Platinum (All That Glitters #3) (39 page)

Just then, Lydia ran up beside them. “What’s going on?”

Damon’s eyes turned stone-cold, and he shoved forward until he was right up in Preston’s face. Trihn thought he was going to start swinging at any second.

“I’m going to let that slide, but if you call my girlfriend a name again, I will beat the shit out of you,” he said, his voice like ice. “It’s actually pretty entertaining to see how pathetic you really are.”

“What the hell did you say?” Lydia asked, turning her eyes on Preston.

“Nothing, babe.”

“Don’t
nothing, babe,
me, Preston.” She turned to Damon. “What the hell did he say?”

Damon stepped back and shrugged. “You’ll have to ask your fiancé.” Then, he looped his arm with Trihn’s and started walking with her, away from the beach.

“What the hell just happened?” Trihn asked when they were out of earshot.

“He was trying to press my buttons. It just turns out that he’s the total douche bag I envisioned him to be.”

“Yeah. God, I’m sorry. What did he say anyway?”

Damon glanced over at her. “Do you really want to know?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“He accused me of sleeping with Chloe.”

“What?” Trihn asked. “How the hell did she even come up?”

“He feigned interest in her health.”

“Of course he did.”

“Then, he tried to tell me that he and I were the same. And that was the wrong fucking thing to say. He got pissed when I told him I could never be as much of an asshole as him, and then I started laughing at him because we couldn’t be more different, and I told him as much. Ian tried to defuse the tension, but by then, Preston was pretty pissed.”

Trihn tilted her head back in frustration. “Jesus, I’m sorry. You shouldn’t have to deal with his shit. I shouldn’t have left you alone.”

“Love, I can handle myself. And to be honest, it was good to see him get pissed off,” Damon said with a laugh. “I’ve been worried about meeting this guy for months, and now that I’ve met him, I’ve realized there was never any reason to worry.”

“I love you.”

He smiled. “I love you, too.”

“Do you want to hear something funny though?” Trihn asked.

“Sure.”

“Lydia told me that they’re not having sex until they get married.”

Damon burst out laughing. “Of course they’re not. I’m not even surprised.” He dragged her body against his as they made it back up to the house. “That does give me an idea though.”

“Oh?”

“It’s dirty.”

“You have my attention.”

“Totally wrong in every way.”

“I’m loving the sound of this.”

Later that night, Trihn and Damon were lying on her queen-size bed. It was still early for Damon to be tired, considering the night owl that he was, but he held her in his arms. They’d had dinner with Ian and Renée instead of braving another awkward Preston experience.

Overall, the trip had been a resounding success. Trihn had gotten to spend some much-needed time with her friends, had talked some sense into Lydia, and had shown Preston that she was better off with Damon. All around, she had just been having an amazing time. She and Damon would have to leave the next afternoon to make it back to the city to prep for the fashion show, and she was surprised to find that she was going to miss the Hamptons.

Damon kissed her temple and threaded his fingers out through her long hair. She sighed and closed her eyes.

“Are you going to tell me about this devious plan of yours? I’ve been dying to know about it all day.”

“In a minute,” he said.

She lay there in silence with only the sound of his heartbeat in his chest and the feel of his fingers through her hair.

Then, they heard a door slam in the room next to them. Trihn could hear Lydia’s and Preston’s soft voices as they moved around. They had gone out to meet some of Lydia’s friends.

Damon shifted under Trihn, sliding his fingers under her chin and tilting her face up to meet his lips. He kissed her, slow and tender. She moaned into his mouth as his hands slipped down her sides. He tugged at her camisole and pulled it over her head.

Realization dawned on her. “What are you doing?”

Damon gave her a devious smile. “I’m about to make love to you, if that’s okay with you.”

He raised an eyebrow, and she just laughed.

“You’re doing this on purpose.”

He rolled over on top of her and kissed his way down to the waistband of her boy shorts. “Oh, yes, I’m doing this on purpose.”

She squeaked when he yanked the boy shorts off her hips and then kissed her clit.

“You know what I mean,” she gasped when he started licking her.

“Shh, love. If you’re going to talk, I want to hear you crying out from coming on my face.”

Trihn’s head dropped back down on the pillow, and she complied. With every bite, lick, and suck, he drew her closer to the brink of orgasm until she couldn’t hold back any longer. She banged her hand against the headboard, which rattled against the wall, and then she started giggling.

“Fuck,” she groaned, tugging on him to come back up to her. “Fuck me.”

“I thought you’d never ask,” he joked with a smile.

Then, he entered her body, moving back and forth with such intensity that she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to hold it together for a second time. He leaned forward onto her, holding most of his weight on his elbows. All she could do was stare up into his big brown eyes. Her breathing was coming out short.

Damon kissed her lips and pressed into her harder. “I love you,” he groaned.

“I love you, too.” She grabbed him for another kiss. “God, you feel amazing.”

“I just want you to let go for me. Come with me, love.”

She tilted her head back and let go, just like he’d asked. “Fuck, fuck, fuck. Yes. Oh my God,” she cried.

Her body shook, and she disintegrated into a million little pieces at his insistence. He was right there with her, doubled over her as he released.

Trihn sighed as she finally came back to herself. “Oh God, you’re right,” she whispered.

“What?”

“It was dirty and totally wrong in almost every way.”

He raised his eyebrows. “I have no idea what you mean.”

“I think you do, considering we were loud enough to be heard throughout the whole house,” she said.

“It felt good though, right?”

She smiled and nodded. It had felt good—the orgasms and the small dose of payback.

TRIHN STARED OUT AT THE OCEAN
visible in the distance from where she was standing at the edge of the pool on the back deck. She and Damon would be heading back to the city with Ian and Renée that afternoon. Ian was unsurprisingly taking summer classes, and Renée had no intention of sticking around with just his parents, no matter how much they liked her. Trihn’s parents would follow later that week, so they could get back in time for the fashion show.

Damon was finishing packing upstairs and promised to bring everything out to the car, so she could enjoy some last-minute sand and surf. He’d gotten a phone call from his agent as she was walking out the door and figured he would be a while.

The silence and peace was just what she needed before she returned to the insanity of high-end fashion. She had put in countless hours making her clothes runway-worthy. She really wanted to prove her mother wrong and show that the designs could be designer and not mass-marketed. So, she’d added some flare to the runway performance. The models would all be flying in tomorrow morning, and she was just about ready to get back to work again.

“What a vacation, huh?” Preston said from behind her.

Trihn whipped around. There was no one else there. She and Preston were alone again.

“What do you want?” she asked.

“So defensive. Can’t I just come out here to chat with my future sister-in-law?”

Trihn nearly gagged at that word. “I’d rather leave here on a high, so I think I’m going to bow out of this conversation.”

She tried to move past him, but he reached out and grabbed her arm. “Not so fast.”

“Let me go.”

“Trihn, come on. Just stay and talk to me for a minute,” he said, his voice soft and encouraging. It had lost all the bite, and for a split second, he’d sounded like the man she had fallen in love with.

“Don’t think I don’t know what you’re trying to do, using that voice with me,” she spat, wrenching her arm out of his grasp. She crossed her arms over her chest, conscious of the fact that she was wearing nothing more than a black bandeau bathing suit top and tiny black cutoffs.

“I’m not doing anything,” he said, the edge coming back. “I just want to talk to you.”

“Okay, fine. What do you have to say to me that is so important?”

“I think you’re making a horrible mistake,” Preston said.

She raised her eyebrows. “Me, too. I’m still talking to you.”

“Damon is not the right guy for you.”

“And you think this, why? Because you met him and realized that he was better than you in every possible way? Because you saw everyone swooning over him?” Trihn shook her head and started walking away.

“He’s sleeping with Chloe Avana. You know that, don’t you?” he yelled, running ahead of her to face her.

She stopped in her tracks and glared at him. “You disgust me. I don’t have to defend Damon to you because I know the kind of man he is. He has proven himself to me time and time again. And this is really rich, coming from you, considering you cheated on me the
entire
time we were together!” she yelled into his face. “You were sleeping with my fucking sister. Then, you had the audacity to lie and turn her against me.”

“We were together, but we were never exclusive, Trihn,” he said, his own voice rising.

He was clearly pissed about Damon and trying to rile her up. She hated that it was working, but she was also glad that she was having this conversation because this sure as fuck was the last time it was ever going to happen.

Trihn saw a figure coming down the stairs, as if brought forth from the screaming match. It was Damon. He looked like he wanted to rush out to save her, but when Lydia and her mother joined him, he held them back, as if telling them to just watch.

“We saw each other every day. You took me out on dates. You chased me and pursued me. You assured me that we’d be together come the fall term. You begged me to stay the night at your apartment. How the hell was that not exclusive?”

“Fine. All of those things are true, but you know I had to choose Lydia. I had no other choice. Your mother already knew me as her boyfriend.”

Trihn narrowed her eyes, disgusted. There it was, laid out before her. She had always suspected what it was, but to have him actually admit it…

“So, this was always about the magazine then? Just a stepping-stone in your career? You hurt me, and you’re only with Lydia because it’ll help you climb the corporate ladder. Do you
even
love
her?”

“It doesn’t matter whether or not I love Lydia. That’s not the point of the conversation.”

“Then, what is the point of the conversation?”

“What do you even know about this Damon guy?” Preston asked, changing the subject.

Trihn rolled her eyes. “Why don’t you just admit it? You don’t like that I’m dating someone else. You don’t like that you can’t push me around and flirt with me behind everyone’s backs. You don’t like that you aren’t in control.”

Preston took a step forward and pressed his hand onto her hip. He brushed a loose wisp of hair from her face and leaned forward. To anyone watching, it looked as if he was going to kiss her. She even froze for a moment, horrified that he would even consider it. They were out in the open. He didn’t know that others were watching behind his back, but just the thought should have scared him off of it. He was losing his edge.

Out of the corner of her eye, Trihn saw that Damon and Lydia were both moving forward, as if to stop what was going to happen.

“That was quite the performance you put on last night,” Preston said.

“Is
that
what this is about?” she snarled.

“I don’t like other men playing with my things,” Preston growled.

“I’m not your thing anymore,” Trihn said, slapping his hand away. “You had me for too long, as it was. I pined over you, broke over you, nearly destroyed a perfectly good relationship over you, but I’m done letting someone as pathetic as you control me.” She took a step back and squared her shoulders. “I am not a puppet, and you no longer control me. I pull my own strings now.”