short, red halter dress. âHere. Try this.â
âI donât know,â said Grace, feeling the smooth, silky material. âThis may be a little much.â
âA little much?â Annie scoffed. âThis dress shows more skin than a spa wrap.â
âNo. I meant it may be a little over the top. A little too dressy.â
âTry it on. Now,â Annie playfully demanded as she threw the dress at Grace.
Grace reluctantly changed out of her new blue sundress and pulled Annieâs silky red dress over her head. It fell over her shoulders effortlessly, hugging her body in all the right places. Grace looked in the full-length mirror on the back of Annieâs bedroom door. âWow,â she said, almost to herself. Now this was a kissing dress.
âI knew it would be perfect,â Annie said. She then dug down further into the bottom of her closet. âHere, try these.â She held up a pair of red, strappy, high-heeled sandals.
âYou know I canât wear heels very well and these are at least three inches tall,â said Grace.
âYou also said youâre not a âsexyâ kind of girl and now look at you. Put these on. You need them,â said Annie, shoving the shoes in Graceâs face.
Grace slipped on the sandals and looked at herself in the mirror. Annie was right. Grace
needed
these shoes.
At that very moment, the doorbell rang.
âHe is always right on time,â said Annie. âIâll get it while you go in the bathroom and grab my red lipstick. It should be right next to my contact solution. You really need a little more lip color with that dress.â Annie paused at the doorway and looked back at Grace. âHey, roomie. You really do look good.â
Annie then bounded out of the room leaving Grace staring at herself in the mirror. âI hope Gregory thinks so,â she said to herself. âMaybe even good enough for a kiss ⦠â
After taking Annieâs lipstick advice, Grace found her roommate and Gregory talking in the living room.
âYou look fantastic.â Gregory smiled at Grace. âRed is my favorite color.â
âThanks,â she blushed.
Note to self. Wear more red
.
Gregory put his arm around Graceâs waist and guided her to the front door of the apartment. âDonât wait up, Annie,â he called back to her roommate.
âOf course not.â Annie winked at Grace.
Grace silently blushed.
Just like the three previous nights, Gregory opened Graceâs car door for her but tonight they were not riding in Gregoryâs Chevy Tahoe as they had before. No, tonight Gregory had brought out the big guns and had his fatherâs silver Mercedes SL63 AMG convertible.
âI love your car,â Grace gushed after Gregory slid into the driverâs seat beside her.
âThanks.â Gregory smiled. âI love your dress.â He reached over and held her hand all the way to the restaurant. At first, his touch felt like tiny electric shocks bouncing between his palm and her palm. Remarkably, despite the electricity, his touch made her stomachâs butterflies disappear and Grace relaxed down deep into the Mercedesâ soft leather seat.
They ate by candlelight at a local downtown restaurant that Grace had never heard of before. But her ignorance of the restaurant stemmed more from the menuâs prices than anything else. Her budget would never have allowed her to eat here and she was almost uncomfortable ordering something that was nearly equivalent to a dayâs salary for her.
But Gregory had no problem with the menuâs prices and must have been a regular because everyone in the place knew him. The whole night it was âMr. Reich thisâ and âMr. Reich thatâ and at one point she even thought she heard their waiter call Gregory âPrince.â
But that was ridiculous so she must have heard him wrong.
âDo you want dessert?â Gregory
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