The Worst Best Man(76)

“Why aren’t your boobs on display for the world to see?” Frankie asked, glancing down at her own overflowing cleavage.

“I’m a married woman and a B cup, babe. There isn’t much to display. And you’re insane if you don’t buy that dress.”

Frankie studied herself in the mirror, barely recognizing herself. The hair, the dress, the diamond and—God, was that platinum?—bracelet that she’d just happened to have in her bag.

“You know what we need now?” Pru asked.

“I’m hoping you’re going to say froyo, but I have a feeling it’s shoes,” Frankie sighed.

“Shoes!”

When Pru ducked back into her own fitting room, Frankie checked the price tag on the dress again. It made her feel ill.

She pulled out her phone.



Frankie: When you gave me this credit card, what kind of budget were you thinking?



Aiden: I doubt very much that there’s anything you’d buy that would cause me to so much as blink.



Frankie looked down at the dress again. Wanna bet?



Frankie: I’d feel better if you could give me a number to stay under. I found a dress, but there are more digits than I’m used to. And Pru is chanting “shoes, shoes, shoes,” one dressing room over.



She could picture him chuckling to himself at his backwoods girlfriend panicking over pennies.



Aiden: I love seeing you treat yourself. And I love it more that I can be part of it. How about keeping it under fifty grand for today?



He had to be fucking with her. Frankie couldn’t begin to imagine a world in which fifty grand was blow money. Of course, knowing Aiden, he’d named a sum lower than usual to appease her.



Frankie: Oh, so I can’t get this seventy-five thousand dollar dress? Too bad.



She added a disappointed meme.



Aiden: Maybe if you’d send me a picture of the dress, I could make a judgment call.



His playfulness eased her tension the tiniest bit. And maybe she could give him some tension of his own.

She snapped a selfie of mainly just her boobs and sent it.



Aiden: I’ve never gotten an erection in an analyst meeting before. This is interesting.



Frankie laughed. She didn’t know if he was kidding, or if he really was texting her during a meeting. Either way, she felt lighter. And if he thought fifty-grand was an acceptable level of spending, then her pretty dress and a pair of shoes wouldn’t kill either of them.

“Okay, Pru. Where are we going for shoes?”





Chapter Forty


Frankie spent more time prepping for this double date than she had her senior prom and the two weddings she’d been in combined. She had been plucked, glossed, lotioned, and smoothed and was starving to death by the time their car pulled up in front of the restaurant.

Chip and Pru extracted themselves from the permanent embrace marriage seemed to have sewn them into.

“Aiden’s here,” Pru said, pointing at the limo in front of them. All limos looked the same to her, so she took their word for it.

Frankie felt her blood sing. She wanted to see him here on his own turf. See what she’d been missing out on. She wanted to watch his pupils dilate when he got his first good look at her in this damn dress. She wanted him to be proud to have her on his arm.

And she wanted to eat some goddamn dinner.

“Just two photographers,” Chip said, glancing out the window. “They must not have seen Aiden yet.”

Frankie gulped. “Why? Does he get a lot of attention?”

Pru and Chip exchanged a look. “You’ll be fine. Just be you,” Chip said, patting her on the knee. He exited the car first and held a hand out for Pru.

Frankie saw the flash of a camera and rolled her eyes. Who in the hell in their right mind would camp out in front of a restaurant in February just to snap a few pictures of people?

She stepped out next and immediately forgot about the photographers. There on the sidewalk in front of her was Aiden Freaking Kilbourn, and he was closing in on her like a lion on a slow, fat gazelle. The look in his eyes told her he was hungry, too. Just not for dinner.

Frankie felt a cold rush of air and realized she’d forgotten to button her coat. Aiden noticed too as the wind opened the cashmere, parting it.

She swore he licked his lips, and then his hands were on her and then his mouth. His touch ignited every nerve ending in her body as if they’d been waiting for this exact moment. It was chemistry, biology. Something hardwired into them both, and Frankie couldn’t get enough of it.

He kissed her hard, licking into her mouth to stroke his tongue against hers, leaving no doubt to any witnesses exactly who she belonged to. Laying claim to her.

She didn’t like being on display. Didn’t like the attention. And she would have told him so if she hadn’t been so busy clinging to him like a vine.

“So, we’ll just go get some drinks then,” Chip said, pointing toward the restaurant and dragging the grinning Pru after him.

“Meet you crazy kids inside,” Pru called after them.

“We’ll be back,” Aiden answered without looking away from her. There were flashes of light, and Frankie was dimly aware of questions being hurled at them both. And then Aiden was tucking her under his arm and guiding her back to his limo. He opened the door and ushered her inside.