Page 14 of Forbidden Cowboy
I hadtouchedher. It had been the lightest brush of my thumb against her chin, but it burned like I’d tried to touch an open flame.
“Let’s go in,” I said, clearing my throat and walking towards the entrance.
Without saying anything, Sierra followed me.
Inside was a middle-aged woman who was all too happy to run around an overwhelmed looking Sierra, pulling clothes off of racks and setting them on a table by the only dressing room in the place. I wished we had more options, but in a place like Crested Butte, the only clothing stores were sports outfitters, farming outfitters, or small boutiques. It made me happy, however, to know that whatever I spent, it would be going right back into the community.
“I have a few things picked out if you’d like to step into the changing room?” The woman said to Sierra, and Sierra nodded and followed without complaint.
I hadn’t heard my friend say a single thing since the moment I touched her, and I hoped I hadn’t done any lasting damage to our recovering relationship by doing that.
Sierra came out a couple of times to show off whatever the store worker had put her in, and slowly, she seemed to come back to life, talking and becoming more animated.
Nothing was over the top, except for one sea-green dress that fell to just above her knees. It would be formal enough for a nice dinner, but nothing as drastic as a prom dress. Sierra thumbed the smooth material, before letting it fall into place, outlining her body with the way it hung simply on her frame. I had a feeling that the dress was average, but that Sierra’s body was making it incredible.
I crossed one leg over the other as she returned to the dressing room, hoping I wouldn’t get caught out with a boner like some teenage boy.
The last thing she asked my opinion on was a blue sweater with great silver stars detailed onto it, and I told her she looked cozy. I focused on how cute she looked in it until the problem between my legs went away, and when she walked out of the dressing room, back in Beau’s clothes, she was smiling.
“It’s silly,” she admitted to me as I stood, “but this has actually cheered me up some. I never really liked shopping, but here, with you, it was… nice.”
“It’s been a good day,” I said idly as the woman picked up the pile of clothes Sierra had tried on. “You should choose what you want from that pile, and I’ll pay.”
Her eyes were wide, “I really can’t let you pay.”
“I thought we already agreed that I would?”
“You agreed…” she said. “I… stayed silent.”
“I took your silence for agreement, and you can’t disappoint a guy like this.”
She blushed, and looked away.
“You—fine. You can pay, but you have to choose the clothes,” she argued.
I shrugged, and stepped forward to the small mountain folded in front of me on the table. I pulled out a couple of pairs of jeans that had made the sculpt of her ass undeniable, a couple of skirts that burned in my mind, and a bunch of shirts and blouses that I could only vaguely remember in the lineup of clothes she’d worn that I knew looked good on her. I topped it off with the star sweater, at which Sierra’s eyes positively twinkled, and then impulsively, the green dress.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Sierra said, stepping forward and taking the dress off the pile.
“You told me I could choose,” I all but pouted.
“Yes, but I don’t need a dress like that. I’m just going to be in the hospital or the town. Not many hot dates I’ll need to be prepared for. I’ve acquiesced to you paying, but I’m not letting you make rash purchases.”
“But I want it,” I said, turning a frown on her petulantly.
She laughed at the exaggerated expression on my face.
“Buy it for yourself and wear it, then, you overgrown child.”
“Maybe I will,” I countered, and it ended up on the pile.
We both knew I wasn’t going to be the one wearing it.
* * *
We were out of the store, and I had one more question for Sierra, one I hoped she would agree to.
“There’s somewhere else I’d like to take you,” I said. “If you’re okay being away from Beau for just a bit longer.”