His weight felt so good against my body. We lay there, panting with one another, before he slowly pulled out. A stream of arousal was released and it gushed out into the sheets. I giggled and felt myself blush in embarrassment before Liam rolled over and, when he did, he wrapped me in his arms and took me with him.
I was suddenly on top of his body and looking into his beautiful blue eyes as my hair shielded us from the rest of the room.
Without another word spoken, he reached up and slowly brushed at the hair on my brow. He tucked it behind my ear before we settled onto the pillows and, for a while, we simply lay there and looked at one another, our fingers intertwined and my leg snaked between his. We scooted closer as the smiles on our faces grew bigger. And, then, Liam spoke.
“Excited about dinner tonight?”
“I am, but that means we’ll have to leave this bed soon,” I said.
“Why?” he asked. “It should only be, what, a little past lunchtime?”
“The dining in the restaurant is formal dining. That means you’ll need a suit.”
“A suit?” he asked.
“Yeah, I’ve got something I think will pass, but I have a feeling flannel isn’t considered formal here.”
“Such a shame. It’s damn near royal where I live.”
I let out a giggle before he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me close.
“Five more minutes,” he said into my skin. “Then we’ll go suit shopping.”
“Will you let me buy it for you?” I asked.
“Why would you wanna do that?”
“You took care of me while I was in your world,” I said as I looked into his eyes. “Time for me to take care of you while you’re in mine.”
The smile that crossed his face brought a little more sunshine into my life before he leaned in and pressed a kiss to my lips.
“Deal,” he said.
We pulled ourselves from bed and I decided to forego the shower for now. I slipped into the bathroom and quickly cleaned myself up, trying to make myself presentable for the public. I wanted to get Liam a nice suit. Something that would cling to his body in all the right places and make him feel good about himself. I wanted it to be a suit he could use for other occasions, should he need one, and I wanted it to be a reminder for him.
A reminder of the time we were spending together.
Fluffing my hair in the mirror, I took one last look at myself. There was something different about the person I was staring at. She seemed to have a bit more color to her skin. There was a grin on her lips I hadn’t seen in quite some time and she even stood a little taller than I remembered. It took me a second to realize that the confident, beautiful, excited woman in the mirror was me.
“Whitney, you ready?” Liam asked.
“Yeah! Almost finished.”
I smoothed my hands out along my shirt one last time before I drew in a deep breath. Dinner tonight was going to be fantastic and I already had plans for us for when we got back to the cabin. It required a roaring fire, a bottle of wine I knew I had in the fridge, and a fun little outfit that required me to steal another article of his clothing.
It was going to be a wonderful night.
CHAPTER 23
LIAM
I’d never owned a suit before. I grew up too poor to have one as a child and when I enlisted in the Navy, I simply wore my dress whites to formal events. I’d been to a couple of balls and guarded a couple of charity events but nothing spectacular. I’d never been to a fancy dinner or anything like that. I drove us into town but, beyond that, I had no idea where we were going. Whitney was pulling up something on her phone as I drove along the slushy roads and, soon, she began giving me directions.
“Turn here. Pull over there. Get in the left lane; you’re about to miss it.”
With every turn, she grew more and more excited and I smiled at her reactions. When she got excited, her cheeks turned rosy. Her voice got louder and louder and she wiggled around in her seat. It was like she turned into this joyful little child and, as we pulled into the parking lot of a place I didn’t recognize, she practically threw herself out of my truck.
“Come on!” she exclaimed.
Shaking my head, I followed behind her into the shop. Coats and pants and button-down shirts covered the entire place. There were rolls of fabrics attached to the walls and ties that hung off racks. There were even shoes that lined an entire wall toward the back of the shop. Taking my hand, she pulled me to the front of the store and up toward the counter where a man dressed in a three-piece, all-black suit was there to greet us.
“Welcome to Custom Clothiers. My name is Trey. How can I help?”
“We need a suit fitting for this guy right here,” Whitney said.
“That is something we can get done for you,” Trey said. “Any particular pieces?”
“We need an entire ensemble, complete with a tie and shoes,” she said.
Trey nodded. “Any particular style? Lapels? Pants? Any specific colors?”
Whitney looked up at me and I shrugged.
“Never owned a suit before,” I said.
“Oh, a virgin,” Trey said. “Perfect.”
“Been a long time since I’ve been called that,” I mumbled.
Trey came out from behind the desk and led us into a room. The door shut behind us and I was prompted to step up onto a podium where a woman took my measurements. She strung a measuring tape down my arms and all the way up my legs. Around my waist and chest. Even around my neck. I had no idea what the fuck was going on but Whitney standing in the corner smiling helped me to relax She was enjoying all of this and I wanted to see her smile.
“A big boy you got here,” the woman said.
“Don’t I know it,” Whitney said.
I shot her a look and all she could do was giggle.
“All right,” the woman said. “Got his measurements. You want to pick out some things or is the missus doing it?”
“He can stay here,” Whitney said. “I’ll go get him some things. What are they?”
The woman rattled off numbers I still didn’t really know anything about and Whitney was off. I stood there on the podium like an idiot while the woman tried to slide off my shoe. She was looking at it as if it was a foreign object. It was odd.
“There a size in this thing?” she asked.
“Fourteen wide,” I said.
“Of course, you are. I’ll be right back.”
Just as the woman exited the room, Whitney came barreling back in. She was holding coats and pants and button-down shirts of every color and I wondered how in hell’s name she had gathered them so quickly. She sat them down on a chair before she handed me a pair of pants. Then she stepped back and folded her arms across her chest.
“Go ahead. Put them on.”
“You’re just gonna stand there and watch?” I asked.
“Would you like me to go and leave you alone with your new girlfriend?” she asked, grinning.
The woman promptly came back to the room with boxes of shoes in her arms and Whitney rushed over to help her.
I had no idea how many pants and coats and shirts I tried on but, soon, they were dwindling down. We were all trying to choose between a black suit and a gray suit but, honestly, I didn’t really care. Whitney fell in love with this dark blue shirt that popped my eyes or some shit and the pair of shoes the measuring tape woman picked out would go with both of the suits.
Or so Whitney said.
“I just don’t know,” the woman said. “They both look good on him.”
“It happens when you’re as handsome as him,” Whitney said.
“Well,” the woman said. “I can’t choose. Either will suit him just fine.”
Whitney giggled at the joke but all that I did was shake my head.
“Let’s go with the gray one then,” I said.
“But I really like that black one,” Whitney said.
“Then we’ll do that one.”
“But the gray one just accentuates your shoulders so well,” Whitney said.
“Then get the gray one,” I said.
“Ugh, why are you so handsome?” she asked. I shrugged, uncomfortable with the attention.
“Well, that settles that,” she said.
“Did we settle on something?” I asked.
“We’re just gonna have to get both.”
“What?” I asked.
“Yep, rule one of shopping: if you have two perfectly good outfits that look wonderful and you can’t choose, get them both,” Whitney said.
“I’m pretty sure that’s not a rule anywhere,” I said.
“It is when you’re with me,” she said.