Page 80 of On Merit Alone

Chapter Forty-One

Merit

I thought nothing of Ira’s order to sit and sank onto the bed with a sigh. In my head, I ran over the copious cues and etiquette I always had to remember while going to these things.

I wasn’t the formal event type of girl. I had never been, though I just recently discovered that I was a girl’s night out girl.

I hated the formality, the attention, and the general stuffiness, but mostly, I hated feeling so alone.

Like I had no one to talk to in a huge room of people.

It was depressing most of the time. I knew it would be marginally better with Ira around now, but he would probably have to make a whole job out of chatting people up. He was a popular guy.

“What’s that look for?” I heard the man in question murmur.

I sighed without looking at him. “I think I miss you.”

“I’m right here, sweetheart,” he said. My heart panged at the tenderness in his tone.

I squeezed my eyes shut to block out the emotion that was building there.

Ever since the way he’d kissed me last time in his locker room I’d felt this overwhelming feeling of something I wanted so badly to just let out.

But I didn’t understand it, and he’d been busy this past week so I wasn’t able to talk to him about it.

But the words and feelings were starting to build up in my throat, clawing at my weak flesh to let them out.

That’s probably why my eyes stung. Carefully, I took calming breaths to steady my emotions. “Yeah, but I haven’t seen you in a while. And you’re going to be busy mingling tonight. I miss you preemptively.”

“Six,” Ira said carefully.

“Yes?”

“Those better not be tears I hear. I only have the one suit with me, but if you start that crying, I’m coming up there to rumple it all up,” he said.

I laughed and quickly patted my eyes with the heels of my hands. “No tears. That would mess up my makeup. Duh.”

“Duh,” he said, but his voice was solemn. When I opened my eyes, he was facing me, his face vulnerable and open. Gentle fingers skated the side of my face, pulling away wet. He dusted them between his other hand and said, “Had a couple runaways.”

“Pesky things,” I sniffled, the overwhelming emotion welling up inside me settling back down but not going away. It had been on standby since Ira’s raw display of emotion with Rob and I didn’t think it would be leaving until it got what it wanted.

“You okay?” he asked gently.

I nodded. “Fine, just?—”

My words cut off at the flash of sunshine strewn across my bed beside me.

Laid right there next to my hand was a long, silky slip dress in the prettiest canary yellow.

Above the dress was a new pair of simple gold earrings that looked like a long, dangly chain.

Beside them were pale pink heels the color of flavored lemonade.

So cute.

Where’d they come from?

In front of me, Ira was crumbling up a wad of wrapping paper and shopping bags. I blinked at him. “What’s this stuff? ”

He blinked back at me, surveying my expression. His went wary. “I asked the lady at the shop and she said she was sure you’d like the pink and yellow together. I was skeptical.”

I watched as he held up his hands like he had nothing to do with it. A laugh dropped from my mouth as I shook my head. “No, I. Why is it here? All in my size too!”

“Oh,” he said, dropping his hands. “You like it, then?”

“I do,” I said, a smile ghosting my lips as I looked at the pastel colors. He’d done really well. But… that same welling of emotions swarmed me again without warning. It was so overwhelming, I felt like I’d been hit. “But what’s it for?”

“For you,” he said.

“I already have a dress picked out.”

“Yeah?” he said, a strange challenge in his tone. “What color is it?”

“Black?” I said. “Like all my event dresses.”

“Yeah,” he scoffed. Somehow, him nodding his head even looked sarcastic. “No way in hell, Six.”

He disappeared into my closet across the room and I followed him quickly.

“ What ?” I asked incredulously. “You’re not making any sense. Didn’t you hear me? I didn’t need a new dress, Ira. Much less the shoes and the jewelry.”

Rummaging through my hangers like he owned the place, he pulled one down.

“Trust me, you did.” The dress he found was black and strapless. I had pulled it out ahead of time so I wouldn’t have to go digging for it when it was time to get dressed. Turning to me he gestured to the garment with raised eyebrows that asked, ‘this one?’ I nodded and he started walking away.

My head cocked as I watched him move. “Is there something wrong with my clothes?”

“Yes,” he said simply, pushing right back past me as he took the hanger to the bed and slipped the small spaghetti straps of the yellow one over the velvet of the free hanger.

“ Yes ?” my voice went up to an almost shrill frequency.

He ignored it, walking both dresses over to the large floor-length mirror in the corner of the room and hanging them side by side over the top railing.

Below them he set the pretty pink shoes and some random black heels he’d found on the floor somewhere.

What was this? What the hell was he doing? Was he suddenly some kind of fashion expert? Who was he to tell me if my clothes were or weren’t good enough?

Marching over to him, I crossed my arms in front of my chest. I was no longer looking at the dresses but at his profile. When he didn’t jump to explain, I started, “Ira?—”

He turned toward me with a large sigh, and instantly, I was in his hands. Gripping me by the waist, he pulled me against him.

“Look, Six, there’s no way in hell I’m letting you leave the house in some all black getup the first time we go out when I know for a fact you like all those crazy colors you’re always wearing much better,” he said, eyes focused on me.

My mouth parted, my brows knitting together but not in confusion.

At least I wasn’t confused by what he was saying, just with what I’d done to deserve him standing before me like this.

Who had I done a favor for in a past life to be rewarded with such a man?

Dipping his head, Ira gave me a sweet kiss.

But just one as he pulled back and continued to stare me down.

“I don’t know why you only wear them at home, but I know you love these damn pastels.

And there’s no world in which having you on my arm in what’s trending is better than having you with a smile—a close second to having you at all. ”

“I…” I breathed, unable to find words.

Hands on my hips, he moved me in his grip to come stand in front of him. My back to his front. The two dresses hanging up in front of our faces. “Look at those for me.”

As I raised my chin to look at the dresses, I felt Ira’s body curl around mine.

His hands slid across my abdomen until he was holding onto my sides with opposite palms. His arms were banding around me easily as he locked me in place in his embrace.

The back of my head bumped against his chin and he automatically dropped a kiss to the top of it before settling into my body.

I shuddered, loving the feeling as I forced a humming noise out of my throat to let him know I was listening.

He swayed us slightly, rocking our hug in a slow, playful motion.

“Now, no bullshit, which do you like more?” he asked.

“Yellow,” I answered truthfully.

“Then why the hell would you ever wear the black?”

“Because that’s just what you wear to these things.” I shrugged. And because it was becoming harder and harder to keep things from him I added, “And my personality doesn’t really match my sense of style outside the house.”

A rumble escaped him. He reached up so he could turn my face into his, his nose nuzzling my nose. “See, I thought you’d say something crazy like that. And I’m here to say, I’m not having it. You deserve to be who you are on the inside out loud too.”

“And who is that?”

“A big softy,” he smiled. “The biggest softy I know, actually. The sweetest girl. My soft ray of sunlight.”

“Ira.”

“Merit.”

“It’s so bright.”

“Translation, it’s perfect for you,” he said with a cheeky smile.

“It’s expensive.”

He shrugged. “Good thing I'm rich.”

“It’s—”

Soft lips cut me off as he kissed me quiet.

“Wear the dress, Merit,” he insisted. “Please?”

I hummed, my body suddenly resigned to this feeling of overwhelming electricity with him. “Help me into it? ”

His soft smile pulled into a wide grin, but he moved away, shaking his head as he went. “Sweet but dangerous, Jones. You’re trying to tempt me.”

I smiled too, my teeth finding my lip. “We don’t have to be there for a while. We could try to find me something pretty to wear underneath.”

“Jesus,” he groaned up to the ceiling. The look that replaced his old one was full of longing and lust, but his words were straightforward. “Nope. No. We have somewhere else to be, so let’s put a move on it, yeah?”

Twenty minutes later, I was making my way into the kitchen in my new outfit. Ira was leaned up against a stool and bent over at the waist, petting Cash. When he noticed me approaching, he looked up.

The smile that spread across his face was legendary.

“Holy hell.” He rose to his full height but didn’t come toward me.

His eyes refused to stay still as they bounced over every surface of my person.

I didn’t fidget under his scrutiny, but soaked it all in, blossoming under the praise of his gaze alone.

When he held out his hand to beckon me closer, I took it immediately.

Raising our joined palms in the air, he said, “Turn for me.”

I giggled. His voice had taken on this husky, almost choked tone.

I liked having that effect on him. As I turned my back to him, I flipped a gaze over my shoulder just in time to see him staring at my ass.

When he noticed I caught him, he didn’t look away, just smiled roguishly and cursed again. “C’mere.”