Page 207 of The Grand Duel
He sighs. “I know that, and they did. But I was angry. I felt enraged, like nothing I’d ever felt before, and it was taken by my friends completely. I love them for it, for the pedestal they all put me on, but…”
A tear slips down my cheek, catching me off guard, and I wipe it away. “You never had the opportunity to let it out. What with the death of Phoebe, and what that awful excuse of a human being did to her, you didn’t get to let out what that did to you.”
He looks across at me. “Come here.”
I smooth my hand over Daisy and stand, slipping into the side of the hammock when he makes room for me.
“I’m sorry, Lissie. I shouldn’t put something so heavy on you. It’s my burden to carry, nobody else’s.”
“Don’t be sorry,” I say, nestling under his arm with my head on his chest. “I’m glad you told me.”
That you trust me.
“I’m lucky to have them. I just wish Lance would let us be there for him like he’s always been there for us.”
I nod in understanding, appreciating the silence and the man lay beneath me.
“You do save them, you know,” I say after a while. “Your family and friends.”
“You think so?”
“I know. I see your schedule. Between Scarlet, Ave, Mason, and Elliot—and helping Nina with picking up Ellis. Visiting Lance. The way you check in with your mum and dad, too. And that’s just the things you write in your diary. You don’t stop, Charlie.”
He reaches out and brushes my nose with his finger. “I’m stopped right now.”
I prop my chin up on my hand, narrowing my eyes on him. “Are you?”
“I guess I am working hard to make you fall in love with me.”
I chuckle. “Is that what this is? Wine and dine her and tell her about all the things?”
His smile is wide. “Is it working?”
I shake my head at him as my cheeks flame. “Don’t ask me that.”
“Don’t look at me like that.”
I purse my lips as he shifts, feeling his body heating under my own. I roll over him, lying between his legs. When I feel his cock hardening against my belly, I dip my head and laugh.
He takes my chin and lifts my eyes back to his. “You’re mean, Lissie girl.”
“I’m mean if I don’t do anything about it,” I tease, keeping my eyes locked with his.
His throat works on a swallow.
“Can I?” I ask, my heart thumping. I reposition myself so I’m straddling him, and then palm his growing erection through his jeans.
My eyes close at the feel of him. The size. The memory.
“Talk to me,” he pleads.
I look down at him. “Tell me I can touch you.”
He nods, his hips pressing into my hand as I rub over the length of him. “I need you to touch me.”
My fingers work open the buttons on his jeans, the material tighter with the way he’s lying in the hammock and the size of his growing cock. He lifts his hips, helping me drag them down his thighs, letting himself free.
With my cheeks feeling like they’re on fire, I take his cock in my hand, the silky skin so soft compared to the hardness beneath.