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“Don’t be,” Rhys interjected, reaching for the bottle of wine to top up Zoey’s glass “Archer lives for this shit”

Chapter 9

“He brought you out with his friends,” Hazel said the nextwhile Zoey slipped into a white-lace su rooed to a young designer who, as far as Zoey was concerned, should have been showing her clothes on the runway She zipped it up halfway as Hazel added, “That’s a stateirl”

“A state what?” Zoey asked in all seriousness “He knows I’et over all uy without having a panic attack”

“Yeah, well, I don’t really think Rhys is the type of guy to let anything stop hi what he wants”

Zoey agreed wholeheartedly Even as she played it cool, she stared at herself in the erous kind of happiness because Rhys wasn’t supposed to beher feel this way Better, yes Healthier, yes Sexier, yes E a new kind of warht, she’d felt protected, not only by Rhys, but by his friends Being honest and open with people other than Hazel and Elise felt…good Hell, trusting rabbed the curtain and peeked out at Hazel “Tell e ht now That I a to end up with me devastated and even more broken”

Hazel gave a lopsided grin “Well, you’re not broken You’re awesoeous, and obviously has a soft spot for you Why on earth would I tell you to stay away from him?”

“You wouldn’t,” Zoey hedged She’d be insane to stay away

“You’re right I wouldn’t,” Hazel agreed with a firet back out here, and let me see that dress on you”

Zoey hurried to do just that, all the while questioning where exactly life was taking her now She’d decided tofelt different than it had when she walked through Phoenix’s door She felt different Before, she’d felt like she wanted to run away Now she wasn’t sure why she was running She loved her friends, her job, her life in Brooklyn, and she was beginning to love this new erotic life she’d found She was even beginning to not hate Manhattan Sure, she missed home too, but she could visit often That luain, but she forcibly sed it back as she whisked the curtain open

“Oh, youeyes from the other side of the store

“Isn’t it gorgeous?” Zoey shifted fro the white-lace summer dress that fit her like it was made for her “But it’s also expensive”

“Oh, please” Hazel stopped to glance back as she shifted through the skirts hanging on the rack “Do I need to remind you that you can afford it now?”

“I guess,” Zoey hedged, running her hands over the lacy fabric, wondering what Rhys would think of this dress Would he like it? Would he want to take it off her i totally erotic to do with the dress? “Okay, you’re right, I never do anything like this,” she finally said “It’s just so pretty I must have it!”

“Hell yeah, you do,” Hazel said, going back to the skirts