Page 17 of Something Real with the Sea Monster (Kraken Cove #3)

SEVENTEEN

Tegan

“Oh my god, look at this one!” I flap the hanger so the dress I just pulled off the rack at the local thrift store catches the light, setting off a shimmer of silky fabric. “It’s a Rebecca Vallance. You should try it on. It’s your size.”

Mia looks up from the rack of jeans she’s perusing and snorts. “Yeah right. That will cling to me in all the wrong places. You try it.”

I hold it against my body speculatively. I can already tell there’s not enough room in the chest, but it’s so beautiful. “Maybe I will. But only if you do too.”

Mia rolls her eyes, but she’s smiling. “I’ll make you a deal, since I know you want that one. You try it, and I’ll try on whatever else you pick out for me in the whole store.”

I waggle my eyebrows, which badly need plucking. God it’s been a long time since I’ve been to the salon. “Anything?”

“Anything!”

“Deal!” I’ve had my eye on a black bodycon dress that would look amazing on Mia. Quickly plucking it from the rack, I shove it toward her. “Here you go.”

She laughs. “Why do I feel like I just fell for your trap?”

“Ah, ah, no backing out now.”

We retreat to the two side-by-side changerooms, and I hurry to slip on the dress so I can enforce an actual proper try on of the dress I gave Mia.

I pause in the act of flinging open the curtain of my room to do just that when I catch sight of myself in the mirror.

This dress looks even better on. Its silky caramel fabric shows off every curve, and the cut is beautiful.

It doesn’t hang. Instead it hugs my figure and skims out over my hips with enough shape in the ass to give definition. Too bad I was right about my boobs.

With a sigh, I push the curtain aside, not caring if the lady at the counter cops an eyeful. “Have you got it on yet?”

Mia pulls her curtain aside, and right away I can tell I’ve lost this battle when I see the look on her face.

“Tegan, this isn’t a dress, it’s something that used to be a dress before it had an accident with a pair of scissors.

” She twists to show me the cut-out sections at both sides, and I look at the dress with fresh eyes.

Even though it’s a maxi, there’s nothing boring or modest about the way this shows off Mia’s body.

She looks amazing, but my friend would never.

I try anyway. “That looks so good.”

She brushes her hands down her sides. “I don’t think I could.” Glancing up, her gaze falls on the dress I have on. “Oh, that’s nice though. Do you like it?”

I shrug. “I’ll need a boob reduction to wear it, so it doesn’t matter. It is a shame though. Vallance...”

Mia’s hand drifts toward the fabric and she runs her fingertips over my hip. “It’s so pretty.”

“Try it.”

“No.”

“Go on. It’s just me and you, and I promise to drop it if you don’t like it.”

She sighs. “OK, but I don’t think it’ll look good on me. You should try this one.”

When we’ve swapped dresses across the top of the changerooms and are decent enough to step out from behind the curtain, we both freeze at the exact moment we see each other. “Oh my god! You have to buy it!” We both say at once.

Laughing, we admire each other, and I have to agree, these dresses are a better match for us.

The caramel dress has a cowl in front which accentuates Mia’s smaller chest and comes to mid-thigh on her, which I’m certain is just what it was designed to do.

And rather than clinging to her belly, it skims over the area and has the effect of lengthening her torso.

The black dress would have been too long on Mia. On me, with a pair of heels it will sit perfectly, and the cut outs are gorgeous.

“I’ve missed this. I miss shopping.” I sigh dramatically. “I miss Sydney.”

Mia gives me a rueful smile. “Ah, but you wouldn’t have been here to find the perfect dress if you’d stayed in Sydney. This one was fated to be yours.”

I roll my eyes. “The krakens have got to you. Fate this and fate that. You know that would be easier to swallow if there weren’t literally millions of dresses in Sydney, whereas here there’s only this one and one that doesn’t fit me.”

Mia shrugs. “Sometimes you only need one.”

I can’t help thinking about Jack and his fixation on the fated mates thing as we head back behind our curtains to get changed.

It really is a massive deal for him. I didn’t let myself think too carefully about it last night, but there’s a little part of me that wonders if we’re doing the right thing.

If I’m doing the right thing. Maybe it’s because the sex was so amazing.

In fact, it’s the kind of sex that usually has me growing feels when I promise myself not to.

Hell, I’m not even sure it truly compares with any sex I’ve had before, it was that good.

There just seems to be a connection between us.

Which all makes me wonder, will Jack get fixated on this—on us?

Will he regret it? I would never have thought about it this way, but he’s waited so long.

And now I’ve gone and taken something from him that I can’t give back.

Something he was saving for his fated mate.

He said he changed his mind, but what if he regrets that?

Over lunch at the Coral Breeze, I push my spoon through the milk froth on my cappuccino and try to find the right words to ask Mia something. “Mia?”

“Hmmm?” She looks up from her BLAT.

“You know all those guys I’m always whining about?”

“The fuckboys you usually date?”

“Yeah. What makes them fuckboys exactly? Indulge me for a minute. Let’s call it thinking out loud.”

She frowns. “Well, they never treat you right.”

“Yeah, but it’s more than that. If they were just assholes from the get-go, it would be easy to avoid them, right? But I keep falling for them.”

Mia tips her head to the side, considering. “Well, are they nice to you at first? They give you what you want?”

“Sometimes. Sort of. I guess they seem nice. And hot. OK, mostly hot. They sort of string me along, though. They give me just enough to make me think we could have something without ever actually saying that’s what they want.

They make me think they want a girlfriend when actually all they want is a convenient fuck. ”

She nods. “But when you try to have the conversation, they dodge it.”

“Yeah. Or they say what I want to hear.”

There’s a pause. I take a sip of my cappuccino. “Let’s say I was having casual sex with someone. Am I being a fuckboy if I know he wants more but I’m only willing to be casual?”

“Am I allowed to know who this hypothetical guy is?”

“No. Definitely not. Just answer the question because I think I know the answer, but now I kinda need to hear you say it out loud.”

“OK. Well, in this hypothetical situation, I’d say you’re not being a fuckboy because I know you, Tegan, and you’re just not.”

“OK, but why?”

“Well, because for one thing you never just say what people want to hear. You’re too honest for that.”

“And another?”

“Well, are you sure you only want casual?”

“Yes! I mean, look at me. I’m a mess. I need to get my shit together before I can even think about dating again. Besides, maybe I’m too selfish for a relationship. At least with this guy.”

Mia shakes her head. “Whatever you say, Teegs. But just for the record, selfish is the last word I would use to describe you.”

We finish our lunch in comfortable silence since I’m busy formulating a position on the whole fuckboy issue. I’ve known Mia too long for silence to feel weird, so I don’t bother filling it with small talk.

I think she’s right. I don’t lie. I usually can’t be bothered.

And I think people deserve the truth, good or bad.

I’ve certainly been honest with Jack. So I guess my conscience is clear on that front.

There’s still a weight resting on my shoulders, though.

So maybe I should just apply my usual strategy of being up front about how I’m feeling and clearing the air.

If he has any regrets, I can apologize and we can avoid making the problem worse.

Only the thought of never being with Jack again leaves the last few bites of my bacon and egg muffin dry and tasteless in my mouth and makes the last mouthful of coffee bitter.

How unfair would it be to have found something that good and never get to experience it again?

Maybe the best approach is to make sure I’m offering an actual lesson instead of just fucking him until my knees go weak, taking what I want from him. I decide right then and there to make the next time we meet way more focused.