Operation Prom Date (Tactics in Flirting, #1)(44)

My hand shook as I sorted through the hangers.

Miracle of miracles, I found my size. But I also saw the price tag. Three hundred dollars? “Hmm.”

“What?” Cooper scooted closer.

“It’s just more than I planned on spending. I haven’t even asked Mick yet, either.” I pinched my lip between my fingers. “Maybe I’m jumping the gun.”

“It’s free to try on, and the asking part’s only a matter of time.” Cooper put his hands on my shoulders. “Do you think I’m going to let us fail Operation Prom Date?”

“No?”

“One more time, with a little more faith.”

“No.” The warm fuzzies came back full force. At first I couldn’t even get him to call it by name, and now he was the one giving a pep talk.

“That’s right.” His voice morphed into drill sergeant mode. “Now, you take that dress and you try it on.”

“Yes, sir.” I hugged Cooper—I couldn’t seem to stop hugging him. He was super huggable, after all. The way he automatically wrapped his arms around me sent a sense of security through me that I’d never felt with a friendship before, not even when I thought Amber and I would be friends forever.

The saleswoman came over as I pulled the dress off the rack, and then she ushered me into a dressing room.

I shimmied into the dress, and I couldn’t decide whether I wanted it to look amazing so I could conclude my search for the perfect dress, or if I wanted it to not fit quite right so I wouldn’t justify spending that kind of money on a dress I’d only wear once.

But as the fabric fell into place and I turned to face the mirror, I decided that it’d be worth it just to feel this beautiful for one night.





Chapter Twenty-Six


Cooper


I skimmed through my phone, checking different sites as I tried not to inhale any more of the overly floral scent floating in the air of the shop. I’d shake my head at myself for getting talked into dress shopping on a Saturday, but I’d finally accepted my fate. Kate made me lose my common sense, and I was a total sucker for whatever she wanted.

The door to her dressing room swung open and I glanced up. Every ounce of oxygen left my lungs.

On the hanger, it’d just looked like a dress. On Kate, it looked… I didn’t have the words. It hugged her curves and brought out her sassy side while still holding on to the sweet. I got the stars thing now, because she glittered like the night sky.

“Well?” She swooshed the skirt from side to side. “What do you think?”

Speak. Say something. Don’t just stare and drool. “I think the last thing you have to worry about is not finding a date.” I stood. “You look amazing.”

Suddenly I understood her comment about a night of magic, too, because I was definitely under her spell.

“Thanks, Cooper.” She gathered the fabric of the skirt in her hands. “I think I’ll see if they’ll put it on hold, and then, when I ask Mick, I’ll celebrate by coming and picking it up—it’ll be my reward for being brave.”

Thinking of her wearing that dress at prom as she stood next to Pecker broke the spell, the slap to the face I needed to snap out of it. “Good idea.” My skin itched, the need to get out of here overpowering me. “Hey, do you mind if I head over to the sporting goods store? It’s just a few shops down, so you can meet me there after you’ve finished up here.”

“Okay,” she said. “I appreciate you sticking around to give me your opinion.”

What she wouldn’t appreciate was my real opinion, because I might not deserve her, either, but she deserved so much better than a dude who asked her guy friend if she was into hooking up.

If it wouldn’t break her heart, I might tell her anyway. She was a smart girl, though. She knew what she was getting into.

I was the one who was in way over his head.

…

Kate frowned at her phone as I pulled up to her house.

“Something wrong?” I asked.

“I suppose it’s just more the law of averages.”

“Yeah, you’re gonna have to translate.”

Instead, she swiveled her phone to face me. Onscreen, a group of people smiled, all clad in swimwear. It took me a moment to see what had her so upset. Pecker stood front and center, and his arm was around Paris, who had on a teeny tiny bikini.

Kate’s shoulders slumped. “How can I compete with that? Clearly I can’t, or he would’ve called.”

“Kate…”

She shook her head. “It’s not like we’re an official couple. I’m not sure why I expected…” Her chin quivered, and crying seemed inevitable, and I didn’t have the slightest clue as to how to handle tears—not over Mick and some other chick. “Thanks for today. I’ll see you Monday, okay?”

Before I could respond, she was out the door and up her driveway.

If she hadn’t looked so devastated, I’d celebrate. I even thought of going and knocking on the door and telling her that I’d take her to prom. Oddly enough, I found the idea didn’t seem so bad if it meant dancing with Kate while she was wearing that dress.

If it meant more time with Kate in general.

But I feared she’d consider it a pity date or a failure, and I wasn’t sure I could deal with coming in second place.