Kickin' It (Red Card #2)(31)

“This way.” We went up three levels until we came to the personal shopper area. A woman in her midtwenties approached, wearing head-to-toe black with heels my sister would commit murder for. She had auburn hair and bright-blue eyes. “Do you have an appointment?”

“No.” I smiled. “But I’ll make it worth your while to fit us in. Shouldn’t take more than ten minutes.”

Her eyes narrowed in on me. “Do I know you?”

“I doubt it, just one of those faces.”

Next to me, Parker rolled her eyes. I pinched her side, reminding her to behave. Money didn’t get you everywhere, but it got you most places, and attitude was everything.

“Right.” The woman rubbed her hands together. “I’m LaLa.”

Parker pressed her lips together. Shit, she better not laugh.

LaLa eyed Parker up and down then shot me a confused look. “What exactly are you looking for?”

“A dress,” I said simply. “White, something professional yet still sexy, alluring but not too much, and show off her curves. If you don’t have white, stick with a solid color, no nylons. She’ll need an open-toe boot that she can walk in.”

“Done.”

“Done?” Parker squealed. “What do you mean done?”

“I mean I have the perfect dress for your occasion. It’s Versace, has capped sleeves, which should complement your muscle tone well. It’s off-white, has crystals, and has been on preorder, but we just got our first shipment in this morning. If you’re willing to pay the price.”

“Sounds perfect,” I said. “May we see it?”

Less than three minutes later, I was in the dressing room with a shaking Parker. The sales lady had made the mistake of letting her see the price tag, and since the dress was over four grand, she was having a moment. I should have had Willow do this, not that we’d had time between practices.

“Look.” I put my hands on her shoulders. “You won’t break it. The dress is beautiful, but you wear the dress, not the other way around.”

Parker made a face in the mirror.

“I sound like a jackass, got it. I’ll just be waiting out here.”

“Wait!” Parker moved from one Converse to the other. “I know this is highly inappropriate, but I’m petrified I’m going to rip something and that haughty woman with the obviously fake name is going to say something like ‘Told you so,’ so could you just . . . help me, you know, with your eyes closed?”

I laughed. “You’re better off on your own, you know that, right?”

“Please?”

It was the please that did me in, followed by the bottom-lip bite, and the innocent flick of her eyes as she waited for my answer.

I sighed, scratching the back of my head, blowing out a frustrated breath, and doing a semicircle like a trapped animal. “Fine, just not a word to anyone. Seriously . . . anyone.” I pointed at her like she was a child.

Which got me an equally childish response: a Parker eye roll.

“Take your pants off, smart-ass,” I grumbled, causing her to falter a bit as she kicked off her shoes and pulled off her joggers.

I didn’t expect her to be wearing white, lacy boy shorts, but there they were, like a giant sign saying open, open, open.

I cleared my throat and unzipped the dress while she rustled with her shirt next to me. We somehow managed to turn at the same time.

I opened my mouth, closed it. “Not a word, Parker.” It came out as a rasp, like I didn’t mean it, quiet like I didn’t want her to hear.

She squeezed her eyes shut and nodded like she was ashamed I had to even say it, like I’d said the wrong thing.

With shaking hands, she grabbed the dress from me and slowly stepped in. It fit her like a glove as I pulled it up and zipped all the way to the neck.

LaLa had great taste.

I wasn’t sure how long I stared at Parker in the mirror. Sans makeup, with her hair in a ponytail, she outshone even the prettiest model I’d ever partied with.

“Better?” I managed to get out as she stared at herself in the mirror, a look of shock on her face.

She nodded just as my cell rang.

“Yelloooo!” Willow yelled in my ear.

I pulled it away and winced. “We need to work on your phone skills. What do you need?”

“So the team had to move the dinner up. I said you guys could meet at the hotel bar in a half hour.”

“A half hour?” I repeated. “That’s cutting it kind of close, but we can manage.” I was already dressed in slacks and a dress shirt, my typical uniform when I wasn’t training with Parker. “We can make it, we just need shoes.”

“Shoes?” Willow said like a kid who’d just heard the word candy. “Why do you need shoes? Are you shopping without me?”

“Er . . . no.” I gave Parker a panicked look while she burst out laughing. “Shit.”

“DAMN YOU, MATT KINGSTON! YOU DON’T SHOP WITHOUT ME, EVER! We made a pact!”

“I was seven and you were a monster!”

“Whatever. What’s she wearing? Wait, did you buy her a dress? Maaaatt? Hello? Matt?”

Was I staring at Parker again? Shit, I needed to focus.

“Yeah, what?”

“You’re shopping.”