Chapter 18
Grace
“Don’t ever settle for anyone who isn’t going to make you the center of his universe. Don’t settle for anything less than complete. Fucking. Adoration.”
Duke had chanted those words like a promise, driven home with each deep thrust into me. I’d listened to it a hundred times in the last year, and I’d fantasized that Duke would deliver on that promise. But a fantasy is all it was ever going to be.
After cutting Duke’s call, I’d immediately downed a very large glass of wine. Ed tried to persuade me to give his boss another chance, but another chance to do what? Take what’s left of my broken heart and crush it to dust?
There was one thing Ed and I did agree on. Telling Duke it was over wasn’t going to be enough. Actions spoke louder than words in our relationship, and my next move had to be something drastic. Something irreversible.
After making one call, I left Ed sulking and went home to take a shower.
I pampered and preened. I styled my hair and applied my make up.
I picked out a navy blue bodycon dress that showed off my curves and cleavage, and heels that elongated legs.
My frame could never compete with Katarina’s, but what the hell? We’re no longer in the same race.
The hotel lobby isn’t especially busy for a Sunday night and the bar is almost empty.
I’m first to arrive so I settle on a bar stool.
It might not be the Exemplar, but I’ve arrived with the same goal in mind.
To go home thoroughly-fucked by someone other than my cheating partner, or whatever label I’m allowed to apply to Duke.
My phone is muted in my purse. Ed has been bombarding me with messages begging me to abort my plan, and I’ve had to warn him that I’ll never forgive him if he stages some kind of intervention. This is for the best. I get closure and so does Duke. And Oliver Chambers gets laid.
I check the cocktail menu and decide it’s a martini espresso kind of night.
Or it would be if I could get a server to take notice.
The barman on duty studiously polishes a glass at the other end of the bar, and I get an uncomfortable feeling of déjà vu as my gaze travels past the guy ignoring me to the only other customer at the bar.
The man who has me in his sights still has a burn mark on his cheek.
And if Max is here then… My hands are clammy as I scramble for my purse. I need to call Olly. We can arrange to meet somewhere else.
“He’s not coming,” a deep voice says from behind me.
I’m going to fucking kill Ed.
As I turn in my seat, my dress twists and the hem moves higher up my thigh. That’s where I find Duke’s gaze until he trails it up my body and our eyes connect. “What have you done?”
Duke is wearing a dark blue, beautifully tailored suit paired with a white t-shirt and the iciest scowl I’ve ever seen. “Oliver limp-dick Chambers can’t make it.”
His ice seeps into my veins. “Strange, he was only supposed to have a limp-dick after I’d finished with him.”
The anger radiating off Duke acts like a forcefield, and as he leans over me, I lean back. “If he’d touched you, the only way his dick would get hard again would be through rigor mortis.”
I tip my head to hold his gaze. “Save that kind of possessiveness for your future wife.”
He opens his mouth to speak, but there’s a pause before he says, “I am. Grace.”
I can feel his breath against my rapidly drying lips. His nose is close enough to risk brushing against mine. “You’re invading my personal space.”
“I know.”
When I press my palm against his chest, I fight the urge to fist his t-shirt. “Back off,” I say, not sounding nearly as confident as I’d like. Especially when I whimper, “Please.”
Duke straightens. “I don’t know about you, but I’ve had a very trying day and this,” he says, indicating the general vicinity of my sabotaged date. “This has pissed me off.”
“Oh, I’m so sorry for hurting your feelings. I can’t imagine what it must feel like knowing the person you trusted with your heart is getting pawed over by someone else.”
He ignores the comparison. “You wouldn’t have let it get that far.”
“You think?”
“Grace, you set up a date in my damn hotel. This wasn’t a ‘fuck me’ message for Oliver. It was a ‘fuck you’ message to me.”
I grit my teeth. I hate that the bastard’s right. I don’t know if I would have gone through with it if Oliver had turned up, and maybe I had known there was a good chance Duke would intervene somehow, but I hadn’t expected him to show up in person. I hadn’t expected him to risk being seen with me.
“Maybe it was a bit of both,” I lie. “What would be the point of hooking up with someone if you didn’t get to find out about it? It was meant to be a very loud ‘fuck you.’ And in case you still haven’t got the message…” I take a deep breath and enunciate both words. “Fuck. You. Duke.”
His jaw tics. Neither of us are backing down or calming down. If anything, we’re getting closer to the point where one of us is going to explode. “I listened to the recording.”
“And?”
“And I stand by everything I said. You shouldn’t settle for someone who doesn’t make you the center of his universe.” His voice has acquired a rasp. There’s still anger, but it’s being powered by something less destructive. Intense, undiluted passion. “You do deserve to be adored.”
“As does every woman,” I tell him. “We all need a man who’ll wrap us in his arms, call us kitten, and send us molded replicas of their cocks.”
“Katarina recognized you as the woman Max chased,” he says, which I’d guessed anyway. It still didn’t make what he did any more palatable. “And I didn’t want her guards noticing the death stare she was aiming at you. I had to do something.”
I arch an eyebrow. “I’m sure you hated every moment.”
“Yes, I did,” he grits out. “And as for the dildo, that didn’t come from me, although I would like to fucking know who did send it.”
I rear back at the venom in his words. What the actual fuck? Has he just shown his true feelings about Katarina by getting territorial over her?
There’s a flicker of confusion at my horrified expression, then it clicks. “Jesus, Grace, I didn’t mean I was jealous.” He swipes a hand across his face, sounding more exasperated than angry when he adds, “I’d just like to know who she’s got lurking in the background.”
I snort out a laugh. “Hurts, doesn’t it? Knowing your person of interest has another person of interest.”
His eyes bore into mine as he trails a finger from the capped sleeve of my dress right down to my goddamn soul. “There’s only one person I’m interested in. You.”
Despite the shudder his touch commands, I don’t believe him. I can’t allow myself to believe him. Not when déjà vu is hitting me again for all the wrong reasons. “Do guys who cheat use the same handbook or something? I swear I heard Cameron say the same thing a thousand times.”
Without waiting for his response, I twist in my stool so my back is to the bar and Duke isn’t blocking my view of reality. I’m about to catapult myself off the stool and out of the hotel when Duke’s arm shoots out in front of me.
“We’re not done,” he says, twirling me back so fast I lose balance. I grab hold of his t-shirt at the same time he grabs my thigh with his free hand. He parts my legs and steps between them.
It happens fast. One second, I’m aiming for the exit and the next… Duke cups my face with two large hands, his fingers threading through my hair to the back of my head. There’s heat between my legs caused by the friction of his steely erection rubbing against my throbbing clit.
He stares intently, mapping out my face before his gaze lands on my mouth. I bite down on my lower lip. I bite hard. I can’t let him…
“Open, Angel.”
“Du–”
He brings his lips crashing down on mine and kisses me with a softness I wasn’t expecting. There’s no invasion with his tongue. No plundering my mouth. No stealing my breath. He isn’t taking. He’s asking.
Duke runs his tongue over the seam of my mouth and waits for me to respond. I groan, as much from my own weakness as it is from the thrumming need rising up through my trembling body. He waits for my lips to part, and his patience pays off. I tilt my head to the side to allow him better access.
Duke’s tongue probes, but not far enough, not deep enough.
I twist the fabric of his t-shirt in my hands, pulling him so our bodies are flush against each other.
He smells of citrus and cedar, and tastes of coffee and…
and what? Something familiar. Something that once felt safe. Home. He tastes of home.
A tear tickles the corner of my eye as our kiss deepens. We kiss and we kiss some more. We kiss until I’m dizzy from a lack of air and good sense.
Duke hears the catch in my throat and pulls away.
We’re both panting. “I love you, Grace,” he says while my head’s still spinning.
“I didn’t think… There was a moment today when I thought I’d never get to say that to you.
, but I love you, Angel. I adore you,” he whispers.
His thumb swipes away my tear before it can fall.
“You are the center of my universe, and I swear there never was, and never could be anyone else.”
Do not say it back, Grace, I tell myself. I can’t jump back into this perverse relationship when there are still three players. I can’t accept his love and be comfortable with watching him claim another woman. Unless…
I suddenly become aware of where we are. Duke is kissing me while we’re in a very public place. He’s claiming me, not Katarina. He’s choosing me. I blink away fresh tears. “I–”
Just as I’m about to declare my feelings, my peripheral vision takes in our surroundings.
Something isn’t right. The pounding of my heart drowns out the background noise, but in truth, there isn’t that much.
There’s no chatter. No clink of glasses.
Seats are empty and drinks have been abandoned.
And then it hits me. Other than Max, there are no witnesses. Even the server has disappeared.
My lip trembles. “You had the bar cleared.”
“We needed to talk. We still do.”
The disappointment is crushing.
I press my palms against his hard chest, and he allows me to push him back a step. I lose his warmth and the hardness that was making my insides flutter. I squeeze my thigh’s together and ignore the jolt of urgent need that’s no good for me.
“This…” I say, gesturing to the room he’d emptied while he was trying to reel me in again. “This tells me everything I need to know. I’m still your dirty little secret.”
Duke’s shoulders slump on a sigh. “My situation hasn’t changed, but things have become clearer. I can’t expect you to take a ringside seat in this shitshow without explaining to you why I’m doing this for the people I love. And one of those people is you.”
My heart stutters. He’s said it again, this time without the distraction of his tongue stroking mine and his cock pressed against my center.
Duke loves me. The man I pinned all my hopes and dreams on loves me.
I want it to be enough, but I shake my head.
“You talk of love, but it’s just words,” I say, voice trembling.
“I don’t feel loved, Duke. I feel rejected. ”
He flinches at that. “Then give me a chance to put that right.” He slips his hand into his inside pocket and takes out a keycard almost identical to the one he’d given me at the Exemplar.
“Let me explain why I’ve been forced to do what I’ve done.
” As he sets it down on the bar, he leans close enough to ghost his lips over my ear.
“And afterwards, if you still need to be thoroughly fucked, I can do that too.”
I don’t give him a response. I don’t have one to give because I honestly don’t know what I should do.
My head says give Duke the chance to talk.
My needy pussy says give him whatever he wants for just one more mind-blowing orgasm.
While my heart asks how I’ll survive the next crack that could rend it in two.
Duke turns to go, but leaves me with one final warning.
“If you choose not to follow, I’ll do as you suggested.
I won’t insist on any more face-to-face meetings unless others are in attendance,” he says, but then his eyes narrow.
“But one of them won’t be Oliver Chambers, who’s on his way to the airport to catch a flight to Alaska. ”