Chapter 40: Black Ties and White Lies: Chapter 40

The feeling of warm lips pressing to the inside of my wrist pull me from a deep sleep. My feet stretch underneath a soft, heavy blanket as my eyes drift open. I feel the tender caress of lips against my palm at the same moment I register Beck’s figure kneeling on the side of the bed.

I smile, feeling hot by the intense gaze in his eyes. “Hi,” I mumble, still trying to fully wake up.

His eyes soften the same moment his fingers run softly over my forehead. “Hi, baby.” Pet names always seemed overused and cliche until I heard the word baby fall from his mouth. Now I’d willingly never hear my own name again if it meant he’d keep calling me it. I thought it may be something he said in the throes of passion, but his use of it now says something different.

He keeps a hold on my hand, laying gentle kisses to it. The gesture does so much to my fragile heart, making it hope for something that isn’t in the cards for us.

“How long have I been asleep?” I roll to face him, his grip holding true around my wrist. My eyes travel down his body, realizing he’s changed into a custom suit. Apparently I’d been asleep long enough for him to get cleaned up. It was amusing to see him in the clothing from the inn but disarming to see him back in a suit that was custom made for his body.

It’s only when he presses a kiss to the knuckle of my ring finger that I notice something new. Gasping, I sit up in the bed, tearing my hand from his grip and holding it in front of my face.

I focus on the enormous oval diamond ring on my finger. It’s the biggest diamond I’ve ever seen, and it sits on my ring finger.

“Beck,” I say cautiously. “What is this?” I can’t stop staring at the beauty of the simple gold band with the stunning, flawless diamond that’s perched atop it.

He reaches for my hand, pulling it to his lips once again. “It’s an engagement ring, Violet. One I picked out for you.”

I stare at it. It’s classic yet modern. Definitely gaudy, but I was the one who told him I wanted a massive ring. He’d delivered on that, even if I’d been only halfway kidding when I’d said it.

“I’ve never seen something more stunning,” I marvel, not knowing if I should look at him or the ring.

“I have.” The deepness in the tone of his voice and the intense look in his eyes has my stomach dropping. No one has even been able to make me melt into a puddle just by one look except him. He’s able to say so much without ever uttering a word, yet still leave my mind racing with what lies behind his fervent indigo gaze.

My thumb runs over the metal, the feeling of something on the finger foreign. “Is this a proposal?”

He lifts my chin, making me look away from the ring and look at him. “I will get down on one knee right here and do the proposal thing if that’s what you want, Margo. I have plenty of elaborate and extravagant ideas of ways I could ask you to marry me. I’ve thought of how I’d ask you countless times as I’d carried this ring in my pocket, always wondering when the time would be right to ask you. But none of it would be as special as you deserve. Truth be told, I fucking hate saying this, but I don’t want to take the special feeling away from you when someone gets down on their knee and asks you for real. You’ve agreed to be my fiancée for a year, but only for a year. If I were to propose to you the way you deserve, the way I want to, I’d make damn sure no other man could ever compete with it. So I’ve waited on the whole typical proposal thing, only to be fair to the next guy.”

I swallow, trying to hide the tears that threaten to spill from my eyes. “You’re probably right,” I croak, emotion welling in my throat. No matter how hard it is to hear his words, I understand his point. I can’t imagine ever wanting to say yes to another man after the way Beck has unintentionally laid claim to my body and heart recently. I try not to think about the expiration date of our agreement, of the day he won’t look at me with the same heated stare he does right now.

His mouth parts like he wants to say something. For a fleeting moment, I let myself hope for something I know won’t happen. The look in his eyes gives me a brief moment of longing that he’s beginning to feel the same things I do. That the moments we shared last night had meant something to him like they’d meant something to me.

Beck runs a finger over my eyebrow. “I wish I knew what was going on in that head of yours,” he mutters, his voice hoarse.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“Ask me anything, and I’ll tell you.”

It’s on the tip of my tongue to ask him if things have changed for him. If he feels anything for me, even in the slightest. I almost ask it, but I manage to keep my questions to myself. The truth is, I don’t want to know the truth. Ultimately, I’m riding false hope that I could change Beck. The whole reason I’m agreeing to be his fake fiancée is because of his love to not settle down or commit to one woman. I’m not naive enough to think one heated night between us would change anything. I wouldn’t even dare think it possible if it weren’t for the unreadable look in his eyes. A look that says so much and nothing all at once.

“Do you want to kiss me?”

“I want to do so much more to you. But that’s a good start.”

He closes the distance between us, melding his mouth to mine in a way I could never grow tired of. I run my fingers through the neatly styled tendrils of his hair, using them as leverage to pull him closer to me. I leave every question I have unasked, deciding to soak in the feeling of his lips pressed to mine instead.

Beck rises from his knees, crawling onto the bed and pressing his body to mine. I love feeling the weight of him on top of me, of sliding my hands underneath his suit jacket and feeling his muscles tense beneath my touch.

He stuns me with his kiss, making me desperate for anything he’s willing to give me. The kiss makes me forget a crew full of people wait on the other side of the thin door. I hadn’t been awake when we’d gotten on the plane, but if it’s the same crew from when we flew out for the business trip, there’s plenty of people waiting on the other side.

Beck’s hand finds my left hand, pushing it up the bed while still kissing me. He intertwines his fingers with mine, brushing his thumb over the diamond. “So, is that a yes?”

His lips move from my mouth to my neck. He sucks at the tender skin, making my entire body break out in goosebumps. “You already know the answer,” I tell him, trying to keep my voice steady as he pushes the sweatshirt up, finding me in the same lingerie from yesterday.

“I’m going to buy you many more of these.”

“You’ve already bought me plenty.” I moan as his tongue works over my nipple through the fabric of the bra.

He looks at me, his face between my breasts, with a daunting smile. “I want to see you in every single color possible. Every fabric. Every style. Then I can find out how good they look on the floor.”

My back arches from the bed as his warm mouth kisses over the skin of my ribcage. I’m already wet, my body anticipating exactly where his tongue is heading. “There’s many more where these came from.” Even though I know there’s a crowd of people close to us, when he loops his fingers through the waistband of my pants, I find myself lifting my hips to allow him to strip me of them.

“I can’t fucking wait to see every last one of them.”

I hadn’t bothered putting on any underwear when I’d gotten dressed this morning. There wasn’t any need with the pants I’d picked out and the oversized sweatshirt. Instead, I’d stashed my panties in the bottom of one of the bags and went without.

“God, baby, I haven’t even touched you yet and you’re already so soaked and swollen for me.”

“Beck,” I moan as he kisses below my belly button. “What if they hear us?”

I feel the breath from his laugh against my skin. “Then they’ll know how well I take care of my girl.”

I’m internally freaking out at the way my girl sounds coming from his mouth when he runs a finger through my wetness. “Or should I say, my fiancée.”

Never once have I done anything if I knew other people could hear me. I guess I’ve never wanted someone bad enough to not be able to wait until we were alone. But right now, I’m right there with Beck. I don’t care if they hear. After it’s all said and done maybe I’ll be embarrassed to look Ezra or the flight attendants in the eye, but for right now, I’m too desperate to feel his mouth against me again to care.

Before he places his mouth exactly where I want him, he makes his way up my body and kisses me softly on the lips. I want to ask him why he stopped when his fingers wrap around the bottom of the sweatshirt. He lifts up, pulling the fabric over my head and throwing it onto the mattress next to us.

I’m left in nothing but a bra while he’s still fully dressed in his suit. “As much as I love this,” his fingers drift underneath the band of the bra, “it’s got to go.” It doesn’t take him long to reach behind me and unclasp it from my body. The fabric gets discarded with the rest of my clothes next to us.

Now it really feels off balance. Me totally naked while he hovers over me in a three-piece suit. It might be wrong that I like the feeling of it, for me to have not a hint of fabric on while his presence screams business with the formal attire.

“Do you know how beautiful you are?” he utters, looking at me with so much admiration.

“Beck,” I whisper, his words doing much more than turning me on. I’m wet and ready for him, but my heart’s also joined the fun, leaping at hearing him call me beautiful.

“Every fucking inch of you is stunning. There’s not a fucking flaw on you.”

I yelp when his fingers wrap around my ankle and he pulls me down the mattress until my legs almost hang off the bed. He drops to his knees, seating himself between my legs.

“I know I made you beg for me, but I’d kneel and plead every damn day for you.” He spreads my thighs, his hands digging into my skin to keep them open. “For this.” His tongue licks me from top to bottom. I squirm, relishing in how the gentleness of his tongue eases the sting from between my legs that still lingers from last night. “I’d beg and plead, ready to do whatever it takes.”

If anyone were to open the door behind him, they’d be met with the sight of me spread wide open for Beck. His hands stay pressed into the muscles of my thighs, keeping me exactly how he wants me as he kisses my core with the same expertise as he kisses my mouth.

Eventually one of his hands no longer holds my thighs open. It isn’t needed. I’d keep my legs in whatever position he wanted to keep his tongue working against my clit with such precision. He slowly pushes two of his fingers inside me, hooking them slightly in a way that drives me wild.

There’s no way people don’t hear me. I can’t help it, the feeling wreaking havoc through my body is too much for me to be able to stay quiet and I haven’t even come yet. Although, with the rate his fingers work inside me and the feeling of his tongue circling my clit, it won’t be long until everyone on this jet knows exactly how Beck and I are keeping busy.

I grab a fistful of Beck’s hair, my hips moving against his mouth in pure heaven. I don’t hide my groans of annoyance when he pulls his mouth away, his fingers still working in and out of me. He smiles, around his mouth wet from me. “When you come, I want every damn person on this plane to hear it. You got that, baby?”

My head falls into the pillow, my eyes squeezing shut in arousal. I shouldn’t find it so hot that he wants everyone to hear me. In fact, the possessiveness and his desire for everyone to know we’re hooking up should be a turn off. It isn’t. I want to please him. I want everyone to know how he pleases me, how unhinged I become underneath his touch.

He slides his fingers out of me. “It’s fine if you don’t want people to hear. We can try something else. But if that’s the case, I want to because while I eat this sweet little pussy of yours, my cock will be so far down your throat you can’t make any noise.”

His fingertip runs from my clit down to another part of me that no man has ever touched. A place I haven’t even explored anytime I’ve made myself come either. “Choose one or I’ll choose for you.”

“I want them to hear,” I pant.

“Good girl,” he says, lining his mouth up with me once again. “I want them all to fucking hear too. My ring is on your finger and my mouth is on your pussy. You’re mine.”

Then Beck proves his point by making me scream his name not just once but three times.