Chapter 53

Jamie

"OK, so this suit is too big for you," Mac said. "But I'll use it as the starting point. A whole lot of pins and you'll start to see what this could look like."

"Right."

Coming to Hunter's tailor's studio, no, atelier, was kind of nerve wracking. It was just as intimidating as the bridal boutique, but two rums down and I was starting to relax. I took the jacket and eased it over my t-shirt and felt something the minute it settled on my shoulders.

Not just the slippery silk of the lining, not just the heavy weight of the wool or linen fabric, but… something that was missing when I tried on that dress.

"Definitely too big, but not too bad," Mac muttered to herself, turning me around to face the mirror as she started to pull pins from a little cushion strapped to her wrist.

But I could see it already somehow when she pulled the jacket in, stopping it from hanging loose from my shoulders and instead carving out space for my waist and my hips. Masculine and feminine, the stiff, structured fabric was forced to relent, tracing a form that wasn't a man's, and that's when I was able to let a full breath out. Mac stopped, hearing that noisy exhale and then straightening up.

"Feels right, huh?" I couldn't say anything, my mouth suddenly bone-dry. If Millie walked in here with another rum and Coke, I'd have drunk it down in seconds. "I was the same," Mac continued. "Mum had hopes of me going in ladies' fashion, that somehow being surrounded by a sea of chiffon and lace would make me present a little more conventionally female, but…"

She turned me towards the mirror, her hands on my shoulders forcing me to stare at my reflection.

"There's more than one way to be a girl. Let me show you."

So she did.

Her pins were like a file, paring away all the excess fabric until all that was left hugged my body like a glove. I'd had to strip down so she could pin the waistcoat to me then the pants, but when I pulled the jacket back on, careful not to dislodge the pins, I saw it.

My anxiety over the engagement party was far reaching and all consuming, no matter how hard I tried to shove it to one side. Staring at the mirror, I was forced to confront it. Of feeling like a duck out of water, my usual uniform of work clothes or denim stripped away from me. Because I didn't want to embarrass Frankie or disappoint Nadia by turning up looking like a scruffy mechanic, but along with that was a paralysing feeling of not knowing how to fix that. It was why Mum had strong-armed me into a changing room at the bridal boutique, I realised. If I couldn't sort the situation out, she would, but… Wearing that dress hadn't made me feel like this. That I could walk into the engagement party with my head held high, my family and Nadia's filling the room, with one of my guys on my arm.

No, all three.

That feeling had my hands smoothing down the front of my suit and then meeting Mac's gaze.

"This is amazing."

"That's what I was waiting to hear." She winked at me. "Now, how about we let those boys of yours take a look."

Millie was standing with her brothers giving them a hard time by the look of her expression, but when they turned around, so did she. Their collective gaze was everything. I could count the times when someone looked appreciative of what I was wearing on one hand, but none of them beat this. Millie's eyes went wide, her mouth falling open for way too long before she mastered herself. She smiled then, brows twitching, as she took a tentative step forward.

"Jamie…" Nothing shut Millie up, but apparently this suit did. I moved closer and our hands shot out, each gripping the others as she just stared. "Jamie, this looks?—"

"Amazing?" Hunter appeared at her shoulder with a smug smile and shining eyes. "I knew it would. I fucking knew it."

"And now he's going to be even more insufferable." Hayden came to stand at my other shoulder but while he smiled, his eyes told a different story. It felt like he took in every pin, every nip and tuck Mac had made, right before his eyes met mine. "I can tell you how completely amazing you look, but… how do you feel about it?"

I wanted to tell him, but the feeling surging in my chest was too big for mere words. Instead my throat worked, my eyes aching as I stared back at him.

"If you hate it, we'll find something else." His words came out in a hurry as his hand gripped mine. "There's plenty of other places in the city. We can go to every dress shop, every menswear place until you?—"

"I love it," I finally got out. "I love it." My eyes went down, seeing the fall of blue fabric. "It's amazing."

"We'll have one in every colour," Brock said, signalling to Mac. "Suits for daywear, night time, work."

That seemed to diffuse the tension, all of us laughing.

"I can't wear something as gorgeous as this while changing someone's oil," I said.

"You could if that's what you wanted." Brock's eyes burned into mine. "Whatever you want, Jamie."

"Whatever you want," the twins echoed and that had me smiling.

"Well…" Millie drifted over to a rack of suits that was set up on one side, and while many were sober, conventional things, she pulled out a powder blue 1970s style tuxedo, complete with ruffle fronted shirt. "How about something like this?"

"I am not wearing that!" Hunter said, stabbing his finger in the direction of the offending item, but that's when Millie's eyes met mine. They twinkled with mischief, something I was well familiar with. We had a secret code born from spending so many years as friends and I knew what she wanted. Back her play, get one of the guys in the ridiculous suit, that was the new objective.

"But it'd look amazing on you." Millie handed me the hanger like a baton in a relay race because it was my turn now. I held the suit up to Hunter's chest. "The blue really makes your eyes pop."

He wanted to refute that, but as soon as my breathy compliment sunk in his mouth thinned.

"Fine." He snatched the suit from my fingers. "But there better be a whole lot of gluck gluck 9000 at the end of this."

"Because you can tell by the way you walk, you're a woman's man with no time to talk?" Millie delivered that in an almost deadpan manner.

"So that's how it's gonna be," he replied. "This whole fake dating thing was just another opportunity for you two to harass us poor, unsuspecting men."

"Get dressed, dickhead," Hayden said. "In the end you'll give in, so may as well cut to the chase now."

"Well, here's your suit," I said, plucking a beautiful beige safari suit from the rack and handing it to him, laughing as his face fell.

"OK, you lot play dress ups with the old film outfits there," Mac said. "Jamie, I need you to come with me so I can get that suit marked up and then you back into your normal clothes. Big guy." She turned to Brock. "You're getting fitted next."

A few minutes later I was back in my own clothes, stumbling out to find the guys in the other changing rooms. A small crack in the curtain revealed a whole lot of golden brown skin as blue polyester and beige was pulled on. Hayden turned, catching me peeking through the curtains, his smile slow, right as Mac emerged from my changing room with my suit. I pulled away with a jerk and walked out into the studio only for Brock to be summoned forth.

"So whaddya think, baby?"

Hunter came out strutting, the flared legs of his pastel-blue pants swinging as he walked across the floor before striking a pose worthy of Saturday Night Fever .

"Oh my god, this is perfect." Millie whipped out her phone and started taking photos rapidly. "That is going in this year's Christmas card."

"Do not send that to Mum!" he yelped.

"Too late." She smirked as she displayed her screen.

"You little…"

His growl was cut off as I stepped into his path, my hand reaching for his chest. Admittedly, I had to fight past what seemed like a mile of ruffles to get to it, but when I felt the heat of his body, he felt mine. Those eyes widened as he stared down at me, a wicked smile forming seconds later as the tinny sounds of the Bee Gees Stayin' Alive played through Millie's phone speaker.

"Any dancing happening at this engagement party?" he asked me.

"What?"

"Gotta work that into our dance routine, babe. No chicken dance or the Nutbush for us." He grabbed my hand and then spun me out. "I've got a reputation to protect."

"Ohh, this is gold!"

I flailed through a series of movements, not able to relax enough to let Hunter lead, but unable to pull free, so she snapped photo after photo, cackling the whole way until finally another hand grabbed mine and tugged me out of Hunter's orbit and into Hayden's.

I'd given him the safari suit as a joke, but the beige fabric was almost the same colour as his tanned skin. The blond hair, the broad shoulders, it all kinda worked on Hayden.

"God, yes…" Millie hissed, snapping more photos. "It's giving imperialist prick taking time away from exploiting people and flora and fauna to romance the fair maiden. Jamie, kneel at his feet and look up adoringly at him."

"God, you're annoying," Hunter said, ruffling her hair. "Remind me why I invited you to come?"

" Charlie's Angels poses?" she asked hopefully. "Blue steel?"

As was often the case, we ended up doing exactly what she asked, clustering together and affecting a series of stupid poses stolen from old movies until we dissolved into cackles, but right as I went to grab another drink, Brock came out.

Damn.

Was this what he felt when I emerged from the changing rooms? Because I admired his restraint if he did. The blue fabric of his suit was darker. Not quite navy, more a muted blue-grey, but the suit itself transformed him. Out of the plaid shirt, his shoulders looked broader, his biceps testing the seams of the jacket. He was a picture of masculine perfection, with a broad chest and comparatively narrow hips. It was the ruffle of his hair, still rakish and a little too wrong, that was my catnip. It made the clean lines of the suit look that bit more crisp, his beard and hair making him look like something wild was contained under those sharp folds of fabric.

And I wanted to peel the fabric back to rediscover it.

"Look at you," Millie snickered. "Your eyes are like saucers. You've totally got a moisty right now."

"For your brother," I replied drily, laughing when she gagged theatrically.

"Oh god, this is never going to work. I take it all back. You can't date my brothers anymore."

"Too late."

Suddenly Brock was next to me, his arm going around my waist as he tucked me into his side. He'd done that many times before, but somehow this felt different. My fingers landed on the expensive fabric, taking in the sheen, the texture, as if this was a complete stranger beside me, not my boss.

My boyfriend.

My heart felt like it was dry kindling right as a match was tossed onto it. It set alight with a whoosh I could almost hear as he gazed down at me.

"Don't get me a million suits," I told him. "Just get more of these for you." I looked him up and down. "Come to work wearing these and I'll find every excuse in the book to come and ‘visit' you in your office."

"Gag." Millie smirked when I turned to face her. "So, I guess that's decided. Brock wins and gets to go to the party as Jamie's date."

"What did you say?" Hunter made a show of trying to remember. "Three man enter?—"

"One man leaves." She pointed at Brock. "Jamie has chosen."

"You only got it half right." I knew from Hunter's grin that Millie was going to hate this. "Three men enter…"

She frowned, struggling to work out what that meant, right up until a look of horror crossed her face.

"You… They…"

I didn't know what to say. The relationship dynamic between us wasn't what any of us had planned, but in that moment, I knew it was the right one. I nodded slowly, to Brock, to Hunter, and Hayden, and Millie caught that with a groan.

"OK, the need to bleach my brain aside, who's going to tell Mum and Dad what their baby boys are up to, because we're due at their place tomorrow night."