Remembrance: A Contemporary Erotic Romance (Iris Series Book 4) (3 page)

Janie smirked, but remained quiet. 

Maria was the consummate romantic.  True to her Spanish heritage, she was a passionate woman.  For years now, Janie had heard Matthew and Maria refer to each other as ‘mi rey’ and ‘mi reina’.  It came out sounding mee-ray and mee-rayna.  It meant ‘my king’ and ‘my queen’ in Spanish.  Janie thought it was so precious.  One would rarely find a couple calling each other those terms of endearment, but in the Spanish culture, it didn’t seem so odd.  She certainly hadn’t known anyone in this day and age who would refer to their partner in that way.  But between Matthew and Maria, it was the most beautiful and sweet of nicknames, and so completely Latin.

Maria’s beautiful dark hair and coloring, not to mention her curvy figure, caught the eye of Matthew Daniels early on while he served as an American diplomat in her country.  A brilliant mind in her own right, Maria had been a Communications Director in his sector and it was while working together
that their love bloomed. With Matthew’s fair complexion, blue eyes and tall stature, he and Maria made a striking couple.

With no segue at all, Maria continued.  “So your mom tells me Lucas will be taking you around to introduce you to some of the important people at his party.  You’re go
ing to find some new clients for your business, I’m sure.”

Janie nodded, a glint in her eye.  “That’s the plan.  Right after all of the food is out, he’ll walk me around.  I still need to get a dress.  Gotta start working on findin
g that love,” she said wagging her eyebrows at Matthew. 

Matthew guffawed.  “I don’t think that’ll be too difficult.  Luke will have his hands full keeping them at bay.  I almost wish we were going just so we can watch.”

“Why don’t you?” Janie asked.  “It would be fun to have you there!”

“We already have plans that night, and it’s for his company people anyway.  So onto other important topics.  When are you getting the dress?” Maria laughed. 

“Actually, I’m going shopping this weekend.  I’m dragging Luke with me.  We’re going on Saturday before we all go out Saturday night,” she said waving her hand to the group of friends gathered in the room.  It wasn’t every day that everyone was together, so they were all going out dancing.  Janie turned back to Luke’s parents.  “I figured it’s his party, and given his artistic eye and career choice, he’ll be the perfect one to help with picking the perfect dress,” Janie said, then added dryly, “I’m not sure I know what I’ve gotten myself into, though.  I hear he can be quite something when shopping for clothes.”

Maria’s eyebrows shot up.  “You don’t know the half of it.  He definitely has his opinions.  Well,” she said with a smile and settling back into her chair, “that oughta be fun.”  She gave Janie a pointed look. 

Janie smiled.
Yup.
Definitely fun.

……

“Why can’t you just zip it up, Luke?  What the hell’s the big deal?” Janie asked in exasperation through the door of the dressing room while trying on another dress.

“Just hold on a sec and I’ll get Carolyn –”

Janie completely ignored him and opened the dressing room door, holding the cocktail dress over her ample bosom while the back gaped open waiting to be zipped.

Luke stopped his movements
, and then stood frozen before her, his jaw clenched while he looked at her.  His 6’3” framed towered over hers and he finally rolled his eyes in annoyance.

His eyes moved down her body briefly then he sighed.  “Turn around.  You’re such a pain in my ass.”

She tried to hold in the giggle, but it escaped nonetheless.  She couldn’t help it.  She had him just where she wanted him. 

This was the dress; she felt it in her bones.  It had a 1950’s vintage look to it and was perfect for her figure.  After dropping nearly 50 pounds, she still had a voluptuous form given her double D’s standing at attention.  And the neckline on this number accentuated her girls to perfection.

The emerald green dress was sleeveless with a plunging V neck, a wide corset-like band just under her breasts, and then soft folds that fell to her knees.  The clingy expensive fabric skimmed over her slim waist which looked even smaller with the cinched style, especially when seen in comparison to the corset-like structure encasing her boobs. 

Yeah, this was exactly the dress to show off her best assets.  And she planned on torturing Luke with every inch of them.  She was determined to get
some
kind of reaction.  She’d been at it for an hour now, trying on dresses.

Once he was in the dressing room, she turned her back with an impish grin on her face, and let him zip the dress up while she adjusted her braless tatas in the bodice as they both faced the mirror.

“
Cristo
,” she heard him mutter.  He always swore in Spanish.  “You didn’t need my help with the last one,” he muttered.

“The last one didn’t have a zipper.  And you’re the fashion guru.  I need you here to check it out.  That’s why you took me shopping, remember?  Now stop complaining and pay attention.”

Once she was zipped up, he stood back from her and she examined herself in the mirror.  Her golden red curls spilled down her shoulders and back.  With green eyes sparkling, she made eye contact with him in the looking glass.

“Whattaya think?” she asked
saucily.  She thought she looked pretty good, but she still had a bit of body dysmorphia when it came to seeing herself realistically in the mirror.  Sometimes the size 6 label on her jeans didn’t process correctly in her head and she’d spend several minutes trying to convince herself that it really was her she was looking at in the mirror; not some other woman who had her face with a smaller body.

Three years after losing the weight, she was still trying to get used to her new physique.

Luke was looking at her from behind, his eyes clashing with hers.  A lazy smile sat on his lips, but he looked like he was desperately trying to stay focused on her face and not her breasts spilling out of the dress.  “You know you look good,” he finally said.

She sighed in annoyance.  “No, Luke,” she said, showing her exasperation.  “I don’t really know I look good until someone tells me I look good.  I’ve said this to you before.”

“Janie.”  He put his hands on her bare arms and forced her to look in the mirror.  “Look.  You have eyes, don’t you?”  He looked huge standing behind her.  It made her breath catch in her throat. 

She blushed a little at his backhanded compliment.  “Yes, but it’s true,” she grumbled, looking at herself and him.  Seeing them both in the mirror made her stomach flutter.  They looked good next to each other.  “I still have a hard time seeing what I really look like sometimes.  I mean I think it looks good, right?”

He swallowed, his eyes softening.  “The dress looks great. 
You
look,” he paused, then finally whispered with another hint of exasperation, “you look fantastic, Janie.”

She almost blushed again, but caught herself.  “Then why do you look like it looks disgusting?  You could smile while saying it, you know.”

His eyebrow went up in annoyance at her tone and his lips pressed together.

She looked down at the girls.  “Do you think I’ll need a bra after all?  You don’t think they look too big in this dress?”

She saw movement in the mirror and looked up only to see him pinching the top of his nose.  “Is this a trick question?” he asked.

“No.  I’m serious,” she said looking back down at them and pushing them up adjusting herself again.

He looked heavenward, put his hands on his hips then glared back at her.  As if catching himself, he schooled his features before asking, “What do you want me to say, Janie?”

“I want you to tell me if they look too big in this dress,” she said patiently, as if speaking to a child.  “They actually hold up pretty well without the bra,” she said a little surprised, “with this corset band of fabric under them.  It supports them really well,” she finished, enjoying his discomfiture.

“Trust me.  They look fine,” he said dryly.

“I don’t want them to look fine.  I want them to look
spectacular.”  She looked back down at her chest, noting the deep V of fabric between them and the glorious cleavage that showed.  “I’m trying to snag a man at your party.  I want to look good.  Aren’t you paying attention?  Stay with me here,” she said, snapping her fingers at him.

He shook his head.  “No, you’re supposed to be
networking, not snagging some schmoe that I’m going to have to beat up after the party.  And what kind of question is ‘do they look too big’?” he muttered.  “Is it even possible for a woman’s boobs to be too big?” he asked rhetorically, trying to keep his eyes above her neckline.

“Of course they could be too big.  Duh.  I don’t wan
t to look like a freak show like when I was in high school,” she said, even though she was thrilled at his comment.

“Oh, stop.  You’ve never looked like a freak.”

She just gave him a look.

“You’ve always carried yourself beautifully, in every stage of your life, baby girl.  You have great style.”  He looked her up and down casually.  “You’ve always looked good.”

She nearly fell over at the compliment and him looking her over.  “You think so?” she asked quietly, gnawing on her lip.

“I know so.  I’m the fashion guru, remember?”

She sighed.  “Well, thank you,” she said offhandedly, getting a hold of her emotional reaction to his words.  She waved her hand in the air letting him know she was done with the conversation.  “I think this is the dress.”  She smiled and twirled around looking at herself at different angles.  “You agree?” she smiled up at him.

He smirked at her.  “Yes, I think this is the one.  If one of your goals is to turn heads then,” he paused and let his eyes move over her figure staring back at them from the mirror, “you won’t have anything to worry about.  That’s for damn sure,” he murmured the afterthought.  “You turn heads regardless.”

“Well,” she sighed, feeling giddy at his comments and the perusal of his light blue eyes.  “I’ll never be thin like Vanessa.”  Janie tried to hide the annoyance from her voice while talking about the tall and willowy redheaded model Luke had been seeing for the past few months.  “I got what I got, and that’s that,” she said, running her hands over her hips and turning to the side to inspect her body again.

He watched her hands skim down her hourglass shape then brought his eyes up to meet hers again in the mirror.  “Why would you wa
nt to be Vanessa?  You want to be you.  Besides, men like curves.  It gives them something to hold onto.”  His eyes skittered down her figure again.

Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow.  She wanted to scream,
then what the hell are you dating Vanessa for if men like curves?!

Idiot. 

As if realizing what he’d just said, he cleared his throat just as Janie spoke.  “Okay, so now I need shoes and jewelry.”

“Nude or gold toned peep toe pumps with some embellishment on them.  Maybe a choker and some solid looking gold dangly earrings,” he said almost immediately.  His hand reached up and pulled at one of her curls.  She didn’t think he realized how often he absentmindedly touched her hair. 

A shudder passed through her just as it did every time he touched her, but she laughed to cover it up.  “I knew there was a reason I brought you.”

“You could probably borrow a pair of shoes from Ryann,” he pondered, looking at her feet while referring to her cousin, Jeremy’s girlfriend.  Ryann had a seri
ous shoe fetish and had an incredible collection of footwear.

“I think I want to
get my own,” Janie said looking at her feet and wiggling her red painted toe nails.

“Okay.”  He looked back into her eyes.  “Get changed,” he said, turning to leave the dressing room.  Before he closed the door behind him, Janie stopped him.

“Wait, I need you to unzip me,” she said, trying not to laugh at what she knew would be his reaction. 

With his back to her, she couldn’t see his face but watched as he took a deep breath.

Ayanna, Janie’s soon-to-be partner in her catering company,
The Local Yokel
, had been telling Janie for months now that Luke was interested in her.  Ayanna’s argument, and Ryann’s for that matter, was that he probably couldn’t reconcile himself to the fact that he no longer saw her as a little sister and therefore wasn’t sure what to do about it.  In fact, not only did Ayanna and Ryann think this, but Emily, her brother’s girlfriend, and Tiffany, Luke’s own twin sister thought the same things.

Probably the biggest surprise of all were the encouraging comments and knowing looks she’d also received from the males in her family.  Her brother, Mike, actually hinted at being okay with the potential match, if indeed anything happened.

The problem?  Luke.  He was absolutely clueless.  And for being one of the most sought after bachelors in the City, it was amazing he didn’t see all of the signals she was throwing at him.

So, without trying to hope too much, Janie had spent the last couple of months showing the man that she was no longer a ‘baby girl’, but a grown woman.  He still called her by her nickname often, but now she was determined to show a different side to him.  She dated other men around him, flirted at parties he attended, listened to him bitch about her lack of discernment concerning men, and argued with him whenever he yelled at her regarding her sex life.  In short, she had tried everything besides maul the man to raise his awareness.