The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 19

NINETEEN

Charlie

“ A nd you didn’t think to invite us?”

I lounge with my head laid back against the sofa in my best friend’s office. “It was a last-minute thing. And when I checked the booking and saw that it was some brand-new wellness resort hotel, I?—”

Elliot snorts a laugh.

“Fuck you,” I tell him, lifting my head and pinning him with a glare.

“Since when did you start booking wellness breaks?” Mason asks, his own smile growing.

I shake my head and rest it back again. “I didn’t book it.”

“It’s the girl.”

“Lissie,” I correct.

“Tell me she’s going with you? It’s the only plausible explanation for not making it all about the three of us.”

“You act like you don’t hang out the back of your fiancée’s ass, Montgomery,” Mason quips. “As if you’d go away without her.”

“Because you’d go away without Nina,” Elliot replies sarcastically.

“You’re right, I absolutely wouldn’t.”

“She isn’t going with me,” I interject. “They think I need the short break and so are sending me alone. I’ll be back Thursday morning. Lissie will be working out of the head office for a couple days.”

With the feeling that they’re giving me a look or sharing one between themselves, I lift my head. “What?”

“You’re sending her to the head office?” Mason asks.

“Yes. She’ll be working from my office.”

Their brows rise, and I roll my eyes.

“Will you both stop doing that and fucking speak?”

“She’ll be working with Arthur, Ollie, and Will,” Elliot tells me.

“What does that matter?”

“It matters.” He frowns. “Arthur’s a bastard for a brunette. Remember when he swung for me freshers week? All because that pretty vet girl would rather talk to me.”

“No.” Mason frowns. “That wasn’t how it went. You spilt your drink on him that night,” he corrects.

“I didn’t.”

“You did . You just weren’t aware because you couldn’t sniff a pint without needing to be put to bed back then.”

“You nasty bastard,” Elliot says, sounding wounded.

I shake my head at them both. “It’s one night. Two days. Lissie will be fine. She’s more than capable of holding her own in the office. Trust me.”

Truth is, it’s them who should be terrified.

“She could work from here?” Elliot suggests. “We’d take good care of her.”

“I’d rather leave her in the lion’s den at the zoo.”

“Is that not what you’re doing by sending her to the offices? Did you hear about Ollie and his missus breaking up?”

“What?”

Elliot nods at me. “Couple weeks ago now. Lucy heard about it from someone in the shop.”

Ollie Francis is one of my best advisers. He’s also a good few years younger and a good-looking fucker.

“I’m just saying, Lissie is more than welcome here with us.”

“No.” It’s one day, for fuck’s sake. I run my hand through my hair. “Drop it.”

“What time do you leave?” Mason asks.

“First thing.” I need to pack when I get home, but I still need to make it out to visit Lance today, and knowing that Lissie has a shift tonight means I’m unlikely to get a thing done until the club closes.

Been that way for weeks now.

I was being an irrational prick the day I paid Bronwyn to keep her out of the rooms, but right now, with the headache I have forming above my eyebrows at the mere thought of her in those rooms, it was worth every penny.

I’d pay it twice over every day for the rest of my life if it meant I didn’t have to worry about her sleeping with any man that isn’t me ever again.

“Ollie fucking Francis,” I mumble under my breath.

“You alright over there, Aldridge?”

“I’m fine,” I grate out.

Fuckers know more than I’d like.

“Have you ever been this transparent?” Elliot muses.

“I don’t think he has.” Mason grins.

“You should tell her, mate,” Elliot says. “If you like her, tell her.”

I stare at his stupid blond head. “Who?” I try, but they start laughing. I run my tongue over my teeth and stare out at the city beyond the glass.

“I heard Ollie had three women in one night on his ski trip. He’s really enjoying newly single life.”

“ Three ? I heard it was four,” Mason corrects.

Elliot grins as he shrugs. “What goes on tour…”

I ignore them.

Ignore her, too, as she reappears in my mind’s eye, brown eyes bright and shining, young, beautiful.

Fuck .

“Probably a good thing he got it out of his system given how gorgeous that assistant of yours is. Right, Aldridge?”

“I’ll fucking castrate the both of you right here and now.”

They continue to laugh at me.

“We’re fucking with you. There’s no one else to wind up now that Sullivan’s gone.”

My stomach seems to unknot. “So, they’ve not broken up?”

“Oh no, that part is legit.”

I drop my head back a final time, done with the day.

I hear Elliot still laughing as he ups and leaves the room.

“Lissie’s right, mate,” Mason says across the coffee table. “You need a break.”

When I arrive back at Charles Aldridge, I find Lissie is in my office, files spread out on the coffee table as she sits crossed-legged on the sofa reading them.

Both dogs are lay out beside her.

“Apologies, Mr Aldridge, we seem to all like your office more.”

I can’t escape her. If she’s not rattling around in my head, she’s in my office.

“It’s fine.”

She forces her eyes up from whatever she’s reading, dropping them back down again with a smile once she catches the look on my face. “If you’re going to moan at me for being in here or about going away, save it. Edna decided we’ll be reflooring the entire reception, front offices, and the girls’ playroom. She’s started on emptying my office already.”

“I said it was fine.”

Her lips twist, but she doesn’t look up. “Good. I promise you won’t even know I’m here.”

“I highly doubt that,” I mutter, sinking down in my chair.

“Ed took me to lunch at the head office today to show me around. Everyone seems really lovely.”

I look up from behind my desk. “You went already?”

Her attention is a million miles from me, and I hate it.

“We wanted to save you a job, and Edna swore she’d be a better tour guide than you,” she teases.

I rub at the back of my neck, the tension that formed there whilst visiting my friends still lingering, tightening. “Who did you meet?”

“Who did I meet?” she repeats on a yawn as if it doesn’t matter.

It does. “Yes. At the head office. Who did Edna introduce you to?” I say, a little snappy.

She looks up at me, frowning. “Um, Paul? I think. Ollie and Will.” I watch as she racks her brain. “Arthur. He’s a talker, isn’t he?” She laughs, and I wonder if trashing my entire office would feel as good as I think it would right now. “Are you okay, Charles?” she asks, unfolding herself from the sofa and standing. “You seem?—”

“I said I’m fine, didn’t I?” I snap again, standing and leaving the room before she can come any closer.

As luck would have it, I run straight into Edna. “Hello, darling. Did you catch Lissie?”

I rub my hand over my forehead. “I did.”

“Isn’t she just settling in perfectly? I knew she’d be great for you and this place.”

“For me? What’s that supposed to mean?”

She frowns, as if the statement didn’t hold as much weight as I let it hit me with. “Just that she’s making positive changes around the place that inevitably will benefit you. Never mind that, though. What’s wrong?”

“What’s wrong is that everyone keeps asking what’s wrong.”

“Noted. Why don’t I have Lissie move into my office for the afternoon instead. Or she could even head over to HQ earlier and get set up there for morning?—”

“No.” I sigh, hating that idea even more. “She can use my office for as long as she needs. It’s not a problem.”

She looks up at me and shakes her head. “You’re far too hard on yourself sometimes.”

I pass her and head for the break room, making myself and Edna a coffee and Lissie a cup of tea.

I place it down in front of her on the coffee table and walk to my desk. “Thank you, Charles,” she sings, seemingly forgetting my shitty behaviour before.

The simple fact is I’m jealous. It’s why I paid off Bronwyn, and it’s why I’ve let my best friends get inside my head. Ollie isn’t harmless, but he’s a professional. One of the best I know.

Only thing is, Lissie isn’t like anyone I know. I’m not sure what it is that makes her any different to any other woman, but the way I feel when the woman fucking smiles at me. Frowns at me, even. It’s not right. It’s definitely not healthy.

I’ve no idea what the fuck she did to me in that private room, but I’m not the same man I was when I went in.

“Charles,” she says softly to get my attention.

Although I was already watching her and knew it was coming. “Hmm,” I reply, waiting to see if she will look at me. “I take my tea with two sugars.” I snap my gaze down when she lifts her head. “Just for future reference.” I nod, waiting for her attention to fall back to the papers in front of her before I let my smile turn up my lips.

I add it to the list.

When Edna walks in at five, I hold up my hand to tell her to be quiet. Lissie fell asleep at around half past three, and I haven’t had the heart to wake her.

“She’s knackered,” she says, watching down on her curled-up form. “Do you think it’s too much? The hours I gave her here on top of the club? We made it too appealing with the pay, and I don’t think she could turn it down.”

“Maybe,” I say, feigning nonchalance when I’m anything but. I’ve been wondering the exact same thing all afternoon. “Are you heading off?”

“I am. I came to wish you a fabulous two days away and to soak it all up. You’re going and can’t change your mind now, so embrace it.”

“Thank you, Ed. I’ll do my best.”

“Everything will be fine here. You know I can run this place with my eyes closed and a hand behind my back, and I have Lissie now.”

My heart warms at that. “I do. I’d be lost without you, Ed.”

“I know,” she agrees without missing a beat. “Tell Lissie I said goodbye and that if she needs anything tomorrow to just call. I’ll be around.”

Once Edna leaves, I work for another hour before standing and walking to where Lissie still sleeps on my sofa.

She’d be mortified to know that I’ve left her to sleep. Worse yet, if she knew I’d been watching her.

Edna is right. She is knackered. Not that Lissie would ever admit that to anyone. She’s working here, and at home on cases, and then at the club.

She’s doing too much, and I don’t quite know why I care for the fact.

I do, though. Couldn’t stop even if I wanted to.

I lean down and tap her shoulder. “Lissie.”

She lets out a soft moan, and I clench my jaw.

“Lissie,” I say again, and her brown eyes flutter open.

She bolts upright, making the dogs leap from the sofa. “I fell asleep. Oh my god, what time is it?”

“It’s getting late. Let me drive you home.”

“Late?” She frowns. “I’m so sorry. I closed my eyes for just a second.” She shakes her head, a little disoriented. “What time is it?”

“Six thirty.”

“ What? Oh my god.” She stands, swaying. “I’m so sorry. I don’t?—”

I gently take hold of her upper arms. “Hey.” I level with her, smoothing my thumbs over her suit jacket. Cream, of course. “It’s okay.”

Her eyes search mine. “I have a shift. I start at eight.”

“I can get you there.”

She lets out a rush of air, her body relaxing as her panic ebbs away. “I’m so sorry, Charles. I’m mortified. I’ll stay later one day this week, or you can take it out of my pay.”

“There’s no reality in which either of those two things would ever happen.”

She scrubs at her face. “I can’t believe I fell asleep. You should have woken me up. Tossed a pen at me or something.”

“I didn’t want to take my chances.” I give her a wink. “You’re known to be a bit of a diva.”

Her lips twist as she peers up at me. She pushes against my chest, and I still feel her touch there long after she removes her hand.

“I’ll get my things together as quickly as I can. Are you sure you don’t mind driving me home? I have a load of things to take with me to HQ tomorrow.”

Right, that. “Sure. I’ll take the dogs out and meet you around the front.”

Lissie still looks a little sleepy when she climbs into my car, her face paler than normal and her hair not completely tamed.

I can’t help but like seeing the softer, more vulnerable side to her.

“I’m so sorry, Charles.”

“Stop apologising, or I’ll kick you out and make you get the tube.”

She smiles and settles in the seat. “I don’t think I’ve ever done anything so unprofessional.”

“I’m not sure I believe that,” I tell her, trying to keep the conversation light to smother her guilt.

“No, I think falling asleep in my employer’s office for well over an hour is definitely at number one.”

“It was well over two,” I correct.

“Oh god.” She drops her head into her hands.

“Forget about it. What’s your plans whilst I’m away?” I side-eye her. “Not sleeping within work hours, I hope,” I add playfully.

She chuckles. “No. I won’t have the dogs. It’s their fault, you know. They’re too cute and warm.”

“You’re going to blame the pups? That’s low.”

She seems to come back to life a little. “Well, without you around cracking the whip, I won’t be working late and getting myself into compromising situations. I actually have a date.”

My stomach drops. “You do?”

“Yes, I do. Why sound so shocked?”

“I’m not shocked.”

“You sounded shocked. You said, you do ?” she mimics me, giving it a little more than what’s fair. “As if it’s wildly out of your comprehension for me to have a date.”

“Well, she’s awake.”

“Uh-huh.”

“Who is he?” I ask.

“I don’t know yet. I matched with someone on the site I signed up to last night, and he asked if I wanted to go for a drink.”

“You’d go alone?”

I can tell she’s frowning without needing to look at her. I do anyway.

“No, I’m going to take my mum with me.”

I pop a brow and focus on the road. “Don’t be smart. You don’t know him.”

“That’s normally how first dates go. I forget you’re celibate.”

“I’m not celibate.”

“I don’t even want to know the logistics of how that works.”

No, you really don’t. I swallow down the guilt rising in my throat. “Where are you meeting him?”

“We haven’t decided yet. I still feel kind of bad that I lied about my name. I didn’t think I’d actually get matches or entertain them if I did. And now I’m going to meet up with him and what, tell him my last name isn’t Aldridge, and I don’t want to talk about what it really is. I sound like a catfish.”

Lissie Aldridge.

My heart jolts, and I tighten my hands on the steering wheel. “Then why are you meeting up with him?”

When I look down at her, I catch her watching me, her cheeks pinking. “London can be a lonely place sometimes. It can’t just be me forever.” I lose her eyes and hate it. “I don’t think I’m very good at it.”

“Being on your own?”

She nods.

“I don’t believe that.”

She gives me a doubtful look. “No?”

“You seem to be doing fine on your own to me. You hold down two jobs. You’re good at them. You live alone in one of the most cutthroat cities in the world.” She contemplates my words. “You are happy—or you bring happy.”

“I bring happy?” Confusion laces her words.

Probably because I’m so fucked, they don’t make sense.

I swallow. “Yeah. In the office. Edna, the dogs, and me.” I shrug, wondering where the fucking full stop in this sentence will be. “We like you enough.”

“Enough,” she repeats, elbowing me across the car. “Well, hopefully Gregor likes me enough.”

“Gregor,” I say, rolling my eyes. “What sort of name is that?”

She doesn’t answer me, but I sense her gaze, and when I look down at her, I find her eyes narrowed on me, her smile teasing.

“What?”

“Charles Aldridge, are you jealous?”

“Jealous?”

“Yes. Jealous.”

“No.”

Her smile splits in two. “You are.”

Fuck . “I’m not.”

“Then why are you so against me going on the date?”

Good question. “Would it not be irresponsible of me to not ensure the woman who carries my name is dating the right man?”

God, I’m done for. Fucked. The idea of going away and leaving her here. In the office. On her date. It’s twisting me up inside.

Two days without her.

“Sure. That’s your concern,” she says, laughing.

That laugh.

“Yeah, come with me,” I say, not realising how abrupt the words are until they’re somewhere in the car between us.

“What?”

“To Italy. Will you come with me?” Jesus Christ . “I need you to come with me to take notes.”

Her eyes widen. “Uh…the talk will be recorded and posted in a couple of weeks’ time. I think it’s a printable presentation with each speaker’s notes available, too?—”

I shake my head. “I don’t want their notes, Lissie. I want your notes.” I look out the window, the tic in my cheek pulsing with the force of my teeth clamping together.

What am I doing?

“You want me to come with you? To Italy.”

“If you’re too busy, then it’s fine.” It’s not. It’s not fine at all actually.

“I’ll come with you, Charles.”

I look towards her, the air caught up in my lungs seeming to disperse. “You will?”

“Of course I will. It’s my job.” She smiles, and I have to remind myself that Earth is a planet in the solar system and not orbiting the seat next to me.

“I have a shift tonight and tomorrow at the club, but if I can get tomorrow off, I’ll be good to assist you. Let me speak to my boss later.”

“It’s an early flight. Can you not get tonight off as well?” I’m an asshole for asking that of her, but there’s no way she can work tonight after all day today and then go straight to Italy at seven a.m. in the morning.

“I need tonight,” she tells me. “I have literally nothing better to do.” She says it with a chuckle that’s meant to hide her sadness. “I promise if I can get tomorrow off, I’ll be on that plane with you in the morning.”