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CHAPTERONE
ISOBEL
Fuck. Chrissie would be here at any minute and after wasting two hours I was still none the wiser to making a decision over tonight’s outfit. How the hell had I let that happen? I was always the one, ready and waiting, usually making impatient demands for Chrissie to hurry her ass up. But today? Nope. Today it appears she would have the pleasure of lecturing me.
I wasn’t exactly known for being indecisive. Normally, I’d be the one making the sharp and snap decisions with a click of my fingers but since Freddie had left New York to chase Luke, the love of his life to London, I had found I’d done just that. I didn’t think it would take him three months to come back to me and I had never been more grateful that he did.
It couldn’t have been an easy choice for the pair of them to make to pick New York over London as I knew Luke must be struggling with the fact that he’s had to leave his surrogate brother Thomas and his wife Lauren behind with their new bundle of joy, Lucie. Skype wasn’t the same experience as face-to-face. I could vouch for that. I’m not sure if the long-distance had contributed to why they had brought Christopher back with them.
I’d not learnt a lot about the man through our odd moments we caught together on Skype but I wasn’t blind. He was hot, sexy—damn delicious—with his dark brown hair that flopped slightly to the side and those piercing chocolate brown orbs of his that glanced into my soul. The thing that got me the most excited though was the dark scruff across his face that I wanted to feel rubbing against my face before it traveled lower down my body and scratched my delicate skin raw.
I’d never wanted to touch and taste someone so much as the day that I caught him wrapped in a towel with water droplets dripping down his smooth torso. When I saw him at JFK Airport alongside my Fred and Luke, I didn’t know what direction to turn when I saw that Christopher had decided to come along for the trip.
This is what had led to tonight’s predicament. The whole gang were due to meet atKeyoin thirty minutes and I hadn’t even unpinned my blond locks yet. God, I dared not think about my makeup or my nails.
I covered my face with my hands and took some deep breaths.It was a night out with family, I told myself. Nothing more, nothing less.
I was disrupted from my thoughts when a knock at the door disturbed me.Chrissie.
“Door’s open!” I shouted. I heard the click of the door open and her bag chain jangling against the side of the material as she entered. “I’m in the bedroom. Can you bring the bottle of wine with you? I think I need a top up.”
“Isobel, which one?” she called. “And please tell me you’re just getting your jacket. I don’t think we’ve got time for more wine unless you’re going to down it.” She pushed open the bedroom door and I stood up in my towel clad body and grabbed the bottle. I quickly filled my glass to the brim and offered it back to her.
With a shake of my head and an open mouthed, gawking expression, I grabbed my glass and downed the contents, scrunching my eyes up and letting out a wince at the taste.
“I needed that,” I admitted as I set the glass down on the bedside sideboard and glanced at Chrissie’s outfit. “Loving that color on you. The dress really cinches your waist.”
“I didn’t know if such a dark blue color would look good on me, but I think it works.” Chrissie beamed as she did a twirl as she reached up and tugged on the base of the suede jacket she’d paired it with. “But that doesn’t excuse this.” She wagged her finger at me. “I don’t know what’s going on here but…” She stopped and removed a sparkly halter-neck, low back top from the pile and a pair of fitted, skinny cropped trousers. “Ah, the red heels,” she said as she gazed at the heels on the floor. Hurry up. Shoo. Bathroom now and then we’ll sort your hair and make-up.”
I hurried myself into the bathroom and shut the door. I quickly yanked the towel off and slipped the halter-neck over my head, allowing the cowl neckline to gather around my breasts before I pulled up my trousers and fastened the four buttons and zip, securing it in place.
I gave myself a mental talk that I looked sexy and good enough to walk intoKeyotonight but I couldn’t stop the edge of doubt that was lingering in my mind. Would Freddie and Luke mind if I made an excuse and was a no show? I could pretend I’d been hit by an illness or something maybe, but Fred would know the truth the moment he saw me. I was never any good at lying to anyone. Especially him.
“Isobel, do I need to come and drag you out of there?” Chrissie called through the door, knocking impatiently on the wood as the sound became louder with each tap. “Or if you won’t listen to me, I can get Everleigh here?” She paused just long enough for her words to sink in. “Dawson could even go and get the guys. Fred would love this.”
“Don’t. I’m coming,” I snapped before I opened the door.
Chrissie glanced up and down at my attire and began to nod. “Finally, there’s my hot as sin friend. That outfit is killer, babe. You are so wearing the red heels with that combination.” I opened my mouth about to start as Chrissie placed her finger over the top. “No arguments. We don’t have the time. I’ve laid you a little bit of glitz out for those eyes and a tad bit of gloss. You tackle that and I’ll start to tame the waves.”
“Do you really think so?” I choked back my emotions as I felt my eyes begin to water. I quickly battered my eyelashes in the hope to keep my tears at bay as the last thing I needed was to become an emotional torment of goo tonight, stuck to Chrissie’s side like a piece of gum. That wouldn’t be cool at all. I needed to be the fun, fabulous party queen who knew how to hold her drink and dance the night away. “I just wanted to make a good impression.”
“You always do. Now take a seat. Dawson and Everleigh will be here in ten minutes,” she stated. She began to remove the pins from the bright pink curlers on my head while I grabbed the silver glitter dust. “Let’s go and have a fantastic night!”
* * *
Ionly had to deal with Dawson ringing the apartment twice and listen to him telling Chrissie that he was here, ready and waiting to go. Everleigh told him to give the pair of us five minutes and I couldn’t help but let out the chuckle as I ran my fingers through my loose waves that Chrissie had done a fantastic job at teasing and taming. We were ready to leave and I quickly dabbed a coat of clear gloss on my lips and turned to the mirror, giving myself a last once over. I reached for my black jacket that Chrissie had found hidden at the very depths of my pile of clothes and my silver clutch, stopping to slip on my sexy red heels that brought that splash of color to the completed look.
“Will I do?” I asked Chrissie as I grabbed my keys and headed to the door, waiting for her to catch up by my side.
“Sure will. You will knock them dead tonight.” She fanned her face, making me chuckle. “But we had better go and save Everleigh from Dawson. Otherwise, she won’t be able to hold him back any longer.”
“Are you kidding? That girl has got him whipped. He’ll be sitting there twiddling his thumbs waiting.” I smirked at Chrissie as I ushered her to the door. “He’s probably counting down until tonight and thinking up ways on how he can punish her.”
“That’s probably more like it.” Chrissie gleamed as we headed outside and jumped into the yellow cab. I noticed Dawson sat there twiddling his thumbs and it just made the pair of us burst into hysterics.
“What’s so funny girls?” Dawson asked, intrigued as Everleigh lifted her brow. She scanned my face before she nodded to my unspoken question.
“Oh, I’m sure I’ll find out later,” Everleigh replied as she pulled Dawson closer and pressed a kiss to the corner of his mouth. “Us girls tell each other everything.”
