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Grayson’s cheeks warmed at that. He hadn’t realized how obvious he was being. “Okay, yes, it’s Lucy,” Grayson conceded. “She’s agreed to go on a date with me, and I need some help with the execution, if possible.”
“Fucking finally!” Mateo cheered. “Alba and I had a bet running on how long it’d take for you two to start dating.”
Grayson laughed, feeling buoyant. “Who won?”
Mateo snorted. “Alba, of course,” he replied. “Now, tell me what I can do.”
Grayson explained his plan. He had been thinking about this for a while, on the off chance that she ever said yes.
Now he just hoped it would go well.
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Lucy
Lucy was nervous, but she didn’t want to refuse him. Perhaps it was time to throw caution to the wind, to let herself feel what she felt.
She called Bia to talk over her emotions as she got ready, and Bia laughed.
“Finally!”
“Bia!”
“I’ve been waiting for this!” Bia said. “Anyway, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“Um, a lot! I could get my heart absolutely obliterated!”
“Psh, that’s a part of life.”
“Is it?”
“Yes, and you’d recover. But in the meantime, think of all the fun you could have.”
Dirty images entered Lucy’s mind, a reel of all the ways she’d imagined him touching her and her touching him, all the sex dreams he’d starred in, everything that could become a reality. Everything that already had.
She shivered, body humming with desire. “It would be a lot of fun …”
“Yesssssss. Now, go! Be a slut!”
“A sexy lady under tremendous stress?”
“Yes! But also a regular slut, as in: Get that dick! Have fun, live life, and quit being a baby!”
“Right, got it, got it. Thank you. I needed a pep talk.”
“Girl, of course! That’s literally what I am here for.”
Lucy didn’t know what their date was, so she wasn’t sure what to wear. But the weather was nice for the middle of March, so she wore a midi dress and grabbed a chunky cardigan to go on top.
She was feeling hopeful, so underneath she wore a skimpy push-up bra and the tightest thong she had, the fabric of which hardly covered anything as the strings dug into her skin. The underwear itself made her pulse quicken.
Lucy did her makeup, coating her lips with a statement red lipstick but keeping the rest of the look simple. She didn’t want to look like she was trying too hard, but she also didn’t want to look like she wasn’t trying at all.
She left her hair natural, tucking the straight strands behind her ears and down her back to keep the front of her dress uncovered. Her hair was actually straight, but she used magic to make it wavy or bouncy with curls. Last, she grabbed her purse, switching her stuff over to a smaller one. As she did, her eyes caught on the little snow globe he had given her. She touched it.
Lucy thought about his phone background, that picture of them. She didn’t even know he had taken it, and he’d had it there all this time. The thought made her feel warm and gooey.
Then the doorbell rang.
