Page 26 of The Grand Duel

Instead, I’m standing here waiting and feeling like an immature fool for not having the balls to look the man in the eye before I let him into my knickers. I chose the blindfold because I thought it would help calm my nerves and see me through this, but I think it’s doing the opposite.

My eyes drift closed.

What am I doing?

I wait for him.

I wait for a good while.

And when I’m not sure how much time has passed, or if this “cop boy” is even going to show, I twist my head to look at the door I walked in through, considering how disappointed Bronwyn would be if I didn’t go through with it and changed my mind.

Did he hear I was new and leave?

Or is he with someone else? Already in the next room, peeling off another woman’s underwear.

This is embarrassing.

My heart starts to pound. I shouldn’t?—

I hear the handle rattle and instinctively reach for the blindfold, slipping it down and into place.

The next ten seconds of my life are spent simply trying to breathe. My limbs feel foreign to me, the urge to lift my arm and cover my body almost winning out.

I swallow thickly as the door latches closed, breathing deeply in through my nose and slowly, delicately, so that he might not notice, blowing it out through my mouth.

His presence in the room is heavy. Suffocating. And I know his eyes are on me, a primal knowing deep down in my abdomen telling me so.

“Hello,” he rasps.

A shiver snakes down the length of my spine.

“Hi,” I reply with a frown, wondering how a simple hello can mean so many different things.I’m here. You’re beautiful. Don’t be nervous.And how I can forget such a sound, a tone, within an instant.

“You…you came.” I mentally scold myself for sounding so weak and surprised by that fact.

Why did I even say that?

I hear him stepping closer. “You didn’t think I would come?”

Be coherent. Be. Coherent. “I wasn’t sure after I requested that you…” I trail off, heat blistering across my chest.

I try not to fidget. To stand still. I must look so stupid.

“Jovie, isn’t it?” he asks, voice sure.

No. God, Jovie would die laughing if she could see me right now.

I nod.

“May I touch you, Jovie?”

My body stills.

Just like that: May I touch you.

You can do this, Lissie. It’s what you need.

I clear my throat and smooth my palms across my outer thighs. “Yes. You may touch me.”