Page 228 of The Grand Duel
But I get it.
I’ve always tried to get it. It’s why I’ve always tried to lead with no judgement and then tried to help.
Tonight, I felt it.
I knew I had strong feelings for Lissie, but the uncontrollable rage I felt when she told me what they’d done to her wasn’t something I’d ever felt in my life.
The idea she was ever alone with no one to fend for her, no one having her back or standing up to say it’s wrong, makes no sense to me. It makes me furious. This woman, who very clearly gives without asking for a thing in return, being treated like her existence doesn’t matter.
I can’t comprehend it.
I switch off the shower and wrap a towel around my hips. I make my way downstairs, hating the idea that she could wake up and feel alone. I wasn’t thinking earlier when I left, but the one thing this woman hates is not knowing where I am. It’s why she panicked on the plane that morning, and it’s why I knew I needed to set up the calendar.
Which all makes sense now having learned her past.
She’s lay on her side, the fire the only light in the room, setting a soft glow across her face.
I pull back the covers, needing to hold her, to feel her, desperate to show her how important her existence in this world is to me.
Lissie
The feel of a hand smoothing over my hip and up under my hoodie rouses me from a deep sleep. I roll over onto my back, my eyes softly drifting open, but before I can catch a look at the man,at his body that stretches out above me, his lips dip down to take mine in a feather-light kiss.
“I’m catching up,” he whispers, his heavy eyes easing open as mine do.
I frown. “Charles?”
I reach for him, my hand running through his hair.
It’s wet.
He twists his head, kissing my palm and down my exposed arm where the sleeve of my hoodie has dropped. “You’ve showered,” I say, my body fighting against my mind as I try to wake up. “What’s?—”
“I need you.” He dips back down and takes my lips, his hands roaming from my hips to my waist and back down to my thighs. “I need you, Lis. More than I’ve ever needed anything in my life. More than I’ll ever need anything else.” His lips dust mine, his body hard and perfect above me. “You, baby. I caught up.”
He caught up?
“You run, I run.”
My heart flares in my chest, but I don’t get a chance to fully acknowledge it because my hoodie is lifted from my body. I sit up slightly, helping him. His lips meet mine again the minute it’s free of my head.
I reach out my hands, smoothing them up his long, muscled back, and it’s then that I find that he’s naked.
I fall back to the mattress with him, our mouths one, the soft whimpers mine.
His hands roam from my face to my shoulders, over my breasts, past my ribs and waist, down my stomach, and then hook into my leggings and underwear. He drags them down my legs as I suck on his bottom lip, dragging and pulling at it.
He comes back to me twice as hungry, frustratingly gentle.
An ache grows between my legs, and it’s when I think he’s about to dip his hand between my thighs as he pulls back,his eyes heavy and filled with a desire I’ve never witnessed before, that his hand comes up and palms my cheek, his thumb brushing so gently over my lips it tickles, his eyes lost. Lost on me. The act is so intimate, so perfect, tears burn in my eyes.
I smile through them, lifting my head off the mattress to kiss him. “You can touch me, Charlie,” I whisper.
His head drops to mine, our bodies becoming one under the covers as he lowers on top of me.
“Anything,” I pant.
His shaky breath fans across my lips, his eyes never leaving mine. “Anything, baby.”