Read Online One Condition (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #1) by Nova Raines - Free Book Online
Authors: Nova Raines
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rushes over to us. “Shall I add these to your others?”
“Thanks, yes.”
The woman looks at me and does a double take. She gives me a polite smile. “Welcome to LuxRy. Let us know if we can get you anything.” Then she walks off with Char’s dresses.
Char wraps me in a hug, then drags me to a rack along the wall and sighs theatrically. “I want them all. But Diane won’t increase my allowance.”
She looks at me expectantly. What does she want? Is she hoping I’ll offer to buy her extra dresses? She probably thinks I’ve inherited my dad’s money by now.
“I know how you feel,” I say.
She wrinkles her brow at me. “You still have an allowance? But—”
“It’s complicated.”
She waits for me to explain, but I lift a dress off the rack instead. “This is nice.”
“They all are. I guess there are other ways I can get more than one.”
She winks at me, and I wince. Char and I rarely talk about the shoplifting thing, but I’m pretty sure she kept stealing just like I did. I glance back at the cash register and see the woman who helped us standing against the wall, hands folded, waiting until we need her again.
“I don’t do that anymore.” I keep my voice low.
“I don’t do it anymore, either. Relax. I’m just kidding.”
“Well, it’s not really funny.”
Char frowns and looks uncomfortable. She wanders away from me, picking out more dresses. Stealing requires careful planning. I only got caught because I got careless. Sloppy. Now for ever and ever, people will find “Boutique Thief Hayley Wade” when they do a deep search on me and my past.
I pull down a gorgeous silky emerald green gown with a plunging neckline and slits to mid-thigh, and that old urge to steal is back.
I pretend to look at it while I case the boutique. If I did want to steal this gown, I’d start by choosing four to five in this size. Then I’d pick a lot more gowns. Twenty, maybe thirty. So many the dressing room girl would lose count of how many of each style I’d chosen, get confused as I tried them all on in the dressing room, handing them back a few at a time.
My heart’s pumping fast just thinking about it, and adrenaline floods my body, even though I’m not even really planning on stealing it.
I pull down a few more sizes in the emerald green gown, and the dressing room girl rushes over to me. “Can I take those for you?”
“Sure. Thank you so much. I love these clothes. I’ve never been here before.” I flash her a genuine smile, and she smiles back at me, wide, almost surprised that I’m bothering to talk to her.
“We opened a few months ago.”
“So, I’m going to a party tonight… I want something classy, yet… sexy. Any recommendations?”
The girl’s face lights up with pleasure. “Follow me.”
She leads me to another rack where she recommends a bunch of the most expensive dresses to me. This is the most important part—striking up a friendly conversation with the dressing room girl and the cashier. Lots of smiles and laughing from me. I don’t know why, but store employees seem trained to look for thieves who skulk in shadows, never make eye contact, and are stupid enough to steal right in the middle of the store.
Char gets a dressing room right next to mine, and the store clerk sets up all my dresses on a long rack outside my room. She pushes open a silk curtain revealing a large dressing room with a plush seat in the corner. “You can take five in at a time.”
“The blue ones, and the green. I’ll start with those.”
“Here you go,” she says, hanging them in the room for me.
“Thanks for your help.”
I close the silk curtain and stare at myself in the mirror. If I wanted to steal one of these dresses, I think I could get away with it today. And the thought makes my head buzz as another thrill courses through me.
If I wanted to follow this through to the end, I’d try the dresses on, get the tag off the one I want, get it into the leather hobo bag
“Thanks, yes.”
The woman looks at me and does a double take. She gives me a polite smile. “Welcome to LuxRy. Let us know if we can get you anything.” Then she walks off with Char’s dresses.
Char wraps me in a hug, then drags me to a rack along the wall and sighs theatrically. “I want them all. But Diane won’t increase my allowance.”
She looks at me expectantly. What does she want? Is she hoping I’ll offer to buy her extra dresses? She probably thinks I’ve inherited my dad’s money by now.
“I know how you feel,” I say.
She wrinkles her brow at me. “You still have an allowance? But—”
“It’s complicated.”
She waits for me to explain, but I lift a dress off the rack instead. “This is nice.”
“They all are. I guess there are other ways I can get more than one.”
She winks at me, and I wince. Char and I rarely talk about the shoplifting thing, but I’m pretty sure she kept stealing just like I did. I glance back at the cash register and see the woman who helped us standing against the wall, hands folded, waiting until we need her again.
“I don’t do that anymore.” I keep my voice low.
“I don’t do it anymore, either. Relax. I’m just kidding.”
“Well, it’s not really funny.”
Char frowns and looks uncomfortable. She wanders away from me, picking out more dresses. Stealing requires careful planning. I only got caught because I got careless. Sloppy. Now for ever and ever, people will find “Boutique Thief Hayley Wade” when they do a deep search on me and my past.
I pull down a gorgeous silky emerald green gown with a plunging neckline and slits to mid-thigh, and that old urge to steal is back.
I pretend to look at it while I case the boutique. If I did want to steal this gown, I’d start by choosing four to five in this size. Then I’d pick a lot more gowns. Twenty, maybe thirty. So many the dressing room girl would lose count of how many of each style I’d chosen, get confused as I tried them all on in the dressing room, handing them back a few at a time.
My heart’s pumping fast just thinking about it, and adrenaline floods my body, even though I’m not even really planning on stealing it.
I pull down a few more sizes in the emerald green gown, and the dressing room girl rushes over to me. “Can I take those for you?”
“Sure. Thank you so much. I love these clothes. I’ve never been here before.” I flash her a genuine smile, and she smiles back at me, wide, almost surprised that I’m bothering to talk to her.
“We opened a few months ago.”
“So, I’m going to a party tonight… I want something classy, yet… sexy. Any recommendations?”
The girl’s face lights up with pleasure. “Follow me.”
She leads me to another rack where she recommends a bunch of the most expensive dresses to me. This is the most important part—striking up a friendly conversation with the dressing room girl and the cashier. Lots of smiles and laughing from me. I don’t know why, but store employees seem trained to look for thieves who skulk in shadows, never make eye contact, and are stupid enough to steal right in the middle of the store.
Char gets a dressing room right next to mine, and the store clerk sets up all my dresses on a long rack outside my room. She pushes open a silk curtain revealing a large dressing room with a plush seat in the corner. “You can take five in at a time.”
“The blue ones, and the green. I’ll start with those.”
“Here you go,” she says, hanging them in the room for me.
“Thanks for your help.”
I close the silk curtain and stare at myself in the mirror. If I wanted to steal one of these dresses, I think I could get away with it today. And the thought makes my head buzz as another thrill courses through me.
If I wanted to follow this through to the end, I’d try the dresses on, get the tag off the one I want, get it into the leather hobo bag
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