Chapter 8
She left the room and went to the dresser and pulled out the drawers one at a time. Sure enough, each drawer was full of panties, bras, socks, stockings, panty hoses, and night clothes. She'd never had such a selection before in her life. Everything looked brand new but there wasn't any tags to be found. Of course, he wouldn't be that clumsy. She should have expected this to happen. He'd had her occupied, sequestered into the den all day. He'd set the meeting up for a wardrobe very first thing. Naturally, they'd had time to assemble and deliver everything. From the looks of it, they had literally gathered every item in the store in her size and had them delivered. Now the comments about if she didn't like something made sense. She'd have to go through the entire wardrobe piece by piece and take out the things she didn't like. Heck that would tie up an entire day.
She shook her head in disbelief and turned her back on the closet. She was so in over her head that she wasn't sure she could see daylight anymore. She went for the bathroom feeling dejected. She had less than a hour to be ready to go to wherever he was taking her. She didn't even have time to process before she was expected to put on yet another performance. All she wanted was time to process everything, to have more than a hour to think. To wrap her head around her new reality. But everything was hitting her so fast that she felt dizzy.
She showered then went through the motions of getting ready to go as quickly as she could. She dried and curled her hair carefully as she could. She went for a minimalist affect on her make-up. She was lucky that she had a good complextion so it never took very long for her to get ready, even when she chose a more dramatic look. She went out to her closet to try to pick out 'something nice' as he'd requested. Everything in the closet fit the bill in her opinion but she was sure he meant something a little closer to formal than a pant suit or sun dress.
She sighed and tapped her finger nails against her lips thoughtfully. She wished he'd given her some more information about where they were going so she would have more to go on for outfit choices. She knew that some restaurants had dress codes, though she'd never been able to afford to go to any of those places before. Groaning in frustration, she grabbed a black dress that was fairly conservative in comparrison with some of the others on display. She went to the dresser and pulled out a matching set of panties and bra. She wouldn't worry about stockings or panty hose. She rarely wore anything like that, certainly never without reason. She was in her closet looking through the options of high heels when she became aware of her bedroom door opening without a knock.
"Are you ready to go?" Josiah's voice called out from the bedroom.
"Shall I have to lock the door to avoid being barged in on?" She asked in irritation coming out of the closet.
"You expect me to knock?" He asked in surprise, apparently having not considered the thought once.
"Well, frankly, yes. Its polite to knock before entering the private area of a near stranger." She informed him, rolling her eyes before returning to the closet.
"You're going to be my wife in a week. Shall I knock every time I enter our bedroom?" He asked sarcastic sweetness lacing his voice.
"You imply that I'll be sharing a bed with you immediately." She said.
"You will be. I've already stated that this will be a real marriage. That involves sharing sleeping quarters. Along with losing some privacy as well." Josiah said with a shrug.
"You'd try the patience of a saint. But in any case, we may be getting married next week and sharing a bedroom then, but we are not currently married. Nor are we sharing a bedroom. So I'd appreciate the courtesy of a knock before barging in especially when you know I may not be dressed." She informed him.
"Fair point, I will try to accomodate that request from now on. Are you ready to go?" He asked once again.
"Nearly. I just need to find some shoes to match the dress." She said turning her attention back to the shelf of shoes in front of her. As simple as the task seemed there were several different ones to choose from. With a frustrated sigh she grabbed the ones with the shortest heels and shoved her feet into them.
"I brought your purse to you. I meant to return it earlier, but we've had a busy day." Josiah said and handed out the purse.
"Thank you. I have a terrible habit of being carded entering any place that has an age restriction." She said reaching into the purse for her wallet. She'd be able to slip it inside a more appropriate purse then add a few touch up items she may need for later.
"Yes, you look quite young for your age, though I'm sure you've heard that many times." Josiah commented as he followed her to the closet. "Do you like what was brought for you?"
"I'll have to go through things more thoroughly, but so far everything seems fine." She said with a shrug. "Thank you for everything. I appreciate all of it."
"You're welcome." Josiah said, though he sounded surprised to hear genuine appreciation in her voice.
"I would like to take you out on our first date." He said as he held his hand out for her.
"Doesn't that sound intimidating." She said faintly but after a moment's hesitation, she took his hand.
"Don't worry, I think you'll have a wonderful time. I know that I will. You look very beautiful." Josiah said and kissed her hand before tucking it into the crook of his arm.
Rossalyn looked him over carefully, taking her time for her assessment as well. He was wearing a dark purple button up shirt with black slacks and a black suit jacket. He had black shoes. His hair was slicked back with what looked like hair gel and he was freshly shaved. He had a silver Rolex watch on his left wrist and a thin silver bracelet on his right. He also had a pleasently musky cologne on that drew her closer to him. "You look very handsome too." She said in return. It wasn't a reflexive compliment, she did mean it honestly.
"Thank you, lets get the night started, shall we?" He asked as he led her from the bedroom toward the stairs.