Page 26 of Masked in Deception
Realization hits me like a ton of bricks. I’m going to be in New York very soon, getting Ledger’s and my new club up and running.I’ll be so close to her.I was planning on getting an apartment closer to the club to cut down my commute, but I would much rather be closer to her.I wonder if there’s an open apartment in her building.
The wordParissnaps me back into reality like a bucket of ice-cold water. “Wait, what do you mean you’re going to Paris?”
“Don’t worry. I haven’t accepted the position yet. I have another couple of weeks to decide.”
“Why wouldn’t you go? That sounds like the opportunity of a lifetime.” The horror of her going to Paris is quickly replaced with the horror of hernotgoing. Design has been her dream for years, and this is a crazy opportunity…
I don’t even realize she’s moved until she’s on my lap, straddling me with her hands resting on my chest. Again, my hands find her waist like it's the most natural thing in the world. “Well, I’ve been hung up on someone.”
She bites her bottom lip, her attention alternating between my eyes and my mouth. Any restraint I might have been holding on to goes out the window the moment she grinds down on my already hardening cock. Her eyes roll into the back of her head as she releases the sexiest moan I’ve ever heard in mylife.
I allow myself to fall into whatever this is and lean in to kiss her. Our lips have barely touched when we hear the door from the garage open. Margot scurries out of my lap like I’m diseased and scoots as far away as possible on the couch, sitting as straight as a board.
“Margot! Hurry and get ready! Your brother is married and haszeroChristmas decorations up, so we’ve got to…oh, Jack!” Blanche says, finally making it into the room. “Great, you can help too! Well, what are you two waiting for? Up, up, up! Let’s go!”
Chapter twenty-four
23 years old
Mom hands us all a glass of champagne, toasting the happy couple. “To Sloane and Ledger!” she exclaims as we all clink our glasses together with a cheer. “And to grandbabies!”
It didn’t take long at all to put up the decorations with five sets of hands helping, but I’m still amazed they were able to get rid of all those flowers from last night. Apparently, my brother is commissioning some kind of artwork to preserve them all.
Mom, Sloane, and I stand around the spread of food, talking about the wedding while Jack and Ledger go sit down.
“So, tell me everything,” Mom requests. “I will forgive you for not inviting me but you better not leave out a detail.”
Ledger chuckles from the table beside us.
“Oh, for the love, Ledger. Please leave out those details.”
After getting every drop of detail we can squeeze out, Mom turns her attention to me. “You better include me in your wedding plans, missy, or I will absolutely never forgive you.”
“Don’t worry, Mom, you’ve got plenty of time to prepare. I’ve made it through four years of undergrad and am almost through my master’s without any prospects, so I doubt there are any wedding bells in my near future.”
“All the more reason to spend some time abroad!” she exclaims.
“I know, I know. I have two internships lined up between New York and Paris. I just haven't decided yet,” I admit, glancing briefly at Jack to find him chewing on his lip and looking down at his plate.
“If I were a single twenty-three-year-old, I would try to find the sexiest Frenchman I could and climb him like a tree,” Mom says, fanning herself with her hand for dramatic effect.
Mortification floods my mind at the thought of Jack hearing that. “Mother!” I hiss.
Her only response is an eye roll. “Oh, you’re a boring bunch,” she sighs.
Ledger walks over to grab Sloane. “Trust me, nothing is boring over here,” he says, wrapping himself around his wife in an embrace I crave so desperately from the man still sitting at the table.
“Ledger!” Seriouslygross.When did he decide I was old enough to start talking about his sex life around me?
Mom elbows me in the side. “Well,yougive me a grandbaby, then!”
I lift my eyes to see Jack’s cheeks blush as he pops a cookie in his mouth. Then I watch that slight blush darken as Ledger lays his threat. “Oh no, you don’t. You’re not allowed to date until you’re thirty, remember? Don’t think I won’t make good on my promise to beat any fucker who lays a hand on you.”
I roll my eyes at my brother, hoping he doesn’t notice how I freeze up when Jack starts choking on the cookie. Thankfully, he doesn’t have too much time to think about it before Sloane savesour asses. “Speaking of grandchildren, let’s show your mom the room you had put in for the nursery.”
The moment they’re out of the kitchen, Jack towers over me from behind and cages me against the island with his arms. “The thought of you with another man makes me murderous,” he whispers in my ear.
Chills run across my body as I try to turn in his arms, but he pushes closer, trapping me in place. He’s so close now I can feel his hard length against my back.God, I want that inside me.I want him to know exactly what that does to me as well. “Mmm,” I moan, laying my head back against his shoulder.
