“Let me see,” Jess said, crouching down in front of her and examining the scar. “It looks a hundred times better than last time I saw it.”
Dani glanced down. Her skin now had a golden tint from lying in the sun and the scar appeared far less livid, no longer angry and red, but darkened. “In fact, you look a whole lot better altogether. Spain obviously agrees with you. And you’ve put on weight.”
She shifted under the intense scrutiny. “It’s relaxing. The dogs pretty much look after themselves, and I swim and run and eat and sunbathe.” She picked up the dress and pulled it on over her head, smoothing the material down over her hips.
Jess moved behind her. “Lift up your arms.”
She did, and Jess pulled up the zipper at the side. “Breathe in,” she muttered. “You’ve definitely put on weight.”
“Is it going to fit?” Kim asked.
“Yeah, she might burst out of it if she eats too much at the reception, but we’ll get her into it.” She stood back. “Hey, you look pretty.”
Dani sucked in her stomach and tried to draw breath into her squashed lungs. “I can’t breathe.”
“You don’t need to breathe. Go look at yourself.”
She forced herself to peer into the mirror, focusing on the dress. It was long, touching the ground, and the bodice had inbuilt support, giving her seriously impressive cleavage.
“I never noticed you had breasts before,” Kim murmured.
“Of course I’ve got breasts.” Beautiful breasts, Zach had told her.
She continued the inspection. Slender straps held up the dress over her shoulders and she had to admit that the color went very nicely with her tan. She wasn’t so sure about the hair, though. It was so red. Jess came up behind her, pulled the curls onto the top of her head, and held them there. “Perfect.”
She wasn’t perfect and certainly not next to her friends, but she looked…nice.
What would Zach think? Would he even notice her amongst all the other no-doubt-glamorous guests? She bit her lip. Maybe it would be better if he didn’t notice her. If he found someone else.
She had a flashback to the feeling of his hand between her legs. And then a surge of anger as she thought of him doing the same with some other woman. Some tall, gorgeous, perfect woman.
“You look fierce,” Jess said, meeting her gaze in the mirror.
“I am fierce.”
“Of course you are.” Jess unzipped the dress. Dani stepped out of it and quickly pulled on her clothes.
The wedding wasn’t until three p.m. that afternoon and Kim seemed amazingly calm considering she was the centerpiece in this circus. It was taking place at a castle in Scotland situated between Rannoch Moor to the south and the Highlands to the North. Jake had apparently just purchased it and the place was fantastic. A wonderful blend of ancient and modern.
They were in the room she was sharing with Jess and she strolled across to stare out over the wildness of the moor. Where was Zach? Was he close? They hadn’t had a moment alone since Gary had woken on the plane. Gary had left them at Edinburgh airport. He was taking a couple of days off to visit family and would see them back in Spain. Two more of Jake’s operatives had met them at the airport and taken over babysitting duty, but she hadn’t had a chance to talk to Zach.
What was there to say, anyway?
He was playing with her. And she was playing with him. It didn’t mean anything. She was a novelty, but so was he. There was no need for this to matter. And the plan had been time out. Now they were back in the real world. Weren’t they? Though fairy-tale castles and pink dresses hadn’t played much part in her real world up to now.
“So how is the job going?” Kim asked, pulling her from her thoughts.
“Good. I told you—there’s not a lot for me to do.”
“And how’s the asshole playboy?” Jess said, sinking down onto one of the big double beds beside Kim.
Her lips twitched. “He’s an asshole.”
“You’re smiling.” Jess studied her through narrowed eyes, then gave her a long, slow perusal from top to bottom.
Dani held herself still but could feel a tic starting in her cheek. Jess patted the bed between her and Kim. “Come and sit down, Danielle.”
She didn’t want to. Or maybe she did. Maybe she would feel better if she talked all this out. Then Kim and Jess could tell her it meant nothing and she could go back to normal and stop thinking about sex.
She crossed the room slowly and sank down between them.
“So…?” Jess considered her next words. “If he’s not an asshole, what is he?”
“He writes wonderful books,” she said.
“You’ve read them?” Kim asked with a frown—she knew about Dani’s dyslexia.
“He gave me audio copies of them—I listened.”
“You told him about your dyslexia?”
“It came up.”
Jess studied her. “Hmmm. What else came…up?”
She lifted one shoulder, then squirmed under the concentrated focus of two sets of eyes boring at her from either side.
“Jake’s never introduced us, but I’ve seen pictures of him,” Kim said. “He’s seriously gorgeous, but I got the impression he’s a worse commitment-phobe than Jake.”
“But Jake’s not a commitment-phobe,” Jess pointed out.
“Anyway, there’s nothing like that between us,” Dani muttered.
“So what is there?”
“We had sex.”
No response. They both appeared shell-shocked. Then Kim broke the silence with an excited squeal. “Tell all.”
“That is all. It was just sex.”
Jess patted her on the arm. “Dani, you are…sorry, were a twenty-seven-year-old virgin. There is no such thing as just sex for you. Otherwise you would have done it a long time ago.”
“It was just once and—”
“It was an anti-climax, and you hated it?” Jess asked. She’d never had a high opinion of men.
“No. But I promised Gary I wouldn’t go near him again.”
“Who’s Gary—your dad?”
“No, but Zach is my boss—sort of. And then Gary told Jake and Jake told Zach to back off. And he did. And that’s that.”
“I’m thinking maybe not,” Jess said. “And why? Why this man when there’s been no one else?”
Dani thought about it. “Because, right now—this time isn’t real. Soon I’ll”—she crossed her fingers—“be going back to my unit and back to real life. This is different. Besides, it’s over,” she said with conviction, but again there was a flashback to his mouth on hers, his hands on her breasts, between her thighs.