Page 69 of In Deep

“No, I’m going to wear my red dress. Besides, my mother will kill me if she finds out I’ve bought more clothes. I’m already in trouble about my last credit card bill.”

“So, just for you, Madam?” the shop assistant asks, crossing one arm over his stomach and resting his chin on the knuckles of the other. “You have very pretty eyes, almost a sky blue.”

“She’s gorgeous, isn’t she?” Sophia hums next to me.

“I think we should go for something that brings out the colour.” He twirls his hand in front of his face.

“And shows off her figure,” Sophia adds.

“But of course. All our dresses do that.” The man makes a disgruntled huff and dives into the rack of clothes. Soon, his arms are full and he beckons us to the dressing room at the back of the store.

I’ve never seen such an elegant dressing area. Waiting back here are heavy drapes, soft chairs, glossy magazines, and water jugs with lemon slices floating near their rims. Sophia flops down in one of the chairs and points to the changing area.

“Let’s see then.”

I disappear behind the curtain, tugging it closed, and strip out of my clothes, wiggling into the first dress. It’s black satin with spaghetti straps. Twisting this way and that, I glance in the mirror, then step out to show Sophia. The shop assistant is there waiting too.

“Hmmm,” he says, tapping his fingers against his mouth critically.

“Give me your phone,” Soph tells me.

“Why?”

“Your boyfriend wanted pictures, didn’t he?” She turns her head to address the shop assistant. “She’s dating Zane Amir.”

The older man’s eyes widen, and he stares at me in amazement, as if he can’t quite believe that’s true.

I fling my phone at Sophia, and she flutters her eyelashes innocently as she snaps a shot. “Want me to send it to him?”

“Promise you won’t send him anything else?”

“No,” she says, already typing away. I consider wrestling my phone back off her, but she has it grasped so tightly in her hands I doubt I’d succeed.

“I think this one is too dark for you,” the shop assistant ponders.

“Zane likes it,” Soph says, reading the text. “Jeez,” she adds, “I think the dude needs a cold shower.”

“Give me that.” I make a grab for the phone, but she holds it above her head, leaning right back in the chair.

“I’m only joking,” she laughs.

I try on a red dress next despite the shop assistant nudging me towards the blue. Soph takes another snap, then I change into the midnight blue. The satin material clings to my curves, emphasising my waist and hips. It has no straps, and the neckline sweeps down in a sweetheart, revealing more cleavage than I’m used to.

Sophia lets out a high-pitched whistle as I emerge around the curtain. “Shit, Rosie. That looks …” She fans herself.

The shop assistant refolds his arms and smiles smugly. “I told you the blue.”

“It’s a bit …” I twist my head over my shoulder, trying to find a view of my back in the mirror. The dress makes my backside look round and pert.

“Stunning?” Soph says.

“Glamorous?” the shop assistant adds.

“Revealing,” I squeak, but Soph is photographing me and sending the images to Zane before I have a chance to say more.

“It is the perfect amount of revealing,” the shop assistant says. “And besides, a man like Zane Amir will want a well-dressed woman on his arm.

I’m not sure Zane gives a shit about stuff like that. Then again, maybe that’s the reason he’s keen to buy me new things.