Page 74 of Beautiful Sins

The low, feminine voice from the doorway has me turning, though Leni doesn’t release her grip on my arms.

My girlfriend stands in the office doorway, holding a bottle of champagne. She’s wearing the dress I bought her and had delivered to Beck’s. It’s black and strapless, hugging her curves. As she reaches up to pull the sunglasses from her hair and set them and her phone on the desk, her cuff glints gold in the overhead lights. She looks healthy and happy andmine.

It’s been three days since I’ve been inside her, and I’m about to die from the injustice of it all.

Leni crosses to Rae and takes the champagne bottle. “That’s the good shit. What’s the occasion?”

“I booked Wild Fest. Just got the email this afternoon. More than that… the stream from my show racked up a million views in two days. I have offers coming in from everywhere.” Her slow smile is dazed and my chest aches with pride.

“Good for you,” Leni comments. “I wish we had as much to celebrate, but—“

“Leni, could you find us glasses?” I cut her off smoothly.

I don’t want news of Whelan’s arrest taking away from Raegan’s day, her triumph.

Thankfully, Rae’s oblivious. “It’s fine. I figured we’d pass it around.”

I take the bottle and unwrap it, then open it with a pop.

Leni takes a long swig before passing it back to Rae. “Well, it’s not a zoning permit”—my friend gives me side-eye—“but it’s something. Excuse me while I get back to work.”

As Leni heads out to the warehouse, I round the desk to Rae.

Waves of dark hair fall around her shoulders in a way that should be haphazard but only makes me want to fist it while I fuck her.

When she takes a drink from the bottle, my attention locks on her lips. I want to kiss her mouth.

I want to own it.

Rae offers me the bottle, and every part of me tightens, including my grip on the neck of the champagne.

“Congratulations. Your show was incredible,” I murmur. “I watched every clip I could find. Eventually I stopped because there wasn’t a newspaper large enough to cover the tent in my trousers when I got off the plane.”

She laughs. “Chartered flights, the official sponsor of dirty old men everywhere.”

“It wasn’t only a great performance, Raegan. It was you.”

I’m in love with her. But I can’t say it now, not with everything going on.

The expensive fabric of her dress is thin, but it feels too thick under my thumbs where they stroke her sides. I drag her farther into the office and kick the door shut.

“Can’t take this,” I mutter when I press her back to the door. Her lips are champagne and possibility, and I’m giddy on the taste of her. “You’re dressed head to toe in things I got you. It’s fucking hot.”

My fingers find the zipper at her back.

“So why’re you in a hurry to get them off?” Her voice is breathless.

“Because what’s underneath is mine too.” I unzip the dress and push it off her. If I had the upper hand, it’s gone when she straightens from laying the dress over my desk and I take in her lingerie-clad body.

Her golden skin peeks through the black lace of the bra, the triangle at the tops of her thighs.

“I see you did some shopping yourself.”

She shrugs. “I was in New York.”

I skim the curve of her breast, the lace and her heaviness beneath making my throat dry. “I approve.”

“Well thank fuck, because I was waiting for that.” Her sassy comeback makes me grin.