Page 12 of Black Lace

“We’ll go out to the Hamptons. Nobody will bother us there. No paparazzi, no drama. We’ll tell the otherswhere we are, but they’ll know not to bother us, and we can switch our phones off. We can do whatever you want, get drunk, go swimming, play pool. None of the bullshit you’ll get if you stay here.”

His offer is tempting. The picture he’s painting is an attractive one. Dec’s family property in the Hamptons would be the perfect place for me to heal and lick my wounds.

“Are you sure?” I ask him.

“Positive,” he replies with a smile. “Pack your bags, Sexy. We’ll go now.”

I don’t know how much to pack, so I end up bringing a fairly big suitcase full of casual clothes, along with some bikinis and underwear. Dec’s maid will wash my clothes for me if we stay too long, but I know in my heart that I won’t want to be away from the city long enough for this to truly be a concern.

Before I know it, we’re sitting in Dec’s powerful, red sports car and speeding away from New York. I relax into the buttery leather as the distance between us and the city increases. For the ten years I was together with Ben, I’d thought nothing could ever break us. All it took was some fucking drugs and one monumentally stupid mistake on his part.

I begin to cry again, and I’m frustrated with myself for not being able to keep my emotions in check. Dec reaches his right hand over to hold my hand in his.

“You’ll be okay, Tiffany,” he assures me. “It’ll take time, but you’ll survive, I promise.”

He lifts my hand to his lips and kisses it softly before resting our joined hands between us. My heart does a strange flip-flop at this gesture. My emotions are in complete turmoil. That’s obviously why I’m feeling so strange.

I become utterly aware of his presence in the too-small space of his car. He exudes sex at all times, but it’s like I’ve only now felt any of its force. My breath catches in my throat for a second as I’m deluged with images in my mind of Dec and me making love.

What the fuck, Tiffany Carter?!

That came out of nowhere. So dumb. I’ve literally just broken up with Ben, my fiancé, the love of my life. Dec is like my brother… but is he like my brother? I glance over at him and view him in profile as he watches the road.

He’s incredibly handsome, with his short, black hair and chiseled features. Okay, objectively, he is hot, but I’ve never seen him in that way. We’ve flirted off and on over the years, but never in a serious way. I was committed to Ben and loved him. Neither Dec nor I would ever betray him that way.

Well, you’re not with Ben now, are you?

My brain helpfully supplies that fact for me. What the fuck am I doing? Running away to the Hamptons with Dec is crazy.

“This is a bad idea.” I unintentionally give voice to my thoughts while I pull my hand away from his.

“What?” He looks over at me. “Why?”

Damn.

He wasn’t present in my brain over the last five minutes, so he has no clue what I’m talking about. He doesn’t know that I’m currently imagining what he would look like stark naked in front of me.

“Running away like this. It’s not going to solve anything.” I stretch for a reason that has nothing to do with my apparently raging hormones.

“Maybe not, but you’ll be safe, Tiffany. The Hamptons are perfect for that.”

We continue driving in silence. After a few minutes, we pass a town sign, and I realize we’re barely halfway there. How can I last another hour in the car with him? Why have I practically forgotten that Ben exists over the last fifteen minutes since Dec kissed my hand? It’s as though Dec has managed to take up residence in my brain all of a sudden and evicted Ben. I feel like a complete traitor to the man I’ve loved for a decade.

I look over at Dec again, and he meets my gaze. Once again, my breath catches in my throat at the naked desire reflected there.

What the hell?

Suddenly, all the jokes he’s made over the years about finding me sexy, wanting me to leave Ben for him,and him fantasizing about me. They all take on a whole new meaning. He hasn’t been serious… has he?

I know he’s fervently loyal and would never have slept with me when I was with Ben, but that isn’t why he came straight to me when he’d been told we’d broken up.

Isn’t it?

My mind is full of questions, and I just can’t top the images of me and Dec fucking that are playing there. I know all the places in his family’s Hamptons house that we can do it.

What the fuck am I doing?

This isDeclan. Why the hell am I sitting here, fantasizing about having him deep inside me when I literally started this day engaged to one of his best friends?

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