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Nerves eating away at her sto, she clucked quietly to herself as she crossed the roo It made her nervous and when that happened, well…

“Tu es betes comme tes pieds” Yes, she transformed into someone as as smart as the bottom of her feet Deep breaths, Clover I’m sure Mrs Carlyle won’t be as scary this time Third time’s the charm Or curse

Forcing a confidence into her spine that she sure as hell didn’t feel, Clover opened her bedroom door “Because I’m not a chicken…”

Her voice trailed off as she noticed Sawyer in a black suit and a patterned pale pink tie that perfectly matched one of the stripes on her dress That couldn’t be a coincidence Whoever had gone shopping and left the Dylan’s Depart on her bed had obviously left one for him as well

“You look nice,” she said, voicing the understatement of the year

The suit did everything possible to highlight Sawyer’s broad shoulders, and noticing that did funny things to her sto it hard to remember exactly why it was that she shouldn’t follow her own advice and have a little adventure cli Mount Stuffykins

His focus was only for her and he gave her a slow, heated up and down once-over “You look ready to unwrap”

She halted in mid-stride on her way out the door Okay, with the pink, navy, and round, the dress looked a little like Christmas paper, but that didn’t mean he had to say it out loud An embarrassed heat inched its way up her chest “If you didn’t like it, why did you get it?”

“Who said I didn’t like it?” he asked, the lines in his forehead carving a V that disappeared behind the top of his black-fralasses

Head high and chin pointed up, she strode right past him on her way to the elevator “You did”

“I was trying to compliment you,” he shot back

“That’s not exactly your strong suit” No Being a pain in her ass was his greatest strength

“No” Nother stride for stride and getting to the elevator down button a half second before she did He mashed it with more force than necessary “It’s definitely not” Twelve very slow, very silent seconds later, the elevator arrived and the doors parted “Shall we?”

The doors whooshed shut behind them

She tried to hold on to her annoyance for Sawyer’s crack about her dress but the urge to start nervously clucking was too much for her to shut off “Do you think we can really carry this off?”