Operation: Endgame by Christi Snow

really large club chair outside the dressing room with the mass of bags scattered around his feet. His only job now was to wait. He could handle waiting if it meant no more hobbling around this enormous and, seemingly getting bigger every minute, mall.
    Cassie had taken a handful of cocktail dresses into the dressing room with her. She came out in one of them now and twirled in front of him. He felt like he’d swallowed his tongue. After she finished twirling, she stood with her back to him, looking at herself in the mirror. She tilted her head to the side and said, “What do you think? Too much?”
    Too much? Was she insane? There was no dress there. It was black, sparkly, and clung to her every curve. From the front, it seemed rather sedate with long black sleeves and a high neckline. At least, that was the case if you didn’t look down to the miniscule length of the skirt that showed off the miles of her long toned legs. But when she turned around, the back was nonexistent. There was nothing there besides miles of skin from the top of her spine all the way to the top of her ass. Four draped strands of thin rhinestones stretched across the top expanse of the milky skin of her back, but with a simple little flick of the wrist, the entire dress could be dropped in half a second. His fingers itched with the desire to do just that, but he clenched his hand into a fist to keep from reaching towards her.
    He didn’t realize he was sitting there staring, until Cassie spoke. “Okay, you’re going to have to give me a hint here. Does the mouth hanging open mean you like it? Or does it look so hideous you just don’t know what to say?”
    Jake snapped his jaw shut and cleared his throat. “No, hideous is not the word I was thinking, but do you honestly think you need to show that much skin?” He scowled at her, thinking about all the guys drooling over her at this party.
    At that moment another customer walked up who had been surreptitiously observing them while she shopped. “Girl, don’t listen to him. You look gorgeous! Your boyfriend just doesn’t want to deal with any competition.”
    Jake flushed in embarrassment, but Cassie didn’t even notice. “Oh, he’s not my boyfriend….just a friend, actually more like a brother than anything.”
    He sure wasn’t having any brotherly thoughts about her right now.
    But Cassie continued on, “You don’t think it shows too much skin?” She turned and looked at the back again.
    The customer gave him a mischievous look. He liked her less and less the more she talked. “You have the body to pull it off. Take advantage of it for the rest of us who can’t. It’s the holidays which mean you can be a bit more daring than normal.”
    Cassie was nodding now. “You know, you’re right. This is the perfect holiday dress. I’m getting it. Thank you so much for helping.”
    Jake groaned inwardly and wondered how he could fix things so no other males showed up to this party of hers.
    Finally the never-ending shopping trip to the mall was over. Jake decided he’d rather have his leg re-broken than ever have to go through that kind of torture again.
    As they got into Jake’s truck, Cassie turned to him, “Thanks Jake for going shopping with me. I think I got almost everything on my list.”
    He glanced into the back seat where the packages and bags were overflowing. “ Almost ? That isn’t everything you need?” He hoped she didn’t hear the rise of panic in his voice.
    Cassie giggled. “No worries. Next time I’ll bring Julie or Penelope. No more hazardous duty for you. You’ve served your time.” She was obviously having a good time making fun of him.
    “Ha-ha. Laugh it up, but guys were simply not made for that kind of shopping. There’s a very good reason we don’t do it.”
    “Let me make it up to you. Let’s head over to The Mocha Mermaid and I’ll buy you some coffee.”
    As they entered the shop, the rich aromas of deep dark coffee assaulted Jake’s