Jason
Iwas expecting her to look beautiful.
But what I saw was beyond that.
“What do you think?”
April descended the stairs looking like something out of a dream. I’d seen the dress on her earlier at the shop, but her wearing it then, her hair done up, her makeup exquisite…I didn’t even know what to say.
I’d never been rendered speechless like that before.
“Wow!” Willa’s approval cut through the silence. “You look like a princess!”
April’s cheeks took on a slight blush. “Why, thank you,” she said. “I had to get ready in kind of a hurry.”
“You all right over there, Jason?” asked Shauna, her tone prim. “Your jaw’s slack.”
Sure enough, my mouth was slightly agape. I closed it and glanced over at Shauna. She looked good herself, dressed in a dark red gown, her reddish hair long and flowing around her bare shoulders.
And I detected some jealousy. I put that out of my head, turning my attention back to April.
“As much as I’d love to admire you all night, our ride’s outside.”
As soon as the words left my mouth, I realized that they were more than a little inappropriate. She looked stunning, sure, but I was still her boss, and this date was still platonic.
But damn, was she making it hard to think of her as nothing more than an employee.
“You hear from Scott?” I asked Shauna.
Scott and Shauna were going as a platonic pair, too. I was eager to see my brother, to find out how far he’d come in his promise to close the division. But there’d be more than enough time for that in the evening ahead.
And at that moment, thinking about anything but how gorgeous April looked was beyond even me.
“He’ll be meeting us there,” Shauna said. Her eyes flicked over to April once again, narrowing briefly before softening.
“All right,” she said. “No sense in waiting around any longer.”
Truth be told, I could’ve spent the entire evening admiring April. She stepped closer to me, the scent of lilacs wafting past her. I wasn’t normally big on perfume, but with her, it only added to her appeal.
She looks great in that dress. But no doubt she’d look even better without it.
I pushed the thought out of my head. Maybe it would’ve been a better idea to take Shauna, someone I felt no real attraction toward. Keeping myself in control had always been one of my strong suits. But then again, it had been a very long time since I had been drawn to a woman like I was to April.
“Are you sure I can’t come with you?” asked Willa, stepping over to April and wrapping her fingers around her wrist. “I bet it’s going to be so much fun.”
“Sorry, Sprout,” I said. “This is a grown-ups kind of night. And trust me, you’d get bored in the first ten minutes.”
Willa shrugged, as if knowing I was right.
“When you’re older,” said April. “And maybe I’ll even be around to help you pick out a dress!”
Willa’s eyes lit up at the idea. “Yeah! We could go shopping together!”
The idea implied that April would still around and in our lives years from now. Who could say whether or not that’d be the case. But the thought was…nice. I caught myself, realizing it was more useless thinking. I had enough to concern myself with.
“We’ll see,” I said to Willa, taking her free hand and leading her away from April. “For now, you’re going to the McPhersons’ house.”
“All right, all right,” she said.