The excitement continued at the hotel after we all checked in. Helena booted the guys out of the suite Adam and I were staying in, telling them we needed private girl time in order to get ready for the night. After they were gone, I poured the slinky silver gown from Adam over my head. After I shimmied and straightened, Helena gave me a thumbs-up. And then she insisted on styling my hair. “Such a pretty color, Maddy,” she told me as she swept up my long, honey-brown locks and pinned them on my head.
My hair looked really good when she was finished, so I thanked her as I started to dab powder on my nose. “No, no, no,” she said, clucking and shaking her head. “You need more makeup than that.” She picked up a bottle of foundation, wiped the powder from my nose with her finger. “Here, let me.”
Helena was absolutely gorgeous, and her makeup was always exquisite, so I felt comfortable letting her work her magic. I handed over my makeup bag, and fifteen minutes later she’d turned me into a sultry starlet. Helena had somehow managed—with lots of dark eyeliner and a careful application of a colorful palette of shadows—to make my boring, hazel eyes really pop. For the first time in a long time, the green appeared more prominent than the ho-hum brown I was used to seeing. And my skin looked all dewy and fresh, a hint of color brightening my cheeks. She’d even made my lips appear plumper.
“Wow…is this really me?” I asked as I twisted and turned in front of a full-length mirror on the wall.
“It’s really you, Maddy,” Helena replied, laughing. “Now it’s time for you to wow Adam.”
And wow I did. Helena phoned down to her and Nate’s room to tell the boys they could return. When we heard them come in, she had me wait in the bedroom, signaling for me to emerge at just the right moment. The timing was perfect, and the look on Adam’s face when he saw me was truly priceless. I finally felt like I could hold a candle to all the incredibly beautiful women Adam had dated in the past. It didn’t matter that he told me all the time how pretty I was. There was still an insecure part of me that sometimes whispered that I didn’t measure up, that Adam would someday grow bored and leave me. But that voice was silenced tonight, I finally felt fully confident.
Good thing, too, because walking into the party was like attending a Hollywood red-carpet event, complete with blinding flashes from throngs of photographers. Apparently Trina and Walker’s party was a society-page-worthy event down here in Boston. The men all wore tuxes, like I expected, and the women had on gowns as lovely as mine. Everywhere I looked there were sequins, furs, and gigantic jewels.
As we walked with the crowd, a frigid wind blew off the Charles River. I clutched my wrap tightly to my body. Adam, noticing my slight shiver, whisked me to the front of the line, away from the clicking cameras and into a festively decorated ballroom.
Nate and Helena had gotten ahead of us, and we met up with them now under an archway. A worker appeared and led us to a table. Shiny bits of confetti lay sprinkled on the white tablecloth, and springy coils of colorful ribbons were entwined with the stems of the flutes, flutes awaiting the midnight pour of champagne.
We were among the early couples to be seated, and a lone waiter scurried from table to table taking drink orders. Helena wanted to dance, but the band was still just setting up. She huffed and took out her phone. “Let’s take some pictures then.”
“Babe, we came in early to escape the blinding flashes, not to re-create the experience,” Nate teased.
Helena responded by snapping a close-up shot of Nate, full flash. “Quit complaining, gorgeous.” She laughed and then proceeded to take a succession of snapshots of Nate while he playfully fended her off.
It was heartening to see Helena so happy, not troubled like before. You could tell she and Nate were still very much in love. The glow they brought out in each other made them all the more striking (as if that were even possible) as a couple. Helena’s enviable figure was on full display in an ice-blue sequined gown and silver heels. Nate wore a black tux, a red handkerchief tucked neatly into the pocket. His dark eyes and skin were a perfect contrast to Helena’s flaxen hair and pale complexion. Together they were fire and ice.
“Speaking of gorgeous,” Adam said softly, just to me. He leaned in until his lips were brushing my ear. “You look ravishing tonight, my love.”
Oh, I loved when Adam turned on the seduction; he was just so damn good at it. He busied himself with trailing warm and lazy kisses along my neck. Shivers ran down my spine. I was having a difficult time keeping my thoughts in order…or remotely clean.
Really, I had been from the moment I first laid eyes on Adam in his oh-so-perfect-fitting tux. And now, with his seductive kisses, it was becoming damn near impossible to think about anything other than getting Adam alone and jumping him. “Adam,” I said in a ridiculously breathy voice, “you’re going to have to stop.”
He paused at my collarbone. “Why?”
My words may have said stop, but my body screamed don’t. I tilted my head to give him better access, and Adam scooted his chair closer, smiled against my skin. I took a peek at Helena and Nate to see if they were appalled by our PDA, but they were having a lusty little moment of their own. Something was definitely in the air.
The ballroom, though, was filling, so I had no choice but to say, “Seriously, Adam, I think we better slow it down. Or else these
