Various States of Undress: Virginia (23 page)

“Fair enough.” Patrick reached over and clapped Dex on the shoulder. “Didn't meant to pry. It was nice to meet you.”

“Likewise.”

Patrick stood up and buttoned his suit coat. Dex did the same, and when Patrick shook his hand, he pulled Dex forward and whispered something to him. Then he turned around with a smile. “Well, honey, I need to get going before my aides start nagging me. A quick tour?”

“Sure.” Virginia got up and gestured toward the extra bedroom, pointing out Junior Mint, who lolled on the pillows. As she showed the rest of her apartment to her dad—being careful to spend very little time at the door of her own bedroom—she kept an eye on Dex. He glanced around uncomfortably but didn't move an inch. Not good. She was dying to know what her father had said to him, but now was so not the time to ask. After she led her father out in the hall, she raised her eyebrows. “What did you say to him?”

Patrick gave her a shit-eating grin. “Wouldn't you like to know?”

“Why do you think I asked?”

“How should I know? I don't know what goes on in that brilliant mind of yours.” He winked at her. “I love you, Virginia.”

“I love you too, Dad.” She wrapped her arms around him, suddenly not wanting him to go. He looked older every time she saw him—which wasn't as often as she'd like—and she knew she wouldn't see him that often as long as he was president. “Try to get some rest when you can.”

He chuckled softly. “Okay.” Then he raised a finger. “Oh. Almost forgot. Let me see if I can get this straight. Your mom told
me
to ask
you
to invite
Georgia
to New York for her spring break. Show her the sights, get her away from the textbooks. Can you spare some time in a couple of weeks?”

No. With the plans for Lilah's really starting to take shape, Virginia was going to be up to her eyeballs in racks of clothes by then, not to mention the photo shoot for the ad campaign. But she nodded. “I'd love to.”

“Good. Family comes first.” He kissed her on the forehead and walked down the hall, surrounded by agents. She watched until he'd stepped onto the elevator and then went back into her apartment, her vision blurred with tears. When she shut the door, she wiped at her eyes and walked straight to the sofa where Dex sat staring into space. She sank down next to him.

“I'm so sorry about that. What did he say to you?” she asked.

Dex glanced at her. “Never mind. What did he say to you?” He reached up to wipe her cheeks with his thumb.

She smiled. “It's not like that. He didn't make me cry. It's just . . . I don't see him very often, and when I do, he's so isolated, even though he's so visible. It's hard to explain.”

“You don't have to.” Dex took her hand and kissed it. “I can only imagine how surreal it must be. And here I was thinking what a surreal moment
I'd
just had.”

“You did great.” She leaned over to kiss him, but he moved away. “What?”

“Not just yet. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the whole experience.”

“Uh-oh. What did he say to you?”

Dex shook his head and gave her a nervous smile. “You're better off not knowing.”

“Oh really? You do understand that now I'm going to badger you every second of every day until you tell me?”

“You will, won't you?” Dex groaned. “Fine. But let me preface this by asking you not to scream. The last thing I want is to get mauled by Muscles and Silent.”

“Oookay.”

“Your dad said—he thinks that he likes me, but if I knock you up, he'll knock me down.”

Virginia's jaw dropped.

“Oh yes. He said it.” Dex put his hand over her mouth. “Don't worry. I'm very happy to comply with his wishes.”

“You better be,” she said and then moved his hand away. “Unless that means he scared you off.”

Dex laughed. “Sweetheart. I'd be dumb as shit not to be scared of him, but scared away from you? No way.”

“Good. Now how about that kiss?”

Dex leaned closer and slowly, thoroughly, kissed her senseless.

Chapter Twelve

A
S
D
EX SAT
at a round table covered with a white cloth, he fiddled with the heavy silverware in front of him and tried not to sigh. But he did check his watch again. Virginia was fifteen minutes late. He had said Tuesday night, hadn't he? Of course he had. But he hadn't seen her since yesterday because he'd taken the morning off today to go meet with Granddad. When he'd returned to the store right after lunch, she'd already left, and then when he'd called her this afternoon, she hadn't picked up. When he'd texted, she hadn't answered. Where the hell was she? Had something happened?

Under the table, his leg began bouncing, and he sighed, forcing it to be still. He wanted to calm down, but he had amazing news for her—news that could change their future. After he'd confessed to her about London, he'd felt a lot better, but after meeting her father, he'd felt a lot worse. The president had been intimidating in general, that was for sure, but the look in the man's eyes—that don't-fuck-around-with-my-daughter look—had really made Dex think. He didn't want to fuck around with her. He wanted to keep her. He'd promised Virginia that he'd trust his own intelligence to figure out the future, and an idea had quickly taken root.

He'd gone to his grandfather this morning to put that idea into action. Dex hadn't known what to expect, but after witnessing Granddad's reaction outside of Lilah's last week, he'd known that, where Lilah's was concerned, there was a crack in the old man's crusty exterior. Of all the things that Granddad had built from the ground up, that store was the one thing that he didn't want to see in the wrong hands. So Dex had point-blank asked him: When you're gone, do you trust me to take care of Lilah's? Granddad hadn't said anything for a bit, just stared out the window, but after a moment, he'd turned and looked at Dex. And then he'd said the one word that Dex had been aching to hear. Yes.

Dex had almost jumped out of his chair with joy, but he'd managed to be calm because his next question was a lot tougher: Will you sell me the store? That had been met with immediate suspicion, but Dex had calmly explained himself. He'd told Granddad that he'd fallen in love with the place and wanted to know it would be taken care of—on his own terms—after the grand reopening. He didn't want to have to worry about it while he was in London. The whole truth went unspoken because it had to. Dex wanted to buy Lilah's for Virginia. He wanted to offer it to her—as his commitment to the future they could have together and because under her guidance, it would continue to blossom and thrive.

His grandfather had folded his arms and stared out the window again. Dex had been pretty sure Granddad would do what he usually did—shake his head and tell Dex to get out. But he hadn't. He'd told Dex to focus on London, and, should Dex get the job, owning Lilah's would be part of the package.
Then
he'd turned with his typical, brittle smile and told Dex to get out.

That had been hours ago, and the only thing Dex wanted to do now was discuss the idea with Virginia. They could make it work, couldn't they? If she liked his plan. She could make Lilah's better and better while he was in London, and they could fly back and forth until they could be together in New York again, if she was willing. He wanted more than anything to show her that he was.

Glancing across the restaurant, Dex scanned the plate-glass windows for a familiar black SUV pulling up to the curb, but all he saw were parked cars and cabs whizzing by. Damn. Maybe he should call her again. Right as he picked up his phone, there was a commotion in the back of the dining room. He turned to look, and the worry he'd been holding in fell away because Virginia stood just outside the door to the kitchen, breathless and radiant in a sky-blue dress, Larry and Charlie behind her. Quickly, the agents moved to an empty table near the window, and Virginia walked toward Dex, a smile gracing her lovely face.

“I'm so sorry for being late. You texted me a billion times, I know. But I have a great excuse for not answering.”

Dex jumped up and pulled out a chair for her. “It's okay, but I was worried. Why did you come in through the kitchen? And why couldn't you answer?”

“I came in through the kitchen—which smells awesome by the way—because the paparazzi are trailing me. And I couldn't answer because I was in a meeting.” She waited until he'd seated himself opposite her, and then she leaned forward to take his hands. “A totally unexpected meeting.”

“I had a meeting today too, and I . . .” He trailed off, noting the eagerness in her eyes. “I can't wait to tell you about it, but you go first. Did you score a big designer collection?”

Virginia laughed. “You could say that.”

A waiter appeared to pour the champagne Dex had ordered. When he'd left, Virginia raised her glass. “What should we drink to?”

He smiled. “To you. And your successful experiment last week at Lilah's.” He touched his glass to hers. “And to the future.”

“Perfect.” She took a sip and set the glass to the side. “The future is what I wanted to talk about.”

“Me too.” As he anticipated telling her about the possibility of buying Lilah's, his smile got bigger. “So spill your news, sweetheart.”

“Okay. I was in the stockroom this morning, going over some orders with Ruston, and my phone rang with an unfamiliar number. That almost never happens because, you know, I have a super-secret phone.”

Dex nodded fondly. “The Fort Knox of phones.”

“So I answered it, and it was Perry Ellis.” She widened her eyes and looked at him expectantly.

“Isn't he . . .”

“Oh! Yes, he's dead. Yikes, I didn't mean—” She grimaced. “I'm just excited. What I meant to say is that the brand is interested in me. It's an American company, you know, and they want to design an entire line of fresh, American women's wear . . . around me.”

Dex stared at her and tried to form words, but the only ones he could force out of his mouth were the ones he was thinking. “What about being the face of Lilah's?”

She let go of his hands. “I'm still doing that, of course. This deal with Perry Ellis would be months from now. A year, maybe.” She frowned a little. “I'm not abandoning Lilah's. But just think! I'd be travelling too—all over the world—to fashion weeks and things like that. I mean, I could do that anyway, but as a celebrity attendee, not as someone who had her
own
fashion line. What do you think?”

What did he think? He was happy for her, and thrilled that she was so excited, but all the same, a thickness settled in his chest. If she took that opportunity, when could they be together? And if they stayed together, would they end up like a lot of other high-profile New York couples—barely seeing each other? “I—I'm proud of you, Virginia,” he finally said. It was true.

“Thanks. I told them I'd be in touch in a couple of months, but right now? It seems very promising.” Virginia looked down and toyed with her glass. “It seems like the perfect thing for me since you'll probably be in London after Lilah's opens. Once that store is transformed, I won't be needed as a full-time consultant.”

Dex's chest felt even tighter. If he didn't own Lilah's, what she said was the truth. “I'll always need you,” he murmured, and when she looked up with luminous eyes, he took a deep breath. “I can't predict what will happen, but I'll always need you.”

“Thanks,” she whispered. Then she gave him a small smile. “So what's your news?”

“I went to see my grandfather this morning.”

“Oh yeah? What happened?”

Dex opened his mouth, but nothing came out. How was he supposed to tell her that he was trying to buy Lilah's for her when she had just been given such an amazing opportunity? It would be asking her to choose. He realized something all of a sudden, and it hit him like a ton of bricks. He desperately wanted her to choose him but only because she was crazy about him, not because he used Lilah's as bait. What had he been thinking?

He cleared his throat. “It was a good meeting. He seems very positive about the store launch, and it's looking more and more like I'll get what I've been working for.” He couldn't bring himself to say the word “London.” That word was riddled with anxiety for him.

“Great!” Virginia's voice sounded forced as she took his hands again. “That is good news. See what happens when you trust yourself?”

Dex nodded slowly. “Should we order some dinner?”

“Yeah, I'm starving,” she answered quickly. “And while we eat, you can fill me in on what's happening with the ad campaign.”

“Perfect.” Dex winked at her, even though nothing was remotely perfect. He felt like he was on a precipice, not knowing what would be waiting for him should he choose to jump.

T
HE FOLLOWING
F
RIDAY
evening after Lilah's closed, Virginia stood in a dressing room holding out a sea-green dinner jacket. She shook it at Dex. “Put it on. It matches your eyes.”

“I don't care.” He backed out of the stall. “You got me into the skinny pants and the Euro-trash shoes. I'm not wearing that jacket too. It looks like an Easter egg exploded. In 1979. And then someone saved the scraps to make that thing.”

“Well, yeah. That's basically what happened, and it's called ironic retro fashion. It's fun. And it's also one of the items we're carrying at Lilah's in a few weeks.”

“Great. Let a hipster wear it.”

Virginia stared at him—at his folded arms and stubborn chin. She didn't have time for this battle tonight—they were going to be late to the prelaunch party if she couldn't wrestle him into the outfit she'd chosen. “Put. It. On.”