DATE NIGHT

But she’d been more than a little exhausted when they had pulled up to the hotel but seeing Brown Brooke walk towards them almost took away her tiredness , she was grateful it had stunned her to turn around and see the man she’d once crush on before she met Drake right at her elbow.
He was just as good-looking as she’d remembered, too. Handsome, with that dark hair, chiseled jaw, and those gorgeous eyes she could stare into for hours.
He was also shorter than she remembered. That had been disappointing, No one wanted to date a string bean, as she’d been told a million times before. But her dream guy hadn’t commented on her height at all. In fact, he’d kissed her hand, charmed her figurative socks off, and invited her to dinner and then ended things in the room.
And now, here she was with less than four hours of sleep, after the trip down here .
“ Drake wants me to bring Sarah with me .”
“But he just left without me.” Sarah answered sharply as Ashrof muttered something on his phone which she perceived to be Drake
“ it’s a date miss Rosewood.” Ashroff bowed graciously
Just the thought of having a date made Sarah’s breathing speed up. She’d dated all of twice while in high school, and in college, she’d flirted with a guy at a party who hadn’t seemed to mind how short she was . . . until the next day, when he’d sobered up. He’d then gone to his friends, laughing about how he’d been so drunk that he’d made out with “ the toothpick ”
So yeah. Other than that, she really didn’t go out on dates even when she dated Drake . Any guy she was vaguely interested in, she was too terrified to go on public dates. and no one ever asked her out on one.Other than that one night at the frat party, she’d never even gone on any public date. Second base was as far as she’d ever gotten.
It was downright embarrassing. And it made her feel like an idiot.
So having a date tonight? Despite the class and status difference of herself and the man in question? To say she was nervous was an understatement. And she didn’t know what to wear. Normally she’d have gone to Enny, who was sweet and friendly and wouldn’t steer her wrong. But Enny was far away from her destination .
She rushed off to her room which Ashroff pointed to her , shutting it sharply as she had few minutes to dress up . The only thing she could do now was a video call to her dear friend Enny .

Sarah had called her over and over again before she finally picked her phone and then Sarah proceeded to go through her clothing, looking for something date-worthy. Since she’d pictured spending the next two weeks on the island playing shuffleboard and attending wedding functions, she’d gone for comfort more than style. Her bag of clothes was full of knit shorts, floral tank tops, and flimsy sundresses in bright patterns.
In short: nothing date-appropriate.
“ you have a lot to tell me Sarah.” Enny said with astonishment
“ can we save this for later , I really need your help .” Sarah said as she began to pull out clothes
There was no point in stressing over it, though. They were on an island resort, so he’d expect her to look, well, island-y, right? She pulled a new dress out of her bag and held it against her frame. “What about this one?”
“That’s terrible,” Enny proclaimed. “I hate to say it, sugar, but it makes your shoulders look bony. You’re already all angles, girl. You want to look soft for him. Vulnerable.”
Sarah swallowed hard, feeling vaguely ashamed of her shoulders. “What if I wear a shrug over it?”
“Then you’ll look like a flamingo in a sweater,” Enny proclaimed, putting her head down. “You’r almost tall like a model. Wear something like what models wear. They always look perfect. I don’t know why you can’t do the same.”
Sarah returned to her bag, digging through the few clothes desperately. “But almost models are not taught how to dress or have someone picks out their clothes for them.”
“Well, that’s true,” Enny said. “We’ll make do with what we have.” She looked Sarah up and down. “Even if what we have is quite a lot of girl.”
She resisted the urge to hunch her shoulders up to make her body seem bigger .
“I’d offer to loan you something of mine, but I don’t think anything could stretch that much,” she said, eying Sarah’s hips critically. “Not enough fabric, you know.”
“I know. I’m sure we can find something sufficient in my closet, right? Let’s just work with what we have.”
“What kind of guy is he?”
A dreamy smile touched Sarah’s mouth as she held a dress. “Handsome. Really handsome. And friendly.”
Enny waved a hand. “No, no. I mean, what’s he like? Is he the kind of boy you bring home to Mama after a day of church or is he the kind you make out with in the back of the club?”
“Oh.” Sarah blinked, thinking. “I guess he’s the latter.”
“Then that’s not going to do, sugar,” Enny said. “Do you want to just have a nice friendly date with this guy or do you want him to look at you as a romantic prospect?”
Her cheeks heated. “Romantic prospect, of course.” Oh, gosh, if he didn’t look at her romantically, she’d just be crushed. So crushed. Her hopes were up so high.
“Then do you really think wearing something that looks like a Sunday school dress is going to get his attention?”
Chagrined, Sarah looked down at the dress they’d decided on. It was subdued, a red-and-orange, patterned sundress with a long skirt, a scoop neck, and cap sleeves. “I guess not. What should I wear then?”
“Something with boobage, sweetie. You’ve got nice, tiny little boobies. Show them off.”
She did? Sarah consulted her bag again.
“What about this romper?” Enny nabbed a bright red swath of silky fabric. “It’s kind of cute. And it’ll show your legs off.”
“All right,” Sarah said. “Let me find the tunic that goes under it and the leggings.”
“Wait, tunic? Leggings? What? Just wear this.” Enny glared at her. “Show some skin if you want to win your man.”
“He’s not my man,” Sarah said quickly .
“And he never will be with that kind of clothes ,” Enny said in a practical voice. “Now, do you want to wear something that screams virgin, or do you want to wear something that screams confident woman?”
Well, when she put it that way, it was a no-brainer, wasn’t it?Sarah grabbed the tunic top and went into the bathroom to change, and came out a moment later, chagrined and plucking at the silky material. “I’m not sure this is a good idea.”
“Why? Come show me. What’s wrong?” Enny gestured at the full length of her friend via her phone“Come on stand with confidence ”
Sarah did, miserable. The light, silky fabric of the tunic was loose at the collar and clearly made to be worn with a tank underneath. The collar dipped deep between her breasts, exposing her plain white bra. To make matters worse, the tunic itself was designed to be flowing and worn with leggings, so edges of the “skirt” only went to tall Sarah’s upper thighs. She tugged at the back, sure that her ass was hanging out. “It needs layers.”
“It doesn’t need layers, you prude!”
“You can see my bra!”
“You’re right.” She waved her hand. “Take the bra off and let’s look at it.”
“What? No!”
“Fine, fine,”Enny said, throwing her hands up. “You can wear this nice Sarah and tell me all about how he didn’t want to date you again.”
Sarah swallowed hard and stared at her reflection. Drake was cocky, worldly. It was clear he wasn’t her type. Heck, she was so single for too long that she wasn’t even sure she had a type . . . which was kind of depressing. Would it really be so bad to wear a short dress out on a date? No one would see her except the guy she was trying to impress. She looked back at the dress that Enny had indicated perfect —it was rather dowdy. With a sigh, Sarah reached into the neckline of the dress and began to slip out of her bra. She tossed it on the ground a moment later and then they both looked at her critically in the phone again.
Without the bra, her cleavage seemed to go on for miles . . . right on down to her belly button. She made an unhappy moan, but Enny clapped her hands. “Perfect!”
“It is?”
“Yes. Now show me your flats.”
Picking shoes was a special kind of hell. Since Sarah’s figured something need hide her towering stature, she therefore cared about the height of her heels, and she loved a pretty pair of shoes. They were her favorite weakness like Enny’s was costume jewelry, but they didn’t see eye to eye when it came to picking footwear to go with her dress.
She still had the nude Louboutins that the bridesmaids were no longer going to wear in the wedding and that Enny had suggested the women keep anyhow. Sarah adored them, but Enny had taken one look at the stiletto heel and made unhappy noises, so she’d reluctantly put them aside for tamer wear. “What about these?” Sarah held up a pair of strappy sandals with a wooden heel. “They match.”
“Goodness gracious, no,”Enny said, horrified. “Is that two inches? Girl, you’re going to make him tower over you as it is .No need emphasizing the flaws.” Sarah picked up the other four inches she had brought, “You need to wear these. Trust me. No one wants to date a rat, especially not a sexy man.”
Great. Now she was a rat . And full of flaws. She felt rather homely at the moment, despite all the help to make her attractive for her date. “Four inches it is. Thank you, Enny.”
“Of course, sugar.” She leaned in and pressed a kiss to Sarah ’s via phone . “Now I promised my self a sound sleep . Can you handle your makeup and hair without me?”
Sarah eyed Enny’s sleepy eyes and big, bouffant hair. “I’m sure I’ll figure something out. You go sleep .” Enny beamed at her and waved. “Good luck on your date. Give me all the deets when you return.”
“I will.”
Her friend beamed, then left the video call.
Sarah sighed at her reflection in the mirror. Pale skin met her gaze everywhere she looked. Her boobs jiggled when she moved, and if she bent over even slightly, her butt was going to hang out of the back of the tunic. Worried, she looked over at her other dress choices, but Enny was right—they were frumpy and old-looking. She needed to be sexy if she was going to impress someone like Drake . Still, it was hard to be sexy in plain black heels when she was used to wearing flats. The heels made her feel ungainly, and she began to pull her hair up into a sleek knot, then shook her head and let it down again. Nope. A knot would just add another inch of height. That wouldn’t be bad. Still she combed her hair into a loose, curling ponytail that lay at the nape of her neck and put on her makeup.
Her stomach was doing nervous flips in her belly. It had been late last night, and dark. Maybe . . . maybe Drake didn’t see how short she was? Not that one could miss it, but you never knew. What if he took one look at her and regretted his offer for this contract ?
She stared at her form in the mirror. Experimentally, she hunched down a few inches. Nope, too obvious. Nothing she could do about that. With a sigh, Sarah straightened her shoulders and grabbed her handbag.
Time to meet her date. She crossed her fingers with a silent mental plea that he wouldn’t be horrified at the sight of her . . . and that there would be no stiff breezes that would show the world her panties.