“You’re welcome.”
“I’m sorry about shopping. I’m sorry to have hurt you.”
“You’re getting better.”
“Better?”
“At apologizing.”
We held each other’s gaze. We were so close to something. I felt it in the way my pulse thumped against my chest. I pulled back to give a professional assessment of my work. I’d only been looking at his individual components: hair, beard, eyebrows. But when I took in his face as a whole it stunned me and I gasped without meaning to.
“What is it?” he asked softly. “Is it bad? Am I going to have to wear a paper bag over my head?”
He looked damn good. I almost couldn’t look at him because I was worried what might fall out of my mouth.
“Just be thankful the party is a masquerade.”
“What?” He shot up to look in the mirror.
“I’m kidding.”
I stood behind him to watch his reaction. He examined his face closely, running a hand over the short beard, and turned his face side to side. “Huh.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Could be worse,” he said.
He straightened. We both stood next to each other and looking at our reflections. Right now, it was almost believable that a man like that would be with a woman like me. We looked like a couple. A normal girl and her man.
I turned away, unable to look any longer.
Chapter 15
Suzie
Iwas too stir-crazy to stay in that beautiful house any longer. I couldn’t stand another moment of staring at books or working through pointless tongue twisters. The audiobooks were a good idea. I could at least do things while I listened and okay, thatWuthering Heightswas a real kick in the stomach. But I was still going insane. I needed to move and shake. Ford and Jack were at work and I needed a dress.
Something about the smell of fall made me sentimental and anxious. Maybe it was the dead leaves and sharp air. Or maybe it was the shortening days. Whatever my deal was, I changed into one of my new outfits and made my way to the main street of town in search of entertainment and maybe a dress for the Halloween Ball.
I happened across a boutique with some nice gowns in the window but when I got there it wasn’t open yet. There was a coffee shop on the corner with a small bookstore attached. It smelled like fresh coffee, vanilla, and cinnamon. The wholesomeness of this place made my skin itch. I probably stuck out…well, like a stripper at a bookstore. I waited for someone to tell me I wasn’t welcome. But no one looked up.
A young, cute guy behind the counter with a beanie over scraggly hair looked up from the book he was reading and said, “Welcome. Required textbooks are upstairs. Holler if you need anything.” And then went right back to reading.
He thought I was a student. I snorted and covered it up with a quick thank you. I caught my reflection in the glass of a display. And then I remembered that I was wearing my new clothes: jeans and a cardigan with a patterned scarf that covered my neck and cleavage. I hadn’t bothered with makeup since it was so early and it took too much time. Never thought I’d see the day where I thought makeup was too much work.
Damn, that man was rubbing off on me.
A weird thing had been happening when I thought of Ford lately. Like drinking champagne too fast, I felt giddy and bubbly. After I cleaned him up yesterday, I couldn’t stop looking at him. He was handsome before, but now he was damn sexy. I didn’t like it. Every time I saw him, I found myself staring.
I focused on the present and the anonymity that came with my new identity. I could be a totally different person. I could be anybody else. The idea thrilled me.
“Suzie?” a woman’s voice called.
Ah, cluck. So much for that.
I turned to find Gretchen - Fashion Consultant, Landlord, Driver, and all-around Badass. She dropped a short stack of books on the counter and headed to where I hovered near a rack of paperbacks. Today she was dressed equally fabulously in a retro navy dress, Mary Janes, and a leather jacket. Her cat eye makeup was a perfect flick. She managed to be sexy without revealing much skin at all.
“It is you.” She picked up the end of my scarf and ran it through her fingers. “Cute scarf.”
