Page 13 of Jingle Bell Rock

“My lips are sealed,” Julien promised, and that made me look at my husband's fabulous mouth, because wow, Julien really did have the most suckable—

“So, Robbie, are you excited about the Jingle Ball tonight?”

I turned to find Ace’s piercing blue eyes locked on mine. As I stared into a face I had seen a hundred times over but never actually seen, I said, “You’re Ace Locke.”

A low rumble of laughter left his throat. “Yes, I am.”

“Wow.” I quickly took another sip of my drink and this time let my eyes rove all over his famous face.

“And you’re Robbie Thornton-Priestley.”

I nodded. “Yes, I am.”

“That’s…” Ace’s eyes shifted past my shoulder to my husbands, then came back to mine. “Wow.”

A burst of laughter escaped me before I could help it, and wouldn’t you know it, Ace’s cheeks flushed red.

“I’m sorry, that was rude.”

I immediately reached out to assure him it was fine, and the second I squeezed his forearm, I remembered exactly whom I was touching and quickly withdrew.

“Shit. Sorry. I didn’t mean to just…touch you.”

“You didn’t?”

When I just sat there mute, Ace chuckled.

“I mean, Joel told me that I was your freebie, so I just assumed that—”

I whipped around in my seat and pinned Priest with narrowed eyes. “You told him he was my freebie?”

Not perturbed in the slightest, Priest brought his drink to his lips and took a sip. “I did.”

“Are you insane? That’s Ace Locke.”

Julien was doing his level best not to laugh, as Priest glanced past me and then nodded. “Yes, I believe we established that.”

I leaned across Julien and said, “You don’t tell someone like him that he’s my freebie.”

“Why not? This way, he knows what a big fan you are.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

The flame that entered Priest’s eyes made my cock instantly respond. “I look forward to it, sweetheart.”

I swallowed back the desire I had to grab my infuriating husband and kiss his smug lips, and instead tried for some level of composure.

The look of mischief in Ace’s eyes told me he was well aware he was part of a larger plot here, and when I scanned the table to see all attention was on me, I threw back the last of my drink and glared at them all.

“So do we do this here, or do you take me back to your room? Are the others invited? Ooh, maybe Dylan? I mean, I do my best work when I’m in the middle.”

Before I could get to my feet to take advantage of Ace’s offer—real or not—Logan put in his two cents.

“Jesus, Robbie. Why don’t you just strip naked and throw yourself on his lap?”

I shot Tate’s bitter half a glare. “Don’t be jealous. You and Tate had your chance.” Then I turned back to Ace, who still had an amused look on his face. “If you need another option, I look delicious lying across the table—”

“Aaand that’s enough, princesse,” Julien said, draping his arm around the back of my chair to hug me in close.

“Seriously? You’re going to deny me the pleasure of Beckett Sinclair?” When Julien’s brow furrowed—he clearly did not get the reference to one of Ace’s hottest characters—I let out an exaggerated sigh. “Come on, I’ve made you watch it a million times. The one where Ace spends practically the entire movie shirtless.”

“Okay, Robert. You’ve had your fun.”

Priest’s voice should’ve been warning enough, but I was on a roll now, and I felt Ace had it coming at this stage. After all, he’d been in on it this whole time. With the champagne from my mimosa nicely singing through my system, I placed an elbow on the table and leaned over to trail my fingertip in a lazy circle over Ace’s arm.

“So whaddya say, Beckett, want to show me how well you can handle another man’s…gun?” I batted my lashes for extra emphasis, and when Ace let out a booming laugh and shook his head, I grinned. “Or maybe you could just sign my—”

“Okay, Robert. That’s enough.” Priest got to his feet, and I turned to look up at him.

“What? I’m just making sure I make the most of this opportunity. You do want me to make the most of it, don’t you?”

“What I want right now is not polite to do in front of company.” Priest’s jaw twitched, and the immense satisfaction I derived from my little bout of payback was quite satisfying. Not as satisfying as what I was sure his brand of punishment would be, buuuut this would do rather nicely.

I was just about to tell him that he’d have to wait until later, when the kitchen door swung open and Dylan stepped through with a tray of breakfast tarts. All heads turned his way, and as he looked over the now-silent table, he smiled brightly and said, “Right, what’d I miss?”

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