22. Dane
TWENTY-TWO
Dane
By the time we got back to my apartment, that mixed-up fog of anger and lust had disappeared from my brain. And I realized what a complete asshole I had been.
What had I been thinking?
Leaving Grace alone while I brooded, then mauling her when she found me. She’d noticed something was wrong from the look on my face, and I’d felt this click inside me. Like Grace was the exact answer to the emptiness I’d been feeling.
It wasn’t the first time I’d felt that about her. But it was the first time I’d shoved my hand into her panties in public and then didn’t allow her a real choice about giving me what I wanted.
Anyone could’ve caught us on that balcony, which was bad enough. But Margot could’ve seen us. She’d been at the rehearsal dinner, though she’d stuck with other Knightly Global staff and stayed away from my family. If she knew what I’d done, she would’ve had strong words, and I’d already faced Margot’s disapproval once today. Though I deserved it.
“That was a misjudgment on my part,” I said when we were inside. “What happened on the balcony. I’m sorry.”
Grace smirked, one hand on her hip. “Why are you sorry? I enjoyed it.”
I loosened my tie. “But I didn’t give you much of a choice.”
Grace stepped up to me, still tall in her heels, and grabbed the lapels of my jacket. “I said yes because I wanted to. Having your hands on me on that balcony was the hottest thing that’s ever happened to me.”
Some of my regret retreated. “It’s still possible someone saw. Imagine what your brothers would do to me if they heard. Or if we show up on some gossip website. Ashford’s had issues with those in the past.”
Just be careful with her , Ashford had said. Please .
“I highly doubt that’s going to happen.”
“I assume you didn’t get to finish your dessert, either. I never came back to the table.” After our encounter on the balcony, we’d grabbed Grace’s purse and left without even saying goodbye to anyone.
“So? We can have dessert here. Can’t we?”
“We can. I have cheesecake in the fridge.”
“New York cheesecake is high on my dessert agenda for this trip. But I was thinking of something more…metaphorical.”
Mmm, I did love that wicked look in her eyes.
I was a bad influence, but Grace brought it out in me even more.
I kissed her, less urgently than on the balcony, just enjoying the taste of her. And it was finally occurring to me that my family obligations were over for tonight, and it would be just us. I could take my time with Grace. Spoil her the way I’d promised instead of being rough and taking .
But when I pulled back, her brows had knitted. Like she was thinking serious thoughts.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Why didn’t you tell me about your mom being sick?”
Oh, damn it. “I meant to.”
“Then why didn’t you? I had to hear it from Ainsley, and I felt kind of ridiculous for not knowing. Not that you have to tell me everything. We’re not…involved that way.”
“No, I should have. That’s on me. But it’s beyond depressing. That’s why I didn’t say anything.” Exactly like I’d told Margot earlier. I wanted this trip to be fun for Grace.
Lot of fun you’re being right now, Knightly , I scolded myself.
“I can handle depressing,” she said. “If you want to talk about it, I’m available.”
I cupped my hand at her cheek, dragging it down to the side of her neck, feeling her pulse thrum against my palm. She was so sweet. Maybe too sweet for me. Yet that truth only made me want her more.
How many times had I told Grace I wanted the chance to know her, and for her to know me?
“I can tell you the basics.” I was going to need whiskey for this, though. Grabbing her hand, I led her into the kitchen and opened my liquor cabinet. “Want a drink?”
“Just ice water.”
“I’ll grab you a glass. But I need something stronger.” I got Grace’s ice water, then a finger of whiskey for myself. Then I recalled what she’d said a few minutes ago, and there was a record scratch in my head.
“You were talking to Ainsley?” I asked.
She laughed. “It was fine. Bristol was awful to me, but Ainsley is kind of great. She said nice things about you. And also that you’re not her type and she has zero interest in you.”
I relaxed momentarily. “Wait, Bristol was awful?”
“Can we not talk about the bride and maid of honor? We will have plenty of wedding drama tomorrow.”
This time, it was Grace who took my hand, and we went into the living room. My lights were on timers, so just the floor lamps were on in here, emitting a soft, warm glow. I sat heavily on the couch, and Grace sat on the cushion beside me, kicking off her heels on the way.
But she wasn’t close enough. I hauled her right up against me and draped her legs over my lap. “That’s better.”
“You told me how your mom was an Olympic skier and a mountain climber,” Grace prompted. “And how your mom and dad met at Everest base camp.”
Half my whiskey went down in one gulp. A shame, given how expensive it was. “The highlight reel.”
“You wanted to focus on the happy parts of her life. Not the hard ones.”
“Yes.” And I was impressed that Grace understood that. Floored, actually. I’d spoken a little about Mom’s decline to Ashford and Emma, but that was different.
Grace was different.
“My mother was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s. She’s not doing well. That’s why she can’t be at the wedding.”
“Is she in a care facility?”
Another gulp of whiskey. “No, she lives at home. My parents’ apartment here in Manhattan. But she has twenty-four-hour care. Doesn’t leave the house much anymore. And I think that’s all I can say about it tonight.”
My arguments with Kip and my dad were too recent. It was all too raw, and Grace was already seeing more of my flaws than I’d ever intended.
Thankfully, she nodded. “That’s okay. If you want, I can take your mind off things.”
Interest swirled in my belly and went lower, pushing away the ache. “Oh yeah? I’d like that.”
She shifted so that she was straddling me, her hands going to my shoulders. “Today was one of the best days I’ve ever had.”
I squeezed her thigh with the hand that wasn’t holding my glass. “Same. Except for the dinner. Wish I could’ve skipped that part.”
“But we wouldn’t be here if you hadn’t needed a date to the wedding.”
“I’m not going to thank Kip for anything.”
“You don’t have to think about him at all.” Grace leaned forward to kiss my cheek, yet her hips also ground against me. A little sweet, a little filthy. Just like Grace herself. My cock thickened against the seam of my pants. “You were amazing to me today,” she said. “I have never felt so spoiled or so beautiful in my life.” Another light kiss, this one to my jaw.
Then she pushed back, her knees dropping to the carpet as she sank between my spread legs. She reached for the button of my trousers and flicked it open. “I think you deserve to be spoiled some too.”
Nngh .
I tipped back the last of my whiskey and set the glass aside. Grace slid my zipper down. Pulled out my cock. I wasn’t fully hard yet, but within less than a minute, the soft heat of her mouth had my dick swelling against her tongue. She moaned, and the vibration stimulated me even more.
“ Fuck ,” I breathed. “Just like that.”
Grace tongued the underside and cradled the tip in her mouth, gazing up at me with her glasses on the tip of her nose like a scandalous librarian. I pulled the tie from her ponytail so her auburn strands fell around her bare shoulders. From the way she was bent over in my lap, her breasts nearly spilled from the top of her strapless dress.
She was the hottest thing I’d ever seen.
When she started bobbing down and hollowing her cheeks on the way up, I realized how close she’d already gotten me. And we couldn’t have that. Not yet.
“I want something else now, gorgeous. Since you’re being so obliging.”
She lifted her head, sucking along the way. My cock wasn’t happy when it left the warmth of her mouth. But I tucked myself away, just for the moment.
“Get naked for me.”
“You’ll have to unzip me.” Grace stood and turned around. I grasped the tiny zipper pull and tugged it down until her dress fell and pooled at her feet. She stepped out of it. Her back was bare and elegant, a long swooping curve that ended with the flare of her lower body. She still had her panties on, but they didn’t cover much. I got a fantastic eyeful of her round behind.
“Put the heels back on.”
Grace narrowed her eyes at me over her shoulder, trying to hide a grin. “You’re pushing it.”
“Please? Thought it was my turn to get spoiled.”
With her back still toward me, she toed into her heels. She’d left them conveniently there on the carpet.
“Turn around, gorgeous.”
She did, and I nearly choked on my tongue. She was incredible. There was so much I wanted to touch, and I wanted all of it right now. Standing up, I put my hands on her hips and bent to kiss her. She held on to my shoulders. While Grace was nearly naked, I was still fully dressed aside from my fly being open.
“Didn’t you say something earlier about punishing me?” she asked. “I’m wondering when that’s going to happen, or if you make promises you can’t keep.”
I laughed out loud. “I forgot, actually.” This had been a really long day. Most of it had been perfect, and it was ending in the best possible way. “How do you feel about having your wrists tied?”
Grace’s eyes widened. “I like that idea.”
I removed the black-striped tie from my neck. Grace put her arms in front of her. I wrapped the tie around her slender wrists and tied it with a nice little bow. “Now walk over there to the chaise and lie down with your arms above your head.” I gestured with my chin.
“All the way over there? I think you just want to ogle me.”
“Hell yes, I do.”
My tongue traced my lower lip as she walked over to the chaise longue and knelt on top of it. With the bow around her wrists, she looked like the best present I could ever imagine.
Grace was true to her name as she sat and lay back, her body splayed on the lounge with her arms stretched over her head. The heels completed the naughty image, and I tried to sear it into my memory.
“Like this?” she asked teasingly.
My cock jumped, and I pressed the flat of my palm against it. I closed my mouth on a moan. “Yes, baby. You’re doing so well for me.”
I took my time crossing the room toward her, picking up her glass of ice water as I went. She’d left it on a side table, using a coaster I might add. Always so thoughtful.
I sat beside her on the chaise.
“What are you going to do to me? Should I be worried?”’
“No,” I said softly. “I’m going to take very good care of you.”
Taking a sip of the ice water, I caught a cube between my teeth and bent over to brush the ice over her nipple.
“That’s cold !”
Her arms tried to lift, but I reached up to gently hold them down. Smiling wickedly around the ice cube, I circled her nipple a few times until it was a hard peak. Then did the same to the other breast.
“Dane,” she whimpered.
I took the half-melted ice from my mouth. “Should I stop?”
“No. But I hate you.”
“You’re the one who kept asking to be punished.”
“I wanted to see what would happen.”
“Those are not the words of a woman who prefers her life simple and boring.”
She frowned, but there was pure heat in her eyes.
I set the glass aside so I wouldn’t knock it over. My fingers brushed the ice cube along her stomach while my cold mouth kissed her neck. She squirmed underneath me. I repositioned so I was straddling her thighs and had better access to everywhere I wanted to kiss and touch. Once my mouth was warmer, I took turns between teasing her with the ice and then warming the same spots with my tongue.
She wasn’t complaining anymore. The sounds she was making got my cock harder than it had ever been. Even better than when I’d made her come earlier on the balcony, probably because we were alone and Grace was slowly losing those inhibitions she usually kept wrapped around herself like a shield.
And I wanted that so badly. For her to give herself to me with nothing held back.
The ice got too melty, so I tossed it somewhere on the floor and sucked her nipples with abandon. From the way she was squeezing her thighs and rubbing them together, I guessed she was ready for some more attention there. I was beyond ready too. My own breaths were shallow. Hot. Needy. I kissed my way down her body.
Her panties were skimpy and silky. But I was too damn impatient now. I grabbed the thin fabric in my fists and tore one side to get them off.
“Hey! I liked those.”
“I’ll buy you more.” I held her thighs in my hands, pushing them apart. Then I dove in between her legs and lapped my tongue over her.
“ Oh ,” she cried. “Yes. Please.” Her hands tangled in my hair, still bound with my tie.
“Arms up,” I growled. “I’m still the one in charge.”
“Okay. Just don’t stop. Please don’t stop.”
I had no intention. If I had my way, I’d have Grace underneath me accepting all the pleasure I wanted to give her as often as possible. And for a lot longer than just one weekend.