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 bodycondress 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 chanceDuke 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 uskitten, 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.”
