Give in to Me (Heart of Stone #3)(19)
Author: K.M. Scott

“Okay. Give me half an hour and I’ll whip my head into shape. Wouldn’t want to take out your brand new girlfriend with her looking like a train wreck. What would people think?” I joked.

Thankfully, he said nothing since telling me I looked great in any way would have made him sound like a true boyfriend and simply being supportive would have made him like a girlfriend. Either way, it would have been weird.

“I’ll let Jensen know. Daryl was quite clear about that. For some reason, he seems to think that any man who’s supposed to be dating you wouldn’t drive.”

I had to laugh. Daryl had everything planned down to the car we’d be seen in. He was nothing if not thorough. “I’ll meet you at the garage in thirty then. I have to tell you, though, that I don’t know where Tristan buys his suits. He has a shopper do that for him, so I don’t know where to tell Jensen to take us.”

“No worries there either. Daryl already told me. You up for Gerard’s?”

I’d seen the store mentioned in magazines before, but I’d never been there. “I’m sure they have very nice men’s suits there. I wonder why Daryl chose that store? How much do you want to bet he’s already arranged for all eyes to be on you today?”

Gage chuckled. “I’d bet on it. No pressure, though, right? All we have to do is convince the entire world that you’d move on from someone like Tristan Stone to someone like me.”

I stopped in front of him, struck by how his voice dropped when he basically said that he wasn’t the kind of man someone like me would ever be with. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, the reality was that Gage was very much the kind of guy someone like me would go with. Tristan was the kind of man girls like me never ended up with.

Well, almost never.

“Don’t worry. Just promise me you won’t leave me standing in Gerard’s while you go off with some salesgirl who doesn’t look like a trainwreck.”

His mouth turned down in a frown, and I quickly realized I’d offended him by implying he wasn’t going to do his job. Touching his sleeve, I lightly squeezed his forearm. “I didn’t mean you would really do that. I know you take your job very seriously. I was just trying to say that it’s totally believable that the two of us would be together. I mean, you’re a good looking guy and I’m sure lots of women are attracted to you.”

I was rambling, but I didn’t want to chase yet another person away, even if my insult had been entirely unintentional.

He looked down at me, and I saw in those dark blue eyes that I hadn’t ruined everything. “It’s okay, Nina. No need to apologize. Thanks for the compliment.”

“I’m just glad you’re not mad. I’ll see you in thirty and we’ll head out.”

Gage stepped out of the dressing room in a dark grey suit and black dress shirt. I’d picked out a few combinations for him and this was by far the nicest looking. Much bigger than Tristan, he still wore a suit well, even if there was a lot more of him to fit inside one.

Standing stoically in front of the tri-fold mirror, he didn’t seem to know what to do with his hands suddenly, stuffing them into his pockets and then pulling them out to let them hang at his sides before he fiddled with his shirt collar. The salesperson, a silver-haired older man with a long face who’d introduced himself as Phillip and had an interesting way of slowly buzzing around the periphery while Gage stood admiring himself, made a cooing sound of appreciation behind me. I had to agree. The suit looked good on him.

“Well, how’s it feel?” I asked as Phillip swooped in to begin his job.

“It looks fantastic on you,” he beamed as he gently tugged on the sleeves near Gage’s shoulders. “Fits perfectly.”

Gage looked back at me in the mirror with a look of discomfort that made me laugh. Nearly twice the size of the salesman, he looked like he was under attack but didn’t know how to fend off the older man.

“Do you like it?”

He looked back at me and nodded. “It’s a nice suit.”

Phillip looked appalled at Gage’s tepid reaction to what was definitely more than a nice suit. Nice suits cost a couple hundred dollars. The one he wore at that moment came in at over a grand. A little more than just nice.

“I can tell by the look on your lady’s face that she likes it,” Phillip said in a singsong voice. “Whatever the occasion, this suit will be the right one.”

That same look of discomfort crossed Gage’s face at the salesman’s mention of me as his girlfriend. I merely smiled and played my part in Tristan’s charade, convincing enough it seemed for Phillip, who interpreted my smile as approval for the suit and scurried away mumbling about picking out the perfect tie for the occasion. That he didn’t know a thing about the so-called occasion didn’t seem to matter.

I took my place next to Gage in the mirror and whispered words of support. “The first test wasn’t so bad, was it? He seemed to believe we could be a couple.”

“He did. If he was paying attention to my face instead of the suit, he might not have, though. I need to work on that.”

“I thought you were experienced in this. Looks like you need to work on your gazing longingly technique.”

My joke made him laugh, easing the tension, thankfully. Phillip returned a moment later with a stunning black and turquoise swirl pattern tie that truly was the perfect tie for the suit. Placing it in my hand, he watched as I held it up against Gage’s chest, all the while staring into the mirror in an attempt to let him know now was the time to practice that gazing skill.

“Doesn’t it look great, dear?” I teased. “Perfect indeed.”

“Wonderful!” Extending his arm, Phillip pointed toward the register. “I’ll take you over here when you’re ready. Take your time.”

As he walked away, Gage looked at me in the mirror. “Laying it on a little thick there, weren’t you?”

“I was just practicing my doting girlfriend bit. Think I should dial it back a little?”

“Yeah. I think if we can find some happy medium between you and me, we might pull this off.”

“I don’t doubt it for a minute. Go get changed and I’ll deal with Phillip.”

Gage walked back into the dressing room while I paid for his new look, careful to drop heavy handed hints about how happy we were as a couple as the very nosy salesman hung on every word. Handing me back my credit card, he winked and leaned toward me. “You make a lovely couple.”