Page 29

Mila

“I can’t believe Gio won’t let us see the painting,” Mila complained as she and Carter walked hand in hand down a bright sidewalk. It had been a week since she’d seen Gio’s studio, found out about his rare disease, and demanded to be painted.

Every day she and Carter sat in the studio while Gio worked on the painting. After the first section, he’d said they didn’t need to pose anymore, and he could take a photo with his phone and use that. Carter argued that spending twenty minutes a day posing for Gio wasn’t a hardship.

Mila agreed. Besides, Carter was constantly whispering naughty things in her ear and the session usually ended with sexy fun times on the pillowed floor of the posing area.

She wouldn’t trade that for anything. Sex with Carter and Gio was always amazing, but it was different when they did it up there.

Almost as if it was sacred because they were joining together in the most intimate way possible in a place that reflected Gio’s soul.

“He’s always like that. Sometimes I don’t even get to see the painting after it’s done because it’s not perfect enough,” Carter said, pulling her into a small boutique. “Look at that dress. I think it would look great on you!”

“Maybe,” Mila said as Carter looked for an employee. “Maybe we should go home. We could sit for Gio, have a nice dinner, and watch a movie.”

“Nope,” Carter said, waving at a woman at the far end of the store. “You promised me a shopping spree!”

“I thought you were talking about buying yourself things,” Mila argued with a little laugh.

“I am buying myself things,” Carter said as the woman approached. “They’re for you to wear for me.”

There would be no posing or painting today. After a week of baking and giving away goodies, Carter insisted they get out of the house and have some fun. Right now, they were shopping for clothes Mila didn’t need.

“Hi, can I help you?” the woman asked. She smiled brightly at Carter, eyes lustful. Then she noticed he was holding Mila's hand, and she cast an envious look at Mila.

Mila was stunned. No one was ever jealous of her!

“I want one of these in my mat–uh, girlfriend's size,” Carter said.

“Of course!” The woman smiled at Mila before going to the rack full of the dresses. She pulled one out. “This one looks about right. Do you want to try it on?”

“I don’t need a dress,” Mila said, even as Carter took the dress and looked around.

“She would like to try it on,” he said over her, making Mila roll her eyes.

“Right over here,” the woman said, leading them to the back of the shop and opening up a dressing room. She gave them both a knowing grin. “Only one of you is allowed in there at a time.”

Mila’s face went hot with a blush. Damn it, why couldn’t she control it better! “W-we wouldn’t do that!”

Carter snorted. “We might.”

Mila grabbed the dress from Carter and rushed into the room and slammed the door shut. Unfortunately, now she was surrounded by mirrors. The guys had been doing an amazing job of making her more comfortable with her body, but seeing all these reflections was disheartening.

“I don’t think it’s going to fit,” Mila said, gripping the fabric in her hand.

“Is it too small or big?” the woman asked.

That wasn’t helpful. “It’s just not right.” There, maybe that would get her out of this. She opened the dressing room door only to have the woman crowd in with her.

“Here, let me see. Then I can recommend something that would be similar but…” her words trailed off as she realized the dress wasn’t even off the hanger. Her eyes turned sympathetic.

“Do you need a little help getting it on? These can be a little tricky because you have to get them over your head.”

“Um,” Mila tried to think of something, but her mind completely blanked. “I guess.”

“Go ahead and slip your top off,” the woman instructed, tugging the dress out of Mila’s hands. “Your boyfriend has a good eye. This peach color will complement your skin nicely.”

The moment Mila’s top was off, the woman lifted the dress and dropped it over her head. Then she helped Mila tug it into place.

“There, now you can undo your pants,” she said.

“I bet you can fit into anything here,” Mila muttered, reaching up under the dress to get to her jeans.

“I wish I could!” the woman said with a laugh. “I have broad shoulders but narrow hips, so a lot of the dresses here make me look like I have no curves at all. Trust me, guys like curves like yours. Oh, yeah, look at that!”

After dropping her pants, Mila looked up and saw what the woman was talking about. The dress framed her chest nicely but didn’t make her feel like she would pop out. The loose cap sleeves didn’t bite into her arms and the gentle gathering at the waist gave her a nice hourglass outline.

“You need to buy this!” the woman declared. “It’s perfect.”

“I want to see!” Carter called out. “Please!”

“Can I open the door?” the woman asked. “Let him see, I promise you look amazing.”

Mila nodded and the woman swung the door open. Carter appeared in her vision. His impatient expression melted into admiration.

“You’re always beautiful,” he declared. “This shows off your beauty even better. We have to buy it!”

“I agree!” the woman said, slipping out of the room. “I have a few more outfits you should try on. I’ll go get them.”

Mila shook her head. “I really shouldn’t get anything more.”

“Ignore her,” Carter said. His instruction wasn’t necessary, as the woman was already moving around the boutique gathering items.

“Let me buy you a few things,” Carter said, stepping closer. With her jeans pooled around her ankles, Mila couldn’t move. Carter got close, then leaned over until his face was right in front of hers. “Would you wear this dress out of the store?”

“I guess,” Mila said, unable to look away from Carter’s gaze. He tangled his fingers in her hair to hold her still.

“But leave the underwear with the pants,” he ordered.

Heat flashed through her body. “Okay.”

“Good girl,” he whispered, then kissed her. She melted into the kiss with a moan.

“Sir?” The woman’s voice broke them apart. Carter winked, then let go of her hair and walked out of the dressing room. He took a spot in front of the door so he would see her the moment the door opened. “I’ll be right here. Waiting.”

“Calm down, wolf,” the woman muttered as she brushed past him and into the dressing room. After closing the door, she faced Mila and rolled her eyes. “You’re lucky but also brave to mate with an alpha.”

“Mate with an alpha?” Mila repeated, her passion turning into anger. “What do you mean? I promise Carter isn’t one of those alpha podcast-bros. He’s sweet and respects me.”

The woman’s eyes went wide. “Oh no, I didn’t mean that. I, uh, used alpha in the true definition. Someone who is driven to look after the people around them. They tend to be overprotective sweethearts.”

Mila blinked. “Oh, in that case you’re totally right. He’s an alpha.”

The woman held up a lilac dress. “Let’s try this one on next!”

It was weird that the woman called Carter a wolf. Maybe it was his intense eyes or overt sexuality? Either way, it was a relief to change the subject.

She tried on half a dozen outfits and showed Carter each one. The woman, whose name was Kimber, had great taste and a good eye for what would be flattering and comfortable on Mila. Carter insisted on buying all the outfits.

She left wearing the peach dress with her old outfit in the bag along with the rest of the new ones.

Her underwear was in the bag also.

“Have you ever been to a See’s Candy?” Carter asked. They were now at an outdoor mall that was crowded and a little confusing.

“Never heard of them,” Mila said.

“Then we have to go in!” Carter declared, stopping them in front of a store. Looking through the glass front, Mila saw a long counter with a glass display full of chocolates piled on little pedestals. The women behind the counter were all wearing matching black and white uniforms.

“I’d love that!” Mila said.

Carter suddenly stopped in his tracks and scowled at something over her shoulder. “Stay here, I’ll be right back.”

“What—” she didn’t get to ask because Carter was already stepping around her and striding off. Despite his height, he’d disappeared into the crowd before she even turned around.

She stepped closer to the storefront to get out of the way of foot traffic and kept an anxious eye out for Carter. The days had been steadily getting warmer all week, and she was thankful for the sundress as she waited in the heat.

“Mila?”

Looking over, she found Brad striding toward her with an excited expression on his face. She had the urge to turn and run, but it was too late. Between one breath and the next, he was trying to hug her.

Eww!

“No!” she said sharply, pushing him away.

He gave her a hurt look. “Cupcake, you can’t still be angry. If you’d let me explain, you'd know that it was all a big mistake. You were the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Looking at him now that she was with Carter and Gio, she could see all the ways Brad didn’t hold up.

He was a handsome man, but he had cruel eyes and a smile that never seemed real.

His teeth were a little too bright and perfectly aligned.

His hair was flawlessly styled and his outfit looked casual, but she knew he would’ve put a lot of effort into matching everything.

In a word, he was fake. He’d always been fake, but she hadn’t seen it at first. It made her sad to realize that she wasn’t the first to fall for his facade. She probably wouldn’t be the last.

“You should get fixed,” she said.

He was in the middle of telling her how sad he was when those words popped out. “What?”

“You should be fixed, like a dog,” she said, warming to the theme. “You run around trying to hump everyone. Eventually, you might get some poor woman pregnant. If we can’t put you in a kennel, you should really get fixed.”

His jaw tightened. “Would that make you one of my bitches?”