AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I set down the mirror and grab my clutch purse. My heart is in my throat as I walk down the hall. I step into the foyer and my pulse quickens as I spot Harry standing there in his tuxedo, all tall and muscled and handsome. And staring right back at me.
My thighs involuntarily clench together. I’m trying not to stumble in my heels. I shouldn’t check him out the way I do but my self-control is taking the day off.
“Mommy, he looks like a prince!” Madalyn squeals as she prances past us.
I hear Nova from somewhere over my shoulder as she enters the room behind me. “Whoa…”
My mother swaggers right toward Harry, speaking out the side of her mouth as she goes. “Bigger and bettersounds about right.” She eyeballs my date approvingly, fluffing up her pouffy blonde hair.
Not my date. He’s not my date. It’s not a date, Nadia. Not a real one, at least.
Harry’s just my fake date. My smokin’ hot, delicious-smelling fake date.
Right.
15
HARRY
Ican’t stop my foot from tapping as I wait for Nadia in the foyer of her beautiful home.
Her dad watches me suspiciously, his lips downturned beneath his thick black mustache, firing important questions my way.
“Two character references? That’s all you’ve got?”
“How about a family doctor? And a dentist?”
“Also, how’s your credit score?”
Jeez—the man is protective. But if it were my job to protect Nadia, I’d take it just as seriously.
Nancy sneaks up behind me and douses me in liquid from a small spray bottle.
I grin. Looks like that ylang ylang order was delivered right on time.
Nadia’s brother-in-law, Charlie, seems like a cool guy, chatting with me about football and peppering me with questions about the season. And the coach. And the insider take on whether the Paragons can climb our way out of our losing streak and possibly make it to the playoffs.
It’s great and all, but unfortunately, I’m too distracted by the nervous sweat trickling down my back to actually engage in meaningful conversation with the guy.
I feel like a buffoon in this tux.
It’s true to say that tuxedos and five hundred dollar shoes aren’t my usual choice of attire. I was only half-joking when I told Nadia that jorts and a backwards baseball cap are my go-to fashion choices. At heart, I’m just a small town guy who loves throwing the pigskin around. A guy who carries a milk jug filled with tap water and workout powder wherever I go.
But I’ll wear this fancy buffoon suit to bed and to the gym and to the grocery store if it means winning over Nadia.
Tonight is my big shot with her, and I take that very seriously. I need to be on my A-game. Say the right things. Do the right things. Wear the right things.
But the second Nadia steps into the room where I’m waiting with her father and brother-in-law, I’m too mesmerized to think of anything but how good she looks.
Her midnight blue dress falls to the floor and clings to her curves in ways that make me ridiculously jealous. There’s a teasing amount of cleavage and thigh showing, and the way her thick, black curls are piled up atop her head emphasizes that long, graceful neck I want to touch with my lips and tongue.
My Dream Girl is effortlessly hypnotizing. And when she smiles? Fuck. I’m a goner. I know she’s going to turn every head at that gala tonight.
A throat clears, and Mr. Chester frowns his deep brown forehead at me. I quickly pick my jaw up off the floor. I step forward and take her hand, pressing a soft kiss to the back of her hand. I pull a bouquet of flowers from behind my back.
A little girl—her niece, I’m guessing—giggles from where she hides behind her mother. “See, Mommy? Just like a prince,” the girl says when I hand over the flowers to Nadia.
I don’t take my eyes off Nadia. “Well, your auntie is prettier than any princess I’ve ever seen.”
