The Grand Duel (The Grand Men #4)

Chapter 36

THIRTY-SIX

Lissie

I scroll to the top of the message thread and then read over the text messages Charlie sent to me last night.

Call me when you’re finished tonight. I’ll come and get you.

It will be the early hours of the morning Charles! Go to bed.

I won’t be sleeping tonight

Christian normally drives me home. You don’t need to come out and you’ll only wind up the dogs.

Why can’t you sleep?

I’m unsure, but it one hundred percent has nothing to do with you dripping in water stood in your bathroom.

Are you sure about that?

No

I’m getting flashbacks

Sounds traumatic

Is that what this is? Trauma.

What are your symptoms?

Baby, you don’t want to know

I smile as I pull the phone to my chest, lying in my bed.

I didn’t call Charlie after I finished work this morning but sent a text instead, knowing he needed to catch up on sleep and not wanting to wake him.

He replied almost immediately, though, letting me know that he was, in fact, awake. Then he proceeded to call me three times until I answered.

We stayed on the phone until I was in bed and my eyes would no longer stay open, our conversation mundane, silly, and yet comforting.

Knowing Scott will be here to pick me up soon, I pull back the covers and stretch, my body aching with the inadequate rest it’s had.

I can only imagine how tired Charlie must be feeling. He spent his Sunday morning at the cottage with me, the afternoon with his friends, and then his night and early morning texting and calling me.

I’m not quite sure what’s happening between us, but I don’t want to overthink it, and I don’t want it to stop.

I shower and dry my hair, taking time with my makeup and then even more time going through my clothing rail.

I find one of my more risqué skirts—a soft cream leather-look pencil skirt—and pair it with a white shirt and jacket that matches.

When the car arrives, right on time, I pull open the door and lock eyes with the man who’s not left my mind for the past twenty-four hours.

It’s like I’m sick, and I can’t think of anything worse than taking something that will make me better.

“Morning, Mr Aldridge,” I say, my smile barely there but not for lack of happiness. I’m just not quite sure how loud I’m allowed to be about this man.

He fights his smile, too, his brow furrowing. “Is it not a good morning today, Lis?”

I tilt my head as I look across at him, letting my full smile free at his use of my name. “You tell me, Charlie .”

His eyes drop from my face to my legs, his sigh telling. “I’d say so.”

I cross my legs, knowing it will show a little more thigh than what’s deemed professional. “Well then, good morning.”

He reaches into his bag and pulls out his laptop.

Knowing what I know now—that he has a running list of things all about me, I bite the inside of my cheek to try to hide my smirk.

I should probably tell him.

What could he possibly be writing after that exchange anyway?

We ride in silence the rest of the way to his first meeting of the day, our eyes doing the work our mouths aren’t and probably distracting the both of us from the work we should be doing.

It carries on during our walk into Charles Aldridge HQ, the ride up in the lift thick with a tension that only grows tauter when he shakes his head at me and curses under his breath.

We’re nearing the end of our meeting when I look across the table and find him completely enamoured with me. There’s no subtlety. No effort to hide the way he’s staring at me.

I frown, shaking my head, feeling my cheeks flush.

His brow creases.

I push back from the table. “Excuse me,” I say, standing. “I’ll wait for you outside, Mr Aldridge.”

I widen my eyes at him, telling him to get it together without uttering the words. I’m assuming he takes the hint because he smirks, his eyes tracking me as I round the conference table.

I leave the room and head for the toilets, knowing he’ll be another fifteen minutes or so in the meeting. When I’m done, I head back to the room and find a seat outside.

I’m sat for no more than three minutes when one of the guys that Edna introduced me to walks around the corner. “Miss Elton.”

I cringe internally at my name, forcing a smile. “Ollie, Hi.”

He comes to sit beside me. “It’s good to see you again. We thought maybe you had quit when you never showed up for work after the tour. I’ll have to tell the others you’re still around and that we didn’t scare you off.”

“Oh, no, I ended up taking the days off instead.” A lie. I ended up getting fingered in bed by our boss.

His brows rise, and I wonder if it’s because my face is now on fire from the inappropriate thought.

I’m as bad as Charles.

“Really? That would have been pretty short notice.” He smiles and tips his chin. “What’s your secret?”

I roll my lips, searching for the right words to make the lie believable.

“I think I already know,” he says, his eyes on my mouth. “A pretty face like that has to be near impossible for Mr Aldridge to say no to.”

I smile, hoping the reminder of what Charlie did to me in that hotel room isn’t visible to Ollie now. “Trust me, he knows how to say no and does so. Often,” I add, laughing.

He watches me with a wicked smile on his face. “Is that so?” he says, his gaze glued to me. His eyes slowly drop as he shifts, raking down my body.

He’s flirting with me.

Or trying.

“Do you think you’ll be working from here any time soon? We go to?—”

“No, she won’t be.”

I twist my head up to where Charlie stands in the doorway of the meeting room, his eyes burning as he pins them on Ollie.

“And neither will you if you don’t go and find something else to look at.”

“Aldridge.” He stands, slipping his hands into his pockets. “Sorry. I didn’t realise the seat was reserved.”

I sit and watch the two men. Or Charles. I’m definitely only watching Charles.

I’m pretty sure the man has lost his entire mind today.

“It’s not reserved. I just don’t like to see one of the smartest women I’ve ever had the pleasure of working with reduced to a pretty face. I’d like to think you know better than that, Ollie.”

“Obviously, I was just…”

Charles simply cocks his head at him, and he nods, heading down the corridor.

I bite my lip as I stare up at the man in the doorway, his face hard as he stares off in the direction Ollie went.

When he finally looks down at me, he says nothing before walking to the elevator at the other end of the floor.

With the heat of a thousand wildfires burning at my feet, I follow him.

When we exit out of headquarters five minutes later, the pavement bustling with people, he stops amidst it all and looks across at me, his eyes continuing a conversation we should have someplace else but can’t. Or he can’t. I probably shouldn’t be able to understand the way his eyes fix and then soften, the need in them. But I do. Like my favourite song. The way the sun waits all day for the moon and the sky holds the stars. It’s an unwritten understanding. One I think Charlie and I might be learning.

As we exist.

“You don’t have a long lunch booked today, Mr Aldridge,” I tell him through the passing crowd. “Thirty minutes, and you’re meeting?—”

My heart kicks and thuds as he steps forward through the sea of people. “I don’t need thirty minutes.” He takes my hand and pulls me down the street.

I look up at him as we walk, my lips pursed. “What about Scott?”

“Fuck Scott.”

I laugh and link our fingers properly. “Do you know where you’re going?”

He looks down at me and frowns.

I have to speed walk to keep up with his long strides, my insides a mess with anticipation. When we reach Macca’s Parlour, I come to a stop.

“Oh, you want ice cream?”

He turns his back on the shop, briefly looking over my shoulder before leaning down to my ear. “No, Lissie, I want you. Ever since you stood in front of me dripping wet last night—long before that, even. Ever since our first night, I’ve needed you more than the air I breathe.”

I swallow and ease back, flicking my eyes up to his.

“But you deserve to be savoured, and I can’t do that in my office or car.”

My eyes widen, hope blooming in my stomach. “But you want that? Now?”

His eyes dart around my face, the realisation making his brow flicker, as if he was too far gone to even realise. “I do.”

I roll my lips to ease my smile. “Okay.” I stretch up onto my tiptoes and gently kiss his cheek, pretending that his admission hasn’t just made my heart flip. “So…ice cream?” I check my watch. “To take away.”

He swallows, eyes still dark, the shadows in them calling to something deep down in my stomach. An ache it knows how to smother.

He nods, and I turn to walk into the shop, but he catches my arm, bringing me into his chest. “Are you working tonight?”

“No.”

The desire still swimming in his eyes makes my knees weak.

Being this close to him makes my knees weak.

“Why? Are you going to go to the club?” I add playfully.

He gives me a look.

I smile. “Why, Charles?”

“I had builders in to sort the back porch at the cottage. I wanted to show you. I was hoping you’d help me pick out some paint for?—”

“Yes.”

“Yes?”

“Of course I’ll come out to the house. I’ve missed my babies.”

His face drops. “The dogs.”

I hide my smile as his hand loosens on my waist. “I mean, it’s an added bonus that the guy I fancy a little bit will be there, too. Especially after the way he’s been acting jealous and needy all day.”

He shakes his head, looking down at me. “I’m broken. You’ve broken me.”

I run my hand up his chest and into the nape of his hair, not caring that we’re on the side of the road. “I know,” I tell him, my eyes locked on his. “Which is why I’m not coming to the Fraser meeting.”

He smiles, his chuckle rumbling in his chest. “Good.”

I step back out of his hold, our gazes telling the story for us. The desperation. The fear. The understanding. It’s all unspoken but there, promised.

“Lissie?”

I turn at the sound of my mother’s voice, finding both of my parents standing a foot away from us.

“I thought it was you.”

My hand lifts to my chest, the ache nestled there not something I expected to feel. “You’re…you’re home.”

My mum nods, looking from me to Charlie and then back to me again. “We got home yesterday. How are you?”

I swallow. “I’m fine. This is Charles Aldridge, my boss.”

“Nice to meet you.” He steps forward and holds out his hand to them, my mother taking it first.

My dad eyes the height of him before taking his hand and smiling.

“You’re getting on well at the new firm?” he asks me.

I stare at my dad for a moment, wondering if he’s really going to pretend he knows anything about me and my job.

He’d not have a clue had it not come from Jovie.

And that hurts.

The fact my sister has clearly told them things about me when we are barely speaking.

“She’s doing great. She’s one of a kind and I’d be lost without her. A credit to herself.”

“Oh.” My mum looks from Charlie, her eyes abuzz with happiness, to me, the spark fading instantly when she sees the look on my face.

My sadness.

“A credit to us ,” my dad corrects. He looks at me. “Well done.”

The little girl in me would have given anything for such a praise. To be called a credit to them. I wonder if I’d be a credit to them if we didn’t have an audience right now.

“We have to get back to work,” I tell them. My eyes meet my mum’s. “Take care of yourselves.”

With my heart feeling like it’s on the ground between us, I turn away, leaving it there with them. I walk into the ice cream shop, knowing Charlie is right behind me.

“Triple chocolate?” I ask, keeping my stare on the cabinet up ahead.

“Lissie,” he says softly.

I tighten my jaw, not wanting to talk about it or explain.

I can’t.

My eyes drift closed when his arms wrap around my chest, hugging my back to his front. He kisses the top of my head, his lips lingering after.

He doesn’t say anything.

He doesn’t have to.

Charlie

The second we pull up to the cottage and Lissie finds the dogs waiting with Nina in the driveway, I feel like I lose her a little bit.

I was jealous of a member of my staff this morning because he called her pretty. Made a show of myself when I called him out for it, too. And now I’m standing here, jealous of Daisy and Luna, fucking animals , because she’s no longer looking at me.

I need help.

“Lissie, I didn’t know you’d be here!” Nina says, pulling her in for a hug.

I don’t think I like the idea of sharing this woman.

Why does anyone else have to exist in our world?

Why are they acting like they’re falling in love with her, too?

“Charles?”

I widen my eyes and look away from Lissie to where Nina is standing, frowning at me. “What?”

“Hi,” she says with a chuckle. “You alright over there?”

I look at Lissie, finding her holding back her laugh.

Fuck .

“Long day,” she answers for me. “Right, Charlie boy?”

I shake my head at her in warning, quietly happy that she’s a little more herself again after running into her parents earlier.

Nina looks between us. “ Okay ,” she says with a knowing smile. “I’m going to go.”

“You don’t have to leave, Nina.” Lissie walks towards the front door with Luna in her arms. “Why don’t you stay for a coffee?”

I look down at Nina and shake my head.

She grins back at me. “I’d better not, Lissie. I need to get back.” She leans in, her shoulder bumping my arm as she gives me a side hug, her growing stomach in the way. “Today’s my favourite day of ever knowing you, Charles.” Her lips twist. “Love you.”

She walks to where she’s parked.

“You need to get this baby out pronto,” I tell her. “It’s messing with your emotions.”

“Maybe, Charlie boy ,” she says, teasing. “Or maybe I’m seeing something special happen right before my eyes.”

I shake my head, my chest burning. “Thank you for dropping the girls home.”

She turns, her face lighting up even more as she looks between the cottage and me. “You’re welcome.”

I wait as she drives off towards home, her words sitting heavy on my chest.

Nina’s not known me long, but she knows me . Who I am, deep at my core. The good and the bad, and the things I never wanted anyone outside of my best friends to see. None of them have ever been good at leaving space for privacy, though. You have a problem—well then, we all have a problem.

It’s the way it’s always been between us.

It’s not until moments like this, when one of them quits the silly jokes and ribbing to recentre you to the earth with feelings you know are real, true to the core, because they know you better than you know yourself.

I go to the boot of my car and take out the basket of food I had prepared for our dinner, wondering how I tamp down the need I have for the woman who seems to be taking over my every waking thought.

When I eventually walk into the cottage, I find Lissie at the kitchen counter, making a cup of tea.

She looks over her shoulder at me. “You didn’t tell me you picked the paint. The colour is perfect!”

I cross my feet at the ankles and watch her. “You like it?”

“I love it. You went with the colours I suggested.” She bins her tea bag and stirs in her sugar. “Can we paint tonight?”

“I didn’t bring you here to put you to work,” I muse.

She sips her tea, placing it on the counter before walking towards me. “Then why did you bring me here, Charles?” She pops a brow, her arms going behind her back.

I set down the basket and reach for her, not caring how fucking scary it feels as I pull her into my body. Or how scary it should feel. Doesn’t feel that scary at all, to be honest.

“We should probably paint,” I tell her, dipping my head into her neck.

“We should definitely paint,” she replies, wrapping her arms around my shoulders and sighing when I run my lips up to her ear.

I kiss her skin, having needed the feel of her on my lips all day.

“Charlie.”

I groan, squeezing her to me tighter as my hands roam her back and hips. I suck on her neck, knowing I could lift my head and kiss her, but knowing if I do that, I’ll be completely done for.

And when I kiss her, I want it to be because I’m all in.

Because I’m ready to give her everything.

The vision of her standing in her bathroom dripping wet last night comes barrelling into my mind.

“The things I want to do to you.”

She sighs before pulling back. “You’re making it too hard.” Her eyes dart between mine. “I’m trying to resist, but you’re making it impossible.”

I chuckle against her throat as I dip back in, kissing and sucking at the skin. “You’re resisting?”

She lifts my head, uncertainty marring her brow. “I’m trying to give you enough time to do this the way you need to.”

My chest is pounding—heaving. I’m desperate, my cock hardening between us. She’s so fucking beautiful it makes me ache. “I am, Lis.” I brush my nose against hers, holding the back of her head. “You’re doing perfect.”

“I am?” Her eyes light up.

I nod and pull back, knowing that if I’m not ready to drop my lips to hers in this moment, I probably shouldn’t have my mouth on her at all. “I had dinner made.” I kiss her cheek and reluctantly step around her. “Are you hungry?”

When I look back at her, she’s mid sigh, her smile shaky.

“Come eat dinner with me, Lis. I want to show you the porch, and then we can paint.”