“But what if it was a random accident? You said you’re a competent driver.”
“I killed a man, Grace. Someone I loved like a brother. I deserve to be punished.”
I tilt my head and press a kiss gently to his lips. I’m beginning to understand him now. If the authorities won’t punish him, he’s going to punish himself. I kiss him harder. I wish there was something I could say to take away his guilt, but I don’t have the answers he needs to even begin healing.
I can’t persuade him to look to the future when his head is turned to the past. All I can do is give him these final moments of our time together. And I have to accept that’s all he can give me.
Keeping my lips hovering over his, I say, “I know you can’t see it, but you’re a good man, Duke.” I feel him shake his head imperceptibly, so I try again. “I walked into this hotel determined to do something reckless and stupid, and dammit, you saved me from myself.”
Duke manages a smile. “You were a woman on a mission.”
“Yeah, I can be stubborn when I want to be,” I admit, taking hold of his hand. “I’d fought hard to bring stability into my life only to discover the man I married thought I’dput up with his misbehavior to keep hold of the illusion of security.”
“I regret not punching him more and more,” Duke mutters.
I thread my fingers through his. “I wanted to create some chaos last night. You’re my chaos, Duke. And I’ve never felt safer.” I roll my hips and my pussy walls clamp around his cock. “Thank you.” His body jerks in response and his next thrust is bone crunching. “For dealing with Cameron.” I hook my leg tight against his ass as his movements build. “For making sure I kept my house.” Flutters travel through my lower abdomen and I swallow a moan. “And for all the orgasms, obviously.”
“You don’t have to thank me,” he says, his harsh exhales warming my face. “It was my pleasure.” Duke untangles his hand from mine and pushes me onto my back. “Do you think you could give me one more?”
“God, yes.”
He hands me my phone. “Time to make one last memory.”
I concentrate as much as I can on starting the voice recorder while tears threaten again. This is the last time.
Duke sets the phone on the bedside table and as he braces himself over me, we fall silent. As we begin to move, I hear the wet sound of his glorious shaft being smothered in my arousal, and the rasp of skin against skin as he pulls out and drives back into me in long, determined strokes. I dig my heels into the mattress and tilt my hips upwards to grind against him. It doesn’t take long for the flames in my belly to ignite.
I roll my lips together and swallow the hum vibrating up from my very core. Duke watches me and smiles.
“Ready to make some noise, Angel?”
My laugh catches in my throat as he drives into me hard. “Duke,” I croak out.
“Not a bad start, but I think I can make you scream louder than that,” he teases.
I grunt with his next thrust. “I know you can.”
I wrap my hands around his neck, my thumbs stroking the side of his head and the scars that broke this man in ways I can’t mend. Regret and longing, together with insatiable need makes my clit pulse and my body thrum. As my jaw clenches, so do my core muscles.
“Fuck, your pussy was made for me,” Duke grinds out as he rails into me with growing urgency. He trails wet kisses down the column of my neck. “You feel so good. Too. Damn. Good.”
My mouth falls open and I’m panting as the pressure builds. I clamp around him every time he drives his cock home. He’s stretching and filling me in a way that’s going to leave me feeling so empty later.
“This is…” I gasp out. This is what? Utter bliss? I’m not sure that does it justice. “This is everything.” He slams into me with a grunt and a zap of raw pleasure shoots up my spine. “You are everything, Duke!” Another thrust, and another spine-tingling jolt. “Everything!”
He nips at my exposed throat as my head tips back. His teeth scrape against my skin as if in warning. He doesn’t want me to feel what I’m feeling. “Don’t ever settle for anyone who isn’t going to make you the center of his universe,” he orders as his thrusts become punishing. “Don’t settle for anything less than complete. Fucking. Adoration.”
With each clash of our bodies, I’m pushed closer and closer to the precipice. My pussy throbs and the pressure in my center builds. As my fingers dig into Duke’s back, I cling onto the cliff edge. I don’t want to let go. I don’t want to let go ofhim.
“Come for me, Angel,” he demands. “And take me with you.”
“I wish…” I reply, but it’s a whisper that gets swept away by the explosion that rocks through my body. “Duke!” I scream, and as I shatter around his cock, a little of my heart shatters too.
Chapter 7
Grace
One Year Later
