Page 59 of Craving Paradise
I let my hand slip from her face. “You’re right.”
“Here, take some champagne up with you, they girls will need more,” I say, distracting myself from touching her again as I grab another couple of bottles of champagne for them.
Lauren takes the bottles from me, our hands touch, and sparks of electricity zip across my skin from the contact. I know she feels it, too as it made her gasp.
“I’ll take these right up.”
Hours later, an insane amount of karaoke, laughing, chattering, and calls down for champagne and fries, the girls seem to be ready. One by one, they come down the stairs. I don’t know how I’ve been given the job as a photographer now, but my sister is shouting at me, cursing at her phone screen at my awful photos—her words not mine. I think I’ve captured enough photos of the girls for a lifetime.
My head turns when it’s Lauren’s turn to walk down the stairs, and I’m literally floored. Thankfully, I’m behind the phone screen and am able to watch her without fear of getting caught by my sister for being a creep. She’s dressed in a sheer white evening dress with what looks to be a white swimsuit underneath. Her entire dress is a sheer sparkly fabric that drapes around her bust with a thigh-high slit and then trails down. I’d hardly call it an evening dress. There’s not enough fabric to make a dress. The gemstones sewn into the fabric sparkle in the light like her entire body is dripping in diamonds, showing off her incredible figure. Her black hair is pulled up into a sleek ponytail, her makeup is nude, and her lips are red.
What I’d give to see those ruby puckers wrapped around my dick!
“Fucking hot, babe,” my sister catcalls at Lauren as she reaches the last step.
“It’s not too much, is it?” Lauren asks, looking self-conscious as her hands run down her barely-there dress.
“Hell, no,” Freya adds.
“Jasper, what are your thoughts, seeing you’re the only male in the room? Is it too much?” my sister asks me.
Lauren looks over at me. Her bright blue eyes are wide, and I notice the tiniest bit of trepidation in them as she waits to hear my verdict.
“What’s the event you’re going to? Just so I have a reference for my thoughts?” I ask, curious where she’s going dressed as pure sin.
“My parents are hosting a black-tie fundraising event for our family charity,” Ines answers my question.
“You remember Ines and Lauren’s family own a modeling agency?” Autumn reminds me.
Why would I remember that?
“Do you ever listen to me?” Autumn questions as she shakes her head.
Not all the time because most of the time it is inane information I don’t give a shit about.
“We raise money for human trafficking charities. Most use the guise of a modeling agency to lure in young women. My parents thought they owe those girls who had a dream, which turned into a nightmare, a chance at a better life,” Lauren explains.
That’s quite an admirable thing to do. “I think as long as you are comfortable, then that’s all that matters.”
“That’s not a compliment, brother. No wonder you’re single. You don’t know how to say nice things to women,” my sister teases me.
“He’s fine,” Lauren tells my sister.
“You told me not to be a creep around your friends.”
“Oh my god, Jasper, there’s an enormous gap between being nice and being a creep. If you don’t realize that, then there’s no hope for you.” She throws her hands up dramatically at me.
I can’t win tonight.
“Babe, we must go. Our car is waiting for us outside,” Ines tells my sister.
“Okay, I’ll see you when we get there.” My sister kisses Ines and Lauren goodbye. “They must walk the red carpet with their family,” she explains why they are leaving separately.
“Shit, Autumn,” Freya gasps as she clutches Autumn’s phone to her chest.
Oh, no, what is it?
“Damon’s flight has been canceled, and he won’t make it tonight. He’s stuck in Ibiza,” Freya says softly.