Black Ties and White Lies(88)

He doesn’t give me room for further questioning. He pulls me into the restaurant, giving my hand a reassuring squeeze as he leads us to the host stand.

“We’re here for the Sinclair reservation,” he announces smoothly. The hostess looks him up and down with appreciation. I get it. He’s hot. But she could put her tongue back in her mouth before she drools all over the menus. It’d be the polite thing to do.

“I’ll lead you there.”

Beck thanks her politely, keeping a hold of my hand as we’re escorted to the back of the dining area.

I notice Beck’s parents before they notice us. There’s just one minor issue. It’s not just Beck’s mom and dad at the table. We won’t be announcing our engagement face to face with only his parents.

We’ll also be announcing it to Carter—my ex-boyfriend and Beck’s brother.

Oh shit.





Even with his random appearance at the office this morning, I hadn’t expected Carter to show up to dinner tonight. Family dinners aren’t Carter’s thing. They aren’t typically mine either, I guess, but they’re even less his.

Carter looks straight past me, his eyes zeroing in on Margo behind me, on our clasped hands.

He jumps out of his seat, the chair flying to the ground behind him. “What the fuck?”

My mom’s eyes go wide with shock, or maybe it’s embarrassment. She looks around the restaurant, giving the innocent bystanders an apologetic smile.

Dad gives me an unreadable look before he reaches up and grabs Carter’s shoulder. He pulls on it. “Sit down, son.”

Carter’s eyes burn with fury as he picks his chair off the floor and follows our father’s direction.

“Mom, Dad.” I smile softly at my parents. I feel slightly guilty pulling them into the drama that’s about to ensue with Carter here. I really hadn’t expected him to show up tonight. It was supposed to be an enjoyable pre-Thanksgiving dinner with my parents as I introduced Margo as my fiancée.

Now it’s going to be drama filled. Carter was babied terribly. He’s not used to things being taken from him. Add in the fact that he’s been extremely competitive from the moment I established my own company, and there’s no way this will end well. He’s wanted to beat me at everything from the moment Dad off-handedly asked him at a dinner once when Carter was going to do something with his life like I had. I don’t think Dad had meant it to be offensive. But Carter took it that way. Since then, he’s been trying to win against me when I’d never been interested in even playing the game. When he finds out Margo and I are engaged, he’s bound to lose his shit. I’d hoped it would be over a phone call, not in a place that’s always packed and takes six months to get a reservation unless you have an in with someone.

“I presume you remember Margo?” I offer, turning my body so she can no longer hide behind me. She pinches my arm, clearly unamused by bringing her into the limelight.

I squeeze her hand, trying my best to reassure her. Neither of us had expected Carter to show up, but that may have been naive of us. She’d manage to hide from him all day at work. Leave it to Carter to never work hard for anything until now—until it came to winning her back.

My mom stands up with a warm smile on her face. She rounds the table and pulls Margo into an embrace before she’s even said hi to me.

“Margo,” she says lovingly, petting the back of Margo’s head. “It’s been so long, sweetie.”

Margo hugs her back. It’s only because I pay close attention to her every move that I notice how her back is tense and her hands are balled tight. “Yeah, it has,” Margo responds uneasily.

As soon as my mom pulls away, my dad is there to pull Margo into a hug. He always had a soft spot for her. Even after Margo called things off with Carter, my dad never stopped asking about how she was doing.

While he and Margo get reacquainted, my mom stops in front of me with a wide smile on her face. “My boy,” she says, her voice filled with love. Leaning down, I pull my mom in for an embrace, feeling comforted by the scent of the same perfume she’s worn my entire life.

“I missed you,” I say against her hair.

My dad reaches out to shake my hand and then we all look at each other, the vibe in the air a little uncomfortable after Carter’s outburst. Dad eases the tension by pointing to the table. “Let’s take a seat and catch up.” The look he aims my way tells me he’s full of questions.

I feel Carter’s hot glare on me as I pull Margo’s chair out from the table. Her smile seems more comfortable than she may seem as she mumbles a small thank you and takes a seat. I take the seat next to her, smiling at my brother, letting him know I’m completely unbothered by the seething glare he’s aimed at me.

Carter takes a drink of his bourbon. “I wasn’t aware we were bringing assistants to the family dinner.”

“I wasn’t aware you were invited.”

“Boys,” my mom hisses, the word coming out more pleading than she probably intended.

I look at her, my expression softening. “Sorry, mom. I’m just slightly confused why Carter has decided to grace us with his presence for once.” My eyes flash to Margo at my side. I have to hand it to her; you wouldn’t ever know how nervous she was just minutes ago. She holds her head high, not an ounce of nerves on her face. “I wonder if it has something to do with my assistant.” It’s probably cruel of me to draw out the news of our engagement, but I can’t help myself. I like that Carter is uncomfortable across from us, that he’s wracking his brain wondering what’s going on between Margo and me.