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I smirk, and then I grip the door handle and wrench it open.
Chapter Seven
Kimberly
“Why do I feel like there’s something you’re not telling me?” Jackie says, returning to the living room with a giant cardboard box cradled in her arms.
All day – doing the dishes, tidying the apartment, reading on my Kindle – I’ve been struggling to believe that the closeness with Kristian really happened.
As the minutes turned to hours, and as the hours wore on, it seemed far more likely that I was suffering some kind of hallucination.
I’ve relived it countless times since, my body shivering in that aftermath of the orgasm, my lips getting tingly and sensitive.
Now I look over the top of the Kindle to the cardboard box. It has my name on it.
Is it from him?
“I mean,” Jackie goes on, “you normally mention if you’ve ordered something online.”
She drops onto the couch with a wry smile. The art viewing went well, which flooded me with relief when she told me. They don’t always go well. She’s changed into her apartment gear now, a big baggy hoodie and pajama bottoms that make her look thinner than she already is.
My chest throbs at the thought.
I thought I was going to burst into tears when Kristian asked me my clothing size.
But he wasn’t mocking me.
Was he?
Maybe this is all some twisted, cruel trick.
“Earth to Kimmy?” Jackie laughs, absentmindedly moving her hand over Tinkerbell when she climbs into her lap. “Aren’t you going to open it?”
“Oh, yeah,” I murmur, laying my Kindle aside.
“What is it?” Jackie asks. “You still haven’t said.”
“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “Maybe it’s some solid gold bricks, huh, like we used to joke about when I was little?”
That was one of the ways we kept each other going—joking that one day some kind stranger would deliver a bunch of gold to us.
“Nah, it’s too light,” Jackie giggles. “You are acting very mysterious, though. You have been since I got back.”
I shrug as I walk over to the box, trying to make myself seem nonchalant.
“Maybe I’m just tired.”
Or maybe I found a secret cache of drugs and then a rich silver-haired giant handsome man came and gave me the first real orgasm of my life.
I grab the edges of the cardboard box and tear it upward, breaking the thin tape that seals it. It has a hand-delivered look about it, packaged in such a way that makes me think the sender wasn’t worried about transit.
I open it up and stare down.
My pulse pounds in my neck.
Maybe he really is mocking me.
“Well?” Jackie says. “Care to share with the class?”
“I …”
I lick my too-dry lips.
I reach down and tenderly lift out the dress. It’s short and sunrise purple.
No, it’s more violet than purple, with subtle jewels inlaid on the hem. The top is cut low enough that I know it’d show a generous slice of my breasts.
It’s the sort of dress I’d never dream of wearing in a million years.
Sitting in the box are a pair of glistening Cinderella heels, shining with silver jewels, and lying just next to them is a set of silky violet lingerie, frilly and suggestive.
It’s all stuff I’d never have the confidence to wear, even if part of me – a big part – wishes I did.
“Whoah,” Jackie says.
I flinch when I realize how close she is. She’s risen from her chair and she’s standing next to me, looking into the box.
She turns to me with her eyebrows quirked in the same way I’ve seen her do a hundred times.
“So, are you going to tell me why a mystery man is sending my little sister lingerie? Or mystery woman … no judgment here.”
I softly place the dress back into the box, taking a few steps back as though by gaining distance from it some of this will start to make sense.
“It’s a man,” I murmur.
“I didn’t know you were seeing someone.”
I laugh drily.
“No, I’m not. Well, I guess I am. We met today.”
Jackie wheels on me, so fast that Tinkerbell lets out a yapping noise.
“Today?” she gasps. “Now I’m really interested. Did you meet him at the open house?”
“Sort of.”
“Kimmy, can you please explain what’s going on? This is hella confusing.”
I drop back into my seat and then stand back up when I realized I’ve just sat on my Kindle. I place it on the armrest and drop back down.
“I don’t know how to even start explaining it,” I murmur.
I’m not even sure I have the words to outline what happened between Kristian and me. All I know for sure is that when I think about him, my body floods with heat.
My soul flutters and my mind drifts to starlight-painted places.
I see myself on his arm, wearing the violet dress. But in my mind I don’t look too curvy or like I’m trying too hard. I don’t look pathetic.
