21. Grace
TWENTY-ONE
Grace
After Dane left to go to the bathroom, his brother got up with a determined expression and followed. Which seemed like a bad sign.
Then Bristol came and sat right next to me in Dane’s seat, and I knew for sure that was a bad sign. Everyone else at the table was already mingling or over at the bar except for her, me, and Ainsley.
“Dane seems smitten with you,” Bristol said. “It’s so cute. You’re not his usual type though.”
Really? We’re doing this? You would’ve thought the bride would have better things to do on the eve of her wedding.
I returned her smile with an equally sardonic one. “I like him too.”
“I would assume so. Dane has that magic touch when it comes to women. Isn’t that right, Ainsley?” She looked over at her sister across the table. “You and Dane had a thing too.”
Ainsley picked up her glass of red wine and sipped it instead of answering.
Then Bristol looked over at me, pretending to be shocked. “Oops. You probably didn’t know that.”
Annoyance started to build, inching up my throat. But I kept my tone civil. “I did. Dane told me.” I dipped my spoon into my dessert.
She was getting to me, and I hated it.
“Did he tell you that his father wants him and Ainsley to get back together?”
“Bristol, stop,” Ainsley said. “Don’t be a bitch.”
She gasped. “Such harsh language. Grace is going to get a bad impression of us.”
“Don’t be fooled by the glasses and small-town accent,” I said evenly. “I have claws.” I waggled my pink fingernails at her to emphasize the point.
“Is that supposed to scare me?”
“Just letting you know. If you think this small-town girl doesn’t have a hell of a lot of fight in her, you would be wrong. And trust me, I’m not afraid to fight dirty, either.” I smiled and took another bite of chocolatey cake. “But I’d much rather be sweet.”
Bristol dropped her sugary veneer altogether. “You’re very impressed with yourself for someone who will be gone in a week. Dane will get tired of you in no time. And then you’ll be back to nowheresville where you belong.” She got up and strode away, smile already back in place as she went to greet the occupants of another table.
Then I glanced over at Ainsley and found her lifting her glass toward me. “I should apologize for my sister. But if she wasn’t so awful, I would’ve missed your comebacks. Seriously entertaining.”
“At least someone was laughing.” I was trying not to be jealous of this girl, given her history with Dane. I had no right to be. But I still didn’t like the thought of her touching him.
Maybe I was a bit more attached to him than I’d wanted to admit.
Earlier he’d mentioned us visiting New York again, but had that just been a throwaway comment? Did I want it to mean something more?
“My sister was right about one thing though. Dane really likes you. He never acts this way about a woman, not that I’ve seen.”
I took another careful bite of dessert. “Sounds like you know him pretty well.”
“I used to. But please retract those claws, because I promise I’m no threat.”
I raised my eyebrows at her.
Like Bristol, Ainsley had jet-black hair, but her features were less angular than her sister’s. Her eyes were kind instead of cruel. She got up and rounded the table, coming to sit beside me so she could lower her voice. “Dane and I were friends back in high school. And more than that for a while, but it was nothing. That was practically a million years ago. Our fathers might have other ideas about setting us up, but… How can I put this? Dane’s really not my type.”
“But he has such a magic touch with the ladies.”
I was glad when she laughed. “Maybe. But I prefer men who let me take the lead. Dane is way too bossy for me.”
Now, I was the one who laughed. “He’s definitely bossy. Luckily, I don’t mind it.” In fact, I enjoyed Dane’s bossiness. That man knew how to push all my buttons. In the good way.
“Then it sounds like a match. Which is obvious to everyone else in the room when they see the way he looks at you. That’s why Bristol feels threatened.”
An unpleasant thought raked down my spine. “She doesn’t have a thing for him, does she?”
“Oh, no. Not even close. But Bristol likes to be the center of attention, and she wants to run Knightly Global with Kip, especially once our fathers agree on this little hotel partnership they’ve been negotiating. Dane is already a threat to that, and you’re a new factor in the mix.”
“I have no interest in Knightly Global. I really am a small-town girl. Dane and I aren’t officially together, and when this trip is over, we’re going back to just friends.”
“You can tell yourself that, but Dane might have other ideas.” Ainsley had such a disarming look on her face that I couldn’t help but smile.
An hour ago, I’d been bracing myself to meet Dane’s ex, but I actually kind of liked her.
“Hey,” I said, dropping my voice to a whisper. “Is Dane and Kip’s mother here tonight? I assumed she would be, but he hasn’t introduced me. I didn’t ask him because I didn’t want to bring up an awkward subject, given his relationship with his dad. But…” I trailed off when I saw the uncomfortable expression on Ainsley’s face.
“Dane didn’t tell you about Isadora?”
I set down my spoon, no longer interested in the rest of my dessert. “Didn’t tell me what?”
* * *
When Dane didn’t come back to the table, I went to look for him.
Dane’s mom was sick. Ainsley hadn’t given me all the details, saying that I should ask Dane for the full story. But he’d had plenty of chances to tell me. He’d chosen not to. I was trying not to overreact about it, but I did want to know why.
I passed by the restrooms, listening for voices. There was no sign of Dane or his brother. But when I glanced up a nearby staircase, I saw the back of a man ascending the stairs.
It wasn’t Dane, though. Or Kip. This man wore a boxy suit and had a shaved head.
Instantly, my pulse raced into overdrive.
It seemed impossible, but he reminded me of the man who’d stopped me in the lobby the night of the masquerade. What on earth could that guy be doing here ? Not just thousands of miles away from Silver Ridge, but at Kip and Bristol’s private rehearsal dinner. They’d rented out the whole place. It couldn’t be the same man.
But what if it was ?
I started mounting the stairs. I kept on the balls of my toes so my heels wouldn’t clack on the wood.
If there was any way I could find out that man’s identity and how he was connected to Nina Jamison and Dirk Lancaster, I had to take the opportunity. He might know something about Nina’s disappearance or the break-in at my house.
I reached the top and looked around the quiet upstairs dining area. The lights were dim. This part of the restaurant wasn’t being used, so nobody else was around. I didn’t see the man with the shaved head anywhere, either. Had no clue where he’d gone.
Unease suddenly gripped me. Maybe I shouldn’t have come up here.
Then I spotted Dane through a set of French doors, standing on a balcony, and my heart seemed to restart, flooding me with relief.
I was probably just on edge because I hadn’t been able to find Dane. And here he was. So everything was fine, right? I was being ridiculous.
There was no way that bald man could’ve been the same creepy guy as in Silver Ridge.
When I stepped out onto the balcony, Dane turned his head. “Hey.” It was too dark to see him well. The air was chilly but not uncomfortable. I was a Colorado girl, after all. The sounds of the city surrounded us, filling in the silence.
“You disappeared,” I said.
“Sorry about that.” Dane’s voice was rough. “I needed to clear my head. Didn’t mean to abandon you.”
“I told you, I’m tougher than I look.” I almost asked if he’d seen a man with a shaved head pass by. But Dane shifted so his features stood out in sharper relief in the low light. And I forgot everything else.
“What happened?” I asked.
“I had some words with Kip and then my father. Wasn’t pleasant.”
“What did they say?”
“I’m not in the mood to repeat it.”
I’d never seen him like this before. Dane was always steady, as if nothing could touch him down deep. This was the man who’d tossed me over his shoulder when I was freaking out about the break-in at my house. Who’d handled Dirk Lancaster so easily when the man grabbed me at the party. Who didn’t even flinch when Callum and his firefighter friends and Teller Landry had all been staring him down.
But right now, Dane’s eyes were two dark pools of shadow. His mouth cut a hard line across his face, and his knuckles turned white with how hard he gripped the railing. He looked like a man who was struggling to keep his control.
“I’d much rather kiss you,” he said.
“Then you should do it.”
Dane spun me and pressed me up against the balcony railing. His mouth slanted down on mine, hot and demanding from the get-go. Like he was desperate for this. And I was right there with him. His tongue pushed past my lips, and I sucked on it, making him groan.
His hands were rough, sliding over the soft fabric of my dress to squeeze my curves. His thumb found the hard point of my nipple and circled it, flicking and teasing until I was panting.
He started tugging up the skirt of my dress. Distantly, I knew the fact that we were in public. I’d seen someone aside from us come upstairs. But that person had gone somewhere else, and I could barely recall why that mattered, much less remember what I had been thinking about before.
That was the thing about Dane. He could sweep me away with a look, with a few words, no matter where we were. I’d said no to him earlier at the boutique, but that resistance was gone.
I took pride in my inner strength. But I was nowhere near strong enough to resist Dane Knightly.
His fingers caressed their way up my inner thigh as he kept kissing me. Hypnotizing me with the movements of his tongue and lips against mine.
Then his thumb brushed across the crotch of my panties for the second time that day. Dane broke the kiss, his forehead resting against mine. His hand was still under my dress, and his fingertip pressed right against my clit. I couldn’t help the sound I made in response. The city sounds drowned me out, but just barely.
“Someone could see.” Anyone could walk out on this balcony at any moment. Or spot us through the French doors.
“If anyone comes up here, I’ll just stop touching you and let your dress fall back into place. You can tell me no, but I don’t think you want to. I feel how wet you are already.” Dane’s voice was guttural. Drenched with need. “I want to know what sounds you make when you come, gorgeous.”
I shivered all over. I felt that same need, tingles of arousal blooming in my lower belly and between my legs where he was touching me. But I wasn’t completely unaware. If anything, Dane’s presence in front of me and the city around us stood out more clearly. Like all my senses had been turned up in volume.
I tipped my head back and shivered again. He kissed my throat. At the same time, his fingertip stroked back and forth over the crotch of my panties. Just enough teasing pressure to make me need so much more.
“Look at me,” he demanded.
I did. The way he devoured me with his eyes—I’d experienced that before. But not with so much need radiating from him. This was a dark and dangerous side of Dane I’d only glimpsed a few times. But I’d never had such a clear sense of him before. The suit and tie, the polished shoes and the Rolex. None of that conveyed the wildness that was inside him.
It scared me a little. But I craved it even more.
“Tell me yes,” he said.
I nodded. Yes. I wanted this.
I wanted what he’d started a few hours ago, after I first tried on this dress.
Two of his fingertips pushed aside the damp fabric of my panties and, after circling my opening a few times, slowly pushed inside me. My hands scrambled behind me to hold on to the railing. That sensation of being filled, especially by a man like him , took my breath away. And it was only his fingers, not his cock.
But if he unbuttoned and unzipped his fly, pushed my dress all the way up, and took me right here, I had the feeling I’d let him.
His fingers stroked in and out of me, then switched to stimulating my clit. His eyes didn’t look away from mine, seeming to pin me in place. He didn’t act like this wasn’t affecting him though. Every time I whimpered or moaned, he groaned in response. His breaths quickened, nostrils flaring as he breathed.
“You’re going to feel so perfect when I fuck you tonight,” he murmured.
When Dane kissed me again, his tongue and his fingers moving relentlessly, I felt my orgasm building. There was nothing else except Dane right now. His fierce kiss and the sheer, unfettered desire pouring off of him. I wanted to give him everything he needed, and right now, that seemed to be me.
“ Dane ,” I gasped into his mouth. The pleasure hit me all at once. It was a good thing he was kissing me to muffle my shout. Otherwise the whole neighborhood would’ve heard it. His fingers circled a few more times through my wetness, coaxing aftershocks from my body, until I squeezed my thighs together.
“No more,” I whispered.
He pulled his hand away, my skirt falling, and he slowly placed those same two fingers into his mouth to lick them off. “Did you like that?” he asked, low and husky. My glasses had slipped down my nose, so he gently pushed them back up.
“Yeah. Did you?”
Dane turned me to face the balcony railing, held onto my sides, and nudged his hips against me. I felt the hard ridge of his erection even through the layers of ruffles in my skirt. “That’s what you do to me. You’ll help me with that later?”
“I could do it right here. Anything you want.” What on earth was I saying? I barely even knew. Thankfully, Dane was thinking more clearly than I was.
He chuckled and said, “When we get home. I don’t want us to get arrested. That would really be one for the gossip pages.”