Page 23 of Black Ties and White Lies

“Oh, don’t be shy,” he muses, his voice a little closer than it’d been before. “It wasn’t the worst thing to imagine.”

I groan again, shaking my head erratically underneath the pillow. I’m going to blast every single one of Emma’s embarrassing stories all over the internet. Even better, I’m going to paint a very detailed picture of the time she threw up all over the nice couple in front of us in Cabo. We’d all been entirely too hungover to go on an excursion, but we rallied and went anyway. At least, we attempted to rally. Emma ended up blowing chunks all over the twelve-passenger van—and its passengers—fifteen minutes into the ride.

I’m dreaming up all the other embarrassing stories I have on Emma to get back at her when I feel two warm hands over the top of mine. It makes me jolt.What is he doing?

“Margo,” he says, his voice steady. He pulls on my fingers, trying to unlatch them from my tight grip on the pillow. I dig my fingertips into the pillow with all my might, clutching it so hard to my face that I can barely breathe.

“No,” I snap, holding onto the pillow for dear life. I should’ve just looked Beck in the eye and told him there’s no way I’d ever ride him. I could’ve made a disgusted face and cracked some kind of joke to make things way less awkward.

“Why are you hiding?” He grunts, pulling on the edge of the pillowcase to slide it from my grasp.

I clutch it like a lifeline. “Because I’m busy planning the demise of my best friend. Leave me to it.” Unfortunately, Beck is relentless and much stronger than me. He pulls the pillow from my clutches with one easy tug.

I squeeze my eyes shut, feeling Beck’s presence looming over me.

“Open your eyes,” he demands. I feel the mattress dip slightly underneath my body. The asshole is making things worse by taking a seat and not disappearing.

“Go away.” My arm reaches out in an attempt to push him off the bed. I squeeze my eyes so tightly that I have to feel around for him. My fingers brush up against what I think is his thigh. I’m feeling around when I feel his large hand on top of mine.

“Woah there, Violet.” A low rumble of laughter comes from his chest. He gently guides my hand from what I think was the tip of him. Which would be wild because holy fuck if that was the tip of his dick, that thing is huge.

He’s right. Definitely less pony and more stallion.

The realization of what he’s packing between his thighs has my eyes popping open. He stares at me with a cocky smirk. My cheeks burn so hot with embarrassment that I do the only logical thing a hot-blooded woman can do when her ex’s older, way hotter brother, who is her boss and about to be her fake fiancé, is looking at her like that. I shove him off the bed, throwing my entire body into the effort.

Maybe now he’ll take the hint.

Except I throw too much of my body into it. Instead of Beck getting thrown off the bed while I stare at him triumphantly from the cozy mattress, the two of us both tumble to the ground.

Luckily, or somewhat unluckily depending on how you look at it, I end up landing directly on top of Beck. We hit the ground with a loudthud, despite the cushy rug underneath our bodies. My cheek presses into his hard chest. His hands gently press into my hips with just enough pressure to make sure I’m steady.

My hair creates a shield around as I stare down at him, mortified.

He only fuels the embarrassment as he carefully pushes me off him, my butt connecting with the floor. Beck stands up gracefully, straightening out his outfit. He looks down at me. His face is serious except for the slight raise of his eyebrows in amusement. “Trying to jump my bones?”

“Ew, no.” Although judging by what I just felt, jumping his bones would probably be a great—maybe slightly painful—time.

Except it’s Beck. This is Beckham Sinclair we’re talking about. Why can’t I stop thinking about his dick? Why am I wondering if it’d even fit inside me?

“The heated look in your eyes says otherwise,” he states matter-of-factly.

I push myself off the ground, grunting at him in annoyance as I stand up.

Beck smirks, tilting his head in my direction. “Your perky nipplesespeciallysay otherwise.”

Eyes widening, I look down at the evidence of the dirty thoughts I was just having of him.

“Traitors,” I mutter, quickly folding my arms across my chest and pinning him with a bored look. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I lie through my teeth.

His returned smile lets me know he doesn’t believe a damn word I’m saying. Instead of doing what I expect and further pointing out that clearly my nipples get annoyingly excited around him, he drops it.

Just as quick as he swept into my room, he’s heading back toward the exit. Stopping in the doorway, he taps the doorframe with his knuckle two times. His face almost looks pained as he looks over his shoulder. “Get ready. Fast.”

“Why?”

“We have appointments to go shopping. I’ll be waiting downstairs.”

He doesn’t leave any room for argument, or questions. He flies out of the room like his ass is on fire.

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