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Suddenly feeling as sober as a judge, my shocked stare turns to Clark. He has no idea he’s stepping into things that he shouldn’t. Clark, my warm wonderful friend, is trying to infuse this marriage with something that doesn’t exist. As do the others, he thinks we’re in love. A sudden weight on my chest makes me wish that my life was different, that I could truly hate my now husband, that I didn’t still want him. After what we shared last night, the golden chains he’s wrapped around my heart are only tightening until I fear they’ll strangle my will to fight him.
“Oh, no, Linc is busy. I’ll just head upstairs for a bath and an early night.”
Clark tilts his head at me and then Linc, and I follow his gaze to the man who hasn’t taken his eyes off me once since we walked into the room.
“No, Clark is right. We should go to the club. I want you to meet my friends and we can have some fun.”
“Really?”
Linc moves closer again and slides his arm around my waist, pulling me close and looking to all the world as if he can’t keep himself from touching me. I know it’s only because Clark and Gaspard are here but that doesn’t stop my breath from catching in my throat when he lowers his head and takes my mouth in another mind-numbing kiss. When he lifts his head, his eyes are dark with desire, mirroring the way I feel.
“Wonderful, you should wear that white dress we bought today with those gold sandals.”
Linc is still holding me, his fingers caressing the slope of my back and I want to purr like a kitten from his touch.
“How long do you need to get ready?”
“Oh, um, twenty minutes.”
“Nonsense. Give her an hour, Lincoln. You can have a drink with us while she goes and beautifies herself some more.”
Linc’s eyes on my lips make me swallow remembering the feel of them on other parts of my body. “Does an hour work for you?”
“Yes, that’s fine.”
An intensity is building between us, stealing the air from the room and nobody but me and Linc are party to it.
“Come on, neanderthal, let her go. You can ravish her later when my eyes don’t have to watch.”
Linc tears his gaze from me and gives his brother a withering look. “Why are you still here, Clark?”
“I need to talk to you about a call Mom received from Father today.”
It’s infinitesimal but I feel Linc tense ever so slightly at the mention of his father. There was never any love lost between them and it seems that hasn’t changed.
“Go, upstairs and get yourself ready, Lottie. Take as long as you need. I’ll wait for you.”
As Linc drops a final quick kiss on my lips, I nod and he releases me. As I rush to our room, only stopping to grab some of the bags of clothes, I wonder at his words.
“I’ll wait for you.”
A deep recessed part of me wishes he meant those words, that he wanted me so badly he’d wait forever but I know he doesn’t. Linc doesn’t love me, he never did. While I was whispering my heart’s desire and giving him all my dreams, he was giving me nothing but lies. That doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy the time I have with him now and take the pleasure he offers so freely with no demands from me. Sex with Linc is nothing like I imagined, it’s raw and brutal, dirty and base, and I love it. I crave it now I’ve had a taste and I want to grab onto it and treasure it because all too soon it will be gone and I’ll go back to my lonely existence. All I have to do is keep him from taking what is left of my heart. I can do that, can’t I?
17: Linc
The conversationwith Clark had gone much as I expected.He hated our father as much as I did and was happy for me to be taking my rightful place as CEO of Kennedy Enterprises. The lecture about giving my wife more attention hadn’t gone so well. I got that he was trying in his own way to help, but I wouldn’t tolerate him micro-managing my marriage for me.
Thankfully, Gaspard had stepped in and reminded Clark that he was overstepping before I had to, and he’d done it in a much nicer way. I liked him for Clark, he balanced my brother’s over-excitable side with a mature calm.
Tossing back the whiskey I’d poured, I turned at the sound from the top of the stairs and the air left my lungs. Lottie was standing at the top in a short white dress that cut to the middle of her toned creamy thighs. It clung to her every curve, hugging her hips and stomach before molding over the lush mounds of her breasts. My hands itched to touch her as I stared, struck still by her beauty.
She descended like a queen, head high, shoulders back, her long lush hair hanging down her back in thick waves. I had the overwhelming sense of pride that she was mine, no matter how temporary, and it struck me again the desperation I felt to keep her in my life by any means necessary. But the sharp claws of fear of letting her see the power she had over me dug in, embedding themselves in my chest.
I almost hadn’t survived losing my heart to the girl she’d once been, I’d never survive losing it to the woman she was now. So, I reined my emotions into check, pushing aside the pride I felt, the tenderness she conjured in me, and shoved it into a vault. I’d win her heart and keep mine safe, I just needed to be clever about it.
“You look stunning.”
The blush that crept along her cheeks made my cock thicken and harden in my pants. Knowing how she looked spread out on my bed, her skin the same blush pink after the fourth climax I’d wrung from her body left her spent, played on a loop in my brain.
