Total pages in book: 112
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 106839 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 534(@200wpm)___ 427(@250wpm)___ 356(@300wpm)
“Yes.” I say this, but it’s a bit hesitant. “Like this.”
“They’re pretty. I always liked coming into Bishop just so I could look at all the costumes.”
“Do you… want to see them? My dresses, I mean.” I add this quickly because his eyes actually flit down to my chest. I try and recover before they flit back up to me again, but only barely manage. “Because never in a million years would I ever have pictured Amon Parrish interested in my dresses.”
“Come on, Rosie. It’s not the dresses. It’s the woman wearing them. And it’s not the cottage, it’s the woman who owns it. I’m just interested in you, that’s all.”
Holy shit, he’s coming on to me. He really is. I mean, it’s not a surprise. I knew this was happening. I just didn’t imagine that it would start in my Bishop dressing room. I kinda pictured a drunken night out in Revenant, to be honest.
That is not to say I don’t prefer the dressing room to the drunken night out.
“Speechless?” Amon asks. “Really? That was enough to make you speechless?”
“Well…” I huff out a small laugh. “You’ve taken me by surprise, Amon. I never imagined you as a romantic and those words you just said were truly on the verge.”
He grins. “Just the verge, huh? Well, there’s room for improvement, I guess.”
I… don’t even know what to say to that. And because I’m a little bit flustered, I default to manners. “Would you like to come in?”
His grin is wild and his answer is evident.
I quickly turn so he can’t watch me get flustered, then go up to the door, unlock it, and open it up. I don’t look over my shoulder at him, just walk in and scan the space, trying to see it through his eyes.
“Wow.” He comes in behind me, closing the door. “I’ve never seen anything like this.”
I turn and look at him. “Um… thank you. I think that means you like it.”
“I do.” Amon is still looking around, but now his eyes find mine. “But the thing that’s really got my interest up—aside from you, yourself—is that you’ve got a secret life here, Rosie.”
“What? No, I don’t. Everyone knows I work in Bishop and wear costumes two days a week.”
“I didn’t know.”
“Yeah, but that’s only because you were gone.”
“Hmm.” He hums this, so it comes out low and growly.
And now what do I do? I can’t just… undress. I mean, there’s a privacy screen in the one corner, but I’ve never actually used it for changing because no one has actually ever been in here but me.
But I guess… I could use it. I could just act like it’s no big deal that he’s in here. First, though, it would be proper to invite him to leave. To give him the choice.
“Well, I guess I should get changed. There’s a lot more to taking off these dresses than one might imagine, so it could be ten minutes or more.”
Amon looks me up and down, grinning like a boy, probably peeling back the many layers of my dress and petticoats with his imagination. When he meets my gaze, his smile is a smirk. “Do you need any help?”
I stepped right into that one, for sure. But honestly, this is going too fast. I mean, it’s not that I haven’t been having sex, it’s just I tend to do it with strangers in towns outside the Trinity and not with men I’ve known since childhood and who are handsome enough to star in their own action movie.
But. At the same time, it’s exciting. Something right out of one of those historical romance novels where the duke, or whoever, has to unhook the new governess’s corset because she can’t breathe or something.
I fan myself with my hand. A weird gesture outside of the Revival tent, but also a practiced one, so it’s happening before I can stop it.
“It’s fine,” Amon says, chuckling at my reaction. “I’ll wait outside.” And then, before I can pull myself together and stop him, he’s walking through the door, closing it behind him.
I let out a breath. It’s a mixture of relief and regret. Letting Amon Parrish see my private dressing room feels a bit scandalous, but it’s a sexy kind of scandalous. The kind that comes charged with the potential for out-of-control emotions. And if he ever comes in here again, things will go very differently.
Because Amon Parrish has got me very hot and bothered and all he did was undress me with his eyes. What would happen if I let him undress me for real? I would probably lose all control. I might even faint, the way I pretend to in the Revival.
I laugh, internally chastising myself for thinking like a teenager. Then start taking off the many layers of my dress and replacing all that with my more typical style—bell bottom jeans and halter top.