Platinum (All That Glitters #3)

by K. A. Linde

  “Where the hell did you bring me?” she asked.

  His hands landed on her hips, and their bodies moved together, as if they were made for each other. “A rave.”

  “This isn’t any old rave.”

  “It’s like those color runs everyone goes on about but with dancing and good music. And you.”

  Paint covered their bodies. Her skin was already plastered with neon green, orange, pink, and yellow. It was on her clothes and skin and in her hair.

  Everyone threw their hands up in the air and danced with their glow sticks over head.

  Losing her inhibitions, Trihn threw her arms around Damon’s neck and leaned against his body. She teasingly circled her hips as the techno backbeat picked up the tempo. The crowd around them started jumping, but Trihn leaned forward and pressed her mouth to Damon’s.

  Their heated bodies slammed against each other, and paint-slick wet hands grasped onto bare skin. Desire flared in her stomach. Lust mixed with hope and the promise of something real. She had feelings she had sworn off for undeniably good reasons. But his kisses tasted like chocolate. His skin was a canvas she wanted to turn into a masterpiece. His seductive movements hypnotized her. Cognizant thought fled, leaving behind something she hadn’t felt in a long time—abandon.

  Damon brought out the old Trihn, the one who had danced on rooftops in Milan, flirted with strangers in London, and lived her life without fear.

  But fear had a way of eating you up from the inside out.

  Slowly, over time, fear had done its job and mingled with his bastard cousins—doubt, regret, and depression—leaving a hollowed out corpse of a person.

  Damon crept into those empty spaces and infused them with light. His mere presence seemed to rid her of the dark despair that had fallen on her shoulders like a familiar blanket.

  This could be real. This could work out. She at least owed it to herself to give it a real shot. If she opened herself up one more time and found heartbreak waiting around the corner, then it would really be the end. She couldn’t survive it a third time.

  And Damon’s soft kisses over the pulse of the music honestly made her believe it was possible.

  The DJ played well into the night, but Damon pulled Trihn from the crowd when he got to the point where he couldn’t seem to take his hands off of her. They sped back into the city, and without a word, Damon drove them to his place.

  He parked, rushed around to the other side of the car, and held the door open for her. She sympathetically looked back at his painted cover interior.

  “Don’t worry about it. It all washes out,” Damon said before drawing her in for another kiss.

  He couldn’t seem to get enough of her. At the show, they’d been all over each other—not that anyone else had noticed or had been lucid enough to care.

  They took the stairs to his studio. Trihn kicked off her shoes at the entrance. Damon took her hand, and she was careful not to touch anything as they walked through his suite.

  When they got to the bathroom, he closed the door behind them and turned the shower on full blast. He peeled her destroyed white shirt over her head and tossed it to the floor. He kissed across her collarbone and then down her stomach before sinking to his knees before her.

  Her heart stuttered as she watched him worshipping her body. His fingers deftly unsnapped the button on her jeans and dragged the zipper to the base. Then, he took his time inching her once white jeans off her legs and threw them into a pile with her shirt. His hands crawled up her legs, admiring every bare inch of her skin.

  He moved to her face and smudged away some paint on her cheek. “There. Better.”

  “One smudge, and that was all it took?”

  “You’re my pièce de résistance.”

  Their lips met again, bridging the distance between them. He snapped her bra free with one hand. She felt exposed with him in so much clothing, so she worked her way up his shirt. He pulled away long enough for her to remove it. His jeans followed, but she wasn’t as patient as he was. Her fingers tugged at the material, stripping him out of everything as quickly as she could. He made no protest as his boxers fell to the floor next, showing just what their stripping had done to him.

  Her body quivered at the thought of being with him again. She hadn’t forgotten for one second how good he was in bed or the pleasure he brought forth from her body. She had shoved that knowledge in the dark recesses of her mind when she was too afraid to move forward—but no longer.

  She stepped out of her last article of clothing, and they both walked under the steaming hot spray. The shower floor was soon the same neon wash that had coated their bodies.

  Damon poured soap into his hands and massaged it into her back. Her muscles released any remaining tension at the touch. His hands slid down her back, around her stomach, over her shoulders, and then her neck, removing any trace of the paint. Then, they dipped down to cover her breasts. He kneaded them in his hands, pinching the nipples, causing her to arch backward into his body.

  Then, with a clean hand, he trailed lower, caressing her clit before delving into her aching core. She could feel his stiff cock pressing against her lower back, but he made no move to take her. He just worked her body until she was trembling beneath the hot water, coming on his fingers.

  As she came down from her high, Trihn rested her hand on the wall to steady herself. When she turned to face him, lust hung heavy between them. He grabbed her by the back of the neck and crushed their lips together.

  “Fuck, I’ve missed you,” he growled into her mouth.

  “Me, too,” she admitted.

  She had no idea how she’d ever thought this could have been a one-night stand. Her body was dying for him—his touch, his lips, his cock. The built-up sexual tension between them was a chasm that was cracking wide open.

  She couldn’t even wait to get out of the shower, and Damon clearly had the same idea. He turned her around to face the opposite wall. Seeing what he was thinking, she bent in half at the waist and put her hands on the shower bench.

  His dick slid against her slick body, and she shuddered. Her body reflexively backed up toward him, pulsing and ready to take him. He guided himself to her opening with one hand while holding her hips in place with the other. Then, he shoved forward, and her body shook as he forced himself all the way in to the hilt.

  “Oh God,” she cried. “Wow.”

  “Yeah,” he said, short of breath.

  He started pumping into her, and even though she was warmed up, this position hit so deep that her body rocked forward with each thrust. He leaned his wet body against hers, holding her in place, as water streamed down onto them. Their bodies smacked together over the sound of the shower.

  Wet hair still matted with paint hung forward in front of her. Her slick hands clutched on to the acrylic lining of the shower seat. It had been a while since they had last been together, and she was craving another release.

  Damon grunted behind her, and she could tell he was there with her.

  “Fuck, Trihn,” he groaned. “Oh, fuck. This is the best fucking view.”

  “God, you feel so good.”

  “Yes. Oh, fuck. I’m going to come.”

  “Please. Oh God, yes!” she screamed just as her own climax hit. “Oh yes…yes…yes. Fuck…fuck.”

  His grip on her hips was painful as he jackhammered into her before coming and repeating her words almost verbatim.

  Damon pulled out of her, and Trihn fell forward onto her knees as her equilibrium disappeared.

  “Hey. Are you okay?” he asked, reaching for her.

  “You’re kidding, right?” she said breathlessly. “I’ve never felt this good in my life.”

  He helped her to her feet and pressed another kiss to her lips. “That makes two of us, love.”

  “SO MUCH FOR TAKING IT SLOW,” Trihn said.

  Damon rolled over in bed and pulled her naked body toward him. He nuzzled into her neck and kissed her shoulder. “I didn’t say I wanted to
take things slow. I said I wanted you to be mine.”

  “That’s not exactly how I remember it, but it’s sweet.” Trihn twisted around and wrapped her arms around his neck.

  “I’m just glad you’re here now.”

  “Speaking of that,” she said, unwinding from his body, “I have to get to class.”

  Damon groaned. “Are you sure?”

  “I get the full instructions for the fashion show from my design professor today. So, yeah, kind of important.”

  He reached out for her, but she slithered off the bed and into a pair of his shorts and oversized T-shirt. Her ruined clothes weren’t going to be useful.

  “I can keep this, right?” she asked with a wink.

  “Fuck, you look good in my clothes. Granted, you look good in everything.”

  “Model,” she said with a dismissive shrug.

  “Well, will my beautiful model be coming back over later today?”

  “If you’re lucky,” she quipped.

  “Clearly, I am.”

  Trihn laughed and shook her head. “It depends on how long I have to be at the design studio tonight or how much I’m panicking about the work I have to do to make this fashion show a reality come the end of April.”

  “You’ll get it done.”

  “Not if I don’t get out of here.” Trihn bent down and kissed him once more before pushing herself to hurry out of his apartment.

  She needed to get out of there before she forgot everything and lay in his bed all day and night. He made it easy to ignore the rest of the world.

  Trihn saw Eric’s Jeep idling in a parking space. She jogged to him and hopped inside.

  “We have to quit meeting like this,” Eric said with an easy smile.

  “Next time, I’ll make sure I drive to here first. I hate inconveniencing you.”

  “Trihn, I’m joking. I don’t care. It’s just good to see you with a smile on your face again.”

  “Yeah, well, I’m sure it’s too good to be true.”

  He gave her one of his signature looks. “Give it a chance before you sink the ship.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” she said, glancing out the window.

  “Also, what the hell did you do last night?”

  “What do you mean?” she asked.

  He fingered a lock of her dark hair. “You have paint all in your hair. I thought Neal was the artist.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Ugh. Let’s not mention that cheating douche bag. Damon and I went to a paint rave last night.”

  “Cool. That doesn’t sound as fun as what I was thinking.”

  “I’m sure I don’t even want to know.”

  He smirked at her. “I think I’m going to try it when we get back to your place.”

  Trihn shook her head in exasperation.

  But she didn’t ask questions when Eric disappeared into Bryna’s room once they’d gotten to the apartment.

  She quickly showered out the rest of the paint from her hair, changed, and dashed to her first class. She made it with only a few minutes left to spare. Despite the late start, she felt like she was walking on a cloud. Even though she worried that what she had with Damon was some kind of ticking time bomb, the elation she felt from a new relationship propelled her through the rest of the day.

  Soon, she was walking out of her final design class and straight toward her professor.

  “Excuse me, Professor Brown. I’m just here for the fashion show paperwork,” Trihn said.

  “Ah, Trihn. I’m so excited that you’re going to be participating.” The professor shuffled things around on the desk and then produced a packet. She handed it over. “Here you go. You’ll need to submit preliminary sketches of your designs by the beginning of next week. Samples of the clothing material should be in the week after that. We can work on full designs and models in March, so try not to stress. Please let me know if there’s anything I can help you with.”

  “Thank you so much,” Trihn said.

  Just hearing the list of things she needed to do left her overwhelmed. It was a challenge she wanted to take on, but she knew it was going to be a lot of work. The seniors used the show as their final portfolio, and she was just doing it for the experience. It was a lot of pressure.

  She was leafing through the packet on the way out of the classroom when her phone started buzzing noisily in her purse. Her heart stuttered. She hoped it was Damon, but when she glanced down at the phone, she frowned. For a minute, she contemplated letting it go to voice mail so that she wouldn’t have to deal with Lydia, but in the end, she pressed the Answer button.

  “Hello?”

  “Trihn, hey!”

  “What’s up, Ly?”

  “We picked a date!” she practically shrieked into the phone.

  Trihn’s heart sank. She had known this was coming. Lydia had said they were getting married, so picking a wedding date had, of course, shortly followed. But Damon had successfully taken her mind off the weight of her issues, and she hadn’t been prepared for it.

  “You did?” Trihn managed to ask when Lydia hadn’t said anything more.

  “Yes! We’re getting married the first Saturday of August.”

  “So soon?” she whispered.

  “Yeah. We didn’t think there was any reason to wait.”

  “Did you already pick out a venue?” Trihn asked. She hated that she was being the supporting sister. All she really wanted to say was, I don’t give a fuck about your wedding. I think you marrying Preston is the worst mistake of your life, and then hang up.

  But she knew Lydia would have been dismissive. She’d never cared what Trihn thought about Preston.

  “We’re going to get married on the beach at the house in the Hamptons.”

  Trihn couldn’t hold back at that. “Are you fucking joking?”

  Her world had fallen apart in the Hamptons. It was the place she had found out that Preston had been cheating on her. It was all bad memories. She couldn’t believe Lydia would want that.

  “God, Trihn, do we have to do this?”

  “You’re marrying him, Lydia. After the shit he pulled, you’re still going through with it. Fine. I think it’s dumb, but if you think you love him and think that he’s faithful, then go through with it,” Trihn grumbled. “But the beach house?”

  “That’s where we first really started dating.”

  “I can’t do it, Lydia. I can’t pretend to be happy for you and go stand up as a witness to your marriage on that beach.”

  “Trihn—”

  “No,” Trihn said. “The answer is no. You’re my sister. I love you. But I can’t be your maid of honor. I can’t act like I support you marrying Preston when I never even supported you dating Preston.”

  “Is this all because you’re still in love with him?” Lydia demanded.

  Clearly, Trihn had pissed her off, and Lydia was striking back with the only ammunition she had.

  Trihn had given up on loving Preston when she left for Las Vegas. He was her first love, and it hurt, knowing that he’d not only been dating her sister but now intended on marrying her. Trihn felt disoriented by that, but she didn’t love him.

  Actually, she quite hated him. Just the thought of him made her blood boil. But her hatred for him wasn’t jealousy. It was anger for him wrecking their family, for driving her away from New York, and for poisoning her sister.

  “No. And the fact that you think that, let alone have the nerve to ask me that, just solidifies my position,” Trihn said, her voice like ice. “Just leave me out of this, Lydia.”

  “Trihn—”

  Trihn hung up before she could hear whatever Lydia was about to say. Her hands were shaking when she tossed her phone back into her purse. She walked over to a campus park bench and took a seat. It was still pretty chilly out, but she didn’t even notice the conditions. She was processing what had happened.

  Standing up to Lydia hadn’t been easy. Trihn wanted to be happy for her. With any other groom, she would have been, but with Preston, s
he just couldn’t be.

  Her phone started ringing almost immediately. Trihn checked the screen and saw her mother was calling. She silenced the phone, letting it go straight to voice mail. She was sure she’d have a long message from her mother yelling at her for upsetting Lydia. After all, Lydia was the favorite.

  But her mother didn’t know what had happened that summer. She might be singing a different tune if she did.

  When the voice mail notification lit up the screen, Trihn clicked off of it. She didn’t need to even listen to it to know what her mother had said.

  Instead, with shaky fingers, she dialed Damon’s number and waited for him to answer.

  “Hey, love. How were your classes?” he asked.

  “You wouldn’t happen to be in a position to pick me up, take me back to your place, and help me forget the last fifteen minutes, would you?”

  “What happened? Are you okay?”

  “I just got into a fight with my sister, and my mother called to yell at me. The last thing I want to do is sit around and think about all that.”

  “I would love to pick you up,” he said, “but I’m actually going over to my mum’s. You could come if you want…if that isn’t weird.”

  “Hmm…maybe a little weird,” she admitted. They’d only been on one actual date, but she felt like she knew him so much better than that after the weeks building up to that date. “But it also sounds nice.”

  “You sure?” Damon asked.

  “Yes.”

  “All right. I’ll see you in a minute.”

  Trihn sent him a text with where to pick her up on campus, and he arrived a few minutes later. They drove across town and into the nicer suburbs away from campus. She stared out the passenger window, lost in thought. She knew that she had done the right thing with Lydia, but it still hurt that it had come to that, and she couldn’t stop obsessing over it.

  “Do you want to talk about it?” Damon asked as they pulled off the highway.

  “I told my sister I wouldn’t be her maid of honor and stand up for her at her wedding,” she told him. Saying it aloud sounded so official.