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Had.
Shit. Penny knew both of Gage’s parents had passed away. It was why their three sons had taken over Russo Enterprises when they were still quite young, only in their early to mid-twenties.
Whatever sadness she’d seen was gone in an instant when Gage—clearly a master of controlling his emotions—turned around with a wicked grin and said, “You ready to do this thing, Tish?”
Tish, who’d looked so prim and proper when they’d first arrived, was standing there, grinning from ear to ear, armed with so many clothes, Penny considered making a break for it. Did they expect her to try on every damn thing in the store?
Then she decided to hell with it. This was an adventure, a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and she was going to have fun with it.
“What size shoes do you wear?” Gage asked, looking down at her freshly painted toenails.
“Ten.” She grimaced. “Not exactly dainty, huh?”
“We’re not going for dainty, Beaumont. We’re going for sexy, remember?”
She nodded.
“And for the record…you’re nailing it.”
Penny was smiling like a giant buffoon, falling for Gage’s charms just like every other woman he’d ever met, but she didn’t care. After all, his mad skills with the ladies were the reason she was here, why she’d sought him out to help her to begin with. “We’renailing it,” she corrected. “I could never have pulled half of this off without you.”
He seemed pleased by her compliment, stepping out of the way so Tish could deliver the first of what appeared to be seven hundred outfits. Tish had found an armchair somewhere and moved it outside her dressing room so Gage could sit there and watch ala Richard Gere style. The quiet classical music that had been playing since their arrival was switched to an upbeat Dua Lipa number, the volume cranked.
Tish paired every ensemble with shoes—too many of which were out of Penny’s comfort zone heel-wise. So while she’d attempted to give Gage her impersonation of a supermodel strutting on the catwalk—she watchedRuPaul’s Drag Race, after all—the best she could pull off was the newborn foal look as she wobbled in and out of the dressing room, risking a sprained ankle with every step she took.
So much for fuckingPretty Woman.
Two hours later, Penny’s sense of adventure was gone. She was getting seriously hangry.
She stepped out of the dressing room in a pair of painted-on jeans that she had to admit she loved and some frou-frou sweater she hated. Not that her opinion had counted for much as they’d worked their way through the mountain of clothes now in two distinct piles. Gage was the one who’d determined the yesses and the noes.
Fortunately, she agreed with pretty much all his choices. The clothing was truly lovely, but not a lot of fun. Most of it was basic, nondescript, with solid earthy colors or muted patterns. Nowhere near as flashy or silly as her usual style, which was probably a good thing.
Though, she was going to have to work her way up to leaving the house in some of the more revealing outfits.
She didn’t bother putting shoes on with this outfit as she basically stomped out of the dressing room and threw her arms up in a “so?” gesture.
Gage stood up and walked over to her. “Those jeans were made for you, but I’m not a fan of the sweater.”
“Oh, you sure? I mean,” she said, plucking at the frills, trying to think of something positive to say about it.
“It doesn’t work with those jeans,” he insisted.
“Okay. Um. Can this be the last outfit? I’m getting hungry.”
“Yeah. We’re almost there.” Gage reached for something hanging from the arm of his chair and pushed her backwards into the dressing room, following her in, the door swinging closed behind them. Penny glanced over his shoulder, suddenly aware Tish was nowhere to be seen.
“What are you doing?”
“I think this shirt would look better with those jeans.” Gage held the soft cotton out to her. “But don’t tell Tish I said so.”
She held it up and grinned. “Gage. Wow.” The pale-blue shirt looked like it had been made for her.
“I noticed you like cats on your clothes.”
She laughed. There was an adorable small black cat stitched on one side that was whimsical and fun and so her. “Was this actually here?”
Gage nodded. “Can you believe it? Found it buried on a sale rack.”
