Page 13 of Black Lace

“You’re quiet.” His velvety smooth voice seems to resonate deep within me.

How have I never realized how sexy his voice is before?

“I’m just thinking,” I reply honestly.

“About what?” He raises an eyebrow at me.

“You don’t want to know.”

He looks over at me, his curiosity plain on his face.

“Actually, I do. Tiff, you’re being weird.”

Maybe I imagined the lust in his expression before? Perhaps my sex-filled brain provided it as an explanation for how I’m feeling. He seems completely back to normal now. I find I don’t want that to be the case,though, and in my infinite wisdom, I decide to poke the bear.

“Why do you say the things you say to me?” I ask him.

“What things?” He keeps his face firmly forward, so I can’t read his expression anymore.

“The flirty shit you say to me all the time.”

“You’re going to need to narrow that down.” He shrugs a little too casually.

“Come on, Declan, you know what I’m talking about.”

“I’d like an example.”

I scoff at him. He wants an example? I have a laundry list.

“You call me ‘Sexy.’ You tell me you want my body. You ask when I’m going to leave Ben for you. You look at me like I’m a glass of water, and you’re a man who’s been walking through the desert for a month.”

The last one was unexpected, but I realize it’s also true. He does look at me like that… far too frequently. I’m looking at fourteen years of friendship through an entirely different lens.

He doesn’t respond at all, just keeps looking firmly forward at the road, and I see a sign that tells me we’re only forty miles out from the Hamptons. My heart is racing, and I can’t help but wonder what will happen when we get there.

“Are you going to answer my question?” I prod him.

“I say that stuff to everyone, Tiffany. I think plenty of people will tell you that.”

“Ah, so I’m not special, then?” I raise an eyebrow at him, and he laughs.

“You know that’s not true.”

“Tell me how and why I’m special, Dec.” My voice is husky with lust.

I’m in ludicrously dangerous territory right now. Anything he says will damage our friendship in one way or another. While this went by as an unacknowledged thing, we’ve been safe to be friends. I’m forcing him to shine a light on it right now.

“There is no other woman in the world that I would take to the Hamptons,” he begins softly. “That’s how. As for why? If I could answer that, maybe I could have spent the last ten years watching you and Ben a lot less closely.”

He gives me a wry grin, and I’m barely capable of coherent thought. What he’s saying to me is too much, yet I’m the one who forced this conversation on us both.

“We’re almost there,” I note as we turn onto the road that will take us to his property. “You’ll be able to escape me soon.”

“What made you think I want to?” He smiles at me with a full and amused grin.

I’m breathless, and all of my nerve endings are on fire. Something insane has happened in the last two hours. I started this trip a broken woman and havesomehow ended it a lust-filled sex demon eager to fuck my longtime friend.

Dec pulls the car to a stop under the porte-cochère at the front of the main building. He turns the car off, and we sit in silence for a few moments. He stares out the windscreen as though he doesn’t dare look at me.

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