I canted my head, looking her over. “So, should I tell you I’m tired of your goddamn sweatsuits? Are you even capable of wearing pants without elastic?”
Her mouth dropped open. “Clearly you’re Mister Salty over there.” She hugged her arms around her middle. “Don’t listen to the mean man, Sweaty. I’ll never leave you.”
Snorting a laugh, I reached for my water. “Are you going to drop the slutty corsets and wear sweats on stage this summer?”
She picked up her butter knife again. “Call my corsets slutty one more time, Wainwright, and Iwillcut you.”
With Iris, I believed it. Her bodyguard would sit there and watch proudly while she eviscerated me with a dull knife.
Good times, good times.
Bouncing on my toes, I knocked on Baddie’s door. I’d been waiting most of the day for her to get home from work, then I’d tried to play it cool by waiting another half hour after her normal arrival time.
She swung the door open, but didn’t stop to greet me, scurrying back to whatever she’d been doing before I’d knocked.
“You can’t stay,” she called.
“Nice greeting, Baddie. Did they teach you that at finishing school?”
She peeked out from her bedroom as I sauntered into her living room and scowled at me. Her lips were painted with something shiny. “Aren’t we past formal greetings, Wainwright? Or do you expect tea each time you call on me?”
I circled my mouth with my finger. “What’s on your face?”
Her fingers flew up. “What is it?” She stepped out from behind her door wearing a true frown. “What’s on my face?”
“Uh…makeup, I think.” I was distracted by her dress. Baddie was stylish, that couldn’t be denied. When she went to work, she dialed it down a couple notches, but since she worked at a music studio, she didn’t have to be conservative or anything.
This wasn’t a work dress.
Red, skintight, and short, it was like I was looking at her naked. Her tits were lifted high by some type of built-in corset. Her hips were being hugged lovingly, and her smooth, golden umber thighs were out in the cold.
“Where are the rest of your clothes?” That came out more gruff than intended, but damn. Fuck. She’d gone to work like that? That wasn’t really acceptable.
Adelaide giggled and smoothed her palms down her sides. “This is it. I know it’s skimpy, but I’ve had it hanging in my closet since winter and now that it's finally getting a little warmer, I wanted to wear it. I’ll throw a jacket over it before I leave.”
I couldn’t get over her wearing this scrap of nothing. “You’re not going to be taken seriously at work if you keep showing up in shit like that.” Yeah, way more gruff than intended.
Adelaide stopped smiling. Her legs crossed at the ankle. Her upper body listed backward like my words were trying to topple her over.
“I didn’t wear this to work, Adam.” Quiet. Baddie had gone quiet on me.
“Then why are you wearing it now? That’s not for me, is it? Tell me it’s not.”
“It’s very much not for you.”
She swiveled on the ball of her foot and stalked back to her bedroom. I followed her without hesitation, even though her bedroom was a boundary I’d never crossed. It smelled like her in here, all fresh and soft, like baby powder, but for adults. There was probably a real word for it, some fragrance Baddie had imported from Paris or something. All I knew was she smelled good, and her bedroom was like being wrapped up in her.
I stayed by the door.
She swayed her hips before disappearing into her en suite. Her voice echoed off the tiles. “Go away, jackass!”
“Nah. Not going away. Not until you tell me why you’re wearing that dress.”
A minute or two of silence passed. I waited, patient as I could be, for her to come out. When she finally did, she went into her closet and reappeared, a pair of heels dangling from her fingers.
Brushing by me, she marched back out to the living room to dig through her purse.
“Adelaide.” I hadn’t even known I could be that gruff, but the cold shoulder she was giving me was driving me to the edge. I really didn’t like being ignored. “Stop for a second.”