Catriona struggled with what to wear for her date with Avery. Butterflies flapped their wings so hard in her stomach that she didn’t know if she would be able to eat anything. Outfit after outfit was discarded onto the bed until the log cabin quilt her mother had made for her when she was ten all but disappeared.

Her bedroom door swung open, and she squealed, grabbing a top to cover herself as she only wore bra and panties. Zoe entered.

“Don’t you know how to knock?” Cat asked.

Zoe shrugged, ignoring the question, and pushed aside clothes to sit on the bed with a bounce. She gestured to the discarded outfits. “Hot date?”

She sure hoped so. “Maybe.”

“Are you seeing Dawson? Drew said he was sweet on you.”

“Yes.” She remembered Zoe and Drew huddling close in the corner last night at the Mystic Heart. “Is there anything between you and Drew?”

“He’s got a crush on me. Always has, but he’s just a boy.”

Drew might only be almost sixteen, but calling him a boy was like labeling a wolf a puppy. All the men in the Dawson family had alpha in their genes. Even Hank. He might be heading toward fifty, but he was aging like Pierce Bronson and Sean Connery with his salt and pepper hair and rugged face. Avery would age like his father, dashing and dangerous. But if Zoe thought Drew was just a boy, she wasn’t going to talk her out of seeing him that way.

“What do you want, Zoe?” she asked, shuffling through the hangers in her closet. She was running out of clothes.

“Just wanted to see what my sister was up to.”

Their dad nicknamed Zoe, Wild Card, and rightly so. She’d been a huge surprise to her parents, who thought they were finished having kids. And then Zoe continued to surprise at every turn. She was unpredictable, indecisive, and prone to irrational actions.

Catriona regarded her closet with dismay and gave up. “All right, what do I wear?”

“First, change your lingerie. With your love of fabrics, you must have something lacy.”

She’d specifically chosen the plain, white cotton bra and panties so that she wouldn’t sleep with Avery tonight.

“What I have on is fine.”

“For a nun, maybe. Oh, you don’t want to sleep with him. Got it. That’s a pity. The man is hot.”

“Hey, that’s my…date,” she finished lamely. What was Avery to her? He wasn’t her boyfriend or lover, and they’d already established that they weren’t friends. It was too early for labels anyway.

Zoe gracefully rose from the bed and ambled over to the dresser, rustling through Cat’s underwear drawer. “Here, wear these.”

“Black? I don’t think so.”

“Trust me. He doesn’t have to know what you have on under your clothes, but you will know, and it will make you feel sexy and powerful.”

She was right. “And you know this how?”

“Just because I’m the youngest doesn’t make me a child. I’m all grown up.”

Catriona narrowed her eyes. “Just how grown up?”

Zoe gave her a saucy grin. “Grown up enough to know that you’re acting as if this is your first time. I’m sure it isn’t, and if it is, why?”

Cat grabbed the lingerie out of Zoe’s hand and quickly changed into the delicate strips of black lace. “It’s not my first time, and tonight is not going to be another time either.” But it could be her first time with Avery. Goose bumps erupted on her skin when she caught her full-length reflection in the mirror. The black lingerie turned her skin to cream. She looked sexy and daring in the lacy bits of fabric. Just the thought of Avery seeing her like this had her second guessing wearing the matching set. She should put the plain cotton on again, because she really wanted Avery to see her in the black lace, and it was too soon for that.

“You look like a Victoria Secret model. Now what are you going to wear over it? Where did he say he was taking you?”

“He didn’t.” Which was one of the reasons she couldn’t settle on any one outfit. “He just said to be comfortable.”

“That could mean sweats and a t-shirt,” Zoe said. “Don’t guys know anything?”

Apparently not. “Is it still snowing?” Maybe she should just put on a pair of jeans and a sweater.

“No, it stopped a little while ago. Here, wear this.” Zoe pulled out a form-fitting knit dress.

“No, that’s too much.”

“And you don’t want him to know you’re making an effort?”

“Yes, no. Crap.” She raked a hand through her hair. She was acting like this was her first date. She grabbed a pair of straight-legged, black jeans that shaped her butt nicely.

“If you’re going to wear those, I have the perfect top for you to pair it with. Be right back.” Zoe ran for her room, leaving the door wide open, and then rushed back with a ruby red knit top with…wings?

“Don’t knock it until you see it on. Here.” Zoe helped her into it. The length of fabric that Cat had mistaken for wings wrapped around her waist and tied in a knot at the side. She looked stylish, sexy, and yet comfortable.

“There,” Zoe said. “You look perfect. I’d pair this with drop earring and a necklace long enough to rest in your cleavage. It will also have his eyes traveling there like they are following an arrow.”

She pulled on the neckline. The top was low cut and she’d have to watch for it gapping open.

“Don’t fidget. If the top gaps opens, it will give him a peek of the black lace of your bra and drive him insane with desire.”

Did she want Avery driven insane with desire? A smile tilted her lips. Of course she did. Call it payback since the man did the same to her with just a touch.

“Thanks, Zoe. You have a knack for this. You might want to consider going into fashion.”

“I was going to talk to you about that actually. Would you consider listening to a business proposal? Dad mentioned you might be looking for an employee to help out with the shop, and I have some ideas.”

Dang it. Why did he have to go and do that? She’d told him she wasn’t interested in hiring Zoe or anyone right now.

“Can we discuss it later?” She needed to get a move on as Avery had called and asked her to meet him at the Pump House. At first, she’d been a little put out that he wasn’t picking her up at home like any proper beau. But then, knowing she had her own vehicle for a getaway in case she needed it helped her get over that quick enough.

“Sure,” Zoe said. “I need to iron out some details on my plan anyway.”

“Sounds good. Thanks, Zoe, for your help tonight.”

“One more thing before you go,” Zoe said as Cat slipped into tall boots. “Do you have protection? If not, I have some condoms in my purse.”

Her baby sister carried condoms in her purse?

“I’m not sleeping with him, so it doesn’t matter.”

“A woman should always be prepared for any contingency, and not leave it up to the man to make sure you’re covered.”

When had Zoe grown up?

“Okay, I got it.”

“You want the condoms then?”

“No. I said I wasn’t sleeping with him.”

“Right.”

Cat hated how Zoe dragged out the word in a disbelieving tone. But then Cat didn’t know if she believed it herself.