✿ Aileen's POV

I stare into the mirror above the five-star, hotel-sized his and hers sinks.

Has he always lived like this?

“Por supuesto que tiene (Of course he has)” I mutter to myself.

I shake my head and stare at my reflection in the mirror.

“I’m better than this,” I tell myself. “I don’t need to hide in here. It's just a party he's probably going to ignore me for the half of but I can do this.”

I’m going to have to get out sometime.

I continue to stare at my face, which has a little bit of makeup, then stare at my, admittedly rather gorgeous and figure-hugging, little black dress.

“Cʼmon Lee. You will not pine after his cologne. You’re courageous and you’re about to walk into that party and not be bothered by Armani and that bitch.” I give my reflected self one curt nod. “You’ve got this.”

I’ve got this.

Then I apply the overpriced lipstick I was lured into buying at the beauty store last year and smile. Walking back through Reidʼs bedroom, my eyes scan around for my phone.

“Did you give yourself a little pep talk?”

I gasp and turn to face the door.

What in the world—?

“God, Armani” I bring a hand to splay on my chest, “Never do that again.”

“I scared you? You didnʼt strike me as the scaredy type.”

I frown.

“Try that again and weʼll be having this conversation with you in the hospital.”

He chuckles and holds up a hand.

“Fine. Iʼm sorry.”

I turn away from him and move around, looking for my phone. I spot it on the vanity and grab it before turning to face Reid whoʼs scrutinizing me.

“What? Do I have something on my face?”

He simply shakes his head.

“You look...” he pauses, wets his lips, and shakes his head a little, “... wow, Lee. Youʼre just—”

“Okay, Armani” I stop him, “Itʼs just a dress.”

Heʼs about to frown.

“But thank you” I quickly add and his forming frown morphs into a small smile. “Iʼll just pack up my things then be out in a sec.”

He nods and moves away from the door.

“Good. Because I’m starving.”

I make a face.

“Why are you starving? Didnʼt you just eat with Anika?” I canʼt help but ask. Then I chuckle a little, “I canʼt imagine how much you spent and still be starving.”

Probably heʼs starving for you, my mind shoots out of nowhere.

But I quickly shut it down and try not to let it show on my face at how filthy my mind is becoming.

“Well, not exactly” Reid chuckles.

I clear my throat.

“Oh?”

He nods.

“I had to leave early.”

Bad date?

“And whyʼs that?”

“Well because I heard your family was here. Obviously, I had to leave.”

I give him a confused look.

“What? Why? Why would you do that?”

He shrugs.

“Well for one, because your familyʼs important to me. Two, Iʼm supposed to be spending most of today with my fiancée...”

Fake.

But I hold my tongue and let him continue.

“And three, if I hadnʼt left, I wouldnʼt have known youʼre still holding on to my birthday present.”

I canʼt help but chuckle at his third reason.

“Oh donʼt even think about denying it, Lee, because little girls donʼt fib about birthday presents.”

I shake my head.

“Itʼd have surprised me if Camari didnʼt say anything to you.”

“Well, she did so letʼs see it.”

I hesitate.

“What?” he asks. “Give me my present.”

Iʼm suddenly embarrassed.

“Itʼs small, okay, Armani? And itʼll look funny next to the gifts that youʼve gotten.”

Probably chicken poop next to whatever Anikaʼs getting you.

“Well, itʼs my gift isnʼt it? And only I get to decide what it looks like and means to me. So can I have whatʼs mine now please?” he grins at the last part.

I roll my eyes with a chuckle.

“Fine. Just... sit. Iʼll go get it.”

I slip into the corner of the room and bring out the box from the duffle bag I took from our fake house last night. When I straighten and make my way back to him, Reidʼs watching me curiously.

“Here. This is for you” I hold out the box to him.

“How romantic” he teases as he takes it and scoots to his side to make room at the edge of the bed for me.

I roll my eyes as I settle down beside him. Reid carefully unties the ribbon, does away with the wrapping paper, and brings out the box inside.

“Is it a train set?” he asks, lifting the box to his ear and attempting to shake it.

“Just open it” I chuckle.

He lowers the box and opens one side. Then slowly, he pulls out whatʼs inside.

“So I was asking myself, what do you buy for a person who already has everything in this entire world?”

Reid chuckles as he brings out the small ball.

“I never got an answer...”

“So you bought me the entire world?”

I nod with a small smile and avert my eyes a little.

“No oneʼs ever gotten me the entire world before, Lee.”

My cheeks burn.

Why are you blushing?

I clear my throat and look at him.

“And get this, it lights up” I canʼt hold back my grin at that fact.

Reidʼs smile widens before lets out a charming laugh.

“Do you... like it?”

He turns it around in his hand for a while before putting it back in the box. Then he turns to face me and leans in to kiss my cheek. I close my eyes and exhale, relaxing into the touch of his lips on my skin.

Then he pulls away, and inches away from my face, whispers, “I love it, Aileen. And believe it or not, this is the most meaningful gift Iʼve ever gotten. Thank you.”

I slowly nod, my eyes falling on his lips.

“Youʼre welcome” I whisper back. “But I donʼt believe this is the most meaningful gift youʼve ever gotten Armani” I look away from his lips.

“Oh, but it is.”

I shake my head and wet my lower lips and Reidʼs eyes drop to my mouth.

No, no, Aileen. Get away from him. Youʼre suppose to be dealing with your attraction problem remember? Kissing him isnʼt going to help.

My lips part without a sound coming out of it. Reid puts a hand on the side of my face and gently caresses my cheek with his thumb.

“Everything you do for me... anything that has to do with you, Aileen... is very important to me.”

No, no. That canʼt be right.

I try to tell myself heʼs probably not in control of what heʼs saying. But the way heʼs looking at me... the way his thumb is maintaining that steady rhythm across my cheek, and the way my body is reacting to everything that has to do with Reid Dalton... is a different kind of connection. It is moving and important somehow.

And it terrifies me.

“Armani,” I say softly, his name carried away by the light summer night breeze that blows through the open balcony doors.

What was I going to say, anyway?

He moved closer, his eyes skimming mine, asking a question, reading me, wondering, challenging me to say something, to stop this, but I wouldn’t, couldn’t. I was transfixed.

“I request an amnesty,” he murmurs, mouth only a hair’s breadth from mine.

“An amnesty?”

“Of our agreement. Of our situation right now. I want to kiss you, Lee. So badly.”

A smile twitches my lips, but in my heart, I know this is a moment to consider carefully. We needed boundaries, we needed to remember this was just for show, and conversations like this made it so much harder to remember what we were doing, and why. And kisses werenʼt going to take away my attraction problem.

“Aileen?” He groans my name, but I was too deep in thought, going one way first and then another, to work out how to explain that maybe we should stop all this and focus on the plan to split Anika and the Aussie.

But when he kisses me, Iʼm glad. So glad.

Thereʼs a shift, then a grip, then another shift, and in one solid burst of bravery and determination, I press one knee to the mattress and swing my other leg over Reidʼs lap.

Reid groans and pulls his lips away from mine. But before I can take a breath to steady myself, heʼs brushing kisses along my jawline. I shiver and reach up to thrust my fingers into his hair and it’s thick and silky smooth.

I give his hair a soft, experimental tug and Reid groans against my neck. I feel it deep in my bones, reverberating like an echo and striking me right between my legs. I squirm against him and inhale sharply when I feel it—hardness beneath his pants.

Instantly, I resent his clothes and my own clothes for being in the way. I want them gone. I want only skin and for Reid to press me open, warm and slick, and vulnerable. I slide my hands to his biceps, clutching at the hard muscle under his shirt, and use the leverage to roll my hips against his.

“Fuck,” Reid says against my cheek. “You’re gonna kill me, Aileen.”

“Wouldnʼt it be a happy way to go?”

Reid exhales a laugh and his smile is heartbreakingly soft when he leans back to look at me. His eyes dip down, following the low neckline of my dress, and then meet mine again.

“What? I’m not hurting you, am I?” I ask, shifting in his lap.

He shakes his head and bites back a smile.

“Iʼm just thinking that this might be your favorite position.”

I go very still and Reid snorts and ducks forward to hide his smile in the crook of my neck.

“Iʼm not laughing at you, I promise,” he tells me and I let go of his shoulders and hide my face in my palms before letting out a long and embarrassed groan.

Reid gently takes my wrists and pulls my hands down between us.

“Hey, I think itʼs the perfect view for me” he whispers.

“Please just put me out of my misery and kiss me already.”

He smiles and his lips land on my cheek first. He kisses it once, softly, before shifting to the other side of my face to do the same. I sit very still, my eyes shut and my heart lodged in my throat, as he marks a slow trail up to my forehead, then down the bridge of my nose—pausing to press butterfly-soft kisses on my eyelids—before resuming his path toward my mouth.

At the last moment, when I’m sure he’ll end this torture and kiss me properly, he dips past my jaw and presses a hard, wet kiss to my pulse point. I let out a ragged and rather humiliating whine.

“Armani” I’m begging.

Feminism is dead. I killed her, and I don’t care.

“Yes, ma'am,” he chuckles.

He tips his chin up in offering, and at last, I kiss him. Open-mouthed and greedy in a way that makes my heart ache. The nudge of his tongue against mine before it strokes over my bottom lip is so soft, so gentle, and simultaneously hungry in a way that makes my stomach coil with heat.

“Better?” he murmurs against my lips.

“Don’t you dare patronize me,” I whisper.

But my answering kiss says, Yes.

Tentatively, I rake my fingernails up his chest, dragging at the soft cotton of his shirt under his jacket suit which... why is it still on him?

Reid shudders under my hands and tightens his grip on my hips, tugging them forward until my pelvis is pressed to his stomach. When I pull back to catch my breath, I’m startled by the sight that greets me.

Reid has my red lipstick smudged all over his face, from nose to chin. It’s so startling—and so filthy, that I choke out a strangled laugh.

“What?” Reid demands.

“You’ve got lipstick—” I gesture around my own mouth.

He arches an eyebrow. “So do you.”

I gasp, pull my hand around my mouth, and rub furiously, making him laugh.

“Shut up,” I beg. “Twelve hours of smudge-proof coverage, my ass.”

“You should write a one-star review.”

I wipe hard at the corners of my mouth.

“There. Am I better?”

“Much.”

“Cʼmere. Let me clean you up.”

Reid props his weight back on his arms and lets me tend to him. I brace one hand on the back of his head, holding him in place while I wipe his mouth with my fingers.

“Your hair is so soft,” I grumble. “Do you really not use conditioner?”

“You looked through my shower?”

“Of course I did. Youʼre an enigma back at the house.”

He smiles, lets out a soft, content breath, and closes his eyes when my other hand—the one braced against his stupidly soft hair—starts moving, fingers flexing so my nails trace a slow rhythm against his scalp.

It takes his eyelids a moment to flutter open again when I release him.

“All better?” he rasps.

“All better,” I confirm. “Sorry, I made a mess.”

Reid groans low in his chest.

“Say that again.”

“What? Sorry?” Realization hits me. “Or I made a mess?”

He groans low in his chest again and runs his tongue over the ridge of his teeth and it makes me dizzy.

“You—” I press an accusatory finger to his chest “—are a dirty, dirty man.”

“And you arenʼt exactly a saint if your mind can register that,” he says with a smile.

I roll my eyes.

“Dirty talk has never done it for me, but you and your delicious body...”

“Iʼm not that—”

“Finish that sentence and weʼll be having this conversation in the hospital.”

A laugh bubbles up in my throat and Reid catches it with a hard kiss. And then I’m not laughing anymore, because the only thing that exists in the world is the heat of his mouth on mine. My fingers thread into his hair again and Reis returns the gesture by stroking one hand down the length of my spine, from my shoulder to the curve of my ass.

A split second after I think that I’d pay good money to have him squeeze me there, he spreads his hand and grips me so hard I let out an involuntary grunt. Then I go rogue and grind down on his lap.

He’s harder!

“Armani...” I groan against his lips.

“I know” he groans back harder and then heʼs flipping me over.

A soft gust of air escapes his pillow when my head hits it. His duvet is smooth and crumb-free under my hands. Reid pulls away and leans back. His eyes rake up and down my body, leaving trails of heat wherever they’ve been. Down my neck; the valley of my breasts; between my hip bones.

“God, I’m in trouble,” he whispers, so softly that I’m not entirely sure he means for me to hear him.

I laugh and roll my head to the side. But Reid doesnʼt move or say anything. He just... watches me.

“Armani” I call out, suddenly beginning to feel self-conscious of my current position.

He cocks his head to the side.

“What?” I snap.

“Nothing,” he finally says. Then softly, “You look really good in my bed.”

My heart clenches. I try to deflect the feeling because it’s too much.

“I’d better look good. It took me half an hour to do my makeup. You have no idea how hard it is to get your eyeliner even.”

Reid’s lips twitch.

“You’re right. I have no idea.”

He leans down to kiss me and I’m glad for the momentary break from being viewed. This all feels a lot easier when my eyes are closed and his mouth is on mine, then sliding along my jaw, down my neck, into the valley between my breasts.

Oh... OH...

“Armani please...” I whine again, not sure how to tell him what I really want.

He groans in response and slips his hand behind me to lower my zipper when I hear a pounding on a door.

Reidʼs door!

“Yo, Dalton! Itʼs time for shots. Letʼs go!” a voice I donʼt recognize shouts from the other side.

“Yeah, what kind of birthday boy hides out in his bedroom when a partyʼs waiting for him?” I hear Hernan ask.

The doorknob rattles. But itʼs locked.

Thank God.

I close my eyes and try not to think about how Iʼm in Reid Daltonʼs bed, aroused, underneath him, face flushed, chest heaving, and my legs tangled between his.

This is what happens when you listen to Tracy and let your lady parts lead instead of your head.

This is a nightmare.

Reid must see the panic painted across my face because the annoyed twist of his lips immediately falls into something far more solemn.

“We’re fine,” he whispers. “The door’s locked. It’s fine.”

“No itʼs not” I try to laugh it off but the sound that comes out isnʼt anything like a laugh.

Reid pushes himself up to his knees, eyebrows pinched with determination.

“I’ll get rid of them,” he tells me.

“I’ll be in your bathroom,” I reply, already rolling away from him.

“No, no, Lee. You don’t have to—”

“Reid letʼs go!” the unfamiliar voice comes again.

“Dammit Brandon!” he fumes.

I scoff and close the bathroom door behind me.

“A fucking nightmare” I exhale at my reflection in the mirror.

I drown out whatever conversation he has with them as I stand in his bathroom, my back pressed to the wall and stare at my reflection in the mirror. My hair is wrecked. My lipstick is gone. My face is flushed, and there are pink spots on my neck—not quite hickeys, but maybe they will be tomorrow.

Oh, I hope they will be.

I want concrete reminders of what we did. I want souvenirs, dammit. Because otherwise, I might not believe this happened.

For a moment, the giddiness cuts through my anxiety. I grin at my own reflection. But the longer I stare, the more my dazed smile falls, and the more my stomach knots.

This isnʼt helping anything, Aileen.

By the time Iʼm done shaming myself and I come out of the bathroom, heʼs standing at the opened doorway, arms folded, and a solemn look on his face.

“Aileen...”

“Itʼs okay” I stop him with a small smile I force on my face.

“No itʼs not. And youʼve really got to stop saying that” he flexes his jaw.

I sigh.

“Just go do shots with your friends, Armani. Itʼs your birthday and youʼre supposed to be out there having fun.”

“But I was having fun...” he abandons the opened door and moves up to me, “... in here. With you.”

I stay still.

“Iʼm not ready for our night to be over, Aileen.”

I clear my throat.

“I should go downstairs before Tracy or any of my family comes looking for me too,” I say, moving away from him to head for the door.

“Aileen.”

I freeze and meet his eyes.

“I’m sorry,” he says.

“Itʼs not your fault, Armani. And I might hate your friends,” I reply.

“That makes two of us.”

I nod.

“You go on first.”

“Okay, but weʼre finishing this.”

Weʼre not.

But I smile and nod at him. Reid smiles back at me and turns to go.

“Wait,” I say.

He immediately does and I step up to him and wrap one hand around the back of his neck, my fingers tangling in his thoroughly rumpled hair, before pulling myself up onto my toes to kiss him.

Reid returns the gesture with equal fervor, rocking against me so eagerly that I have to arch my back and shift my feet to accommodate him. Our lips separate with a wet smack.

“One for the road,” I whisper.

Reid shakes his head.

“This isn’t helping with the boner.”

He kisses me again, this time on the forehead, and then takes a step back and exhales hard. For a long moment, we stare at each other. And I try to memorize this moment—to soak it all in.

Just in case it’s all I ever get.

“Ben? Am I going to have to come up there and get you?!” I hear Clayton shout!

I canʼt hold back my eye roll and Reid laughs.

“Please go,” I tell him, giving him a little push... one last excuse to touch his chest.

He catches my hand and kisses the back of it before moving. The look he shoots me over his shoulder as he makes it out the door is both agonized and apologetic. I lean against the doorframe and watch him go down the stairs.

“What took you so long?” I hear Hernan ask.

“I couldnʼt find my phone” he lies, then slaps his best friend who doesnʼt look like he believes a word on the back. “Is there Tequila?”

And I smile at the, “Heck yeah!” Hernan lets out.

I close my eyes and take in a deep breath as a knot forms in my throat.

“I might need something stronger than a tequila.”

Thank you for reading!
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~the_atticwriter