It's About Time (Blossom Peak #4)(62)

“When was she thinking of coming again?” Laney asks.

“Maybe next week… Honestly, I’m not sure if she will. She has a lot going on right now…”

“Lennon is your friend from Garnet Valley, right?” Vienna clarifies.

Elodie nods. “Yes, my best friend from childhood. But right now, she’s having some relationship problems and…”

I clear my throat while gesturing to myself. “Not that I don’t want to have girl talk, but I need y’all to make sure that nothing is out of place, like a boob or something.”

Laney snorts. “I think you’d know if that were the case.”

“Have you forgotten that I don’t like wearing bras, so by the time this night is over, I’m going to be chucking this one across my room too?” Sighing, I continue, “But I really am thankful for you all.”

Vie nna shrugs. “Not sure I did much to help, but I was glad to be a part of this.”

“Oh, you most certainly didn’t help my brain, that’s for sure,” I mutter as I glance at myself in the mirror, barely recognizing the woman staring back at me. “But these shoes are perfect for this dress. Lord knows I don’t own anything like this.”

The last time I got dressed up was for Laney’s wedding, but my hair was up, the dress was picked out for me, and so were the shoes. I did my own makeup, which is usually fairly minimal, and wearing something for my best friend felt a hell of a lot different than wearing something like this for a man.

A man that apparently gets hard-ons for me and has penis jewelry.

God, I want to see it.

No you don’t, Dilynne. It’s Elliot’s dick. Remember that.

But my attire tonight is all too unfamiliar. The little black dress that Laney let me borrow has delicate thin straps, lace trim along the cleavage, and even though it hits my knees, it has a slit that hits me mid-thigh.

And my hair is down.

I repeat: my hair is down.

I just hope to God it doesn’t bug me so much that I’m throwing it up in a bun before the dinner is even over.

My makeup is also heavier than I think I’ve ever worn it, at least on my eyes. Elodie gave me a smoky look that’s not over the top, but it makes my brown eyes look darker and more mysterious.

I don’t hate the version of the woman staring back at me, surprisingly. But I am worried that it’s too much.

And what is Elliot going to think?

Before tonight, I’m not sure I would have cared about the answer to that question. But, thanks to the mental karate Vienna just laid down on my subconscious with all of her revelations, now it’s all I can think about.

Vienna steps up to me. “Look, if I didn’t think it was important to share everything, I wouldn’t have. But…I’ve been around for a few months now, right? And I’ve seen the way he looks at you. There is something there between the two of you.” She covers the center of her chest with her hand. “I can feel it.”

Elodie nods. “I saw it too early on, but lately, it’s definitely been more obvious.”

My eyes find Laney, but she just shrugs. “If I would have told you this, you would have threatened me with bodily harm, but…”

“He made rules,” I blurt out. “Last week I went over to his house and he made a list of rules for us to follow in this arrangement.”

The girls’ eyes bug out. “What kind of rules?” Vienna asks.

I stare up at the ceiling, trying to remember them all while ticking them off on my fingers. “No innuendos or bra spinning.”

“Bra spinning?” Elodie interjects, but I wave her off, not having time to go into detail about that one.

“No affection unless necessary and agreed upon. No sleepovers in the same bed. Respect my time in the shop. And he has to act like he admires and respects me at Motorlux—no talking down to me, that is.”

The girls all share a look before Vienna looks back at me and says, “With the exception of the last two, those rules sound like they were made by someone who isn’t confident in their self-control.”

Is that why he insisted on his rules then?

Elodie nods in agreement. “Totally.”

“He also offered to go on the drive with me to Georgia to pick up the last couple of parts I need for the Porsche.”

Vie nna snickers. “Well, the no sleeping together in the same bed rule will surely be broken on that trip.”

“Not if we get separate rooms, or a room with two beds,” I counter, not a fan of the way my nerves are humming in response to her point.

Laney steps toward me and places her hand on my shoulder. “Look, all jokes aside, I think knowing this means that you need to really pay attention to Elliot’s actions—because if he’s feeling something for you, that means he stands to get hurt in all of this, and the last thing you want is to hurt him, right?”

“Of course.”

“But if your reaction to this news is any indication, I’m gonna take a wild guess that maybe he’s not the only one who’s been developing feelings.”

I haven’t caught my best friend up to speed on some of Elliot’s and my interactions—like the day in his office when he called me a good girl and how it made my body heat up, or the other night in the shop when I could have sworn he was about to kiss me and built me up after I admitted how devastatingly Vinnie hurt me five years ago.