“Oh, you don’t need to remind me of any of your shortcomings. I remember them perfectly well on my own.” She knew better than to rile him, but couldn’t seem to stop herself. He was probably like every other born werewolf she’d come into contact with: completely incapable of controlling his anger. He hadn’t shown any aggression toward her so far, but who knew what would happen if she pushed him too far? The blonde knocked on the door, opened it, and came inside with a long, opaque bag. She put her arms over her head and let the girl work. “I’m just curious…how much did Jake offer to pay you to sleep with me?”
The woman gasped, then covered it with a cough, and gently guided the wedding dress down Veronica’s body. Even though Veronica was sure that Jake didn’t pay Logan to seduce her the way he had, Logan did sleep with her while getting paid for his “services.” Now she wanted to know how much those services cost her future brother-in-law. Just how much was her safety worth to him?
“Too little, in my opinion,” Logan said. “You’re worth way more.”
“Sweet-talker,” Veronica mumbled to the blonde. She smiled and got to work crisscrossing the straps on the back. “How much?”
“Five.”
“Five hundred dollars?” Veronica pursed her lips and watched the dress take form in the mirror. “You’re right. That wasn’t enough.”
“Thousand,” Logan said, his voice low. “It was five thousand.”
The blonde’s hands stilled.
“Oh,” Veronica said, feigning indifference. “That’s…more than I expected.”
“Still not enough.”
If he didn’t stop the sweet-talking soon, Veronica was going to have to invest in earplugs. And if they didn’t clarify what they were really talking about, the assistant was going to think Logan was a high-class hooker.
“You’re finished,” the blonde said. “It looks like it was made to fit you.”
Veronica wouldn’t have agreed, since she and Leah were so different, but when she studied the dress in the mirror, she couldn’t argue about a thing. The dress was mermaid style, satin, strapless, with a corset in the bodice and an exaggerated flared bottom. Wrapping around her waist on the right side, a cluster of diamonds dipped toward her hip. It was simple. Elegant. Somehow very couture with its unique accents. Veronica wouldn’t have picked the dress for Leah—it was more her style than her sister’s—but Leah must’ve loved it regardless.
“Go show him,” the blonde said, and urged Veronica out of the dressing room. “Then demand ten. You’ll get it in this dress.” She winked, and Veronica’s mood instantly lightened.
…
As Veronica tiptoed to the podium, the air seemed to evaporate from the room. Logan couldn’t take a solid breath—his lungs kept coming up shallow. The assistant flared the bottom around the podium to show the full effect of the dress, then stood back.
“What do you think?” the blonde asked.
“I, ah…”
Veronica caught Logan’s gaze in the mirror. He was staring at her backside, at the straps of the corset that crisscrossed down her back. How could he not? She was drop-dead gorgeous. Literally. He wouldn’t be surprised, not one bit, if his heart stopped.
“…it’s good,” he said, very matter-of-factly. He had to get out of here. “Yup, it’s good. I think I’ll wait in the truck.”
She spun around. “But you haven’t seen the bridesmaid dresses yet.”
His gaze studied the front of her dress, from the whimsical fluffy bottom, to the smooth, shiny fabric curving around her hips, to the straight-edged neckline that accented the soft swell of her breast. His mouth dropped, and he sucked some saliva off his bottom lip.
“I don’t think I want to see those, the bridesmaid dresses, nope.” He stood and started to walk out…and burst through a door into empty dressing room B. Confused, he spun around and strode toward the exit. “That’s the one you’re going to be wearing when you marry…I mean, that’s not going to be the one you wear at your sister’s wedding, right? When you walk with me down the aisle?”
“Ugh.” She put her hands on her hips. “I forgot I had to do that with you.”
“Go put that dress on.”
He wanted her out of that wedding dress as quickly as possible before notions of weddings and vows, taking her hand and slipping a ring on her finger, invaded his brain.
Too late.
His knees shook as he waited for Veronica to come out of the dressing room in something different. He needed to cleanse his visual palate. Forget all about the white dress and the way it hugged her body, and the fluffy bottom that made him want to crawl between her legs and—
She emerged from the dressing room and stopped his heart.
The dress was satin, tight and black, with a layer of lace over the top. The lace had intricate designs crisscrossing down her arms and across her back. While the top was high-collared and long-sleeved, the bottom was cut short, showing off her legs, their strength and beauty and flawless tan.
“That’s no better,” he said, squelching the desire to lick one of those fine stems. “Where’s the other part of the dress? The bottom half?”
“This is it.” She spun around. “What’s the matter, Logan? You look pale.”
He blinked quickly, trying to return the moisture to his eyes. It didn’t work. His lids stuck, making blinking at all highly painful. He rubbed them with the side of his hand. “I’ll be waiting in the truck,” he said. And as he strode around the building, Logan could’ve sworn he heard the sound of two women laughing their asses off.
Chapter Fifteen
It was Wednesday when Veronica got the calclass="underline" Forever Delicious had hired a new baker who wanted to try a different flavor of cake for Leah and Jake’s wedding. If Leah could just come in, taste, and approve the change, Forever Delicious would throw in the traditional groom’s cake for free, in hopes that the uniqueness of it would get people talking about the cake and the company. It was a good deal…if Leah was willing to do some sampling.
Veronica arrived at Forever Delicious, fully aware that Logan had been following her from the second she pulled away from Hotel Monaco. At first, when she’d seen his truck out the rearview mirror, she’d been irritated. Bothered to no end that she had to put up with a werewolf dogging her every move. But then the sun would shine through his driver’s side window and she’d get a glimpse of his face…and her entire demeanor would change. She’d thought more than once about telling him to just get in her car—it was a horrible waste of gas since they were going to all the same places anyway.
But then she’d think of her sister, the wounds that had bled on her neck, and the werewolf who was still out there. If Logan wasn’t at her side, following two steps behind her, Veronica would’ve probably been too stressed to function. Between the weddings, the appointments, and the notes, it would’ve been too much to handle. But Logan somehow made things seem clear. Easy. There was nothing to worry about when she was standing beside his strong frame, watching his gaze scan the sidewalks behind her.
How had it happened? How had she come to depend on a wolf to feel safe? The concept was ludicrous. Backward. Why, then, did it felt so right?
Going along with business as usual—all she could do, given the circumstances—Veronica walked into the small cake shop and was instantly chilled. There was someone out there, right now, watching her. Was he walking by the shop? Across the street? As quickly as the feeling came, it disappeared, leaving her feeling just as she had before: painfully aware that she wanted Logan beside her.