A Roll in the Hay, стр. 49
“But I don’t have plans, as it happens,” Tess finished.
“I need to make an appearance at a social thing tonight. I didn’t even know about it until yesterday, but basically I need to get these council bigwigs on my side or else Robin can do my plans some very real damage. I’d prefer not to walk into the lion’s den alone, honestly, but there’s no pressure.”
“Won’t… I mean, that’s really public. And you’ll be there on work business.”
“It’s actually a fundraiser for the LGBTQ centre the council’s opening. I figure—and I’m sorry for how cynical this sounds—but if they show up trying for diversity points and then I suggest that turning me down would look like discrimination… Although I really hate to play that card. I think I can convince them to back me without having to get to that level.”
Susannah was almost rambling, and it seemed strange coming from her.
Tess was no fan of formal events, but she knew this was the perfect time to make an exception. “If anyone can convince them you’re doing good things, it’s you. I’ll be there. Just give me an idea of what to wear and when you’re picking me up.”
Susannah grabbed her, and the kiss was short and sweet this time. “Thank you. Thank you. I promise it won’t take the whole evening, and we’ll have some fun too. Open bar, if nothing else.”
“Okay, get going so I can get ready for work. Text me details later.”
“I will. Really, Tess, this means a lot to me.”
“You can show me how much later, but—”
“I’m gone, I’m gone.” Susannah backed out of the kitchen. “And I’ll be wearing a dress tonight that I swear you’re going to enjoy.”
That made it Tess’s turn to groan in frustration. It was going to be a very long day.
Chapter 18
Susannah parked the Land Rover in the pub car park, figuring that it was easier than navigating the narrow road down by Tess’s house.
Tess had been texting back and forth most of the afternoon, asking for more detail on what formal meant and what Susannah was wearing and if they had to coordinate. It was sweet, but Susannah had barely a minute to spare over each message. If her replies were abrupt, she’d have to hope for forgiveness, or the drive over was going to involve some grovelling on her part.
Perhaps she should have sent Finn to pick out something for Tess and take it round. This was a favour, after all, tentatively dating or not. Dresses and heels weren’t really Tess’s thing, it seemed, and Susannah appreciated that it was a pain for events such as these. Luckily, she didn’t go to many.
God, she was exhausted. Her brain hadn’t stopped for a second in two days. Why couldn’t it have been over more of the kissing-in-pubs kind of thing and a lot less of the corporate skullduggery?
That thought had her both weary and distracted as she knocked on Tess’s door for the second time that day. There was a long silence before the door slowly creaked open. Someone should really oil those hinges.
The sound was momentary distraction enough to pull Susannah’s focus. When she looked back to Tess, she actually gasped at the sight before her. There was no little black dress in evidence, and that fluffy white towel of this morning had nothing on the sight that greeted Susannah.
“Listen, I got it for a costume thing a few years ago. Only, Caroline laughed at it, so I never did get to wear it.”
Susannah just nodded, lost for words as she tried to catalogue each detail. There was the hair, for a start. Slicked back and pinned up in a discreet French twist, from the front, it passed as a much more masculine style.
Letting her gaze track downwards, Susannah could see that this was no novelty costume but rather a lovely piece of tailoring, from the slightly boxy shoulders to the cinched waist of the tuxedo jacket. Its silky lapels caught the last of the day’s sunlight once Tess stepped forward from the doorway. The white shirt beneath was starched stiff, and Susannah thought it might make a pleasant scrunching sound if she grabbed it. The tapered black trousers give way to black kitten heels, a splash of femininity to complement the ruby lipstick and heavy, dark eyeliner that made Tess look bolder than usual.
It was a lot. The fact that Tess’s lipstick matched Susannah’s dress almost exactly was the icing on the cake.
“I can change,” Tess blurted in the wake of Susannah’s stunned silence. “Sorry, I just thought it might make for a cool effect, and I don’t really have many dresses to choose from, so—”
“Don’t.” Susannah cleared her throat to take the strained sound out of her voice. “Don’t you dare change. That is not coming off until I take it off later—are we clear?”
Tess grabbed the doorframe, seemingly bracing herself in response to Susannah’s possessive growl of a comment. “Oh, so you like it, then?”
“Enough that you’re in more danger of me marching you upstairs right now than you were in just your towel.”
“But you need to go save your life’s work,” Tess pointed out. “And I want at least a couple of hours appreciating you in that dress. How high does that slit go, just out of interest?”
The way she was standing, the dress was showing mostly from the knee down. Susannah leaned forward, flexing her calf to keep balanced in a four-inch heel. The dress parted further, revealing that the slit went almost all the way up her thigh. “Will that do?”
“Oh yes.” She looked a little punch-drunk, and it suited her. Tess noticed the car keys in Susannah’s hand. “Wait, you’re driving?”
“Long story involving the car not showing up. Don’t worry. I can still have some fun. Especially if you’re there.”
“Then let’s get going.” Tess closed the door behind her. “Or we really might not make it there with all