“Great sucks!”
We needed backup. Pronto.
“Moooommmmm!” I called out as I ran down the stairs. “Mooooommmm!”
“What?” Mom appeared from the living room. “Did they find one yet?”
I gave her my flattest look. “I can’t cope with that, Mom. Neither of them have found one. It’s a dress, not a car. Why is it so hard to choose?”
Mom’s lips pursed into a smile. “Because dresses are everything, darling.”
“Yeah, well, so is silence instead of screaming women.”
She laughed. “Don’t worry. I’ll bring them down here now. Jenny will find them something.”
Jenny poked her head around the door. “Will find who what?”
I met her warm, brown gaze. “My sister and...Lani...something to wear. Before I throw myself out of the window.”
Jenny laughed. “They didn’t like the ones they went up with?”
“They liked them just fine, but it was too short or too long or too frumpy or too tight or the sleeves were too...sleevey. I don’t know.”
That caused both Jenny and my mom to laugh really hard.
I swear, the women in my life loved getting amused at my expense.
“Okay,” Mom said. She swept right past me toward the staircase. “Girls?” she called when she was halfway up. “Bring the dresses down. Jenny is pulling some more for you.”
“Do I have to listen to this more?” I shoved my hands into my pockets. “I have some work to catch up on.”
Mom raised her eyebrows as she joined me back at the bottom of the stairs. “Really? You want to go and work?”
“It’s that or this.”
She laughed and kissed my cheek. “Go work.”
“For your information,” Lani said as she stomped down the stairs with an armful of dresses. “This is not fun. This is not a fun date.” She stopped at the bottom of the stairs and looked at me. “This is stressful.”
“You’re so pretty when you’re mad at me.” I grinned and tapped her nose.
“Will I be pretty if I murder you?”
“Hey, you’re the one who wanted to be romanced. I’m taking you on a date. What more do you want?”
“This is a date?” Camille raised an eyebrow, looking a little too much like mom to be entirely comfortable. “Isn’t that kind of cheap?”
I pointed at Mom. “She said I can’t miss it and needed to bring a date. This is really all her fault.”
Mom looked between me and Camille. “Sometimes, I can’t believe you’re both twenty-six.” She turned around and walked back into the library where the dresses were.
“Crap. My laptop is in there.” I followed her in and stopped dead. There were rails and rails of clothing—at least eight—all covering the floor. There were dresses slung over the backs of the chairs and the sofas, and one was even hanging, covered in plastic, from the top of one of the bookcases. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realize we’d renovated the library into a clothing store.”
Mom laughed. “Just temporarily, Brett. I moved your laptop over by the sofas.”
I looked at the corner sofas where we sat the first time Lani tried to get information for an article. “Oh, yes. I can see it now. Oh no, wait. That’s a dress that costs as much as someone’s car.”
I was only saved from Mom’s light slap because I darted out of the way.
“Here.” She picked it up from the middle of the table and passed it to me, along with the charge lead. “Take this and go find your father if you’re going to work.”
I took the laptop and lead from her and glanced at the rails. Hanging on the end of one was a red dress I liked the look of, so I whipped it off the rail and draped it over Lani’s arm.
“There. Try that one,” I said, letting go of it with a wink.
“If this is perfect I’m going to kill you,” she said after me, peering over her shoulder.
I grinned as I backed out of the library. “It will be.”
“I’m going to kill you.”
I looked over as Lani dropped herself onto the sofa next to me. “It was perfect, huh?”
“It needs a little adjustment, and I’m going to need some tape to preserve my modesty, but yes, it’s perfect. How did you do it?”
“Easy,” I said, returning my attention to the spreadsheet. “I grabbed the first one I liked the look of and handed it to you. Like a regular human does when they need something to wear.”
She nudged me with her elbow. “All right, all right. Your point is heard and understood.”
“It’s just a dress,” I said again.
“Logically I know that, but illogically, they all look like shit when I wear them.”
“Impossible.” I saved the sheet I was working on and moved to the next. “You could wear nothing but a ripped up, thirty-year-old rock concert t-shirt and you’d still look gorgeous.”
Lani turned to face me with a light flush burning up her cheeks. “Oh, now you’re being sweet.”
“I’m just telling the truth.” I hit CTRL-S to save and met her gaze. “It’s just a charity dinner and fundraiser. You can wear what you want. You don’t even have to come.”
“It’s for the women’s shelter. I want to come.”
I smiled and cupped her chin. “Then come, but stop worrying about what you look like. You’re gonna have the prettiest smile there and that’s all I care about you wearing.”
She raised her eyebrows.
“Okay, I care about your underwear too.” I sighed and dropped my hand. “Nothing gets past you, does it?”
“Yeah...I don’t know if I can wear underwear.”
“I’m sorry, what?” I swallowed, putting my laptop on the desk. Why the fuck was my cock twitching at that? “You can’t wear underwear?”
“Maybe,” she hedged. “But it’s kind of...tight. I might have to find those seamless underwear thingies that are like giant sanitary pads but stick to your skin.”
“That went from sexy to gross real quick.”
Lani laughed and leaned back into the sofa cushions. “Sorry, it’s the truth. Also, your own fault. You picked the dress, not me.”
“Can we get another one?” I pushed to the edge of the sofa cushion to stand up.
“No!” She launched herself at me, tackling me down against the back cushions before I was fully on my feet. She practically threw herself onto my lap. “I want that one!”
I laughed, wrapping my arms around her. “Yeah? Why so bad?”
She rolled over, propping herself up with her hand on the cushion, and gave me a sly smile. “Because it’s going to be really fun to watch you navigate a fancy event in a suit with a huge hard-on.”
My eyebrows shot right up. “Is that a promise? Because you’ll be responsible for it...and getting rid of it.”
Lani tried to move off of me, but I held her tighter until she stopped wriggling. “Fine,” she said, shuffling so she was sitting on me properly.
I opened my legs so her ass dropped down to the cushion between them and grinned. “That sounds like a double promise to me.”
“Don’t push your luck, Casanova.”
“I always push my luck, kitten. It’s why I’m so lucky.”
“Lucky, annoying, insistent... who’s keeping track?”
“You, evidently.” My lips quirked up.