The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 6

SIX

Lissie

T he chaos that has followed me for the past hour slips away the second the door clicks shut behind me, Christian and Iona’s noise ceasing to exist. The room is still, calm, only the very faint whispers of the club’s music playing as it evades the soundproofing, reminding me I’m not as far away from everything as I feel.

I’ve been inside the private rooms before. Twice, actually. Both times at the end of a shift to collect empty glasses.

This room is one of the smaller of the four with a dark green, almost black bench seat that has a padded back which stretches up to the ceiling, and an oversized oval-shaped bed covered in deep, rich emerald sheets.

I peel off my robe and roll my glossed lips together, wondering if maybe it was a stupid idea to request the cop guy come to the room. I’ve watched Christian and Iona spend time out on the main floors all week, socialising, flirting a little, before being asked to go to a room.

I love watching them work.

The way it makes me feel to watch them interact with the members, the unknown and excitement as they disappear for an evening with them after.

It’s always felt powerful.

Sexy.

What if that’s exactly what I needed to calm these nerves? Not to get to know the man, but to at least see him first.

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.”

I keep my hands at my sides, forcing them to stay there and not lift them to wrap around my body as I wait for it. What I knew would happen by walking into this room and what I wanted. I’ve wanted this since I went upstairs that first day.

I think I need to see him.

I think I need to see that he’s a man, and someone I’d want, and not…

My thoughts trail off as warmth encases my left palm. His hand lifts mine…shaking it. He’s much closer now. I can feel—smell him, right there. “My name is…Charlie.”

His voice. God, his voice is so deep and dark and…it’s hot.

I can’t help but wonder what his actual name is.

Those thoughts drift away when his thumb brushes over my thumb and up my wrist. “I think, Jovie, it would be a good idea for you to take the lead this evening.”

“Uh.” I can’t speak. I’m so turned on and full of anticipation, I’m stumped.

I’m never stumped.

I always have something to say.

“No,” I eventually manage.

“No?” he says with a hint of confusion lacing the word.

“Unless that’s what you want, of course.” I’m going to lose my job. “Look, I’m sorry. It’s my first night in the rooms and…” I go to talk with my hands but his still weighs heavy in mine. “Oh.” I hold it awkwardly.

He lets it go, and I drop it to my side.

“Should I…I can go get someone else.”

This is a disaster. I reach up to pull the stupid blindfold off.

But he stops me, the touch of his hand on my wrist making my knees buckle.

He takes the place of my hand and straightens the satin covering my eyes. “Unless you do not want to be here, I do not want anyone else.”

“O-oh.” Why am I a stuttering mess?

This isn’t me.

I let out a sigh and stand awkwardly as I collect myself. “If I’m being honest with you, Charlie…I didn’t—or don’t know what to expect from this. I…I really want this.” My face catches fire. “I do. I’ve wanted it since I first watched on the upper levels. I’m…I’m nervous.”

The feel of his eyes on me despite the blindfold is hard to ignore, and I roll my lips, pinching them together as I wait for him to change his mind and leave.

Christian was right to tell Bronwyn no.

I never should have put myself forward.

“Would you prefer to know?” he eventually asks. “Do you need to know my intentions?”

His voice is all I have, and I marry it, letting it hold me up when everything around me threatens to give out.

I shake my head. “Your intentions aren’t my concern. Your expectations…” I nod. “Those matter to me.”

“Why do my expectations matter to you?” He says it as if the thought of it bothers him.

I frown. “Because this is my job.”

He’s silent for a moment, and I wonder if the reminder of the club, the transaction at the end of this, is a turn-off.

But then the soft pads of fingertips flutter over my jaw, and I feel his body move in close as he twists my face away. “In that case, I have only one expectation for you to manage tonight.”

“O-okay.” I let out a heavy rush of air from my lungs, regardless of the fact he’ll catch it. “What is it?”

He inches closer, his mouth at my ear now. “When you come for me, toes curled, back arched, legs shaking…” He dusts his nose across my temple, and I shudder. “Sweat beading.” I hear him swallow. “I want you to forget who you are and why you’re here. Just that you are. With me.”

Holy shit.

“Do you think you can you manage that for me?”

I force a nod, although he lost me at the mention of coming for him. He’s still so close I can feel the heat emanating off his body. I want to touch him. I want him and what he’s promised.

I shake my head, contradicting myself. “I don’t think I should take the lead,” I whisper, leaning into his body, the smell of him intoxicating.

He groans, his lips tickling my ear. “Then tell me what you can do.”

My core pulsates as my nerves get consumed by aching hunger. “You’re paying, surely it’s up to you?”

I think he shakes his head. “I know my limits.” His thumb dusts my jaw. “Do we need to find yours?”

I can hardly breathe. I need him to touch me. “I’m not a virgin or anything,” I say, breathless and without thought. “I have lots of experience.”

There’s a pause, and I frown. Shit . I beg the ground to swallow me up whole.

But then he chuckles deep into my neck, lips dragging. “Then maybe you can teach me.”

I blow out a breath, shaking my head. “You can do whatever you want to me.”

He stills, and then I hear him swallow. A moment later and his mouth is at my ear again, soft plump lips moving over the shell. “How many more rules are you planning to have me break tonight?”

“Rules?” I read the contract over. I remember everything for the most part.

“My rules,” he corrects. “I’m going to touch you.”

The back of his finger dusts over the swell of my breast, and my lips part.

“You can do whatever you want to me, too, Jovie,” he rasps, and I can’t help but think he’s teasing me. I frown at the name as he tests the words, wishing I picked something else. “In fact—” His fingers catch in mine, and he lifts my hand to place it on a wall of hard muscle. His chest. “Why don’t you put us on a little more even of ground?”

He’s wearing a suit, I can feel the buttons, a waistcoat. Who wears a full suit to a club like this?

Wait…a policeman in a waistcoat?

I smooth my hand up until I reach his collar and then down his arm, sizing him up.

He lets out a weighted breath, the need in it sweeping over my face to torment the strands at my hairline.

I shiver.

He’s got me right where he wants me. I’m a puddle for him, and I’m not even trying to hide it.

With my hand on his arm, the warmth radiating off him, I pause and wait. “Anything?” I mutter.

Nothing. He says nothing for the longest time.

“You said I could do anything I wanted to you, too,” I explain.

“I did.” He’s so close, I think he might kiss me.

“You mean anything?” I whisper.

“I was a lot more confident when I said it than I am now you’re questioning me.”

My mouth twitches at that. And the fact he has the balls to be so honest.

“No kissing,” he adds after a beat, but it sounds like he’s zoned out, and I’ve lost him a little, even though my body burns as if it’s being pinned by his gaze. “You cannot kiss me.”

I bite back my smile and let it tease him as I slip my hand into his jacket, smoothing over the soft fabric and hard muscle beneath. His heart thuds like a racehorse. “Because we’re saving those for the wife?”

He sniggers, chest expanding under my touch. “Fuck.” What I can only guess is his thumb settles on my bottom lip and drags down. “No, darling, I’m not. It’s just that I can find far more satisfying uses for our mouths tonight. Would you like me to show you?”

I shake my head, feeling a little bit of me snap back into place. “No…” I bite down on my bottom lip, chasing his touch with a pull of my teeth before releasing it. “I want you to strip for me.”