Twisted Love (Modern Romance #3) - Piper Lawson Page 0,44

and my amusement dies.

He likes the idea.

My hand clenches on the phone. While I’m here, Holt’s in the city, trying to suck up before Monday’s vote on the new investment.

Before I can decide on a path forward, the door opens and Daisy emerges from the bathroom. She’s wearing the black dress I bought her, her hair pinned up on one side, the other side loose in waves.

It’s edgy and classy as fuck.

Everything on my mind evaporates: the deal, my boss, my heart thudding in my ribs.

The only thing that matters is her.

I close the distance between us, brush the hair off her shoulder. “You’re stunning.”

Color creeps up her cheeks. It's so unlike her—no matter what she said earlier about feeling as if she's not the most gorgeous woman in any room, her lack of confidence never shows—that I take a second to memorize it.

“Ben?”

“Yeah.”

Our day together comes rushing back, how damned good it felt to spend time with her with no agenda, no motive except enjoying one another’s company.

Her red lips are the same shade they were at the club the night I kissed her.

I want to kiss her again, so fucking badly.

And when I do, I won’t stop.

Her eyes widen as if she's reading my every thought. Her tongue darts out to lick her lips, her chest rising as she inhales before responding.

“We should go.”

I nod and hold out an arm to escort her downstairs, pretending she didn’t shut me down.

14

The reception is glamorous and tasteful, low lighting and cultured laughter. Still, I can’t forget that even though I’ve been trying to keep things under control all weekend, now she’s the one holding me in check.

Richard welcomes everyone, and Aiden gives a toast. The bride makes a few remarks, plus shares logistical comments for those attending the bachelor and bachelorette parties.

“Have fun,” I say solemnly as my best friend disappears into the back of a limo with a wink.

The guys who aren’t going to the bachelor party invited me for an evening of smoking cigars and drinking and talking business, how Richard bought these properties after he swore he wouldn’t.

“Exceptional opportunities require new approaches,” is all he says.

The topic turns to women, how Camila landed Aiden. Then it turns to me.

“I was surprised to see you caught up,” Richard comments. “Not that I keep up with the society pages, but my wife would’ve mentioned it to me.”

I lift my glass. “Exceptional opportunities require new approaches.”

The men laugh, but it’s true.

Daisy and I have been friends a long fucking time, but it’s getting harder to remind myself she’s only my partner in crime, my right-hand woman.

I want to talk about her dreams, to slay anything that comes between them and her.

I want to know her insecurities so I can strip them away if she’ll let me.

I want her to look at me as if I’m all she needs.

And it’s getting harder and harder to remind myself I shouldn’t.

The men get back to the hotel first, and some of us linger on the porch for a last drink and cigars. It’s nearly two in the morning—and I’m thinking I’ll be first in bed tonight—when the limo pulls up outside the hotel and the women spill out.

“How did we end up doing the respectable thing?” Aiden muses.

I catch sight of my friend as she emerges from the car—long, curvy legs first—and starts up the walkway.

She could pass for sober.

She’s not.

But if that wasn’t enough of a warning, her arm is linked with one of the other women—the one who propositioned me last night.

Warning bells go off in my head.

“Ben!” Daisy exclaims when she spots me.

I shake my head. “Come here.”

I trade her new friend’s arm for mine.

“You’ve got a good one,” the woman says, receding before I can ask what she means.

“You said I should have fun,” she says as I help her down the hall and into the stairwell. “So I did.”

“I’m glad.”

In the stairwell, my attention locks on a tissue clasped in her hand. “Was it a tear jerker?”

“Hmm? Oh. I cut myself, but I didn’t want to say anything.”

I pull back the tissue. The edge of her palm is dark with blood. My stomach plummets. “You’re hurt.”

“One of the women tripped, and I tried to catch her before she hit the ground but something sharp stabbed me.”

I turn her hand in mine, searching the cut for signs of debris. “We need to clean this. Now.”

Daisy groans but lets me help her up the rest of the stairs. I unlock