A Need So Beautiful (A Need So Beautiful #1)(26)

“Is that what happened? I couldn’t remember. Thanks, Dad.”

“You’re lucky I’m not. I’d freaking spank you in front of your friends.”

“Mmm . . .”

Harlin laughs. “Knock it off, smartass. Now where are you?”

I relax back onto the chaise, happy to hear Harlin again, the way he is with me. Sweet. Tender. “I’m at Sarah’s. She’s shopping in her closet for a charity dress.”

“Ah. Doing her part for mankind wouldn’t mean nearly as much without a fancy dress.”

“Shut up, Harlin,” Sarah calls from inside her closet even though she can’t hear him.

“She’s such a sweet girl.” Harlin laughs. “Amazing manners!”

“No work today?” I ask.

“Called in. Thought I should be around to take care of you. Obviously you don’t need me, though.”

“Maybe I do,” I say, dropping my voice. I want to see him, be near him. I feel the craving for him grow inside me. “What are you doing right now?”

“You sound really curious, Charlotte,” he says, picking up on my tone. “You sure you don’t want to avoid me a little longer? They say absence makes the heart grow fonder.”

My lips pull into a pout. “Are you going to be mean?” I know that things must be tough for Harlin lately. I have yet to come up with a good excuse for my Needs, and I know it’s making him crazy, but what can I do? I don’t want to lose him. And after hearing about the Forgotten, I know I can’t tell him. Not until I figure out a way to deal with it.

He exhales. “No, baby. I’m sorry for being an idiot. Yes. I’d love to see you. Can I come pick you up?” The familiar warmth in his voice sends tingles down my spine.

“Yes.”

“I’ll be there in twenty minutes.”

I hang up, and just then Sarah walks out of her closet with a delicious knee-length white dress. The kind of dress that turns heads. She presses it against her. “What do you think of this one?”

“Sinful.”

“Perfect!”

I wait, my head against the back of the chaise, as Sarah tries it on and pairs it with earrings and a clutch.

“Mr. Wonderful coming to pick you up?” she asks, glancing over her shoulder as she poses in front of her full-length mirror. When I smile, she rolls her eyes. “I’d disapprove of you two spending so much time together,” she says, turning back to examine her reflection. “But I know he’s good in bed.” She grins deviously and meets my eyes in the mirror. “He is, right?”

“So not going there.” I stand up and stretch my arms over my head, my body still sore from the accident.

“You don’t have to answer,” Sarah says, like it doesn’t matter. “I can tell by that stupid look on your face.”

“You look really hot in that dress,” I say, both to change the subject and because it’s true.

“I know, right?” She smiles and then strolls over to her dresser and opens the top drawer. She takes out a small shopping bag and then brings it over, holding it out to me. “For you. And don’t be all, ‘Oh, I can’t accept it.’ That pisses me off.”

I feel awful. The only thing I can offer her as a friend is the Need, a way to help her. But instead it sent me to an abandoned warehouse. “I can’t accept it,” I repeat, mocking her voice.

She groans and shoves it into my hands. “Take it! Did you just listen to me cry about giving a blow job?”

“Um, yeah.”

“Did you judge me and call me a slut?”

“Of course not.”

“Exactly.” She leaves the bag in my hands. “And there aren’t many friends who wouldn’t have at least thought it. You didn’t. That’s why I love your complicated ass. Now stop being modest and open it.”

“If it’s a hat I’m beating you with it,” I murmur. But as I reach in my hand closes on something smaller. A box.

I pull it out and stare at the jewelry box covered in maroon fabric. “Are you proposing?” I ask.

“No. You’d leave me for Harlin.” She smiles. “Now shut up and look at it.”

I flick open the box and my heart thumps loudly. “Earrings?” I ask when I see them. They are simple, glittering hoops, just like the ones she has on now. “They’re beautiful. Thank you.”

“For the charity ball,” she says, like I already knew this. “You and Harlin are coming on Friday night. Did I forget to mention it?”

I narrow my eyes. “Yes. Yes, you did.”

“Sorry.” She shrugs. “Pick out a dress before Harlin gets here.” She motions toward her closet. “Something to go with the earrings. Oh, and PS, don’t wear anything trashy. Daddy hates that.”

I start laughing. First, I’d never wear anything trashy. And second, because it’s hilarious when she calls her stiff, stuffed-suit father Daddy. “Deal.”

Sarah grabs my arm and we rummage through her designer labels, my cheeks pink from embarrassment, but also gratitude. As soon as she starts holding dresses against me, I realize that there’s no way I can pull off a formal dress. Not with glowing skin. And what if the Need hits me when I’m there?