Page 188 of Modern Romance December 2025 5-8

He simply shrugged.

‘Are you leaving?’

‘Would you mind if I stayed?’

‘No.’ She really didn’t. She loved the way he didn’t hide his attraction to her, and how it made her feel. Was this appropriate in such an exclusive store? Katherine found that she didn’t much care.

She took off her sweater and her jeans while looking at Lukas, whose grey eyes had darkened like a storm. Still, she watched him watching her as she slipped on the soft, heavy dress. The weight made sense since it was covered in sequins. The softness was surprising.

‘Turn around.’

She obeyed and saw herself and Lukas reflected at her. Could see when he bent, trailing kisses up her spine as he pulled the zip all the way up.

‘Beautiful.’

This dress was more than just beautiful. The long sleeves sat off her shoulders. From chest to toes she was covered in glittering sequins forming a silver and gold gradient. It fit every curve until her hips where it flared out just slightly in a sparkling column.

‘Look at me.’

Her eyes found his in the mirror, watching him trail kisses over her shoulder, along her neck. His hands gliding down her covered arms to her waist and then he spun her around, pushing her against the mirror. Her chest heaving even though he hadn’t done very much. But then his nose was running along her neck. His lips brushing after.

‘You’ll wear this tomorrow,’ he said. Instructed.

‘Why?’

‘That’s not what you should be saying.’ He inched the dress up higher and higher, gathering the fabric of the skirt in his hands, allowing one of them to trail over the inside of her thigh until he reached her sex covered in satin and lace, and he hummed in approval.

‘You should be saying, “Yes, Lukas.”’

She could hear his smirk but couldn’t look because his fingers were taking her apart and putting her back together.

‘Lukas,’ she breathed.

He chuckled, deep and low. ‘That’s half right.’

She couldn’t think when a moan was building in her throat.

‘Quiet,’ he said, then he kissed her deeply, swallowing every sound she made as his fingers drove her to insanity. Her hips meeting the movement of his skilled hand, wanting, needing more.

‘You’re being so good for me right now,’ he praised. His lips brushing hers as he said the words. The taunt of a kiss and it was all too much. His words and fingers and lips, and then his tongue was in her mouth silencing her as she climaxed in a fitting room in Monaco wearing the most expensive dress she ever had on.

‘Yes, Lukas,’ she agreed because, if this was a taste of what awaited, she would wear anything to have more of him.

CHAPTER TWELVE

Lukas was pullingout all the stops. An all-black Bugatti waited in the portico of his building, the headlights switched on. Gleaming the way it did against the late dusk sky, the car seemed like some kind of spectre. Dark and mysterious.

If Robert and Scott wanted her and Lukas to be seen, they would certainly get their wish.

Katherine had done as Lukas asked and worn the incredible dress he’d bought her. Her stomach felt like she was in a rollercoaster every time she thought about what had occurred in the fitting room. No matter what happened after this month, she would keep this dress forever—a reminder of the racer she had been so wrong about. The man who brought her to life. The passion that was only bestowed upon a lucky few maybe once in a lifetime.

‘Ready?’ Lukas asked beside her.

She nodded. ‘Yes.’

He took her hand, led her to the car and helped her in before closing the door and getting in himself. Something about this night felt different. It had felt different since they’d left the fitting room but Katherine couldn’t quite put her finger on what it was.

Was it Lukas? Was he being more attentive? Or was it her? Was it the way she felt about Lukas that was morphing into an affection she couldn’t name?