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Chapter 9
Eliza stared at her reflection as she turned from side to side in front of the full-length mirror. This was the third lingerie set she’d tried on. Her plan had been to come to Tempting to buy one set, but she honestly didn’t think she could possibly choose just one at this point. Every time she put a new one on it became her favorite. Never in her life had she owned such provocative bras and panties. She never thought that she could feel this comfortable and this sensual.
Her hands slid down the curve of her sides that were covered in a sheer black, unlined corset, loving the sensation of the material beneath her fingertips. It stopped just above the satin strap that sat on her hips. She traced the hem as she admired the sweetheart neckline that gave her natural cleavage a boost and was accented with a black satin bow sitting in the center.
Wow.She wasn’t one to toot her own horn, but toot toot.
She’d told herself that it didn’t matter that she would be the only person enjoying this view. But that didn’t change the fact that with each new garment she slipped on, her first thought was, I wish Nate could see me in this.
It had been four days since he’d saved her from an embarrassing situation by preventing the alarm from going off.
Four days since he’d told her that she deserves a man that sees her. Since then she’d played the entire speech over and over again in her head and had come to memorize each word.
It had been four days since she’d seen him. In that time, he’d installed a brand new security system with all the bells and whistles in the office while she was out. He’d said it was a homecoming gift.
He used to do this in high school. He’d do incredibly thoughtful and caring things and then be emotionally distant. She’d gone to Elite Security three times and each time the receptionist, Darla, had told her that he was unavailable.
On the last visit, Darla had lowered her voice and said that if Eliza “happened” to need to use the conference room, Darla might need to send Nate in there for a “client meeting.” As much as Eliza appreciated the woman’s help, she didn’t want to ambush him. He was telling her what he wanted. He was a generous, kind and incredible man who didn’t want to see her…she needed to respect that.
She did, however, send him an edible bouquet of his favorite fruit, or at least what had been his favorite fruit in ninth grade, with a thank you card that was as impersonal as the white paper it was written on.
“How’s everything fitting?” Haley’s voice came from behind the dressing room door. “Do you need any other sizes? Colors?”
“No. Everything is perfect,” Eliza enthused.
“Okay, I’ll be out front. Call if you need me.”
The sound of retreating heels clicked on the hardwood floors as Eliza took one more look in the mirror. And even though she knew better than to think it, the first thought that popped in her mind was, what would Nate think if he saw me in this?
A sigh of frustration at herself and her weak resolution to stop thinking about Nate every two seconds escaped her. She reached behind her and unfastened the corset and slipped the straps down her arms. As she pulled on her old bra and got dressed in her clothes she looked at the threesome of pretties laid out on the dark gray silk-covered bench.
There was no reason that she needed all three sets. One would be fine. But as her gaze bounced between the black sheer corset with matching silk bikini panties, the red lace push up bra with matching boy hipsters and the white bralette with crisscross straps and matching thong she decided that she was going to splurge and get all three.
It had been a tough few weeks and like L’Oréal says, she was worth it.
She gathered her things and headed to the counter to pay, and after a small but heated dispute with Haley, who insisted the items were on the house, she ended up walking out of the beautiful boutique with a hefty discount. She’d tried to argue with even that, but Haley teasingly explained that she’d taken her business plan from drug dealers. She gave out the first hit for free and then people came back for more. Eliza had laughed when she realized she wasn’t going to win but she’d made her friend promise to let her pay full price when she came in for her next hit.
As she stepped outside in the bright, warm day she squinted at the harsh rays of sunlight. Her light eyes had always been extra sensitive to the sun and if she didn’t wear the proper eyewear to protect them she’d usually end up with a severe headache.
Since the Masquerade Ball was tonight she definitely didn’t want to be battling a migraine. She would already be fighting not to wear a perma-scowl sharing the ballroom with Nate and Bailey, throw in excruciating pain and she didn’t think there was a fake smile big enough to cover up her agonizing discomfort.
Reaching into her purse, she dug all the way to the bottom in search of her sunglasses as she stepped onto the sidewalk. She felt the moment the tip of her heel caught on the seam of the concrete and before she could balance herself she was being catapulted forward. In the split second that it took for her mind to register that she was going to face plant on the sidewalk, she tensed her body and stuck out her arms, waiting to feel the pain from the impact.
But that never happened.
What she landed on was hard, that was for sure. But it wasn’t a slab of cement. It was a slab of muscle. And there was definitely something shooting up her arms, but it wasn’t pain, it was tingles. Large arms wrapped around her and the instant they did her stiff protective posture melted like the Wicked Witch of the West.
Before her eyes lifted to see who she’d crashed into, her body already knew. That didn’t change the fact that when she did lift her eyes and had visual confirmation of her sexy collision victim, she sucked in an audible gasp of shock. Partly because of the revelation and partly because of how incredible it felt to be cocooned in his embrace.
His dark eyes flared with intensity as he stared down at her and his arms tightened around her. A quiver fluttered through her from head to toe and a pool of heat gathered low in her belly at the overwhelming sensation of being held in his strength and the intoxicating look of possession in his gaze.
It was then that she realized in all the years they’d known each other, he’d never hugged her. The only contact that they’d had was a few times when she’d almost fallen off of her stool in science class and when he’d moved her so she didn’t run into people when they’d walked down the halls of their high school.
Basically, every time he’d touched her it had been to protect her. The problem was, how was she supposed to protect her heart from that…?
“Are you okay?”
When he spoke, she felt the vibration come through his chest and even though she knew better, she closed her eyes and let herself luxuriate in the pleasure and tingles that spread through her. There were so many emotions and feelings swirling through her and instead of fighting them, like she had for the past week, she gave into the sensual hurricane of sensations.
