their way to her temple. “I thought you didn’t like the holidays,” I tease.
“I don’t, but I wanted to try it your way. Do you like it?”
I climb inside the blanket with her. “It’s very Charlie Brown. I love it.” We sit in as much silence as the city offers us until I work up a bit of courage. “I know we promised no gifts, but I was shopping for my mother and saw something that reminded me of you. I couldn’t resist.”
Leaving her for the briefest of moments, I dig behind my vinyl collection for the rectangular box with the pale blue bow. Dylan turns toward me with the tree glowing behind her. I’ve seen her look beautiful every day we’ve known each other. This moment stops my heart.
Her childlike smile is the only gift I need as she pulls on one end of the ribbon until it all falls away. The crinkle of the tissue pulling back reveals an eight by ten antique plaque depicting Degas’Ballet Rehearsal. Dylan audibly gasps as her fingers run across the front. “You remembered.”
“I remember everything you tell me, Viper.”
We make love nearly from Christmas through New Year’s Day. The office is closed. We’re able to be as close as we want and give each other space to simply be as well. It was exactly what she needed to finish her recharge.
The new year brings Dylan back to her exceptional performance level at the office. Sam, Lucy, and everyone helping with Roark are so taken with her, they want to help gain additional funding for a dance school she talked about in addition to the other arts programs linked to the Foundation. A portion of the proceeds from our gala kickoff will help fund it long term.
When we’re not at the office proper, she’s in school or the studio or eating and sleeping, we’re breathing this project. We’ve had massive differences of opinion, pillow fights, dinners that turned into nearly breakfast meetings. There was even one night where I woke us from a dead sleep with an idea. I’m glad she’s not a violent person, because I deserved a throat punch for the way I sprang up in the middle of the night. I think I got the best of that deal afterward.
A week before the event, I surprise Dylan with what she’s told is a final errand for the décor. It is a personal shopping experience to find a dress for her to wear. She’s going to be my date for the night in the eyes of the company. She’s going to be my angel in my eyes. I want her to look exactly how she wants to look.
I stand for a long time staring at her in the mirror as I attempt to zip her dress up. That’s not the way I want this zipper to go. Her black and rhinestone strappy heels look like those pointe shoes she told me about. The hem of her dress is multilayered and short in the front and trails to the floor in the back. The gown folds over and over with all layers meeting at her petite waist, with a rhinestone belt to match her shoes.
Her beautiful shoulders angle perfectly out of the sleeveless top. I’m surprised at the simple elegance of this dress. Again, I’m having trouble with the zipper. I stop midway up her back. “Is something wrong?” she asks.
“Not wrong. I want you out of this dress before you’re even in it. We’re going to get found out for sure tonight. I won’t be able to hide it.”
“Zip it up, Sawyer. I need to finish you off.”
“That sounds like heaven.”
She spins around in my arms like she did that first night, only her hair is in a sleek braid down her back. “You look like we just finished a quickie in the coat check,” she giggles.
“That’s a fucking great idea. I want to make that happen. After they announce our funds raised and the band is back playing, we’re so doing that.”
She fixes the last button on my vest and straightens out my tie to perfection before she buttons the top two on my jacket. “You want to risk getting caught?”
“For you, yes.”
“Tell you what. Since we made this a black-and-white ball tonight, I got a little something for you.” She pulls a white pocket square from the pocket of her dress. “When you want to request that flyby, you tug on this and you’ll have Viper’s undivided attention,” she whispers in my ear. “I will be the one bare and waiting for you.”
I don’t think I stopped twitching, even after we got to the venue. I’m constantly distracted by the thought of what isn’t under her dress. She works the room with such ease from the moment we step on-site. She has her mental checklist and is running through it step-by-step.
We have our breakdowns of what each of us are responsible for. It’s divide and conquer on the vendors and back together to greet all our VIPs. When my family arrived, it added a layer.I could see a bit of tension for the first time in Dylan. Her shoulders were up, and her breathing was a beat faster. No one would notice but me, or maybe Hayley.
My father leans in as we watch Dylan work the room. “She’s quite impressive, Son. I’ve gotten rave reviews from every person she’s come in contact with. This idea of hers is quite amazing.”
“She’s a natural. We’re lucky to have her.”
“One thing I need to ask. Did you invite Victoria?”
“Tori? No, why?”
