Chapter 11 #2
"I told them, you know," Sabrina said as the water turned on, so she knew he wouldn't hear her.
She wasn't even sure she wanted him to. "They didn't believe me because of how I said it, but I did tell them.
I don't want to…I don't want to start things out with a lie.
" She put her face in her hands, rubbing her eyes and shaking her head.
She didn't know if Luke even wanted to start things for real, and if he did, that was a discussion for later.
This right now was just a…a game. Just two friends helping each other out, even if the friendship was very new.
But somehow her heart didn't really feel that way.
It felt important to get things clear with him, at least. Her friends could be told later, when it was something to laugh about, instead of being raw and uncomfortable.
But God, she also didn't want to make the next couple of days with Luke uncomfortable, because if he wasn't interested in maybe making this thing real, that would get real awkward real fast.
Sabrina sighed and stood up to go to the closet.
At the very least, before the rehearsal dinner was not the time to talk about it.
If it went badly, she'd be a mess during the dinner, and that would distract from Mindy and Craig's special evening, which would be genuinely awful.
So one thing at a time, she told herself.
…and that one thing was getting into her rehearsal dinner dress without anybody to zip her up. After several squirming tries, Sabrina groaned and went to do her hair and makeup, hoping she and Luke were right about being able to be half dressed in front of each other without making it weird.
She had her hair done up in a half-updo when the bathroom door slid open again and Luke called, "Everybody decent?"
"Yeah, it's safe. I won't look if it's not." That made more sense in her head than it did out loud, but Luke laughed.
"Not any less safe than this morning, anyway."
A vivid image of Luke in that towel wrapped around his hips popped into Sabrina's mind. That wasn't safe at all, in her opinion, but she mumbled, "We don't have time for it to be not safe," and heard him chuckle again.
"Give me five and I'll be safe for work."
"Your work clothes are pretty revealing," she pointed out, now grinning at herself in the mirror.
It took effort to not let her gaze slide sideways in hopes of catching a glimpse of Luke getting dressed, so she picked up her makeup and focused on getting that done instead of peeking at her fake boyfriend.
He finished dressing as she put her lipstick on, and said, "You can look now."
Sabrina did, and felt a slow, silly smile spread over her face.
He was definitely not in his work clothes now: he wore light grey slacks and an unexpectedly pale pink button-down shirt, the sleeves rolled up to expose his truly excellent forearms. To her utter delight, his socks matched the shirt, and he was wearing a gold chain necklace that looked fantastic.
His hair was still damp, and he had a jacket that matched the slacks slung over his shoulder.
Sabrina said, "Wow," and he ducked his head, pleased.
"I'll do, then?"
"You're, um. Yes. You'll do. Wow. Oh. Could you zip me?
" She turned her back toward him, and heard him toss the jacket on the bed and cross the room before movement in the mirror caught the corner of her eye.
She glanced at the mirror, seeing his reflection hovering its fingers over her spine, and then with careful delicacy, lower to finish zipping her up.
His fingers just barely brushed her skin, and an absolutely electric thrill went through her.
She gasped, straightening, almost arching.
Luke yanked his hands back. "Shoot! Are you okay? Did I shock you?"
"No, sorry, no, not static electricity, just a shiver." One that was still buzzing through her, making her exquisitely aware of the man standing behind her. She stood, still shivering, and turned to face him.
His eyes widened and he took a few steps back, eyes widening further. "Wow. Wow. You look fabulous."
She glanced at herself in the mirror like she didn't know what she was wearing, then covered her stomach with one nervous hand. "Yeah?"
"Yeah. You. Wow. Wow, Sabrina. If I'd known you were wearing blue—"
"No, no, the pink is great on you." Her own dress was short and sparkly blue, fitting her curves and fluffing out to a lacy skirt that she loved.
She had strappy blue high heels on already, and a little bolero jacket to match.
She usually wore the jacket, because it helped keep her from feeling like she was entirely made of boobs in this dress, but she hadn't put it on yet and Luke was gazing at her with such stunned-ox admiration that she thought maybe being made entirely of boobs wasn't such a bad thing. "We look pretty good, huh?"
"You're going to outshine the bride," Luke breathed, which made Sabrina grimace.
"She did approve the dress, but I was wearing the jacket in the pictures I sent." She reached for her bolero after all.
Luke yelped, "No, wait!" and she froze, wondering what she'd done wrong. "Selfies," Luke said. "We need selfies before you put that jacket on. No one would ever believe I didn't want photographic evidence of you looking this hot."
An absolutely delighted blush heated Sabrina's face. She beamed up at Luke and gave a shy nod. "Okay. I wouldn't have thought of it, but okay."
"Why not? I'd think you would want evidence of you being this hot."
"I'm not great at selfies," Sabrina admitted. "I take great pictures of architecture, but I'm not so good at taking pictures of myself."
"Let me, then." Luke grabbed his phone and took a bunch of pictures, both of herself alone and them together, and then, with a faked hair-toss of vanity, snapped a couple of himself flexing lightly in his pink shirt and forwarded those on to her.
Sabrina laughed as he got her phone and took similar pictures of them both, and as she flipped through them, smiling, she said, "Oh yeah, you're a lot better at these than I am. Longer arms?"
"I do have longer arms," he agreed solemnly. "God, you're beautiful."
"Oh." She blushed again, feeling like she could fly. "Thank you. So are you."
She expected him to blush, but he only grinned down at her. "Thank you. Now, c'mon. Let's go outshine the bridal couple."