Children of Fire (Complete)

eighteen

Emerson

Man, I honestly thought that shopping for an elegant dress would have been a lot more fun than this, we had spent hours in the same shop. The sales associate that was helping us, Linley, made it quite obvious that she was interested in Killian, and for some reason that had my blood boiling. He was oblivious to her advances, and after trying on the fifth over puffy princess dress she had shoved into my dressing room, I finally decided to pull her to the side.

"Listen, Linley, he is off-limits. I know you keep giving me these hideous dresses to try on just so you can spend some time flirting with him. If you don't cut it out and actually help me, I'll find someone else and get their help instead. I suppose you work off of commission? I have several hundred dollars to spend on a dress, and I swear to god if you don't cut it the fuck out I will take my business elsewhere." I snarled, trying to ignore Killian's laughter from behind me. I'm sure I looked pretty ridiculous in this bright pink dress that puffed out several inches on either side of my hips.

Linley shrunk back at my venomous words and nodded, "Sorry." She said before scurrying off to find a dress that would actually suit my style a bit better.

"You didn't have to threaten the poor girl." Killian chuckled, crossing his legs in front of him in the chair. I returned to the raised platform in front of the large wall of mirrors that were the dressing rooms.

"I know I didn't have to threaten her," I started. "But damn, does this even look like something I would think about wearing?" I asked, raising my arms and giving a small twirl. Killian's laughter filled the dress shop and I found that it was quite contagious, because I was laughing too by the time Linley returned with a dress.

"Here you go, Emerson. This looks more your style." She handed me a silver dress with a few beads embroidered along the top of it. I nodded at her in appreciation.

"Yes, it certainly does. I'll try this on. In the mean time, do you think you could pull some black dresses from the racks? Black is my favorite color." I told her, draping the silver dress over my arm. She nodded and turned away from me, finally doing her job for once.

"I think you scared her." Killian said, giving me his best crooked smile. I laughed at him before turning into the dressing room to try on the first dress that looked remotely close to my sense of style.

After what seemed like forever, Linley had finally hit the jackpot. She brought me a beautiful, simple black dress with a deep plunging neckline and dainty straps. The bottom was made of chiffon, which allowed you to see the high slit, showing off just enough of my tattooed leg. Normally, I didn't like to show too much skin, so I was a bit apprehensive about the dress at first, but I loved it so much and couldn't find it in me to take it off.

"Killian?" I asked through the mirrored door of the dressing room. I heard his boots shuffling on the carpet just outside of the dressing room as he moved closer to me. I had to hand it to him, he had been a real trooper throughout this experience, no man would enjoy sitting in a dress shop for hours at a time.

"Yes ma'am?" Killian asked through the door.

"I think I found the dress, but I'm afraid it might be too much." I told him honestly, taking a deep breath. I was feeling self conscious about him seeing me in it, but I knew that if I bought this dress, there would be a lot more eyes on me than just his and I needed to have some confidence. This was the most beautiful dress I had ever seen, and I really wanted it.

"I doubt it, Em. Come on, let me see it." He said, and I heard him take a few steps back from the door so I could have room to step out. I took another deep breath before gathering the material that had pooled around my feet and opened the door, watching my feet as I took a few steps out from the dressing room and stopped in the middle of the raised platform, slowly looking up at him. I was nervous about his reaction, I had never gotten the chance to wear a dress this elegant and I wasn't even sure if I would look good in one. My father had always told me that tattoos were unbecoming and made you look trashy-- which was one reason why I had gotten so many in the first place.