Page 49

“You don’t need me, right?”
“No.” She wags a finger at him good-naturedly. “And don’t try to peek in on us. It’s bad luck for you to see the dress.”
His mouth quirks as he crosses the room to lay a light kiss on her lips. “We’ve already weathered our share of bad luck,” he murmurs, barely audible. “It’s only good times from here.”
Wow. Guess he has a bit of a soft side, after all.
“Connor asked if he could stop by,” Archer continues. “He’ll probably be here in a few minutes.”
My head swivels toward the door. Connor’s coming?
“Oh, shoot. You could have ridden with him,” she says to me. Yeah, don’t think he’d have invited me to carpool. If I’d known kissing him would make him completely avoid me, I’d never have done it.
No, that’s not true. Making out with him had been insanely hot. “Oh, it’s fine. I like taking the subway.” Said no sane person ever.
“Well, you guys can have the living room. We’ll make ourselves scarce in the bedroom.”
She leads me to a larger than expected room done up in soft grays and creams, the gauzy curtains and throw pillows on the bed homey and inviting. There’s a small sitting area in the corner with two accent chairs and an end table between them, and she sits down, motioning me to the other seat. “We can set up shop here.”
I pull out the designs I already sketched out and a few different fabric materials I had on hand, pausing as the front door opens, listening to Connor’s deep voice. The words are muffled, my head automatically tilting to hear better, but it’s not like I can eavesdrop again the way I did this morning.
Why is he here? I mean, he’s allowed to visit his brother obviously, but he admitted he hasn’t lately. Is it because of me? And does he even know I’m here?
“Emma?”
I glance up, finding Serena smiling at me. “Oh, sorry. Their voices distracted me for a second.”
“It’s worse when it’s the three of them together.”
I breathe out a laugh, the tension in my shoulders dropping. “I was thinking the same thing at dinner.”
We get down to business then, going over her different options until we’ve decided on exactly what she’d like me to make, and I pull my measuring tape out, asking her to stand. “Do you have the shoes you’ll be wearing to the wedding?”
“Yep. Right here.”
She slips on a pair of gorgeous silver stilettos, bumping her height up a few inches. She’s probably half a foot taller than me to begin with, and with these on, I have to crane my neck up to see her. We definitely don’t share the height gene.
“What about shapewear?” I ask. “If you plan on wearing something under the dress, it’s better to measure you with it on, and so I can get an idea of how the material should drape.”
“Um, I guess I’ll just wear what I did last time.”
I’m dying for the full story on what exactly happened at the wedding, but I’m too afraid to ask. We don’t know each other well enough yet.
She heads into the walk-in closet to change, and I sidle over to the bedroom door, pressing my ear against it, but there’s only silence from the other side. I turn the knob as quietly as I can, peeking my head out, but a wall blocks my view of the living room.
I glance back toward the closet, Serena still inside changing, and creep out of the room slowly, praying there are no creaky floorboards to give me away. Craning my neck, I make out the couch, but it’s empty. Where did they go?
“What are you doing?”
I clap my hand over my mouth to contain my screech, my heart pounding. I whirl around, finding Connor in the doorway of what looks like a home office, Archer behind him seated at a desk.
Crap. Did I really think I could be sneaky? “I, um…” I’m not admitting that I wanted to hear if they were talking about me.
Wow, narcissistic much?
“I was looking for Archer,” I blurt out, not sure what else to say.
Connor’s gaze is questioning, but he otherwise stays silent as he steps back to give me better access to his brother. Oh, now I actually have to think of something to ask?