The Espionage Effect(43)
I frowned, common sense jarring my mind. Fun and pretty didn’t suit me. Forgetting my past, even for a moment, was a slippery slope. Cloaking myself by playing pretend, but actually believing in it—even for a second—risked me falling into a numbing state of oblivious denial.
“What do you think of this one, Dev?”
Jolted from my philosophical thoughts, I took a deep breath and stepped out fully from the temporary screen I’d been hiding behind. Anna pivoted in front of the trifold mirror, examining herself from every angle in her sleek ruby gown. As I watched her, warmth seeped back in, nudging me away from the edge of the dark abyss I’d teetered on a split second ago. “Looks like it was custom made for you,” I replied with stark honesty.
The rich material shimmered as she walked away from the mirror, pivoted after a few feet, then returned to watch her trio of reflections as she approached. Our “dressing room” had been set up in the lavish dining room of the resort before they opened for dinner. The seamstress had insisted upon the bright wide-open setting; its natural light radiated in from the windows, and the small dance floor allowed enough room to strut back and forth.
“And mine?” I played the part, slowly twirling for her.
Anna’s eyes widened as she shifted her attention toward me. Her mouth fell open on a drawn-out gasp. “Devin, you…you look stunning.”
My gaze drifted toward the mirror behind her, and she stepped aside. Diminutive pale-blue ribbon straps skimmed over my shoulders, then attached to a matching draped bodice. The wispy silk clung to my breasts, hugged my waist, then slid over my hips before dropping in a straight line to brush over the tops of my sparkling emerald-painted toes. I turned and glanced over my shoulder to examine the plunging back and nodded, satisfied the material covered my “assets.”
She pursed her lips as she circled around me. “Beautiful. And those shoes!” With narrowed eyes, she glared at me through the mirror. “I never want to hear another harassing word about the necessity of a separate suitcase for designer footwear. You never know when the occasion warrants.”
I bit my lip to keep from laughing. With her smartass tone, she’d begun to sound like me. And as I pointed my foot out from the floor-length hem and rotated my heel up, revealing thin sparkling silver straps that braided over my toes, I had to agree with her.
“You’re evading the topic,” I observed. She couldn’t have forgotten. We’d been talking about her favorite subject: men.
“Oh? How perceptive of you.” With a flourish of shining fabric, Anna disrobed while I began to do the same. We still needed to eat a light dinner and apply makeup, neither of which would be getting anywhere near our borrowed evening gowns. The moment my dress settled on its hanger, Anna stole it from me. “We’ll take these two, Elena. Gracias.”
“Tit for tat,” I continued. “You tell. I tell.” I gestured between our half-naked bodies before we put our sundresses back on. “How this whole friend thing works.”
Friends. A foreign concept before Anna had barged into my life by plucking that roommate-needed flyer from the bulletin board. With her boisterous personality, it had been nearly impossible not to let her in to some degree, let someone in for the first time.
And yet, even though Anna was the only person I’d let past some of my shields, I still kept layers of protection with her. Hadn’t ever wanted to completely open myself up to anyone.
Until Alec…
Shaken by the unnerving realization, I furrowed my brow.
“Fine.” She shot me a secretive smile as she stepped out of her Oscar de la Renta shoes, lowering her height four inches.
“Wait.” I stared at her ankle, which still had greenish bruising on the surface. “How the hell do you plan to walk in those skyscraper heels?”
“Ankle brace, if needed.” She reached up and plucked an item dangling from her corner of the dressing screen, showing me the beige elastic brace. “I plan to have my doctor’s hands-on care most of the night, anyway.”
I shot her a skeptical look. But then I shook my head, huffed out a soft laugh, and gave her my typical smile, sliding easily back into the persona I’d worn for so long. I needed her to buy into my continued ruse; a distracted Anna at the party would give me free reign to carry out my plan, whatever that turned out to be. “Just don’t fall again. Our agenda is party only, no hospitals.”
“Yes, Momma Dev,” she lilted in singsong, rolling her eyes.
Good. We’d assumed our typical roles: me chiding her inadvisable actions, her bristling at my incontrovertible wisdom.
I gave her a brief nod. “Okay, back to topic. Why’d Doctor Escobar drop you off so early last night?” Exhausted from snorkeling and sailing in the warm sun while making my mental-chess moves, I’d been half asleep when she’d returned, my only response to her entering the room a pillow-muffled grunt.
I’d actually been surprised she hadn’t prodded me about Alec during our day’s primping. But then, we’d had no less than two spa attendants within a two-foot radius of us all afternoon. Now we had relative privacy as Elena packed up her creations, out of earshot.
“His name is Miguel,” Anna offered.
Miguel Escobar. I mentally filed that factoid away.
She eased closer, resting a hip on the edge of a round dining table that had already been set, crystal water and wine glasses arranged over a white tablecloth. “And I came home early last night because he was on call with the hospital and an emergency pulled him away.” Then she leaned forward, voice lowered to a conspiratorial level. “But on the way home, we did get busy in the back of the limo.”