by Violet Paige
I felt a lump in my throat. I wasn’t sure if this was a date or psychological torture.
I shouldn’t have been surprised Knight reserved the private dining room. I often held special meetings here if I needed extreme privacy with the combined services of the hotel.
Starring at the man sitting across from me, I felt as if the night was incredibly fragile. As if we could tip the scales towards pain or happiness with very little energy. The tension was only increasing and I didn’t know how to diffuse what buzzed between us.
“So, tell me. Have the tunnels been useful?” he inquired. It was a loaded invasive question.
My eyes popped. “I thought this was a date, not a business meeting.”
He poured our champagne casually. “It is a date. But we have a lot to catch up on. I imagine you’ve been able to put the passageways to use in five years. No?”
I flatted the linen napkin in my lap. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to talk about organization business. I was under the impression the truce was about us.” I stared at him blankly. “If it’s not, I’ll have a driver take me home. Crew can set up a meeting with whomever your assistant is. Not that I’m going to talk about the Vieux Carre in that meeting either.”
He held his hands in the air in a defensive posture. “It’s clear we have a lot to learn about who we are now. I’m sorry.”
I finally exhaled. “I’m sorry I jumped down your throat.”
He grinned. I felt more at ease.
“Why don’t you tell me about Paris?” I suggested. “Not the wineries. Just what did you think about living in France? What was it like? I’ve never been. Tell me all about it.” A safe conversation starter was what we needed.
I listened to Knight’s stories about the coffee shops and the museums. He described his flat. He told me how difficult it was to have his piano shipped. It took weeks. He was having the same problem having it brought back to the States. Neither of us allowed a hint of the memory associated with his baby grand.
He spent weekends in London. I was afraid to ask about the women. I knew they existed. Of course, they existed. It was hard to picture him taking trains to Prague or Florence without some gorgeous brunette on his arm. But he never let it slip. He had taken up polo and had a box at one of the football stadiums. He had immersed himself in European culture, picking up Italian and German. I was impressed. We finished the first bottle of champagne.
“It sounds beautiful,” I mused. “Especially the French countryside. Did you think about moving there and out of the city?”
“You would love it. Champagne for miles.” His sexy smile made me shiver. Or maybe it was the rumble of his voice. “It’s a quiet life for sure. I think the countryside is the perfect place when there is no more of this.” His eyes made a quick scan of the dining room.
“Work?”
He nodded. “The pace. The race to conquer. Yes, once that’s out of your system, then I would move to the French countryside and learn how to make my own champagne.”
I wondered if he was asking me how long it would take to eliminate the drive from my system. Was I capable of not wanting projects like Crescent Towers? He knew the Kennedy that would rather read by the pool. He knew the girl who was looking for a way out. The one desperate for freedom.
How did I make the last five years evaporate? How did I go back to that night at Marguerite’s? How did I convince a naïve a younger me to hop on that plane to Paris and never look back?
Those were my thoughts as I sat inside my empire. An empire I had clawed and fought to build. I surpassed my father’s vision. I had triumphed over Raphael. I survived when markets were volatile and other businesses failed. I adapted and evolved to stay on top. Yet, to have a chance to do it again, would I rather live in the French countryside drinking champagne with a man who made my heart spin?
I heard my phone buzz inside my purse.
“Go ahead,” Knight allowed.
“No. We’re in the middle of a date. Business can wait.”
A few seconds later, the phone buzzed again.
“Someone might need you. I understand. I’ll find the server and order more champagne.”
I nodded. “All right. I’ll be quick. I promise.”
He walked out of the room and dug into my bag for the phone. Renee had sent five texts. Damn it. I held my breath. Maybe I couldn’t change the past five years when I had a chance to choose Knight. But I could choose him for tonight.
I fired off a quick text to Renee without reading any of her messages.
I’ll call you tomorrow. I’m not available now.
I hit send, feeling satisfied. And feeling like I had taken the first step to reclaiming what my life could have been.
21
Knight
I handed the server a hundred-dollar bill. “Deliver the bottle to the suite,” I instructed him. I wanted him to by-pass our table for part two of the date. We had almost finished dinner. Dessert was also going to be served upstairs.
“Yes, sir.” He hurried to the bar for the bucket of champagne.
I was about to enter the dining room when my phone vibrated. It was Seraphina.
“Hi,” I answered. I had a few minutes to give Kennedy.
“Knight, where are you?” She sounded out of breath.
“I’m out. Everything okay?”
“Yes. No. I need to talk to you. Are you at the office? Can I meet you there?” she asked.
“Slow down.” I sat on a velvet bench nearby. “I’m not at the office. Can you tell me now?”
“It’s not something I can tell you over the phone,” she pleaded.
I rubbed the back of my head. “I’m at dinner. You’re going to have to wait until tomorrow.”
“Are you with Kennedy?”
“Why would you ask that?”
“Never mind. Can we meet at the stables tomorrow? After breakfast?”
I had a meeting with Paul first thing but then I was free. “I’ll see you there. Are you okay until then? Are you sure?”
“Yes. Yes. I’m fine. I’ll meet you tomorrow. Enjoy your date.”
I scowled. “I didn’t say I was on a date.”
Seraphina hung up before I could say anything else. I tucked my phone back in my pocket. Kennedy was sitting at the table when I returned. She was looking across the room.
God, I wanted to know what was running through that gorgeous head of hers. She had grown more beautiful in five years than I could have imagined. I wondered if she had chosen the dress and the necklace to fuck with me. I swore it was the same black cocktail dress she had worn when we met. I slid the door closed. She turned.
“Where’s the champagne?” She saw I was empty-handed.
“I have a second surprise for you.”
Her emerald eyes widened. “And what’s that?”
“I sold my apartment when I moved to Paris. I haven’t been back long enough to buy something new. I will soon.”
“Oh? I assumed you’d move into the compound.”
My jaw tightened. “With my mother? No thank you. She can keep the manse.” She wandered the halls after midnight, carrying empty wine glasses, shouting at the servants for refills. She was a drunken banshee.
“I guess she would be a challenging housemate.”
I chuckled. “That’s putting it mildly. Anyway, our date is moving locations.”
“Now are we going to Marguerite’s?”
“No. Trust me. You’ll like this better.”
Kennedy rose from the table. “Should I keep guessing?”
“No, you should not.”
She stepped into my space. “Fine.”
Her lotion was the same citrus scent. It entered my nose, filling me with memories. Fuck. The compulsion to kiss her was strong. I gazed at her pink lips. I repressed the urge and offered her my arm.
“Let’s go.”
Once we were out of the dining room, we turned the corner for the elevator bay. Kennedy kept glancing at me. She expected
an answer. She knew her way around the hotel. This wasn’t a backway to the parking garage. I inserted an antique brass key into the control panel. It clicked softly with the flick of my wrist.
“Upstairs?” She blinked. “Part two is upstairs?”
“What’s the difference between going to the suite and back to my place?”
I thought it was a valid point.
She faltered. “The people in this hotel work for me. I’ve never gone to a room with a guest. That’s a huge difference.”
Did it make me a dick that I was glad to hear that? Somehow it was minimal validation that Kennedy hadn’t been with another man. Absurd conclusion, but I wanted that truth. I wanted her untouched. Unloved. I wanted her free to be mine.
The bell dinged and the doors retracted.
“You can put on an offended act for the staff that you don’t want to go upstairs with me.” I saw the goosebumps on her flesh when I whispered in her ear. “Or you can do what you and I both know you want. Step in the elevator.”
Her eyes flashed to mine. “I don’t take orders from anyone,” she hissed. “I haven’t for a long time. I no longer have to submit.”
My hand curled around her wrist. I pressed my fingers into her tender skin. “You could change that for one night, couldn’t you?” I winked. I thought she was going to slap me, but she wrenched her hand free and marched into the elevator.
“Are you coming?” She eyed me.
Without saying a word, I joined her, turning the key inside the elevator.
I had planned strawberries dipped in chocolate. A second bottle of expensive champagne. I had planned filling the original claw-foot tub with scalding water. Bubbles. Candles. Roses. Pulling out all the stops. But every fucking plan went out the window when we walked in that suite.
The door closed and the world became ours.
Kennedy spun and I took her mouth with a sensuous kiss. Long. Slow. Her mouth opened a quiet moan escaped from here throat. My tongue probed, remembering how her tongue liked to tangle with mine. I pinned her against the wall, savoring the taste of her. The beauty of her. I nipped behind her ear, trailing her throat back to her mouth. The kiss was deeper this time. More punishing. Brutal. But who was the predator and who was the prey?
My fingers dug into her shoulders, rotating her toward the wall. Her palms slapped against the hand-painted wallpaper as I began to drag her dress to her hips. Her skin was covered in goosebumps. I grinned. My mouth covered her ear, the side of her neck, the softness of her shoulders.
“Knight,” she rasped.
I felt the heat between us. The undeniable chemistry that always raged when I was near Kennedy. My fingers dug into her exquisite curves. She mewed and I wondered if it was possible to end up on my knees before I even carried her to the bed.
She did things to me. Unspeakable monstrous things. She’d haunted my dreams. Plagued me with promises of what could have been. Another life. A richer life. A complete life with nights that ended in fucking each other senseless.
Tonight, could drown out the mistakes of the past. I would make sure it did. There would be no question tomorrow when we awakened that we had burned something permanent on each other’s souls.
22
Kennedy
Midnight. That was the color of his gaze. I saw deep midnight eyes when I tried to sleep at night. Those lashes. His strong jaw. The way he used to say my name with a growl. Five years of fantasy was unraveling in this moment. Five years of imagining when and how we’d finally be able to fan the ember that smoldered between us. It had never been extinguished. If this wasn’t proof of that, I didn’t know what was.
Knight’s powerful frame held me close to the wall while his hands had free reign of my body.
I turned my head, catching his lips. It was a blistering kiss. Hot. Possessive. I gulped for air when his hand slid between my body and the wall.
His hand flattened against my navel as it made a slow purposeful descent. He took his time, imprinting the memory on my skin. I hissed when he slid farther, prying my heat open. Seeking my clit to torture and please.
My knees quaked, but Knight wrapped his hands to my chest, yanking the cocktail dress out of his way. He wanted access to my entire body. My nipples were bare for his fingers to take, pluck, squeeze. He was possessive and determined.
I reached behind me, running my fingers into his hair, drawing his mouth to the crook where my shoulder met my neck. He sucked my skin. Licked and lavished it.
His finger slipped inside me, followed by another. I whimpered and heard the approval reverberate in his chest. I was soaking wet. But he knew that the instant he touched me. He plunged another finger in my entrance until I felt stretched and filled. My mouth opened to protest, but he covered it with his.
He began pumping inside. Rubbing my nipples. Kissing me. It was as if the first lick of a flame started in my core and began to pour through my limbs. I raged with burning heat. The orgasm blazed while I panted and begged. I didn’t know what I was begging for. I didn’t know if I was forming words or only making sounds.
But Knight spun me in his arms and scooped me against his chest. He carried me through the suite into the bedroom. Our eyes met and I wondered if he was thinking the same things I was. Would this erase the pain? Would this be the start of something new? Or was this just tonight?
He lowered me to the bed. He worked the zipper on the side of the dress and peeled it off my body.
“Much better.” He grinned, admiring my body. He continued to undress me until I was practically panting.
“What about you?” I teased.
“You want to play? That’s fine. But me first.”
I wanted to touch him. To see his clothes hit the floor in a pile. I didn’t want anything between us any longer. We’d come close before, but this was a new chapter. A new beginning for our bodies. I reached for him, ready to snap every button on his shirt with a click of my fingers but he knelt before me. Knight Fucking Corban dropped to his knees.
The hunger in his eyes. Oh my God. I gasped, taking in the full scope of what he was about to offer me. Did I need five breaths? Ten? How did I prepare for what was about to happen?
His palm flattened on my stomach. I watched every move. Every touch. I trembled.
“Shh.” His eyes had turned darker than coal. They never left mine as his head began to dip. Lower. One kiss on the inside of my thigh. He dipped lower. Another kiss. Our contact didn’t break until the first lash of his tongue.
“Oh shit.” My head reeled back. My eyes closed and I lost the battle.
His tongue was nothing short of greedy. Dragging back and forth, lapping, sucking. I arched into his mouth, demanding my own reward. He grunted bursts of satisfaction.
I clawed at the bed. Thrashed trying to find gravity. I loved where his mouth was. Right where I wanted it. Fucking my entrance, claiming it with a cascade of kisses.
I was falling into an abyss. Knight’s eyes. His mouth. His fingers canvassing my body with strokes of heat. I wanted to swim in it as long as the waves would carry me. And they didn’t disappoint. One slow roll after another, crashing and crashing. My body hummed and sang until I was a heap of panting exhaustion.
I dared to open my eyes as he rose from the floor. He unbuckled his dress pants and they fell to the floor. I watched in awe as his clothes fell away and I finally was able to take in all of him. More than a glimpse of a sculpted bicep, or the ridges of his abs. He revealed he had snagged condom from his pocket. Alright, he was prepared at least.
He climbed on the bed, one knee at a time, crawling toward me as I felt my mouth go dry at the sight of him. All of him. Holy hell. His cock sprang toward me. I’d felt the smooth length of him in my palm once. But never did I imagine his full cock was this powerful. This damn intimidating.
“You okay?” He waggled his eyebrows, inching closer.
I nodded, wanting to feel the weight of his body pressed into mine. Needing his skin to sear mine. I wanted the fri
ction and the sweat. I wanted to wake up smelling like him and still feel the bruises from our bodies rubbing together.
The masculine scent rolled off him. He crushed my mouth. It was a kiss that tasted like sex and champagne. I moaned when he urged my legs wider. I clawed at his shoulders. Big strong arms that I’d wanted in my bed, now they were like pillars of muscle anchoring me to the mattress. I needed them now to brace for what was undoubtedly the most anticipated sexual experience of my life.
“Five years.” He broke away, licking my throat.
I moaned, arching my back, offering myself to him. He nudged himself at my entrance. I sighed before the blistering friction began. He gave me seconds to adjust to his width. To recover from his massive shaft. It wasn’t possible. Knight’s cock was the stuff dreams were made of.
“Five years I’ve waited to do this,” he growled as he thrust inside me. He filled me, stretching, taking possession, claiming me as his. It felt fucking incredible. The fullness of him made me lose my breath.
Our eyes locked as the thrusts began slow at first, then changed pace. My hips ground to meet his. The frenzy built. Our mouths crashed together. Our tongues lashed as Knight pumped in and out of me. The speed changed. Long slow movements as he sank deeper.
I whimpered at the intensity. I clung to him.
He cupped my breast as another kiss made my head spin. His hand canvassed my body until he was able to create a wedge enough to rake his fingers over my clit. The strokes rattled me. Broke me.
Bursts of noise sputtered from my throat. I came apart in his arms.
“Fuck,” he grunted, giving in to his orgasm to match mine. “You’re mine, Kennedy,” he groaned in my ear.
I nodded. I would have agreed with anything, but that sentiment had always been true. I was Knight’s a long time before he ever took me to bed.
“Say it,” he growled.
“I’m yours,” I whispered. “Yours.”
The climax swept through me. My veins were coated in glitter. My skin was dewey. My lips were swollen.