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I look to the phone. Then to the dress. I glance down at my body, then back to the phone again. “Okay.” I start back toward the bed. “I’ll call you guys back in a sec?—”
“Donothang up on us!” Aubree snarls. “Take your damn clothes off and put the dress on. We’re busy over here, Mayet, trying to solve what may soon be a mass murder spree. So how about you strip down and let us see the goods before we have to go back to regular life. We’re already missing the damn wedding. Don’t you take this from us!”
“I’m here!” Another voice. Seraphina Lewis’ prima, too-sophisticated-for-you, intonation bursts through the door and turns two into three. “Did I miss it yet?”
“Fifi?” I leave the phone where it is and walk back to Mary. My hands shake, hesitation and nerves swirling in my stomach.Because I’m undressing in front of three of my staff members.Three!That’s a lawsuit if I ever saw one. “Why are you here, Fifi?”
“Aubree called me up. She said you need help picking out a gown.”
“For the wedding none of us know about,” Aubree quips. “We’re not saying anything, Chief. Cross my heart, Archer Malone won’t hear about this from us.”
“Well hang on,” Raquel inserts, a little less enthusiastically. “I didn’t make a promise.”
“You keep your trap shut,” Aubree growls. “Or we toss you into the bay to become fish food. Mayet!” she snaps again, forcing me to jump. “De-robe. We have work to do.”
“Shit…” I groan in the back of my throat and regret making this call at all. I wanted to speak to Aubree only. Tospeakto her, not video chat where she gets to see me in my underwear. But now I have Mary, Aubree, Fifi, and Raquel, all with a screen and the ability to zoom in if they were so inclined. To screenshot, if they felt the need. That’s way too many eyes, far more than I came into this agreeing to. But I hesitantly grab the hem of my shirt, shakily bringing the fabric up and revealing my torso, marked with Archer’s hand prints over my ribs.
His hold, evident on my easily-damaged skin.
The bruises aren’t ugly red, mean indicators of a woman in a bad relationship. But rather, the markers of a woman with a bleeding disorder and a husband who kept his promise to not make my medical condition athingbetween us.
He tried gentle, and I told him I do not accept kiddie gloves.
He tried careful, and I chastised him for it.
So now he’s exactly the man I fell in love with, and I’m the woman who sometimes has his marks on my body.
“That’s sexy,” Raquel purrs, completely and totally inappropriate, as I drop my top to the floor and go to work nexton my shorts. I unsnap the button and silently slide the zipper down. “I can literally see the shape of his palm on her thigh. Now we all know Chief Mayet likes it rough.”
“Shut up.” I work to still my quivering hands as Mary kneels in front of me and places the gown on the floor. She opens the neck hole and creates space for me to step into. “Don’t talk about my sex life,” I chide the doctor on the phone. “It’s not proper.”
“Well, don’t have nasty, delicious sex the night before stripping down to your undies in front of me. I’m a secure, heterosexual woman, Chief. But that doesn’t make you any less hot. And besides, I always thought Detective Malone was pretty sizzling. You see how he carries his gun on his thigh?” She literally purrs. “I can hate you and love you at the same time. It’s my superpower.”
“Yeah?” I step into the gown and tremble as Mary slowly brings the fabric up. “Well, my superpower is taking your staff and reassigning them elsewhere in the George Stanley,” I slip my arms into place when Mary brings the gown higher, “thus forcing your workload to explode. They keep their jobs, so I don’t feel like a jerk, and your stress levels go through the roof.”
“I forgot about your insane jealousy,” she taunts, sniggering as Mary comes around to work on the ties at the back of my dress. “You almost had that bitchy news anchor killed because she touched your man that one time.”
“Uh-huh.” I saved that bitch’s life. But why speak the truth when sensationalism makes for a better story? “So there’s your warning. Stop thinking about my husband.”
“He has brothers, right?” I don’t have to see her to know she looks at her colleagues. “That dude down at the bar.”
“Don’t even think about it,” Aubree grits venomously. “They won’t find your body. I’ll make damn sure of it.”
I choke out a laugh and hold my hands out, so I don’t get sweaty palms on the dress. “But you’re not interested, right, Aubs?”
“Mind your damn business. And turn around so we can see.”
“One more second,” Mary mumbles, fastening the dress to my body and pulling me in, in places I had no clue I had curves. Whispering, she leans closer, “Aubree likes Tim?”
“Head over heels, homicidally,gonna cut a bitch,in love.” Smiling, I turn to face the camera and lift my hands in a totally natural pose. Because of course, as I walk the aisle, I’m bound to wave my arms around like those inflatable guys outside furniture stores on sale day. “Does this look okay?”
“Put your arms down, dipshit.” Doctor Raquel laughs, though as my brow quirks up, she swallows it down again and adds, “Respectfully.”
Frustrated, I lower my arms and carefully slide my palms over my silky-smooth hips.
“That makes you look six feet tall,” Fifi says seriously. “In all the best ways. Your shoulders look fantastic. Your boobs are highlighted, but classy, and your hips are rounder than we usually see. Make sure you wear your hair up, to elongate your neck, and maybe get dangling earrings to tie it all together.”
“Everything she said,” Aubs inserts. “I like it.”
