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“Lovely. Always happy to meet a bride. Though I have to say, I’m not used to seeing many grooms in here. Some would say it’s bad luck to see the bride in her dress before the wedding.”
“Oh, we don’t believe in all that,” Chloe says with a laugh. Then she glances up, those crystal eyes fixed with an adoration I can’t help but wish was real. “I want to make sure Frederick thinks I look perfect in whatever gown I choose.”
Is she kidding? “You look perfect in anything you wear.” The answer’s out before I can stop it. But it’s the kind of thing a fiancé would say, right?
Chloe’s lips settle into a soft smile, and her cheeks tinge pink.
“Aw, you two are just adorable.” Stephanie claps her hands and points to the back. “Okay, so you’ll find all the formal gowns there. Our entire stock is on the floor, but if you find something you like, I can order your size for you. Feel free to use the dressing room behind the mirrors and then come out to the dais so you can see the dresses from all angles.”
“Oh, that’s perfect. Thank you so much, Stephanie.”
“Of course.” The woman starts to turn, then stops, mouth half open. Closed. Open again. “I have to say, you just look so familiar. Have we met?”
I stiffen.
Chloe’s thumb swipes down the length of mine. “I don’t think so.”
“Hmm. My mistake then,” Stephanie says. “Let me know if you need any assistance.”
“We will.”
Once Stephanie heads back to the register, which is to the left of the entrance, Chloe tugs on my hand, but I don’t move. “We should leave,” I say.
“What? Why?”
“I think she knows who you are.”
“Don’t be silly, Muscles.” Chloe gives me another tug. “Lucy recognized me too when I first arrived, and it was simply because I was here with Shelby and Lauren last week. I’m sure Stephanie and I passed on the street. It’s not exactly New York City.”
“Maybe.” I frown, but against my better judgment, walk with Chloe to the dress section, where she begins browsing what’s on the rack. Turning, I face the bulk of the store and stand, hands clasped in front of me.
“Freddy,” Chloe laughs from behind me. “You look like a bodyguard.”
“That’s what I am.”
“Well, yes, but you’re beingobviousabout it.”
Oh. Right. “Sorry. This is my first fake fiancé gig.”
“I forgive you.” I feel a poke in the back. “Now turn around and help me.”
Obliging, I pivot and watch her flip through the hangers on the rack, metal on metal scratching as one after another scrapes across the surface of the rod. “What exactly am I supposed to help with?”
“Help me decide what to try on. This is my brother’s wedding, after all.” She pulls a gown out enough to examine it without pulling it off the rack. “I have to look smashing.”
Impossible, this one. “I meant what I said, Princess.” And yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have said it, but surely she knows it’s just an objective fact. I’m not saying something a million other men wouldn’t say.
“Really?” She peeks up at me from the corner of her eye. A cheeky grin overtakes her whole face. What’s she got up her sleeve? Then she whips a dress off the rack and holds it up against her body. I don’t know a thing about fashion, but even I can tell this is one of those dresses that is in a magazine somewhere as an example of the year’s worst fashion statement. A hideous shade of orange in a stiff-looking material, it’s poofed up in all the wrong places. “You think I’d look perfect inthis?”
Somehow, some way, I don’t let out the chuckle that’s bursting for release inside of me. Instead, I lift my chin, stroke my jaw, and pretend to consider what she’s proposing. Then, “I stand by my previous remark, Princess.”
“All right, then, Freddy. Challenge accepted.” Turning, Chloe whisks around the corner and toward the dressing room, which is just a room with three solid walls and a blue curtain hanging on a rod. When, on instinct, I start to follow her, she holds a hand up to my chest. “Whoa there, Muscles. Not even a bodyguard is allowed back here when I’m changing.”
“Of course.” I wince. “I wasn’t thinking.”
“I know you just can’t wait to be wowed. Now, go sit.”
After she disappears behind the curtain, I finally allow myself to laugh. She’s utterly ridiculous, and I love her for it. Chloe Huntington is the complete package: caring, beautiful, generous, and silly.
