Unsatisfied with a mirror image, she turned to face the real thing. “You clean up nicely, Lieutenant.”
He crossed the room in three long strides. “Turn around.”
She did, slowly, revealing the delicate lace, nothing but skin beneath it.
His fingers traced lightly down her spine. “I wasn’t prepared for this. You look stunning.”
Heat curled low in her stomach. “Thank you.”
When she turned back to him, his gaze moved over the rest of her, lingering on her hair. Erica knew that look. It spelled trouble.
She pointed her mascara wand at him. “Touch my clip, and I will end you.”
Vince caught one of the loose tendrils she’d left trailing and wound it around his finger. “Threat noted.”
Her momentary aggression dissolved. “Your mother didn’t blink at the price tag,” she said, still a little stunned. The dress cost more than her house payment.
“She’s used to attending these kinds of events,” he said, shrugging off the expense without asking how much.
Erica capped her mascara and dropped her lipstick into her clutch. After a last glance at the exquisite, much-too-expensive dress in the mirror, she looked up at him. “I’ll be careful. Maybe we can return it after.”
He arched a brow. “You remember I’m a cop, right?”
She tilted her chin. “Are you going to threaten to arrest me again?”
“The way you look, I’d let you off with a warning.” He moved closer, hands circling her waist. “No matter what this dress cost, it was worth every penny.”
Her pulse jumped, her desire along with it.
“We need to go,” he said, “before it stops being an option.”
She traced a finger along his jawline, wanting to kiss the just-shaved smoothness. “I suppose it would be bad manners to be more than fashionably late.”
“You’d have to fix your hair again,” he warned, catching her hand and placing a kiss in her palm.
She sighed. “It’s for charity. I’ll try to endure.”
“We’ll make it an early night,” he promised, brushing his lips over hers.
She wiped the shimmer of pink gloss from his mouth with her thumb then picked up the silver clutch with the same sparkle as her shoes. “I’m ready.”
Vince offered his arm, handsome and gallant, making her feel like she’d stepped into a fairy tale. As they turned toward the door, she saw them reflected in the mirror.
His black tux, her midnight blue. Her soft lines, his harder edges. Perfectly matched in a way she still didn’t quite believe.
Maybe it was a borrowed sort of magic. But for tonight, she’d let herself believe.
Chapter 27
There was a short line for valet parking when they arrived at the hotel and convention center. The congestion was due to protestors lining the sidewalks. A cluster of handmade signs bobbed above the crowd, their messages hard to read in the fading light.
“Why are they protesting a charity event for a children’s hospital?” Erica asked, bewildered.
“It’s not the event or the cause they’re against but an attendee,” Vince explained as he maneuvered around pedestrians to get into the valet line.
Their chanting could be heard through the rolled-up windows:
PROTECT OUR LAND.
