We followed her through a large, posh room to a private room near the back. She waved for us to be seated on the sleek couches.
“Please help yourself to macaroons and champagne while I get Isabelle situated,” Sara offered. “Isabelle, follow me please.”
I got up and went with her. She led me to a spacious dressing room.
Hanging on the wall was a dress. The dress. Stepping over to it, I ran one fingertip down the skirt. Butterflies swarmed my stomach. I was so nervous. When I’d seen the drawn design for this dress, I’d fallen in love. On paper it was definitely me. But I’d talked myself out of it when I’d seen what the price was going to be. I hadn’t figured on spending that much on a dress, no matter how perfect. Dawson had insisted that I not worry about the cost, but I just couldn’t justify the expense. But now that I had extra cash thanks to my jackpot last night, the dream was possible. But what if it wasn’t the perfect dress when I put it on? I’d be heartbroken.
Behind me, Sara cleared her throat. “Bianca gave me your measurements when she called. So I have the right undergarments for you.” She held up fancy looking bra. “You can take off everything but your underwear. Then we’ll get you in the dress and see if it’s the one.”
“OK. But I’m not sure I can figure out that strange looking bra,” I said. It looked like it should come with a manual.
“This bra can be adjusted to many forms. Honestly, it may be the only bra you’ll ever need with formal wear ever again unless you would need to wear a dress without a back at all.” She turned her back to give me some privacy as I undressed. During my illness, I’d been poked and prodded by so many different doctors that I’d lost some of my sense of modesty. It was still odd to strip down in front of a stranger without a bunch of official letters accompanying her name.
With my arms crossed over my naked breasts, I said, “I’m ready.”
She spun toward me and held out the garment. I dropped my arms and allowed her to wrap the satin undergarment around me. “Hold it up in the front,” she said as she stepped behind me.
It took her a few moments to fasten all the hooks. She walked a circle around me, examining the way the garment fit. Without speaking, she reached her hand into the front of the bra and lifted my left boob up. She repeated the process on the other side. The result was deeper cleavage. “Perfect. Whoever helps you dress on your wedding day may need to adjust you like I just did.”
I swallowed hard and said, “OK.” I guessed Brittany and I were going to get even closer as friends.
“I didn’t really talk with Bianca about your shoes. But you’ll need some heel. Of course, we’ll alter the hemline of the dress if you decide to go with less heel than I have here. But at this dress’s current length, this is the height you need.” She held out a shoe box to me.
I sat in the chair in the corner and slipped on the heels. They were definitely a little taller and a lot thinner than what I would normally pick.
Once I stood back up, Sarah held open the dress for me to step into. Cautiously, I did. She pulled the fabric up my body until it was properly covering me. Time froze as I stared down at the iridescent butterflies dotting the skirt of the dress. I hadn’t even realized that Sarah was done zipping and fastening the buttons until she was back in front of me.
“Ready to go have a look?”
I nodded anxiously. There were no mirrors in the dressing room.
She led me back to where the girls waited. I held my breath as I waited to see what they would say.
For several long moments no one said anything, and my heart plummeted.
“Is it that bad?” I whispered.
Britt got to her feet and approached me. She grasped my trembling hands and said, “It’s perfect. I don’t think there’s ever been a dress more perfect for you. Come see for yourself.” She tugged my hand, drawing me to the raised platform surrounded by mirrors.
I kept my gaze on the white carpeting the whole time. With Brittany’s assistance, I stepped up onto the platform. I lifted my head but closed my eyes. My hands ran nervously over the tulle covered skirt. Drawing in a deep breath, I filled my lungs then opened my eyes.
Tears filled my eyes. It was perfect. This was the dress. The iridescent butterflies I’d admired moments ago shimmered beneath the overhead lights as they danced in and out of the streaks of color forming a rainbow hidden under the tulle skirt.
“Oh, honey,” my mom’s voice sounded in the room, causing me to turn.
Cleo was holding up my phone with my mom on video chat. I reached for the phone.
“Thank you,” I mouthed to Cleo then turned my attention to Mom.
“Hi, Mom. I’m sorry to be here without you.” A tear escaped, running down my cheek.
“Nonsense. The appointment was last minute, and there was no way you could turn down the opportunity to see this one of a kind dress in person. Besides, I’m here. The miracle of technology and all. Now dry your tears and let someone do a walk around with your phone so I can see the full effect,” she demanded, tears shimmering in her eyes as well.
Britt took my phone then did a slow walk around me, showing Mom every angle. When she was back in front of me, Britt handed me the phone back.
“What do you think, Mom?”
“It’s the one. But I think you already know that.” She gave me a wide smile.
I glanced over at my friends. They were all nodding in agreement.
“Come on, Izzy. Say yes to the dress,” Cleo said, clapping her hands.
Inhaling deeply, I nodded. “Yes,” I squealed. “This is it.”
I turned my attention back to Mom. “I’m glad they thought to call you. I love you.”
“Love you too, sweetheart. I’ll talk to you later.”
Sara came back over to me. “Now let’s figure out what alterations we need to make. You girls can have a look around the store if you’d like. Maybe you’ll find wedding dresses for yourself,” she said.
“Go ahead, Sky. I know your date is a while off, but it can’t hurt to see what you might like,” I said, eager to spread the wedding dress good luck to another bride-to-be.
“I should have a look too,” Gina said, hopping to her feet and leading the way to the showroom.
Britt stayed with me as Sara began pinning the back then marking the hem. “I’m guessing you would prefer not to wear five-inch heels on your wedding day?” she said with a chuckle.
“You’ve got that right. Three is about all I feel comfortable in without killing myself.”
“We can work with that.” She moved around the platform on her knees, making a line with straight pins.
After we left Bridal Couture, we went to Celebrate, another bridal shop. With my dress officially ordered, my color scheme had been finalized. The girls could start selecting bridesmaids’ dresses. I’d decided each girl would wear a different color. Collectively they’d selected floor-length, chiffon dresses colored in an ombre style with rich color fading to white along the hemline. My attendants would form a visible rainbow with Marybeth, my flower girl, in purple, Sydney, my junior bridesmaid in pink, Cleo in red, Sky in yellow, Tansy in green and Brittany in blue.
Now we were seated around a big table at Fú about to have a late lunch.
“I love the colors you’ve picked for the wedding,” Cleo said.
“Aren’t they a little bright for a winter wedding?” Gina asked, not lifting her head from her menu.
“I worried about that myself. But it’s more important to me that the wedding feels like me. I only plan to do this once. I want it to fit us,” I said with a shrug, perusing the menu myself.
“In Hollywood you can get away with pretty much whatever fashion decision you want. Have you seen what people wear on the red carpet? No one is going to care that you’re using vibrant colors for a winter wedding,” Tansy said, defending my choice.
“So, did you have fun looking at wedding dresses,” I asked Gina.
“Yeah. There was one that I could total
ly see myself tying the knot in. I took a picture of it so I can show Maddox.”
“Aren’t you worried about that being bad luck?” Sky asked.
“I saw you taking a picture of yourself in that dress you were mooning over. Aren’t you going to show it to Jarrod?” Gina asked, turning the tables on Sky.
“Definitely not. Especially since I could never afford that dress on a kindergarten teacher’s salary,” Sky answered with a shrug. “I just wanted to remember the style.”
A server appeared, stopping the current conversation.
After we’d all ordered, Britt asked, “So how was Parrot Cay for your birthday?”
“Yeah, did you get sand in unmentionable places?” Cleo teased.
“Oh, my gosh. I don’t know how they managed to get that photo of us. It was the only time we visited a public beach while we were there. Thank God we saved the really personal stuff for when we were on our private beach. Anyway, Turks and Caicos was amazing. We had a blast. It definitely gets my vote for our honeymoon. But Dawson is keeping his ideas about that under wraps,” I said.
“I’d pick Paris for my honeymoon,” Gina said. “I heard it’s so romantic.”
“It really is,” Tansy said.
“Did you find a Frenchman while the band toured Paris?” Cleo asked.
“Not me. But Mireille did. A designer. And I seem to remember that Dawson and Izzy made the most of the city of love,” Tansy said with a chuckle.
I blushed, recalling how I’d surprised Dawson there for Christmas. I’d wrapped my body in yards and yards of red ribbon as his present. It turned out to be a gift for both of us.
I was saved from further discussion by the arrival of our food. Conversation drifted to mundane topics as we ate.
Dawson
Luca stood and shook each of our hands.
“Hate I couldn’t meet you in person, Brooks,” he said turning his attention to the large screen on the wall where Brooks had video conferenced in.
“You’ll be sick of me by the time our residency is over,” Brooks joked, the humor not reaching his eyes, which were marred with dark smudges beneath them.
“Nah. The board here at Hard Rock has been anxious to feature you guys for a long time now. I’m just glad we were able to put together an enticing enough package for you to agree to a year long residency. June can’t get here soon enough for us,” Luca said.
“We’re looking forward to it, man,” I said, shaking his hand once more.
He walked out, leaving just the LO family to talk things out.
“I just want to make sure everyone is truly OK with this before the final paperwork is drawn up,” I said, looking at each guy. “You all cool with making Vegas our home for a year?”
“Hell yeah,” Jett and Wilder said in unison.
“I’m in,” Brooks said.
Maddox hesitated briefly before saying, “Of course. It beats a year long tour right now.” He nodded as if convincing himself.
“We all need to check our personal calendars and compile a list of dates we each need time off for family affairs, birthdays, anniversaries, whatever. We’ll get Rayne to pull together any dates for premiers, award shows and other industry things we need to be available for. Lila can combine everything so that Luca doesn’t book shows when we need to be off,” I said.
“It seemed like they were willing to be pretty flexible with our schedule so long as we commit to twelve shows per month for nine of the months of our residency. The other three months they wanted a commitment of what, six shows?” Brooks asked, leaning back in his chair like he was exhausted.
“Yeah,” Wilder said. “I think those terms are more than fair.”
“I agree,” I chimed in.
“We’ll need to figure out what support staff of ours we need to have onsite in Vegas with us and how often,” Maddox said practically.
“We have time to work all that out. For now, let’s go enjoy the rest of our Vegas vacation,” Wilder suggested as he scooted his chair back. “Later, man.” He threw up his hand in Brooks’s direction.
“See you soon,” Maddox said to Brooks as he followed Wilder out the door.
“We miss you here, dude,” Jett said. “Sin City just isn’t the same without you.”
“I’d rather be there with you guys. Believe me.” Brooks gave Jett a salute before Jett left me alone with my best friend.
“Are you OK?” I asked with a frown. “You look exhausted.”
“I’m fine. Just jet lagged and not on the right time schedule for Mom. So, are the girls having fun?” Brooks asked, changing the subject.
With a sigh, I decided to let it go for now. “Izzy carried them dress shopping for the wedding today. We all went to Vickie’s for dinner last night. It was … interesting. Seems Sky is engaged.”
“How’d Maddox take that?” Brooks leaned forward, lacing his fingers together.
“Odd,” I answered, chewing on my lip. “But even odder was Gina talking about marriage.”
“What?” His eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“Yeah. I don’t know what that was about. But I never got that kind of vibe from her.”
“Me neither. Cleo and Tansy staying out of trouble?” he asked.
“They had a blast at the casino last night. I think they didn’t lose too bad. Izzy won on a slot machine. And Britt raked in the dough playing Texas Hold ‘em. Wilder seemed to be her good luck charm. It’s a different role for him. Normally, he’s the one at the table, going all in with some lady luck hanging over his shoulder.” I laughed shaking my head. “But seriously, we do miss having you here.”
He inhaled deeply. “I know.”
“When do you think you’ll be back home?” I asked.
“Maybe by the time you guys get back. If not, next week for sure.”
Someone called his name in the distance.
He got to his feet. “I gotta go, man. Talk soon.”
“Take care.” And I really prayed he would.
With a heavy heart, I made my way down the hall to mine and Izzy’s suite.
As I unlocked our door, my phone chimed with a group message from my girl.
Izzy: The entire group has tickets to a show tonight. It starts at 7:30. Bus leaves at 6:30.
Izzy: Don’t be late.
Wilder: What show?
Izzy: It’s a surprise. Dress casual.
No lights were on in the front of the suite. Izzy was probably still out. I tried to rein in my disappointment at not finding her as soon as I walked in. Now that she was back in my life, I wasn’t sure how I managed to breathe without her.
Actually, I didn’t do a very good job existing while we were apart.
She was the high that sent me soaring when I was already happy. And she was the balm to soothe my soul when the world got heavy. I needed her for both at the moment. Hopefully, she’d finish up shopping with the girls soon.
I trudged into our bedroom and tossed my room key on the dresser. Clothes littered the floor. I glanced up, and there like an angelic siren was Izzy, soaking in the hot tub with her sketch pad. The pad rested on the tiled edge of the tub. With pencils sticking out of her messy bun, she leaned over the book, the pencil in her hand flying across the page. The only flesh I could see was the arch of her neck and a few inches of her back. The rest of her perfection was hidden by the bubbling water.
I didn’t need to see more. Every cell in my body was engrained with the vision of her. And that memory was always enough to make my body stand at attention.
She was lost to her vision, her art and hadn’t noticed me yet. Hastily, I yanked off my shirt and shoved down my jeans.
Once I was as bare as she was, I shuffled to the bathroom. Leaning against the doorframe, I took a few more moments to appreciate the view.
“You planning to gawk at me all afternoon or are you going to join me?” Izzy asked without lifting her gaze from the masterpiece she was creating.
“I didn’t think you’d seen me. I thoug
ht I was looking my fill in secret,” I said, shifting farther into the room.
“I don’t have to see you with my eyes to know you’re here. I see you with my heart. Always.” She tossed the sketch pad away from the tub. Her pencil quickly followed.
“What was inspiring you this afternoon?” I asked since I hadn’t taken my eyes off her long enough to actually see what she was creating.
She turned to face me fully. “Originally the marriage between nature and civilization as illustrated by the mountains and sky just beyond all this manmade chaos.” She waved at the view beyond the glass. “But it seems that my most favorite inspiration has usurped the creations of God and man.”
Moving to the center of the tub, she stared at me. Her gaze perused my body from my bare feet, up my legs, to my aching cock which I gave a couple of strokes just for her. She licked her lips as her eyes took in the rest of me, finally meeting my own heated stare.
“Technically, I’m a creation of God. He made me. Made you. Made you for me.” Each statement of fact was punctuated with a slide of my hand against the part of me that ached for relief the most.
“You’re right. And such a perfect creation you are. We are.” She stood. Droplets of water streamed down over her shoulders to her breasts as her form rose from the swirling water. What I wouldn’t give to be just one of those beads of water.
Unable to wait any longer, I crossed the last few feet to the edge of the tub, then stepped down into the welcoming embrace of water and Izzy.
Our bodies barely brushed against each other as we stared into each other’s eyes. With the movement of the water, I shouldn’t have been able to detect the soft flick of her skin against mine, her fingers twitching against my torso, her toes wiggling alongside mine. None of it should have been perceptible. But my body had always been trained on hers. The years together, then apart, and now months with the promise of forever had made that sense of her so much stronger. Each passing moment loving her honed my skills. I was completely mesmerized by her.
With wet fingers, I cupped her cheek, tracing my thumb across her lower lip. My other hand reached up to a colored pencil sticking out of her messy blue locks. I held it up so she could see it. I rubbed her mouth again.
Lyrical Odyssey Rock Star Series: Box Set 1 Page 86