Chapter 31
Chapter
Thirty-One
Sydney
“ B ugger off,” Caden sneers at the Duke of Hurstgrove as he staggers toward me.
I steady him with an arm around his shoulders. Blimey, he’s an inferno. Fear knots my gut. What the devil is wrong with him?
“He needs a hospital!” I bark.
Hurstgrove sighs, and I recognize his expression: dread. “All he needs is a bed with you under him.”
Has Mr. Fancy-Pants gone mental? “If he’s ill, sex is the last thing he needs!”
Before I can extol the virtues of modern medicine, Caden nuzzles my neck. Oh, my days! He smells so musky and manly and irresistible. I shiver, momentarily losing focus.
The duke’s cultured voice brings me back. “That, my dear, is the very thing he needs.”
I cannot have heard him right. “Is this the same affliction his brother has? Some sexual compulsion?”
Hurstgrove looks at the end of his patience. “No.”
“Is it fatal?”
“Only if he’s…untreated. I’ll explain. Just…trust me. Please.”
A horrible thought skitters through my head. What if I did this to Caden by writing my latest “fantasy” in the book? “But?—”
“Go. We can’t talk here.” Hurstgrove shoves us toward the door. “I’ll explain when we reach your flat. Can you…care for him?”
“Of course.” If anything I did put Caden in this state, I owe him.
“Thank you.” Hurstgrove slides his eyes shut in relief. “Very much. Let’s go.”
I don’t understand any of this. Once Caden is out of danger, I’ll have a bucketload of questions, and I’ll want detailed answers.
“I’ll come along, in case you need help,” Hurstgrove adds.
“I’ve got sex covered, thank you.” Though I still have no idea how shagging is going to help.
Beside me, Caden nibbles on my ear. I shiver. He’s insistent, almost feral. Though I don’t understand what’s driving him, the female in me basks in his desire.
“I need you,” he breathes, caressing a palm up my hip, under my shirt, to cup my breast. “With me…”
His touch burns me as much as his blistering blue stare. Whatever ails him has completely stripped his control. The way he wants me is so heady.
Except…people are staring—loads of them. My cheeks heat up as if I’ve flushed twenty shades of red. Did everyone see Caden’s intimate displays of public affection?
“I’m sure you do,” Hurstgrove drawls as he tries to move Caden’s hands somewhere more discreet while giving us another shove toward the exit. “But I’ll be in the next room in case he gets…out of control.”
With a nod, I dash out of the pub, dragging Caden along. Olivia holds the door open.
Outside, I halt in the stinging November wind. Since Caden and I walked to the pub, I have no idea how the devil we’re going to stroll back to my flat, particularly when he’s so focused on unbuttoning my shirt.
A moment later, Hurstgrove guides us toward a very posh black SUV.
Relieved, I climb into the back seat. Caden follows with a growl, crawling over me as his glowing blue eyes tell me without a word that he wants me in every way possible. That should not arouse me as much as it does.
A feral smile stretches his mouth as he grabs my legs and swings me sideways. I gasp, but he pays me no mind. Once I’m reclining across the soft leather, he covers me with his body and lifts my skirt.
“Caden,” I whisper. “Wait! Other people are here. My flat is five minutes?—”
“No,” his rough voice is insistent. “Need you.”
“I know.” I shove down my inappropriate thrill. “Just a few minutes longer.”
Caden growls as he wedges his hips between my legs. I should be mortified, but all I feel is desire—both to hold and heal him.
Our relationship hasn’t been easy. He’s lied to me for reasons I still don’t understand, but he’s never insulted my intellect or my profession. I can’t say as much for my last date, let alone my parents. And given my brief conversation with Olivia, it’s clear Caden truly brought me experts to talk about the unusual book I possess. And how many men would move across an ocean to help his brother?
In the past, I’ve been suspicious of Caden. After tonight, I hope to understand him much better.
“Now.” Caden drags his lips up my neck as he presses his hard cock against me.
I try not to moan. “Five minutes.”
“No!”
Two slams penetrate my consciousness, and I catch sight of Hurstgrove and Olivia settling in the front seat, resolutely not looking behind them.
“Did you call Bram?” he asks Olivia as if they’re discussing nothing beyond the weather.
Who? The question dashes away when Caden fists my blouse and rips it in two. I gasp as the silky remnants drift around me.
“Not here!” I cry.
Caden isn’t listening. He latches onto my breast through my bra, sucking hard. My nipples, still tender from our last encounter, leap to full, aching attention. I stifle a moan.
“I left him a message,” Olivia murmurs.
Hurstgrove curses softly. “Bloody hell. This is going to take a while.” He searches for me in the rearview mirror, then quickly jerks his stare away. “Where do you live?”
Before I can answer, Caden plants soft, open-mouthed kisses down my abdomen…and begins edging lower, shoving my skirt up with an impatient roar.
I feel myself get wet.
As if he knows, Caden’s fingers dive between my thighs and slide under the elastic of my knickers. Unerringly, he finds my clit. Tingles bombard me. My breathing stutters.
Hurstgrove peels away from the curb. “Quickly.”
It’s bloody hard to answer when Caden is arousing me out of my mind, but I manage to rattle off my address between Caden’s tongue licking up my skin and his fingers making magic between my legs.
Hurstgrove programs his GPS accordingly and jets down the road.
Three minutes later, he reaches my building. Caden is doing his damnedest to work off my knickers with one hand and remove my bra with the other. Despite aching to let him, I fight him off because I can’t walk to my flat naked. Once we’re in my bedroom, I’ll happily take off everything for him and welcome him with open arms.
“Car park?” Hurstgrove barks.
“No,” I croak out.
Hurstgrove pulls up to the walk, then turns to Olivia. “Can you park this? Call Marrok and tell him your location. Suggest that Sabelle fetch you as soon as possible. I hate to leave you alone, even for a moment.”
She lays a soft hand on his shoulder. “I’m fine.”
“Bad people still want their bloody hands on you, my little Le Fay. You’re in danger. Be careful.”
Le Fay? Like Morgana Le Fay?
A smile curves the beautiful American’s mouth. “You’re like the annoying big brother I never had.”
He huffs. “Big brothers know best. Now go.”
At Olivia’s nod, Hurstgrove exits the vehicle, doffing his designer jumper. When the back door opens, he leans in. I wriggle to lower my skirt, which earns me a very unhappy growl from Caden.
Hurstgrove pointedly looks away as he grabs Caden by the shirt, yanking him to his feet. “Come with me.”
Caden fights like a madman, thrashing and hitting his head on the top of the door.
“Careful!” I insist.
As soon as he clears the vehicle, Caden snarls and whirls, throwing wicked punches that barely miss one of England’s most high-profile, eligible bachelors.
Hurstgrove tosses me his jumper, then clamps his arms around Caden’s middle. “Put that on and open your door. We’ll follow.”
He doesn’t have to ask me twice. I skip the lift and head for the stairs, uncertain that anyone could contain Caden during the ancient machine’s long ascent.
Behind me, Caden grunts and curses, fighting to be let free, all the while telling me exactly how he intends to shag me in electrifying detail. His desire is contagious. Want hikes up my breathing and cramps my womb.
But now that I have two seconds to think, worry creeps in. What if I can’t help Caden? What if my efforts don’t heal him? What if that damn book and my own impulsivity are to blame?
As we emerge from the stairwell, Hurstgrove lets out a huff. “Bloody hell!”
Glancing back, I find Hurstgrove doubled over—and Caden charging toward me. He pins me to the wall a moment later, grabbing my thigh in one hand and nipping at my throat while he presses his steely cock against me. Anticipation skyrockets, and I palm my way under his shirt, eager to feel the hot, bare skin of his back.
“Not in the hall,” Hurstgrove admonishes. “Let’s take this behind closed doors, shall we?”
No matter how badly I want Caden, Hurstgrove is right. I’m not all right with providing a peep show for my neighbors. But what woman doesn’t have a fantasy or two about her man being so overcome with passion that he can’t contain himself? The fact Caden wants me to be the anchor in his storm only adds to my thrill.
So when he rocks against me and whispers that he can’t wait to be inside me, I melt all over again.
Hurstgrove pries Caden away and pushes him to my door. Then he turns with a reassuring pat on the shoulder. “Once you’re inside, all will be well.”
With a savage snarl, Caden shoves me behind his big, hot body, then whirls on Hurstgrove. He clasps his hands around the duke’s pedigreed throat. “You will not touch her.”
“Right.” Hurstgrove holds up both hands in surrender. “Won’t do that.”
Caden growls and spins back to me, a possessive fire filling his eyes. I’ve always believed this relationship meant more to me than him, but now…now I question that. Am I finally seeing the emotions he’s hidden behind his facade?
Hoping yes, I race for my door, inserting my key with trembling fingers. He’s right behind me, pressing me to the wood, breathing hot and hard in my ear.
“Don’t leave me, Sydney.”
“I won’t.”
Finally, I turn the key. We spill inside the little flat. Caden roars in after me, his expression a pledge that he means to be inside me in less than thirty seconds.
Heart trumpeting, I draw in a ragged breath. Hurstgrove shuts and locks the door, his gaze discreetly focused on the hallway leading to my bedroom. “Take him.”
“Now,” Caden insists. “I can’t wait.”
I want that more than anything, but I need some information first. “We’re here. Explain. Why is he suddenly a randy octopus, and why does he want my help?”