Page 22 of Hard Hitter
Amira dragged Raelyn down the hall to her spacious bedroom and swung open the French doors to the substantial walk-in closet. "All of these clothes and you wear jeans and a t-shirt," Amira sighed then clapped her hands together as if to say “and now, we begin!”
Clothes were getting shoved at Raelyn to try on; skirts, dresses, and sparkly tops that she hadn't worn since before meeting Emerson. Before then, she'd been a casual dater, a regular weekend bar-goer, and had always gotten dressed for the occasion.
She must have tried on a dozen different outfits before Amira clapped her hands together again and gawked with wide eyes, "Yes, this is it! You are going toslaytonight!"
Raelyn stepped in front of the full-length mirror in her closet and even she had to do a double take, looking from herself in the mirror and down at the clothes on her body. She had on a black cold-shoulder top, a form-fitted, camel-brown leather skirt that fell just above mid-thigh. Her feet were encased in a pair of black peep-toe booties that gave her an extra four inches of height. Raelyn spun and checked her reflection from several angles.
"Damn, okay," she nodded. "I don't show off my hard work enough, do I?"
Raelyn had always been slim, but it was more a result of her athleticism. She wasn't a twig and she never had been. She simply had toned and defined muscles from all the sports she'd played when she was younger and kept up a relatively strict workout plan as an adult. And she really loved leg day at the gym.
"Now let's pull this hair down," Amira grabbed the pins holding Raelyn's messy bun up and let the hair cascade down her back. "Oh yeah, he's gonna wish he could wrap his fingers in that and give it a tug."
After grabbing their bags and giving Harry a few goodbye pats and ear scratches, the girls set off, hopping- or more accurately,scooting- into Amira's Mercedes, and cruising downtown. They were lucky enough to find a parking spot available only two blocks away from their destination, and the walk gave Raelyn some time to get reacquainted with her heels. It wasn't until they were crossing the street toward the Trojan Horse sign that Raelyn's heart sped up.
"Oh God, I'm nervous," she said out loud as she recognized the emotion swell in her chest and stomach.
"Haven't you seen him every day this week?" Amira asked, looping her arm through Raelyn's in a comforting gesture.
"Yes, but not like this," Raelyn motioned to her outfit. "I mean, I look hot -welook hot. It's like I'm expecting him to make some sort of move."
"You are," Amira shrugged. "And not just him, either. Any guy in there with a functioning set of eyes is going to be goggling that ba-donka-donk!" She slapped her friend's ass and the leather made a resoundingsmack!
Raelyn giggled, not used to this kind of attention, but expecting nothing less than this level of support from Amira.
"Listen, you need a plan," Amira said, stopping just outside the bar entrance. "Quinn is used to getting attention from womenobviously, but I think it's also obvious that he thinks you're different. You need to own the situation. Take control of it before he has a chance to charm you. Be overly confident...it'll throw him off his game. He can't control you if you let him knowyouare the prize here, not him."
"Prize?" Raelyn questioned. She didn’t like being viewed as some object to win.
"You know what I mean," Amira shrugged. "He needs to think there's no way even he can have you. Because you're the best."
Raelyn nodded. She'd never had real issues with self-confidence before, but ever since getting played by Emerson, her ego may have been knocked down a few pegs. Quinn wasn't Emerson, though.
Well...okay, he was also sort of a player, and had previously been able to make Raelyn feel special while not really ponying up to how he claimed to feel about her in return.
She really didn't like that she was able to make this comparison, but nonetheless, it stiffened her resolve that she needed to do exactly what Amira had suggested.Shewas the one who needed to be impressed here, not him. She wasn't about to let another Emerson get the better of her, and she sure as hell wasn't going to gawk at him like some star-struck fan girl.
Raelyn pulled her shoulders back, standing up straighter. With their arms still looped, she gave a quick nod to Amira before they walked through the door.
Unsurprisingly, the bar was more packed than usual. Friday nights in Traverse City, particularly in the summer, came alive with all sorts of partiers: Regulars, sports fans, hipsters looking for the latest craft brew, college students, and bachelorette parties from out of town.
Among the buzz of the crowd, it still didn't take long to spot the head of dark, untamed hair at the bar. A woman with a trendy, silver-blond bob sat on the bar stool next to him, leaning in with obvious intent in her posture. She was leaning toward him, placing a flirtatious hand on his splinted arm.
A primal growl rumbled deep in Raelyn’s chest, taking her by surprise. She really had no right to be possessive over Quinn but couldn’t help feeling like she needed to stamp “Mine” in permanent ink all over his obnoxiously handsome face.
Finally, when she was about halfway between Quinn and the entrance, he turned and looked in her direction.
His jaw literally dropped.
Raelyn felt Amira's little elbow nudge of encouragement and had to look down to keep from smiling directly at Quinn. She couldn’t have him feeling too confident just yet. When she'd contained her smile into a sly grin she looked back up at him, catching as he unsubtly eyed her from head to toe, mouth still wide open, having fully turned his back on the woman at the bar.
Stopping in front of her apparently wonderstruck admirer, Raelyn swept one hand out and cupped his chin in her palm, "Let me get that for you," she said as she pushed his jaw back up to meet the rest of his mouth. She noticed his eyes seemed stuck somewhere between her knees and the top of her skirt. In a fully alpha-female moment, Raelyn gave a challenging glance over his shoulder at the blonde woman who immediately recognized that she was being dismissed.
She turned back to focus on Quinn who, after what seemed like an unusually long amount of time, met her gaze seemingly unable to speak.
"This is my friend, Amira," Raelyn said, gesturing to the woman on her arm.
Amira stuck her hand out for Quinn to take and he did just as she said, "Wow, you are absolutely gorgeous."
