Black Ties and White Lies(91)

“No one gets to talk to you like that. I don’t care if you love him or have history. I’m not okay with it.”

“Loved.”

“Like past tense?”

I could die from the vulnerability in his eyes. The sounds of the city echo in the distance, but I’m lost in his dark eyes, the blue the same color of the ocean from our first night together. I pin my focus on him and only him. “Yes, past tense. If you could ever even call it that to begin with.”

A shaky breath falls from his lips, tickling my face. “Fuck, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that,” he confesses.

My hands tighten on his face, my pulse racing with nerves. “Can I tell you something else?”

“Anything.”

“I’m afraid the other Sinclair brother will steal my heart.”

“Margo. Don’t say things you don’t mean.”

My hands shake against his cheeks. I’m so nervous to come clean, but I can’t hold it back. In the process of working with him, or pretending, I haven’t been able to help myself. I’ve caught feelings for him. “I’m not,” I answer with conviction. “Beck,” my voice quakes as I stare into his deep indigo blue eyes. “I think through all the pretending, I’ve started to wish for all of this to be real. I have feelings for you. The kind of feelings I’m afraid won’t fade. The kind that I’m scared that soon will solidify themselves so deep in my soul that I don’t know if I’ll ever remember what it was like to not have my heart want you desperately.”

He lets out a long breath of relief, his entire body visibly showing the tension leaving his body. “I’ve been waiting so god damn long to hear you say that.” His fingers tangle in my hair as he brings my face to mine, kissing me with so much reverence I can’t help but think that maybe he feels the same way too.

The sound of a loud whistle a few feet away from us breaks us apart. We pull away, looking toward where the sound came from. We find Ezra pulled up to the curb, his passenger side window rolled down with a smirk on his lips. “Would you two like to get back to get a room?” he asks smoothly, a teasing tone to his voice.

I laugh, pressing my face into Beck’s chest. It feels like I’m floating on cloud nine. I couldn’t imagine a better place to tell him how suddenly things are changing for me. It doesn’t feel fake. It feels incredibly real. I’m falling for him. Fast and hard, no doubt causing me a few bumps and bruises to my heart when this is all said and done. There isn’t anywhere else I’d rather confess that to him than with the bustling city behind us. The perfect backdrop of a monumental moment.

Beck wraps his arms around my shoulders, keeping me pressed into his clean dress shirt. “You couldn’t have waited a few more minutes?” he yells to his friend.

“Sorry, Mr. Sinclair,” Ezra responds. “You told me to hurry when you called all pissed off. I was only following your direction.”

Beck scoffs, planting a kiss to my head before he pulls away. As we walk toward the car, he wraps his large hand over mine. I could get used to it. Get used to this with him, just the two of us holding hands through the city.

Before we get into the car, Beck tugs on my hand, pulling me into his hard body. “Hey, Margo?”

“Yeah?”

“I know technically you’re my fiancée, but will you be my girlfriend?”

I laugh, marveling how five minutes ago he was so mad I was worried that he was going to go back into the restaurant and beat Carter’s face in. Now pure happiness shines in his eyes, forming in little crinkles next to his eyes.

“Beck, I’m already your fiancée. I think it’s passed girlfriend.” To prove my point, I lay my hand on his chest, the diamond catching both of our attentions.

“Just say yes, Violet.”

“I feel myself always saying yes to you.”

He leans in, his breath tickling my cheek. He softly tucks my hair that blows in the wind behind my ear. “This one feels so much better.”

“Why?”

His smile gets so wide, it takes my breath away. How is he real? How is he mine? How do I keep him forever?

“Because it’s real.”

“Real,” I repeat breathlessly, my heart soaring.

“This one is for nobody else but us.”

I nod, fighting happy tears. Falling for him may have been putting it lightly. As I slide into the car, a huge grin on my face, I wonder if in a New York minute, I’ve already fallen.





“Are you sure this looks bridal?” I spin in front of the mirror, catching the eyes of my best friends in the mirror. My hands run down the silk dress, marveling at the way it hugs my curves perfectly, but still leaves a little to the imagination.

“You look hot as fuck,” Emma chirps from behind me. She picks up a pair of my red bottoms, raising her eyebrows as she inspects the heel.

“I think you look stunning,” Winnie agrees.

“Is it chic enough? Formal enough? I didn’t know when Beck suggested an engagement party that it would be this…elaborate.”

Emma hums. “Keep telling yourself that, Mar. You’re marrying into old money; every occasion is an excuse to throw a party.”

I grab a pearl studded headband from the armoire in the far closet. I haven’t slept in my bed since the night Beck and I returned from the business trip, but I’ve been insistent on keeping my closet up here instead of moving all my things in with Beck. It’s nice to have a space that feels like my own, to have a little bit of space away from Beck at times. It feels like we spend every waking second together. We live together, work together, do everything together. I wouldn’t have it any other way, I love that Beck is always showering me with his attention, even when it’s in the smallest of ways. It’s just that I think I love it a little too much. The feelings I have for him get stronger every single day, and even though he’s steadfast in showing me that he cares for me, I can’t help but have doubts.