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“Well, in that case, I think I’ll prepare one of my models to go out first.” I look around for the leggiest, bustiest model I’ve got. She’s got to be larger than life and dressed in my best lingerie.
“There’s no need for that,” Tanner says. “Evan’s ready. Aren’t you, Evan?”
Evan, the other traitor who left me for Tanner, seems to have come a long way since she made her debut. Her makeup and hair are flawless, and she’s pinned her lingerie just right for lengthening her legs and emphasizing the curve of her waist.
“She’s wearing a bridal teddy, though,” I point out. “We’re going to want to start out with one of the bridesmaid designs.”
And with that, I’ve won the fight. Tanner steps to the side while I summon a bridesmaid in a bra-and-panty set covered in flowers. But before she reaches us, Katerina returns with her new underwear.
“It looks like I made it just in time!”
Tanner kneels down to inspect the miniature train stitched at the back of her panties and whistles. Katerina and I have roughly the same measurements, which is a big part of why we were rivals. And here I am, dressed like the mother of the bride in a blue satin blazer and pencil skirt while Tanner admires her ass.
The sound engineers don’t know that all hell is about to break loose, so they cue the music. Katerina steps onto the runway, wiggling her mini train behind her.
I don’t know what comes over me, but before she’s out of my reach, I stick my hand out, grab her lacy dog leash—or whatever that’s supposed to be—and yank her backward. She yelps, and the lace comes off in my hand.
Tanner turns white as a wedding veil on a bedsheet next to a vanilla sheet cake. He snatches the lace from my fingers and stares at it for a moment. I think he’s about to lose his shit, but he doesn’t.
Instead, he calmly tucks the lace into the headband of one of my models, making a cute little fastener that could double as a wedding veil. I’m starting to see where he’s going with this.
I lean in and whisper instructions in the model’s ear.
When Katerina makes it to the end of the runway—fortunately, she’s escaped my grabby hands and has lived to tell the tale—my model pulls the biggest, brightest flowers off her bra and tosses them her way. Katerina tucks the blooms down the front of her white pleather bustier—pleather at a wedding? Come on, Tanner!—and grins all the way back.
Tanner nods his approval. “Now my model is a bride…”
“And yours is a bridesmaid who caught the bouquet.”
For the rest of the rehearsal, Tanner and I have all our models trade accessories and fabric with one another. We’re on the clock, so there isn’t much time to argue about the merits of peonies versus roses or Chantilly versus brocade.
Our goal is to create one lingerie line instead of two.
I would never admit it to Tanner, but the colorful flowers really do pop against the simplicity of the white pleather. And the lace he adds to my floral designs make them so soft and feminine and gorgeous.
When the last model has sashayed her way backstage, Tanner holds out his elbow for me to grab his arm.
“We’re up,” he says, smiling at me.
“No, I don’t need to go out.” I stand my ground while the models start clapping in time with the music, waiting for the two of us to come out and take a bow.
“This is our show. They’re going to want to see us, the bride and groom. Have you prepared your vows?”
“Oh, stop it.” I can feel myself turning red with embarrassment. In my haste to get my new models dressed and up to speed in time for the big show, I’d forgotten about my own triumphant return to the runway.
“But I’m too boring to go out there. I’m wearing a suit!”
“That’s not all you’re wearing.”
Tanner smiles wickedly at me, and I wonder what he’s up to.
He takes my arm and links it in his. “Just trust me.”
I sigh and let him walk me down the aisle…um, I mean runway. This is just a rehearsal, right? I know I can come up with something amazing in time for the show.
Tanner takes his time while Felix Mendelssohn’s classic Wedding March blasts from the speakers.
“We can pick a new song, right?”
