Cresswell: The Lunar Chronicles

Chapter Seventy

Cress didn't take her robe all the way off. She didn't even want to untie it. Double checking that the bathroom door was locked, even knowing Carswell was at the arcade with the rest of the guys, she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath before letting it out in the sharp exhale. Sliding the robe's tie off, she let it hang open.

Okay, this wasn't so bad. The cobalt blue silk and lace stood out against her pale skin. The knee socks came up higher than they probably were supposed to and she had adjusted the garters so they didn't pucker, but since everything was so sheer she doubted it would matter all that much. Though she wished she would have gotten the dressy thing. At least it would have covered her stomach.

With a nervous groan, she slid the robe all the way off and tossed it onto the counter.

She felt ridiculous. She looked ridiculous. Dressed in skimpy lingerie that covered just the basics and left very little to the imagination, she hadn't ever felt more, well, naked.

Forcing herself to set aside her discomfort and look at herself and the frilly pieces more objectively, she had to admit she looked at least a little sexy. Or as close to sexy as she had ever been. She'd never worn anything that so explicitly showed her legs and stomach.

"Hm." Cress turned, glancing at her back over her shoulder. "Well... this might be okay." She chewed her lip.

"Cress?"

Cress's eyes shot towards the door. Then down at her portwarch. It was almost 1. "Aces!" She cursed herself for loosing track of time as she scrambled for the robe she had carelessly abandoned, struggling to get it turned right side out and tied around her waist again while simultaneously unlocking the bathroom door and stumbling into the bedroom.

"Cress—? Oh, there you are. Just get out of the shower?"

"Yep." Cress nodded, her heart racing.

"Oh, phew. I thought you'd be waiting around for me. Do you still want to go to lunch with everyone?"

"Yeah, of course."

"Cool. Let me just get changed and we can go."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll... get dressed too." She stammered as Carswell ducked to kiss her. He pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it in the hamper. "Um, aren't you going to take a shower?"

"Nah. I took one this morning." He replied as he grabbed a shirt and jeans from the closet.

"Right." Cress carefully reached for her dress, keeping one hand firmly on the knot of her robe.

"Where're you going?"

"To change." Cress paused at the door, pleading with herself to calm down.

"In the hallway?"

"Well I don't want you to see my dress until it's on." She stammered, her cheeks growing warm.

Carswell's eyes narrowed.

Cress's blush deepened.

"What's happening?"

"Nothing."

A faint smile tugged at his lips as he took one, two, three steps closer, his eyes dipping to the robe. "Whatcha got under there?"

"Nothing. I mean, not nothing. Obviously something. No, no, no, wait just—" She tightened the folds around herself as he started to undo the knot.

"Just what? I wanna see. You've got good taste in clothes and you've never been shy to show me a dress before so I'm really curious to see what's causing such a reaction. Was it expensive or something?"