Page 83 of The Exception

“Lil?” I called out from the foyer of my penthouse. “The car is almost here.”

“I’ll be ready in a sec!” she yelled from down the hall. “Promise.”

I chuckled to myself. We’d survived the ordeal on Knox’s yacht, and now we were attending a charity event with Nate and Emerson to benefit an LA animal shelter. It was a cause I was passionate about, but I didn’t fucking want to go.

I wanted to stay home, drink my whiskey. And putter around in the garden with Brooklyn. But Lily and I were leaving for France soon, and this was a good opportunity to show off my wife.

I heard the click-clack of high heels, and then Lily emerged from her bedroom.Fuck me.My wife was stunning.

I drank in the sight of her. Those gold sandals that showed off her perfectly painted lilac toenails. A white dress clung to her curves, a cape draping over one shoulder. The other was bare. The cut was relatively modest, and she looked elegant, graceful, and refined.

I imagined the dress pooled on the floor at her feet. Wondered what she was wearing beneath it. Wondered if she was naked like she had been on our wedding day.

Stop. Just stop.

We’d agreed this was just business despite our momentary lapse of judgment, and I needed to remember that. But every day I spent with Lily, every moment I spent in her presence, was like a cruel kind of torture. I wanted her, but I couldn’t have her.

“Is this okay?” Her cheeks were the most alluring shade of pink. “I’ve never attended one of these events as a guest before.”

“Yes,” I choked out.More than okay.

She stepped closer, and I felt as if I might combust. It had been days since the incident on Knox’s yacht, and I couldn’t stop thinking about that night. Not just the sex, though that was definitely on my mind more often than not.

But also, the things she’d said to me. Even now, Lily’s words continued to rattle around in my head. Her insinuation thatIwas the one who needed convincing that I wasn’t cold and heartless.

She adjusted my bow tie then smoothed her hands down my lapels. “What are you going to do tonight?” Lily asked. Her touch made it difficult to think straight, let alone speak.

Was there something I was supposed to do tonight? Because all I wanted to do was stay home and lose myself in her.

I didn’t want to show her off; I wanted to keep her to myself. And that was a problem. That was the whole point of this arrangement.

“Graham?” she prompted, and her commanding tone took me right back tothatnight.Fuck.

“Hm?” I asked, eager to do whatever she asked. Anything she asked.

“At the gala?” she added.

Right. The gala.I tried not to outwardly sigh.

“Make a spectacle by publicly donating a fuck-ton of money?” I asked, trying to will away my hard-on. Knowing that if she stepped even an inch closer, she’d feel how much I wanted her.

“Yes,and…” She tilted her head. “What else did you agree to do?”

Right.That. Fuck.

“Show some emotion,” I said, trying not to groan. Of all days to have to show some fucking emotion.

“Exactly. You’ve got this.” She gave my chest a pat. “It’s the perfect event for you. I hear there will be animals there. Maybe they’ll even have a chicken for you to cuddle.” She winked then turned to walk off.

“Not so fast,” I said, grabbing her wrist and spinning her back to face me. She hadn’t expected that, and she almost twirled straight into me. “I have something for you.”

“You do?” she asked, breathless.

I want her.I stared at her lips—pouty, pink, begging to be kissed.Again and again and again.

I released her and grabbed the velvet box from the coffee table. “For you.”

She frowned down at the box. “What’s this?”

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