“I don’t have secrets,” Emily objected, and Ava let out one of her full-throated laughs.
“As if, darling, as if.”
“That you know of,” Emily amended and Ava just smiled.
“You keep thinking that, then. I’ll pour the gin.”
Emily watched, bemused, as Ava marched over to the kitchen and did just that. “You do have ice cubes, I hope?” she tossed over her shoulder as she moved to the freezer. “Ah, I knew you would. And tonic water, too! You’re my kind of girl.”
Still speechless, Emily accepted a gin and tonic from Ava and took a sip, wincing a little at the tart taste of the gin. Ava had made it rather strong.
“No point in doing it otherwise,” Ava said, and Emily nearly spluttered her gin.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?” Ava asked innocently.
“Read my mind.”
“It’s an open book. Every emotion is on your face. Now come on. Upstairs so we can get you ready for this date, because I am not having you looking like you’re heading into the office.”
And without further ado, Ava picked up the hanging bag of clothes she’d brought with her and headed upstairs.
“Wait a second,” Emily protested. “Ava, you can’t just…”
“I already took my shoes off at the door,” Ava said patiently. “I figured you’d have a thing about that. And I won’t touch anything you don’t want me to, or mess anything up, or heaven forbid, put anything out of alignment.”
Emily, halfway to the stairs, stopped and stared. Blinked a bit. “Wait…what?”
“You’re OCD. I get it.” Ava shrugged. “We’ve all got our quirks, haven’t we? I know I have mine.”
“But…” Of course, Emily knew she had obsessive-compulsive tendencies. When you ordered your spices alphabetically, when you deep cleaned on a daily basis, when you had to have your shoes lined up precisely half an inch apart and perfectly parallel…well, yes, you knew. But she hadn’t realised other people had. She’d always tried to hide it. And yet here Ava was, stating it as fact, and not a terribly important one at that. “How did you know?” she asked.
“How did I know? Well, the way you lined your knife and fork up by your plate when you were having dinner at ours might have been a clue. Or how you ate your food—so precisely! Everything cut into perfect squares. Or the fact that I’ve seen you put hand sanitiser on half a dozen times every time I see you.”
And here Emily had thought she’d been discreet.
“The kitten is a surprise,” Ava continued, nodding at the fluff ball curled up in his bed, sleeping peacefully. “It’s nice to know you’re not entirely predictable.”
“Ouch.”
“I’m teasing. Sort of.” Ava grinned. “Now drink your gin and come upstairs so we can turn you into the knockout babe you know you want to be.”
Well, there wasn’t much she could say to that, was there? Already her three sips of gin had mellowed her considerably. And so Emily took another sip, downing half the glass, and headed upstairs.
As she came into the bedroom, Ava had already unzipped the hanging bag and was drawing out the most ridiculous and gorgeous dresses Emily had ever seen.
“I can’t wear any of those,” she declared and Ava gave her a rather beady look.
“Can’t or won’t?”
“Both.” Emily nodded to a cocktail dress in ruby satin. “That’s far too dressy. And I’d look like—a like a high-priced hooker!”
“Not a bad look, in my opinion,” Ava mused. “And with a cute little cardigan, it would be fine. But the red might be a bit much on you.” She reached for a dress in a lovely, soft blue grey. “What about this one? It will make your eyes pop.”
The dress was more modest than the ruby one, but still far sexier than anything Emily had ever owned. Besides a very boring LBD for work functions, everything she owned came in two pieces or twin sets. Fashionable, but functional.
“I don’t know,” she answered hesitantly. “To tell you the truth, I thought it would be a bit more of a casual affair…”
“You don’t do casual,” Ava pointed out. “Not like other people, anyway. Do you even own a pair of jeans? Try it on.” She held out the dress and after a moment, feeling as if she had suddenly started to inhabit someone else’s life, someone else’s body, Emily took it. She drank the rest of the gin, her head swirling, as she went into the bathroom and started to undress.
This was crazy. She never did stuff like this. She never had people to do it with. And yet here she was, fingers fumbling, Ava humming in her bedroom. What was happening to her?
She shrugged out of her work clothes, folding her skirt and top as a matter of necessity as well as habit, before slipping on the dress. It was a soft knitted fabric that slid sensuously across Emily’s skin and clung to what curves she had. When she looked in the mirror, she swallowed hard, because already she was looking like someone else. She was starting to feel like someone else, as well.
Ava rapped on the door. “All right in there?”
“Yes…”
“Come out and show me, then.”
With one hand pressed to her stomach to steady her nerves—as well as the gin—Emily opened the door. Ava’s eyes brightened as she surveyed her appearance, her lips pursed.
“Very nice. Understated but definitely sexy. Yes.”
“I don’t know if—”
“But you need a belt.” Ava ignored her hesitant objection as she riffled through her bag and came out with a black patent-leather belt with an ornate gold clasp. “Let’s try this.” She slipped it around Emily’s waist before she could protest, giving her a quick smile as she did. “This is going to be fab, Emily. Really. Especially when we do your hair and make-up.”
“Hair and make-up?” Emily could not keep the alarm from her voice.
“Of course. Can’t have one without the other, can we?”
“I think this might be overkill,” Emily said weakly. “My make-up is usually quite understated, and I don’t want to give
