Total pages in book: 75
Estimated words: 78521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78521 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
I hold her, never letting go, until finally she pulls back slightly.
“I have to blow my nose.”
I pull a handkerchief out from my pocket and hand it to her. She blows unceremoniously into it, nearly filling it, and then she crumples it in her fist. She meets my gaze, her face and eyes swollen and red. To me she’s still the most beautiful woman in the world.
“I’m sorry,” she chokes out. “I wanted to make you a wonderful dinner.”
“You did.”
“It doesn’t count if you don’t get to eat it.”
I smile.
I smile simply because I know she loves my smile and it will make her feel better. Perhaps only slightly, but I want to do whatever I can.
“What can I do for you? How can I make this day better for you?”
She sniffles and meets my gaze.
“You can take me to New York.”
Chapter Forty-Six
Even as I hold her, ready to do anything, I know I shouldn’t indulge her.
I also know that I will.
I kiss her tenderly on the lips. “Okay, Skye. You win. We’ll go to New York.”
“When?” she asks.
“Tomorrow. I’ll call and have the jet ready to leave in the morning.”
She smiles. “Thank you. Thank you, Braden.”
“But Skye…”
“What?”
I brush a tear from her cheek. “New York isn’t an escape. The club isn’t an escape.”
“I know that.”
“Do you?”
“Of course.” She sniffles. “I just feel like… I don’t know. I feel like everything will be okay there, you know?”
“I do know, probably more than you even comprehend, but I don’t labor under any delusion that real life ceases to exist in the club.”
I do know.
The club is something I need, as well. But I keep it in New York for a reason—a very solid one.
If I didn’t? I’d use it as an escape.
And it isn’t an escape. It’s for pleasure, and it’s to release a part of myself that many don’t understand.
But true escape doesn’t exist, and Skye needs to understand that.
Right now, though? I’ll do anything—move the fucking earth, if I have to—to help ease her pain.
“Oh!” She jerks upward into a stand.
I rise as well. “What?”
“Chocolate mousse! I made dessert, and it turned out perfectly. I can’t offer you shrimp étouffée, but I can offer you rich and delicious dessert.”
“We haven’t had dinner yet, Skye.”
“So? What’s wrong with dessert first? We can order something to be delivered and have our dessert while we wait.”
I open the refrigerator and pull out the two parfait glasses of chocolate mousse. “Fine. I’ll have Christopher order something for us, and we’ll eat this first, with only one condition.”
“What’s that?”
My cock twitches. “We eat it in the bedroom.”
“Braden…”
I quickly text Christopher to order food for us. Cajun. Then—
“Follow me,” I say, my voice low and dark.
We enter my bedroom, and I close the door. Then I do something I almost never do. I set the two parfait glasses on the night table and strip off all my clothes without having Skye do so first. I don’t stop to think why I’m going against my grain. I just know I want to please her, take away the pain she’s carrying.
She catches her breath.
I turn to her. “Take off your clothes.”
She’s only wearing a dress, shoes, and panties, and she discards them hastily.
I approach her, my cock huge and erect. I cup her cheek. Time for some raw honesty. I can’t keep this bottled inside. I need to share it with her.
“Something broke in me today, Skye.”
She parts her lips and widens her eyes.
“When I saw you so distraught, so sad, so upset, something squeezed my heart. I knew I had to act, had to do whatever necessary to make you smile again.”
She curves her lips upward. “I’m smiling now, Braden.”
She is. And I hope I haven’t made a huge mistake by agreeing to take her back to the club so soon. The thought vanishes, though, when I trail my finger over her lower lip.
“You have such a sexy mouth. Do you have any idea how you affect me?”
“I’m beginning to.”
“I’m not just talking physically. When you part your lips in that seductive way, I want to plunder them. But mentally, Skye. Emotionally. When you were sobbing, I was sobbing too.”
She cocks her head.
“Not physically but emotionally. I hurt when you hurt.” I shake my head. “That’s never happened to me before, at least not to this extent.”
She parts her lips farther.
“You’ve gotten inside me somehow. Yes, I’ve fallen in love with you, but it’s more than that. It’s… Fuck. I don’t have the words. I’m not sure they exist.”
“Braden, I—”
Then my lips are on hers, my tongue inside her mouth, my hand on her bare breast, squeezing, thumbing the nipple. Another hand between her legs, parting the slick folds of her pussy. She wraps her arms around my neck and melts into me, our bodies touching everywhere. My cock pushes into her belly. She grinds into me, thrusting.