AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Oh, I’m in so much trouble here. The way he says that makes my stomach do backflips and my thighs squeeze together.
“You have a nondescript, matte-black credit card.” Somehow, this seems like an important detail he appears to have overlooked.
“And?” He cocks his head to one side, studying me with an unreadable expression.
“I have an overdrawn bank account and a stack of unpaid bills.” The fact my voice has gone up an octave will forever haunt my dreams. When I lie awake at three in the morning replaying this conversation word-for-word, I will officially combust in a fiery inferno of embarrassment.
“I’m sure neither of those facts prevent you from eating, do they?” If he didn’t have such a stern look on his face, I’d almost be convinced that he was teasing me. But there’s nothing in this man’s aura that tells me he’s the teasing type.
Maybe in the bedroom…
Fuck. For the love of god, concentrate, Fox.
“Well, no.”
“Then, please, would you agree to spend tomorrow evening with me?”
There’s a puddle on the floor where my brain has dribbled out my ear.
This man just said please.
He carries on, entirely ignorant of my plight. “I have a black tie event I need to attend for work, and I am required to bring a plus-one with me.”
My mouth opens and closes, but I’ve been rendered unable to form words.
“So that’s a yes?” He fishes out a business card-sized piece of thick paper stock from his jacket pocket and presses it into my hands. There’s handwritten contact information and some other items written on it with black ink. “All the details you need are on there.”
He pushes off the counter before pausing. Those blue eyes of his glitter in the soft light of the lamp on the counter.
“I’ll pick you up tomorrow night at six, Foxglove.”
3
Ifinger the buttery, soft fabric, and it’s only the fact I have a full face of makeup on that prevents me from rubbing it against my cheek.
This dress even feels expensive. It glides over my palms like a tropical breeze might caress your skin on a warm night aboard a luxury yacht.
Expensive, it absolutely is. It costs more than two weeks rent and utilities combined. Oh, don’t I know how the other half live.
A shiver runs through me, remembering how long I was trapped in my father’s gilded prison for.
There’s no way I could afford something as luxurious as this with my current circumstances, but it seems my mystery man, and date for this evening, took care of everything.
Only, he’s a mystery no longer. He has a name, as was printed on the back of the card he gave me. Thorne Calliano.
My neck and chest flush. It’s a seriously sexy name; I’ll give him that.
I can imagine myself moaning it, and the wanton image that conjures up leaves me in complete certainty that I’m already way out of my depth with this man.
The card he gave me last night listed out details on which boutique to shop at, along with instructions to put whatever purchases I required onto his spending account. Also, very specifically, that I didn’t need to concern myself with a budget limit.
Holy fuck.
My feminism flew giddily out the window as I tried on one gorgeous dress after another under Em’s scrutiny.
Once she had stopped screeching like a parakeet at me down the phone, we met up with coffee in hand outside the high-end boutique. There was no fucking way I’d trust myself to pick something appropriate for the kind of black-tie event I’m evidently attending tonight.
She’s the one with a wardrobe to die for and professional modeling credits to her name. Girl knows how to dress, and I need every scrap of her superpowers to get me through this in one piece.
