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Wanted him there.
“I think it looks lovely!” Raziel declared, fluttering so enthusiastically beside me that he was kicking up a breeze. “It’s perfect!”
“Nah.” Andras lounged on my shoulder, because of course he did. “It ain’t slutty enough.”
I eyed him in the dressing room’s full-length mirror. “Slutty enough? Really?”
“You want to get laid, don’t ya?”
Okay, he had me there. “I do, yes,” I said cautiously, “but define ‘slutty enough’? Because I’m not going out in a mesh shirt.”
Andras shrugged. “Who says you have to wear a shirt at all?”
I rolled my eyes. “Shirts are not negotiable.”
He scoffed and crossed his arms, giving his wings an emphatic and irritated snap. “Let’s see how you feel about that in”—he pantomimed checking a watch—“twenty-nine days.”
“Twenty-nine—” But then the piece clicked. Twenty-nine days until the revised agreement shifted to the original and I couldn’t escape my annoying companions at all. With a sigh of defeat, I let my shoulders drop, which caused Andras to take a satisfying tumble before he caught himself on my sleeve. “Fine. Let’s… Let’s talk, uh…” My cheeks heated. “I’llconsidersluttier. But this is okay, isn’t it?” I motioned at the mirror.
This was my fifth trip into this changing room since we’d arrived at the ghost town of a shopping mall downtown. Trying to please these two was… an ordeal. Especially since, once we were in the privacy of a dressing room and they were allowed to show themselves, they hadopinions.
A simple navy blue jacket over my plain white T-shirt and jeans? Too sloppy according to Raziel. Too boring according to Andras.
The skintight faux leather pants Andras had insisted I put on were obscenely revealing according to Raziel.
The all-white suit—complete with purple tie and pocket square—chosen by Raziel had prompted a sneer from Andras, but he hadn’t even needed to pipe up on that one. I’d vetoed it before I pulled it off the rack, and I’d only tried it on so Raziel would shut up about it. No. Justno.
And now, as I stood here in a pair of black pants with a muted green Henley, my winged consultants were once again at an impasse.
Fortunately, there was a third voter whose opinion I valued significantly more than theirs.
I reached for the door and waited for that barely perceptible crackle of energy that zinged over my nerve endings whenever Andras and Raziel vanished. Just to be safe, I glanced to either side to make sure they’d vacated. They had. That, or they were being so still and silent I couldn’t see or hear them, but yeah, right—that would be the day.
Safely devoid of shoulder passengers, I pushed open the door and stepped out into the hallway.
And for a few seconds, I lost my train of thought.
Cory was, as he’d been at the last three stores, kicked back in one of the chairs, his relaxed posture not unlike the way Andras often chilled on my shoulder. He had one long leg crossed over the other, his rainbow Chuck Taylors bright against the backdrop of his black jeans. He hadn’t bothered with his contacts today, unaware of how incredibly sexy he was in those black-rimmed glasses.
Fortunately, he was also unaware of the way my breath stuttered and my balance wavered. Straightening in the chair, he gave me an appraising down-up. “Ooh, I like this.”
I shook myself and looked down at the Henley and pants. “You think it works?”
“Definitely.” He rose, sliding his phone into his back pocket as he looked me up and down again. When he reached the shirt, he pursed his lips. “I’m not completely sold on the color, though.”
“No?”
“It’s… I mean, it’s notbad. But I think…” He scowled. “I don’t know. And I’m not sure what color would be better?”
I studied him. “So… should I… grab a few different colors and try them?”
Cory’s smile made me forget all about colors and clothes. “Why don’t I go grab a few off the rack while you try the next thing? What size is that again?”
“I, uh…” He expected me to remember that? I gestured over my shoulder. “Check the tag?”
He motioned for me to turn around, and when his fingers grazed the back of my neck, I hoped he didn’t notice the goose bumps springing up in their wake. Thank God he couldn’t hear my thoughts, because we didn’t need to talk about why some voice in my head wanted me to tell him to tug harder on my collar.
All too soon, he let go of the shirt. “Got it. Okay, I’ll be back in a second.”
