Chapter Ten

Penny

Waking up on Sunday was a lot easier knowing that I was going to go shopping with Gabby. I loved fashion. I had this charity event coming up on Thursday and I wanted to find the perfect dress. Sure, I had about a million dresses stocked up in my closet from all the events my father had dragged me to through the years, but this was different. I was going to be the girl on Gabriel’s arm, something that not many people were expecting to see. I wanted to look like a million bucks and be sexy enough for Gabriel that he wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off me.

Gabby woke me up early and we went out to grab breakfast, trying to eat light since I was going to be putting on a million dresses that day. We started our shopping at some of the more generic designer shops in Manhattan, saving the handpicked places as a last resort in case I didn’t find anything that tickled my fancy. There were definitely enough dresses in New York City to clothe an army, but I wanted to make sure that my dress was unique, fashionable, and classy yet incredibly sexy at the same time. It was nuts how picky I was being, but Gabby totally got it, and I was glad that she wasn’t getting irritated with me. She had known me long enough to know I took the clothes I wore seriously and wouldn’t just settle for any old dress. We left one store and walked around the corner to the next, going to the racks and looking through them back to back.

“I saw you and Gabriel on the dance floor last night,” Gabby said. “You looked pretty hot and heavy out there.”

“Yeah,” I scoffed, leaning back so my head was next to hers. “It was a bit more than hot and heavy.”

“What?” Gabby turned around and glanced up making sure no one was listening. “Do tell.”

“I mean it started innocent, just us dancing,” I said. “Then came the boob grabbing, then he twirled me around and put his hand up my skirt.”

“Damn,” she said.

“That was not where it ended,” I laughed. “He picked me up in the middle of everyone and fingered me until I came.”

I watched and laughed as Gabby froze, her mouth dropping wide open as she tried to process what I just told her. She started fanning herself with her hand and shaking her head. Gabby and I had been friends forever, and though I usually felt too embarrassed to talk about this kind of stuff, this seemed different, and Gabby was like my sister. We pretty much told each other every dirty secret about every man we had ever slept with. Now, my stuff was generally more vanilla than hers, but I definitely got an earful on our normal Sunday-morning coffee dates. When I met Gabby, I was more than inexperienced, but she was this treasure trove of sexual knowledge. I was constantly going to her for advice, figuring out ways to make my orgasms better, and eventually telling her all my secrets as well. I really felt like every girl needed a friend like Gabby, someone they could really get down and dirty with. Gabby was my X-rated Dr. Phil, and she always told me the truth I needed to hear, even if I didn’t want to.

“Girl you are naughty,” she said, under her breath. “I’ve never even done something that bold.”

“I know,” I said, shaking my head. “I didn’t even think about it when it was happening, I just went with it. I mean this guy is dangerous for me big time. I go into this trance when I am with him and it’s like anything goes.”

“You know what? I’m really happy for you,” she said.

“Yeah?”

“Yeah,” Gabby said, looking at me with a smile. “You have been such a straight shooter, no fun, boring ass girl since you got into your senior year at Yale. I mean, I don’t blame you, you did kick ass in college, but you have been missing out on the brighter side of life. I’m just happy to see you out there taking chances, and having some damn fun.”

“Me too,” I said, smiling. “Okay. I have like fourteen dresses.”

“Well, get your ass in there and try them on then,” she said, pushing me toward the dressing room.

I went through every dress, piece by piece, looking at them from all directions. For once, I actually liked most of the ones I tried on, but I narrowed it down to five and then started taking pictures of all of them on my body. I clicked open my texts and sent them to Gabriel, hoping he would have an opinion. Unfortunately, like every other man out there, his answer was something along the lines of me looking sexy as hell in all of them. I sighed and sat down on the bench, not sure of what to do next. I scanned across the dressing area and spotted a dress in the corner on the floor. It must have fallen when I brought everything in.

I pulled it off the hanger and slipped it on, thinking at first that it would be too tight. I turned around and looked at myself in the mirror, instantly knowing I had found the one. It was high-necked and sleeveless; the top part was black see-through material. It fit tightly, hugging my curves perfectly, going down and stopping right above my midcalf. I turned and looked at the back, shaking my head as I saw that the dress was completely backless and stopped right at my lower back. It was sexy, black, and classy all at the same time. This dress was definitely going to get me laid and respected at the same time. I stepped out of the dressing room and turned in the large three-way mirror. I watched as Gabby walked up behind me, clapping her hands and nodding her head. My cheeks blushed from the excitement and I turned, revealing the intricate webbing of embroidered design on every seam.

“That’s it,” she said. “That is the one!”

“My thoughts exactly,” I said, smiling broadly.

After I got back in my clothes and brought the dress out, Gabby and I snagged some sexy strappy heels and the perfect bracelet as an accessory. I already had a clutch at home that would work perfectly so I paid for the clothes and we headed over to the café to grab some lunch. I was pretty impressed that we managed to get all that done before dark. I pulled out my phone and texted Gabriel, letting him know that I found the perfect dress. When he texted back with a happy face emoji, I thought maybe it was a good time to bring up my dad again. I asked him if he thought he would want to meet my dad before the event on Thursday. I started to get nervous when he didn’t text back right away. He was obviously thinking before replying, which I appreciated but at the same time didn’t really understand. Why did he have such a weird complex about meeting my father?

I watched as Gabby grabbed a refill on her drink, set it on the table, and then went off to use the bathroom. I stared blankly at my phone, waiting for Gabriel to make a decision one way or another. It was actually kind of irritating that he seemed to be ignoring my message. Finally, the phone buzzed, and I picked it up immediately. Part of me didn’t even want to read his response, since I knew that the answer was going to be no. I wasn’t really sure what I had to do to get him to say hello to my father.

Gabriel: I don’t know babe, we probably won’t have time. It’s going to be a crazy busy night.

I read the message and then set down the phone, not wanting to answer back. That didn’t make any sense at all. He had to pick me up for the event, we lived in the same apartment complex, and my father could just walk me down to the lobby. It would take him the same amount of time to pick me up that it would to say hello, shake his hand, and talk for two minutes, tops. My father wasn’t really a social guy, anyway, so I knew we wouldn’t stand there all night.

I sighed and tossed my phone back into my purse. There was no reason for me to respond back to that, it was obvious that, for whatever reason, he wasn’t ready to meet my father. I knew I was being paranoid, but part of me wondered what he was hiding from me that concerned my father.