Total pages in book: 80
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79261 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 396(@200wpm)___ 317(@250wpm)___ 264(@300wpm)
I reacted.
I wasn’t proud of it.
It terrified me as much as it did her.
I realized at that moment I could destroy her, turning her world upside down with unexpected demons she didn’t want to face.
And the fucked-up part was…
That I wanted to.
CHAPTER
SEVENTEEN
LUKE
Duchess didn’t talk to me or look at me. We ate breakfast in silence and boarded my plane the same way.
On the flight, I finally asked, “Is this how it’s gonna be?”
She shrugged, maintaining her neutral stare out the window. Once we arrived at the private hangar, I helped her with her bag, and she barely gave me one last glance before she tried to step into her car. I shut her door, half in shock she was going to leave without even saying goodbye and half pissed off about it.
She just stood there for a moment before she finally met my gaze to look deep into my eyes.
“You’re fucking with my head.”
“Good. ’Cause you’re fuckin’ with mine too. I like you, and I want to get to know you, but you’d rather fuck me than tell me your name.”
“I’m not lost, Luke. You can’t save me, and I don’t want you to.”
“I don’t believe that. Not for a second. I see you, and that fuckin’ scares you.”
I didn’t know if I wanted to fuck her or strangle her… it may have been a little of both.
“You want to share sad stories, then you fucking start,” she bit.
“This ain’t about me.”
I’d be willing to get on my knees for her if that was what it took to get her to open up to me, but that wasn’t good enough…
I wanted her on her knees for me too.
DUCHESS
He looked at me like he wanted to cherish me and pull me into his arms and never let me go. It was as if I was standing on the edge of a cliff, ready to jump off, not knowing if land or water would be beneath me. My mind was scrambled with thoughts and emotions I couldn’t control, label, or even understand. It was one giant mess of roses. The same ones I hated but secretly loved.
I wanted him to kiss me again.
I needed it like I needed my next breath.
So I did the only thing that consumed me… the only thing that seemed right in a moment that should have felt wrong.
I couldn’t hide from him, and the worst part was…
I didn’t want to.
So I kissed him.
I kissed with the same ferocity of a million men going to war.
I kissed him like I was never going to see him again.
I kissed him like he belonged to me and I to him.
I kissed him like I was home; like he was my home.
And he matched every beat, every moment, every feeling and emotion times ten.
Our tongues did a sinful dance, which we only knew the moves to.
When he pulled away again, I thought I was going to scream. I wanted him to claim me as much as he was consuming me.
He kissed me one last time, confessing, “You can’t hide from me… you can’t run from me… I’ll always find you.”
“That’s very America’s Most Wanted of you.”
He smiled against my lips, leaning his forehead against mine. I turned into one of those giggly schoolgirls I always made fun of.
“Come to think of it, you’re probably already on that list.”
“I keep my hands clean.”
“Most made men do.”
“And what do you know about that?”
I leaned back against my driver’s side door, and he stood between my legs.
“Club life and organized crime go hand in hand.”
He eyed me up and down with an amused grin. “Look at you usin’ big girl words.”
“Money is god. It has a way of making people sell their souls to the devil for it.”
He narrowed his gaze at me. “You sound like you speak from experience.”
I smiled. “Trouble loves to find me.”
“Is that what your back spine piece represents?”
I shook my head. “You’re not allowed to psychoanalyze me if you want me to answer your questions.”
“Is that what I’m doin’?”
I arched an eyebrow, cocking my head to the side. “So what’s next in this foreplay you have going on between us?”
“What do you want it to be?”
“I asked you first.”
He laughed, grabbing my hips to bring me closer to him. “You know what I want.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that I don’t know what corner we’re taking.”
“I thought we already reached the finish line?”
“The finish line would have been us sleeping together last night.”
He grinned again. “We slept together all weekend.”
“Your finish line must be different from mine.”
My cell phone rang, cutting me off from what I wanted to say to him.
“I gotta take this.”
I nodded. “I gotta go anyway.”
He kissed me. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay.”
We went our separate ways, and I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t sad about it. We only spent two days together, and I was already getting attached to him.