Chapter 3
Chapter Three
BLAKELY
“I cannot believe I’m back here at your house helping you choose what to wear. I don’t think we’ve ever done that and yet here I am. Again.”
I rolled my eyes at Isabella before taking a long look in the mirror. I wore a coral pink dress that had pockets and flared a bit. I was comfortable and it was one of my favorites, but it went to my knees, and looked a little too casual.
Isabella studied me in the mirror and tilted her head. “This is more of a sundress, right?”
“Not quite a sundress, but maybe like a day dress in the spring?”
She smiled. “And on a quiet first date in high school.”
“Okay, so this dress is a no.”
I quickly stripped out of my dress, and without even offering, Isabella took it from me. She immediately hung it up, and I picked up the next one .
“Okay, this one should work.” It was a light blue chiffon sort of dress that went to my ankles, with a high slit. It had this lacy overlay that looked a little bit like tulle but really wasn’t. The one strap was thin around my neck, and the other one was thick and made a bow at the neck.
“Is that a bridesmaid’s dress?” Isabella asked.
I flushed, realizing I looked like Cinderella on a bender in this outfit.
“Yes. They make you buy these things and then say you can wear them again. But when can I wear this again? Do you see how much tulle-like fabric this has?” I asked, fluffing at the bow.
“I bet you my sister could fix it.”
“She could?” I asked, eager.
“Of course. She’s had to sew her costumes all the time. However, your gala is tonight. I don’t think she’s going to be able to rescue this in a few hours. Maybe for another event. Lord knows you go to enough of them.”
I sighed and then stripped off the dress, getting tangled in the extra bow, and was grateful when Isabella turned her face from me so I couldn’t see her laugh. “This isn’t funny. I’m panicking.”
“Don’t panic. You have plenty of time.”
I raised a brow and then looked at the clock on my bedside table. “I have three hours. Three hours to shower, figure out what I’m supposed to do with my hair, do my makeup, and make sure that I have the right shoes and bag for this. I don’t think three hours is enough. ”
“Yes, because you’re such an old hag it’s going to take you forever.”
“Thank you for understanding my pleas.”
“Blakely, my best friend. You’re going to be fine. You have so many dresses in here. We’ll find you something. And I brought you a few as well.”
“And I’m grateful. But I don’t think my boobs are going to fit in it.”
“Are you calling me small-chested?” Isabella asked, in her most prim of ice queen voices.
To most people Isabella was standoffish, a little rude, and very much protective of her family. She was literally called the ice queen by people at her job, and straight to her face. They didn’t even bother to whisper the nicknames behind her back. However, my best friend reveled in it. Because it kept people at a safe distance, and they treated her with respect at work. Maybe a little fear, maybe a little reverence, but respect.
I didn’t mind that about her and found it more real and endearing than anything.
“Okay, what about this one?” I asked, picking up an A-line sage green dress.
“No. The slit’s too high and I think there’s a stain on it.”
“Damn it. I thought I went to the dry cleaners with this. Maybe I forgot?”
“Maybe. You are busier than me most days.”
I crossed my eyes, a little annoyed. “I have to remind myself that I like my job. But some days it’s so hard.”
“You don’t like your job, you like what you’re doing, and you just don’t like the place of business. Hence why you had to work late today even though your boss wasn’t there, and everyone’s expecting you to be there tonight. All dressed up and fancy-free.”
“What does fancy-free mean?” I asked, staring at her in the mirror as I held up my stained sage dress.
“I’m not sure. Let me look it up.”
“Oh good. We can get lost in this. We can forget that I have to meet with humans tonight.”
“You’re great meeting with humans. I mean, you’re always so personable, and everyone likes seeing you. Don’t stress. You’ve got this.”
“I have to go and schmooze so that way the boss can get more clients.”
“That’s what these events are for. But you’ve got this. We’ll find you something to wear. You’re beautiful, you have things to work with, and like I said, you’re not too much of an old hag.”
“Seriously, the love that I feel from you? I don’t think I can hold back my yearning.”
“One day we’ll finally take each other wildly in the barn and no one will know our secrets.”
We met gazes, before each bursting out in laughter, and she handed me a soft pink dress.
“What’s this one?” I asked.
“It’s mine. And it might not fit you in the boobs, mostly because you have a lot more than me.”
“You’re no slack there,” I teased.
“You can talk all about them in the barn later,” she whispered, wiggling her eyebrows .
“It’s beautiful,” I whispered, holding up the soft pink dress that would flow down to my ankles, barely brushing the floor if I wore the right heels.
“I’ve never seen you in this.”
“I bought it for an event I never went to. So it’s just been sitting in my closet. I should have given it to one of my sisters, since I figured they would wear it more than me, but I just haven’t. So I get to give it to you. My other sister.”
“Calling me your sister after saying you’ll take me in the barn adds a whole new level to our fan fiction.”
She cringed and gestured for me to try it on. “Let’s see how it is on you. Hag.”
I flipped her off, even as I began to slide on the dress. It fit perfectly in the waist, a heart-shaped neckline that accentuated my breasts. It had tiny straps that held the dress up and for that I was grateful.
“Well, it seems the dress was meant for you,” she whispered.
I met her gaze in the mirror and swallowed hard. “It’s gorgeous. But I don’t want to take away the first time you ever wear it.”
“It didn’t look as good on me. We have different coloring. Honestly now, it should just be yours. I might take the sage green dress though. And see if I can get out the stain.”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“It’s my nemesis. Now, go take off that dress, and take a shower. ”
“Aw, I thought you were asking me to take off the dress for other reasons.”
“We do not have time to learn all about our hidden places, Blakely. We have to get you ready for a gala. So do you think Mr. Cage will be there?”
I tripped over my own two feet, and she raised a brow at me, and I shook my head. “I’m sure a Cage will be there. His family does own one of the largest corporations in the city.”
“I don’t know too much about them, to be honest.”
“Well they run in my circles. Or at least, in my boss’s circles. And he hates them.”
“Really?”
“I don’t know why. But he always gets annoyingly growly about them, and he wants to beat them.”
“So I take it you’re not going to do lunch with him when he asks officially? Or dinner?”
“My boss or Aston?”
Isabella snorted. “Yes, Aston.”
“I don’t know. He’s only texted a hello, but we’ve been busy. Nothing more.”
“Well that’s not fun.”
“We have lives.” I tried not to let the disappointment pepper my tone. He had said that he was busy all weekend, and so was I. Hence this event. It wasn’t like I wanted to continue to flirt over texts with him. I didn’t even know if I was going to go out with him. Although it had already come up as something we were going to do. A week from now.
“Well, just have fun. And what will you do if he is there though?” she asked, her voice soft as I stripped and got into the shower. I let the hot water run over my body as I thought about what I would do, and I didn’t have an answer. That should have worried me more than anything.
“I’ll say hello and be cordial. But this is a work event.”
“So socializing with the Cages isn’t in your repertoire?”
I washed my hair quickly, looking for more answers. “He probably won’t even be there.”
“If he was, would he bring a date?”
I nearly slipped in the shower, and glared at her as I looked around my shower curtain. “Really?”
She winced. “Sorry. I’m in a weird mood.”
“Are you okay?” I asked, worried.
She waved me off and smiled. “I’m just fine. Promise. We were talking about you. If he’s there, you should dance. You said there was a spark.”
“And my boss would absolutely hate it.”
“So a win-win,” she teased.
I shook my head. “Not so much if I want to keep my job.”
“He can’t fire you for flirting with a Cage.”
“I’m sure he’d find a way about competing interests, or just any other way. He’s not a nice man.” My contract was year by year and though I was one of his best employees, I also outshone some of his “Yes Men” on occasion. I stood up to him, but there were always company politics. Therefore we had a dance and charity gala this evening. None of the others on staff were required to go. But the boss wanted to show off his employee in a dress so he could show the world how modern he was. Oh, he’d never say that, and no one would never outright point it out—but we all knew it was the case.
“Then why do you work for him?”
That was the question. And I wish I had better answers. “Because it’s the best job I can get. And I’m sure a Cage will be there, but it’s not going to be him. It’s going to be one of his countless brothers.”
“Okay, let’s hope it’s that way so you don’t have to make a choice. At least in front of everyone.”
I rinsed the conditioner out of my hair. “Nothing’s ever easy.”
“No. But that’s life. Unending pain and suffering until you die.”
I toweled off my hair, pausing to stare at her. “Is everything okay, Isabelle?” I asked, worry etched in my tone. “We don’t have to talk about me all the time.”
“I’m perfectly fine. I’m just razzing you. Now, let’s get your hair done. And you know we talk about my family more often than not.”
“Are you sure you have time for this?”
“I have time to help my best friend look hot in a dress for whoever might show up.”
“He’s not going to be there,” I warned.
“Fine, I have time to help my friend look hot in a dress for herself. How about that?”
“Yes. Let’s go with that.”
It took an hour, but drying my hair, straightening it so I could curl it, and then doing a full face of makeup took time. Thankfully I had my grandmother’s jewelry that I could make work with the dress, and when I finished the final clasp on my bracelet, I sighed in the mirror.
“Well, I don’t look too shabby.”
“You look beautiful. And don’t stain my dress.”
“I thought that I was being gifted this and you were taking the sage one?”
She smiled far too sweetly. “No, I’m just fixing the stain, and we can share both dresses. How about that?”
“You are a riot.”
“I try. Now go knock them dead.”
“Or at least try to win over clients. All in the name of finance,” I said, sighing when Isabella rolled her eyes at me.
I drove myself to the event, because I was planning on only having one glass of champagne if that. I didn’t want to deal with a ride-share or wait on anyone else. Thankfully there was a valet at the hotel, so I didn’t have to find a way to park in this dress.
Holding my small clutch, I made my way into the hotel ballroom, smiling at a few people as I made my way around the room.
I saw a few familiar faces, though it was mostly strangers. When I caught the eyes of my boss’s wife, she smiled softly at me and waved. I did not know how that sweet woman was married to that monster of a man, but then again, maybe he was only an asshole at work, and saved all his goodness for home .
The boss in question gave me a once-over and a tight nod, and I figured I’d passed some test.
A waiter passed by with a glass of champagne, and I milled about, holding my drink, barely taking a sip, and speaking with potential clients. I had already done research on the people that I knew I should talk to at the gala, the ones who had RSVP’d. But I hadn’t seen a Cage on the list. Mostly because they were always invited, and they didn’t have to RSVP to things like this.
That wasn’t ominous at all.
“Well, small world.”
It indeed was a small world. My hand squeezed on the stem of my champagne flute, and I turned around slowly, to stare into the eyes of Aston Cage.
“Oh. You’re here.”
He tilted his head and gave me that smile. The one that made my thighs clench, and I had to count backward from ten so I could catch my breath. “Yes, I’m here. The foundation is one that’s close to my mother’s heart. So we take turns attending different events. And it’s my turn. Fancy that.”
“I didn’t know you’d be here.”
He raised a brow. “And I didn’t know you’d be here.”
“Is it okay?” I shook my head. “Of course it’s okay. This is work.”
“You work for Howard, don’t you?” he asked, his voice low. People really weren’t paying attention to us other than the fact that their gazes would catch on Aston’s. Because that’s what the Cages did. They pulled in attention even when they weren’t trying .
“I do.”
“Is that going to be a problem?” he asked.
“Is what going to be a problem?” I asked, purposely obtuse. It wasn’t as if we were making promises to each other or doing anything. I was just standing and speaking to a man at a gala, with a respectable distance between us. That’s all that needed to be said.
“Well then, I’m glad that I’m the one who came, and not James.”
“Which one was James on the text?” I asked, teasing.
“Probably the one trying to order us all.”
“Wouldn’t that be you?” I asked.
“That’s what James would say,” he replied, laughter in his gaze. Then a small pause. “Dance with me, Blakely,” he whispered.
I shook my head. “I really shouldn’t.”
“There’s many people on the dance floor, you can say you are schmoozing me.”
“I don’t think my boss would like that.”
“Well, you should dance with me anyway. Please? I don’t want to wait for a dinner date.”
I couldn’t see my boss anywhere, but I knew that this would probably get out. Because everything with the Cages did.
I set down my champagne flute on the table next to me anyway and placed my now free hand in his open one.
“Okay.”
“Good.” He clasped his hand over mine, and I was lost.