Page 60 of Wallflower in Bloom

“All done.” Lily stashed her phone in her pocket. “I’ll edit these tonight and upload tomorrow. Do you want me to send some to Shay?”

“What?” Violet was taken out of her dreamy Jack-filled bubble and looked at Lily. “I thought you were going to take photos?”

“I did. You guys were being fucking adorable, and photos were taken. Check mark. Done. The end. I’m gonna go eat some pie.”

“Oh, not the buttercream. It has eggs,” Violet called as Lily walked away.

Lily threw a thumbs up over her head.

“You made multiple types of pie?” Jack asked.

“She’s allergic, so I wanted to make sure she’s included.”

“God.” His hand claimed her jaw and brought her face towards him.

His mouth met hers briefly but lingered over her as his nose nuzzled her. She adored the scent that was manly and cedar-y and just…him.

For the cameras, for everybody else, she thought.

“I’m sorry we haven’t spent much time together the last few days. I wanted to ask…” He paused and thought, biting his lip in concentration.

His eyes connected with hers, and she felt something shift. As if he was hiding something.

He stood up. “…I want a drink. Can I grab you anything? And no, it’s not an imposition,” he said sternly, already cutting off her preemptive argument.

“White wine,” she said with a shy smile.

“Good.” He winked and walked away.

She looked around at the empty patio and realized they’d been the only ones out there. No cameras. No one else.

What the heck did that mean?

Chapter

Thirteen

JACK

Jack washed his hands in Gray’s powder room and chuckled. He and Violet were doing a bang-up job passing themselves off as a real couple at this party.

The thought of Violet’s soft shoulders and full breasts in her flirty outfit made his cock twitch as he dried his hands. It’s no hardship being her fake boyfriend, that’s for damn sure.

He wrenched open the door and stopped, suddenly nose-to-nose with a scowling Gray and Gray’s enormous friend, Nash.

Hand on his chest, Jack’s heart seized. “Bloody hell, Roberts. You scared me.”

“That was my goal.” Gray turned Jack around by the shoulders and pushed him back into the bathroom. The two tall men walked in behind him.

Jack looked over his shoulder with a smirk. “The fuck are you doing? Need me to hold your hand while you take a piss?”

Gray rolled his eyes over his shoulder at Nash. “See? Such a smart-ass. He knows, by the way.” Gray threw a thumb at the enormous man behind him. “The whole fake dating thing. I told him so he understood why I might need to toss you on your ass.”

Nash looked like a wall of muscle who’d earned an MBA, but not in a douchey way. He stuck out a hand. “It’s a weird place to meet somebody, but nice to meet you finally. I’ve heard stories forever.”

Utterly confused, Jack shook his hand with a half-smile. “Cheers. You the muscle of this ambush?”

Nash crossed his large arms. The motherfucker was 6’5” if he was an inch. “I am when it’s to protect our girl, Vi.”

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