“Well, here’s to lots of unprotected sex then!”
We all laughed, but I caught the sadness in Kelly’s eyes. She was too young to worry about settling down, but it didn’t mean she didn’t want to. After all, I had married early and I couldn’t be happier.
I pressed a kiss to her cheek.
“You’re next, Kellbelle. I just know it!”
Chapter Nine
Kelly
I belted out the words to a silly pop song on my way home from work. I was feeling good. Not only did I have a date tonight, but I was riding high on good karma.
My matchmaking had paid off.
I sighed happily, imagining wedding bells for the elderly couple. I would be invited, of course, and given a seat at the table reserved for family. As the guest of honor, I would be able to bring a date.
I closed my eyes, trying to picture Cain in a tux. We had met at a wedding. A biker’s wedding, so no tux, but he had looked sharp. It had a sort of poetry that we would go to another one together now that we were finally together.
Of course, I was getting ahead of myself. But that was sort of my specialty these days. My imagination really got away from me sometimes.
Speaking of imagination . . .
I shivered, wondering what he had in store for me tonight. I had pictured so many different scenarios, all them involving actual nudity. I hoped he kept his promise to take things further this time. I would definitely not be mentioning any rules again. I had learned that the hard way.
Unless the rule is that he has to be naked and giving me unspeakable pleasure at all times.
I giggled in breathless excitement. The man did things to me . . . things I could have never imagined. He was skillful and intense and he touched me in a way that was hungry and dark and sweet all at the same time.
I knew I was falling for him. Had fallen, all those years ago. Now, I was falling the rest of the way. I hurried into the house and showered, taking my time and shaving carefully until my legs were silky smooth. I even plucked my eyebrows, but not too much. I wasn’t going for mega-brow but I liked the slightly thicker look that was in with all the models and Instagram fashionistas.
Cassie might love her reality shows, but I loved beauty and fashion magazines. I even made my own clothes when I had time, with my mom’s help. She was the best seamstress, but I was the idea person. I was inspired by the high-end looks I saw online. I loved florals and stripes, sometimes even together. French style was my favorite, even if I wasn’t a toothpick like most of those French ‘it’ girls I followed on Instagram.
Tonight, I was going very French. Black lace lingerie, simple red heels, and a vintage navy silk blouse I had scored at a thrift store. It was so French that it didn’t even have buttons at the top. It just started at the perfect place to show a classy, but significant, amount of skin.
Skin . . . maybe I’d actually feel my skin against Cain’s tonight. I sighed dreamily. I had to. I needed to feel him against me!
I was practically humming as I applied a sheer layer of makeup, mascara, and red lipstick. Another look I’d adopted from my favorite fashion icons. The lipstick stained your lips, so even after eating and drinking, you’d still have some color.
And kissing. Definitely want to look good after kissing.
Pick a feature, play it up. That was the extent of my beauty routine. Tonight, that was my lips. The rest of my outfit subtly picked up the color of my lipstick. Red shoes, red flowers on the skirt I wrapped around my waist. I liked wrap skirts. They were easy enough to make and still fit if you gained or lost a few pounds.
Easy to take off too.
I perfected the bow on the dark floral wrap skirt I’d made from a 1970s McCall’s dress pattern my mom still had in her sewing room. It was somehow very right now and utterly classic. I actually had a few of them. Every time I found a pretty fabric, I took over the kitchen table with mom’s sewing machine and tried to make as much as I could out of it. I’d even taken apart some vintage clothes, just for the fabric.
I ran a brush though my hair and nodded. I was ready. Tonight, with any luck, I was finally losing my V card.
It was about damn time that got punched, too!
I grabbed my purse and headed to the front door. Cain was picking me up tonight, according to the last text I’d gotten. He clearly didn’t want me taking my own routes anymore. I was surprised to see my mom waiting by the front door, wearing a dark green dress and heels.