Page 135 of Slumming It

"No, you were wide awake." His eyes held a hint of mischief. "What, you don't remember?"

"Oh, I'm pretty sure I'd rememberthis." I snuck another quick glance at the clothes. "And whenwasthis exactly?"

"Yesterday."

From start to finish, yesterday had been a wild ride from one extreme to the next. First, we'd had that awful argument outside the pancake house, but then later on, we'd had that wonderful dinner, where Reese had explained how he planned to – inhiswords – make it right.

Was this part of it?

If so, it still didn't solve the mystery of when I had supposedly asked for a whole boutique's worth of new clothing, unless…maybe the clothesweren'tnew? Maybe they had belonged to somebody else?

I suddenly recalled that his last girlfriend, Cassandra Bloom, was a popular fashion icon known for never wearing the same outfit twice.

Maybe these were her cast-offs?I looked again.But no.From what I could see, everything still had the tags attached.

I looked back to Reese and searched his face for clues.What exactly was I missing?

He smiled. "You said you would consult on the properties only if you got to pick your own clothes." He flicked his head toward the suite's interior. "So get picking."

"But I meant my own clothes. I never meant foryouto provide them."

His tone grew teasing. "Nowyou tell me."

"Oh, come on," I laughed. "You knew exactly what I meant." And now I didn't know what to do. Whatever this was, part of me felt like I should refuse. But theotherpart imagined how much effort must have gone into creating such a thoughtful surprise.

This posed an obvious question. How thoughtless wouldIbe to refuse?

I turned to stare at the dazzling selection. I didn't want to be greedy, so maybe I'd just pick a single item from each category – like a single dress and a single shirt – and, holy hell…were those shoe boxes in the far corner?

I was still gawking when Reese said, "But if I were you, I'd pick them all."

I gave a hard swallow. "All?"

In my whole life, I'd never had anything like this happen before. It's not like I'd been poor growing up. We always had enough food on the table, and I did get at least one or two new outfits for the beginning of every school-year. But I had never, ever been showered with this kind of abundance – even if there was some hidden catch that I was somehow missing.

Now I hardly knew what to say. I turned back to Reese, and the words started tumbling out on their own. "Do you need me to pay you back? Or maybe they're just mine to borrow? Either way, that's really…"

He held up a hand. "Don't say it."

"Say what?"

"Nice." He gave me a wry smile. "I keep reminding you that I'm not."

"Oh yeah?" I laughed. "Then what youreallyare is a giant fibber."

Again, his tone grew teasing. "Oh, am I?"

"Definitely. But seriously, this is way too much, even if they're just loaners."

"They're not loaners," he said. "What, you think I want them back?"

"Well…I just don't want to assume…"

"Assume all you want," he laughed. "Hey, they're not gonna fitme."

The thought was ridiculous, but I had to be practical. "Well, they might not fitmeeither."

"Oh, they'll fit," he said. "And I've got a seamstress coming later this week to adjust any that don't."