Page 45 of Booked for Theft

I narrowed my eyes at Beatrice.

“He applied for permission two weeks ago, and we gave him a list of our requirements for such a dog, so he’s been working on the training elements. I expect three to four weeks before we do the trial,” she replied. “We’re also going to be looking into a program to match trained service dogs with patrons in need.”

“I will sucker money out of politicians for this effort,” I swore.

“Excellent. We’ll get together next week to discuss your funding campaign. I suspect that we’re going to have to take advantage of your dates with dangerous politicians to put ourselves in a position to steal documentation while you’re keeping our target occupied. And I think we’re only going to get one chance to steal from an unwilling target.”

I grimaced, well aware of what the government would do if they had any reason to believe we were involved in the theft of sensitive documentation. “Are there even any willing targets for this?”

“We have the leads from Dr. Castor,” Bradley reminded me. “I’m confident you can find a reason to reach out to them all about donations—if they don’t reach out to you first. But that’s our first job. We need to all brainstorm about who our target should be. I really do think we’re only going to get one chance at this, so I want to make certain we make it the best chance possible.”

One of Dr. Castor’s leads had already given us a fortune in information, and we needed to sweep our condo for bugs again and listen to his wishes.

I expected I would shed many a tear by the time we finished poring through the documentation he’d left behind.

Until then, I would do my best to keep my head held high and my eyes clear.

There would be a time for grieving later, once we’d done everything we could to change our fate and the fate of our people.

As we all needed some time to think, we split up by gender, headed to Manhattan, and went on a rampage at an upscale wedding boutique. To my amusement, Bradley went to the store across the street from us. As he was determined to drive us both crazy until Monday, he insisted on texting me with pictures of him trying out new styles of suits to determine which one I liked best. To make it clear he liked the tradition of not seeing the bride until it was time to walk down the aisle, he requested that he not be involved with the acquisition of my dress.

I scowled at my phone, hating that I loved several of the suits on him. I finally ranked the twenty suits and styles on scales of one to ten, and my three favorites were ranked as tens, my runner ups were nines, and the three I wanted to burn were marked as zeroes with a note that I would condemn them in our fireplace.

Once I ranked the suits, I handed my phone over to Beatrice for her opinion. “Do you think I was a bit harsh about the zeroes?”

She checked the device, grinned, and shook her head. “Those suits look awful on him, so no. You have done him a favor. This is great. We’ll pick your dress to complement your top eight choices of suit. However, are you sure that you should have shown me that when your reaction to that one suit involves him dressing in it so you can undress him?”

“Do you think that was too strong of a hint that I like that suit?”

“He’s going to buy all eight of them,” she warned me. “And the one you want to strip him out of will likely end up the ceremony suit, because that’s the one he’ll try to keep for your anniversaries.”

Crap. “Do I have to keep this dress for a bunch of anniversaries?”

“No. I was looking into traditions, and the wealthy handle the dresses in one of two ways. They either keep the dress for a future daughter or they donate the dress to a charity to go to a woman who can’t afford a wedding dress. If you know someone who can use the dress, it can be handed down in that fashion rather than a charity, too. Or you can sell the wedding dress with all proceeds going to charity.”

I took my phone back and asked Bradley if he would mind if I sold my dress to donate to charity after we were done using it along with a comment that he was to keep his suit so I could continue dressing him in it with the intent to undress him. Narrowing my eyes, I then indicated I would buy an engagement party dress he could give his opinion on and that would be worn for the purpose of him removing it from my person.

A moment later, my phone rang. I answered it with a laugh. “Sorry. I can’t seem to handle this like a normal person. I decided the bridesmaids and mothers would select their dresses first so my dress can be a spectacle.”

“I am very interested in the selection of the engagement party dress I can help remove from your person,” he informed me. “If you don’t give me a limit on suits, I will buy all the suits you like.”

“You should definitely get the one I want to take you out of for the wedding suit and the other two I have marked as tens. One can be for the engagement party, and the other can be for the cruise. The eights through nines would be excellent for important parties and work events. If a zero shows up, I will burn it.”

“Would it make you feel better if I admitted I asked the tailor to dress me in the absolute worst suit styles for me just to screw with you?”

I snickered. “Okay. You definitely got a reaction out of me. Please don’t buy any of those suits. They looked terrible on you.”

“I might buy one of them for a Halloween costume. It’s pretty cheap.”

“Is pretty cheap below five hundred dollars?”

“It’s a hundred.”

Huh. “Why is it being sold there?”

“It’s a rental suit that nobody wants to rent because it’s that ugly. A hundred lets the tailor ditch it, and he’ll be pleased when I destroy it for a costume.”

“Please inquire if he can assist you with the suit’s destruction for the appropriate fee,” I requested.