Page 59 of Willowbrooke
“I stole your phone while you were sleeping last week,” he answered sheepishly.
If I hadn’t been so stunned, I would have been impressed. “I have a pin,” I argued.
“And you don’t pay attention when someone watches you enter it.” He leaned against the counter, proud of himself. “Aren’t you going to open it?”
I looked down at the box again, afraid of what I might find inside. “Schrodinger’s outfit,” I joked, fiddling with the black ribbon.
“Schrodinger’s dress,” Leo corrected me.
I sighed. A dress…I wasn’t exactly a dress kind of girl, but he’d gone to so much trouble…
I pulled at the ribbon, undoing the bow, and lifted the top from the box, squinting, afraid to see the contents.
Immediately I could see Mina’s handiwork. She had included the proper undergarments and accessories, a thoughtful touch. But the pièce de résistance was a royal blue dress with a low V-neck in the front, as well as a side slit, and a dangerously deep keyhole cutout in the back. She knew me well. The dress was timeless, chic, and simple.
Leo waited with bated breath for my response. “I thought the blue would bring out your eyes,” he commented quietly,gently tucking a strand of hair behind my ear.
“It’s beautiful,” I exhaled. Peeking inside the shoe box tucked in the bottom corner, I saw Mina had chosen nude patent leather heels of a modest height, just high enough that she knew I could manage for an evening if I wasn’t standing the whole time.
“Are you mad?” Leo bit his cheek, preparing himself for my wrath.
“I guess you’ll find out, won’t you?” I teased.
But he knew I wasn’t angry. He tugged at the waist of my jeans, pulling me to him. “Promise?” He challenged, nipping at me.
“How long do we have to stay?” I simpered.
“There’ll be dinner and Margot will give some sort of speech about Dad and the charity. After that, we can slip out when she’s finished,” he whispered, placing soft kisses along the crook of my neck.
“Think you can wait that long?” I raised a brow. “You know we’ll have to keep our distance.”
Leo sighed. “I know, but I might have to steal you for a dance or two.”
“We’ll see.” I stepped back and picked up the box. “How long do I have to get ready?”
“The town car will be here in about two hours.”
“Oh good, we’ve got time for you to join me in the shower, then,” I purred.
Leo grabbed the box from me with one hand, and my wrist with the other, leading me into his bedroom for roundthree…which was a real doozy.
“I’m counting down the minutes until I get to help you out of that dress,” Leo whispered, leaning forward as he assisted me from the town car outside the hotel.
“Well, we have to make it through the night first,” I challenged. But I would have been lying if I wasn’t thinking the same thing about Leo and his tuxedo. I’d never seen him look so dashing.
“Don’t stare,” I hissed as we made our way through the lobby. “Remember the rules.”
“I remember,” Leo chuckled, putting another foot between us.
I was nervous heading into the grand ballroom of the town’s famous historic hotel. Not just because I wasn’t sure how subtle the two of us could be around each other, but because I was acutely aware of the type of event it was, and the type of people who would be there.
If Queen Bee Margot was any indication, I would be immediately scrutinized and discussed by every single person in the room, as an outsider, a stranger, and for all intents and purposes, working class, compared to their extravagant, leisurely lives.
Although I wasn’t arriving directly on Leo’s arm, I was his guest, another fact that would be dissected. As the heir to the West family fortune and the archetypal prodigal son, I wassure there would be no shortage of interest at his return to society after more than a decade.
The palatial grand ballroom lived up to its name, with multiple opulent crystalline chandeliers dotting the ceiling, parquet flooring, and vintage furniture adorning the spaces not taken up with dining tables or food stations. At the stage situated at the far end of the room, a chamber orchestra played under the din of voices, air kisses, and networking.
Immediately upon entering, Leo and I were offered champagne from one of the dozen or so servers circulating with trays full of glasses. I was all too pleased to take a glass for myself, needing some liquid courage to proceed.
