“Then we won’t talk.” Preston pressed against me, laying his arm over my waist, and rested his head cheek to cheek. “Except for me to say one last thing.”
“What?”
“Projected time to make-up sex adjusted from seven days to twenty minutes.”
I couldn’t help it, I laughed. “You are shockingly confident.”
“I know you’re craving freaky sex as much as I am. We can dip down to the kitchen right now.”
My giggles filled the room. “I thought we weren’t talking.”
“My lips are sealed for the next nineteen minutes.”
I rolled my eyes. I could’ve popped his bubble, but us lying together like that was nice. Reminded me of the night of the reception before everything went to hell.
Preston’s warmth seeped into my bones, lulling my eyes closed. He traced lazy circles down my arm, and carried the path up my leg and under my skirt—though he didn’t go too far. His promise to ravish me in fifteen minutes and counting aside, the gesture didn’t feel sexual so much as intimate.
Curious.
He wanted to touch my body and he wanted me to let him.
I nearly drifted to sleep when someone knocked on the door.
“Zion does not understand fuck off, does he?”
“Preston? Preston, are you in there?”
“Delilah? Belle, it’s okay,” he said, no doubt feeling me tense beneath him. “I’ll get rid of her.”
Delilah blew in just as he untangled himself from me. “Ivy said she saw you go in here. What the hell, Preston?!”
“Me? What the hell is wrong with you? Get out of here, Lilah.”
“Have you forgotten who you’re talking to? Think I’m going to put up with this?” Her shouting fled through the open door. “I forgave you for the other night and now two seconds later you’re back in this bitch’s bed. We’re engaged, Preston.”
“Delilah,” he hissed. “We’re not engaged. Last I checked, the ring is sitting in the safe upstairs. Don’t do this.”
I didn’t understand the tight, restrained anger curling his lips or why he kept his voice low. A head poked around the corner, followed by more onlookers. I stiffened as the drama unfolded with me at the center. My goal was to turn potential suitors away, but not like this. The last place I needed to be was in the middle of a turbulent relationship.
“Don’t do this?” she cried. “I’m supposed to let you make a fool of me. Sleeping around with your best friend’s girlfriend. Does Carter know you haven’t stopped?” She spun on me. “Let me make this clear for you—stay away from my fiancé! If I find you sniffing around him again, I will fuck you up!”
“Oh, I’d love to see that.” I vaulted off the bed. “Don’t wait. Stop talking big for your buddies and fuck me up right now.”
A flicker of surprise crossed her face, and she took an involuntary step back.
“That’s what I thought. Save your threats for someone else. You don’t need to worry about me and Preston.” I gave him a hard look. “We’re done.”
“Belle, no—”
“Yes, you are.” Delilah seized his sleeve. “Let’s go, Preston.”
Preston twisted, hooked her around the waist, and dumped her outside. He slammed the door on her shrieking.
I tore off to the bathroom. Preston chased me, sticking his foot in the jamb just in time. “Belle, can we not do this again? I explained our situation. It’s the truth even if Delilah won’t accept it.”
“It’s not about if I believe you.” My splotchy cheeks and tight lips taunted me in the mirror. “I do. You and Delilah have a different kind of arrangement and she thinks she owns you anyway.”
“So, what’s the problem?”
“It’s like I said yesterday. It doesn’t work well for the person in the middle. I’m not having that girl busting into my room, screaming and threatening me all summer. I didn’t come here to stir up that kind of drama.”
“Belle—”
“No, Preston. You settle your crap with her or you can adjust your timetable to never.”
“It’s not that simple.”
“Then show yourself out.”
PRESTON
I stormed out of the room, scattering guys who hung about to hear more of the show. Delilah was gone. I shadowed her assumed path upstairs to her room on the third floor. I busted in and found her sitting on the bed, shaking a bottle of nail polish.
“Oh.” She beamed. “Hey, Preston.”
“Fuck you!”
A low hiss breezed through her teeth. “Ouch. Someone’s testy.”
“What the hell was that, Delilah?”
“That was me doing what I had to do. You didn’t leave me much choice. Between that speech about waiting for Cinderella and mooning over that girl during speed-dating, people are getting the impression that you’re not as devoted to me as you claim to be.”
I placed my hands on the bed, glaring into her bored expression. “I’m not.”
She lifted her shoulders. “I know that and you know that. But no one else is supposed to catch on. I get what you see in her. She’s feisty. But we’re not blowing up our plans over a summer fling.”
“We can sleep with whoever we want, Delilah. That was the deal.”
“No, the deal was we discretely sleep with whoever we want. I can manage that. Why can’t you?”
“Belle isn’t the kind of girl to be anyone’s dirty little secret. How do I explain to her that we’re not dating, we’re not in love, we sleep around, but no one can know about it?”
Delilah pressed her finger between my brows and pushed me back. “That’s not my problem.”
“It is your problem, because I thought, at the very least, that we were friends.”
Finally, something akin to remorse cracked her smirk. She sighed. “We are friends. You know how much I appreciate you agreeing to all of this. Even with what you’re getting in return, ten out of ten guys would’ve said no. You’re better than all of them, Preston, and I want you to be happy... just not at my expense.
“No one can know just how fake this arrangement is. And it’ll be a pretty big hint if we watch you fall in love with someone else this summer.”
“Belle isn’t a threat to our impending nuptials. Did you miss her infamous reception speech?”
“No. I didn’t miss Carter’s speech this morning either. Apparently she is down to get married and I can’t risk her trading up for a husband that’s not dying.”
“Carter isn’t dying,” I scoffed. “That was a stream of bullshit from someone more calculating than you.”
“Wow. You do need better friends, don’t you?”
I chuckled mirthlessly. “I’m gonna get on that. Trust me.”
Delilah tried to hold my hand. “Just keep you and Belle quiet and everyone wins. Don’t forget what’s at stake. For you, not me. You’re going to throw everything away for some girl you barely know?”
“Don’t push me, Lilah. I’m the kind of privileged bastard that gets everything he wants. That’s not about to change for you.”