Page 67 of Count Your Lucky Stars
“Okay.” Margot glanced quickly around the patio to make sure everyone was sufficiently occupied with their own conversations, that no one was listening. This confession was for Elle’s ears only. “Olivia’s and my friendship might be slightly more complicated than I previously led everyone to believe.”
“No, really?” Elle deadpanned.
Margot shoved her. “Hush. I’ll tell you more later, okay? I don’t—this trip is supposed to be about Annie and Brendon and,hello, your engagement. That’s huge. And here I am, making everything all about me and my feelings.”
“You never makeanythingabout you, Mar.” Elle frowned. “I think I speak for all of us when I say—hey, Brendon.”
“Hey.” Brendon crouched down, resting his arms on the back of the sectional behind them. He jerked his chin towardLuke and Olivia and grinned. “Looks like they’re really hitting it off, huh?”
A pit formed in Margot’s stomach. “I don’t know.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
Margot lifted one shoulder, giving Brendon a tight shrug. “I’m not sensing it.”
“Hmm.” His frown deepened. “Really?”
Elle nodded quickly. “Totally. I’m getting super-platonic vibes.”
Across the patio, Luke leaned in, whispering in Olivia’s ear. Her face turned pink.
Margot felt like she was going to be sick, her stomach queasy, a sour knot forming in her throat.
Brendon, completely unaware of her inner turmoil, smiled smugly and stood. “I don’t know. Looks like some pretty stellar chemistry to me.”
He rapped his knuckles against the back of the couch and returned to his seat next to Annie, who curled into his side as soon as he sat down.
Stellar chemistry? Margot’s jaw ticked as she leaned forward, fishing her phone out of her pocket.
Maybe Luke had perfect hair and perfect teeth and a perfect job, all points in his favor, but he had questionable taste in beer, and Margot would be damned if she let some Ryan Gosling look-alike mess up what shedidhave with Olivia. It might not be everything Margot wanted, everything she craved, everything her greedy heart desired, but it was something.
And something with Olivia Grant would always be better than nothing.
Margot rested the mouth of her beer bottle against her bottom lip and swiped at her screen.
Margot (11:03 p.m.):What’s my record, four?
Margot pressed her phone against her thigh, screen side down, and feigned interest in the conversation happening around her. Jian was telling a story about something that had happened at work, lightly roasting Brendon, who took it like a champ, laughing along with everyone else. Margot laughed when everyone else laughed, nodded when everyone nodded, not really paying attention, instead glancing at Olivia surreptitiously from the corner of her eye.
Olivia wiggled her phone free from her pocket and looked at the screen, eyes briefly flitting up, glancing Margot’s way. Margot sipped her beer and pretended to be engrossed in the story. Her phone buzzed against her thigh.
Olivia (11:05 p.m.):Record for what?
Margot’s lips twitched.
Margot (11:06 p.m.):Times I made you come in one night.
Across the deck, Olivia fumbled her phone, dropping it against the couch. Margot bit her lip, swallowing a laugh asLuke reached for it, handing it to her without looking at the screen. Olivia’s face had turned a violent shade of red, her flush spreading down her jaw. Margot typed quickly.
Margot (11:07 p.m.):God, you’re pretty when you blush. The best part is how you turn the sweetest shade of pink all the way down to your pussy.
Olivia must’ve swallowed funny because she started to cough.
“You should drink something, Liv,” she said, biting the inside of her cheek when Olivia leveled her with a heated stare. Firelight caught on Olivia’s blond lashes each time she blinked and turned the gold of her hazel eyes into a warm, cinnamon honey, only a thin ring of green hugging her blown pupils.
“I’m fine,” Olivia gasped, waving Luke off when he tried to offer her his beer, barely even looking at him. A flicker of satisfaction flared inside Margot’s chest.
A minute later Margot’s phone vibrated.
