Duke’s mouth widened into a confident grin. “Yep,” he said, and raised his arms. He flexed both of them, displaying his huge biceps. “I work out a bit.” He lowered his arms and gave Erica a wink. “All part of the job.”
The confidence this man had, and the frank display of his body’s power—it gave Erica an instant flash of lust. She tried to sit up to hide her discomfort, but Duke pressed a warm hand to her shoulder and held her down on the couch.
“Uh-uh. You’re not moving. I’m not done cleaning you up yet.”
Erica couldn’t find the words to object. She watched, practically drooling, as Duke cleaned the mud from her knees. The man kept one firm hand around her defined calves, and used the other to wipe a washcloth across her leg. The only sound was of their breathing, and the pounding of Erica’s heart in her ears. Then Duke began the process of methodically wrapping a cloth bandage around Erica’s ankle. Meanwhile, Erica’s breathing had accelerated to a series of near gasps, and she was starting to get so wet she was worried about soaking through her shorts. Could Duke tell? Did he care? The man took his time washing her legs, being so careful it gave Erica goose bumps. Duke looked up her, and to Erica’s horror and delight, she saw Duke’s eyes flicker over Erica’s crotch. Then Duke’s eyes traveled up to meet Erica’s.
As the two looked at each other, Erica’s stomach gurgled. It broke the moment.
“Are you hungry?” Duke asked, standing up.
“No, I’m fine.” Erica looked down at her stomach, and it growled with more intensity. “I just need to get back and get some breakfast.”
“Nonsense,” Duke said, walking toward the kitchen. “You’re in no condition to go anywhere. Let me cook for you.”
“You don’t have to go to that trouble. You’ve already done enough.”
“It’s no trouble. I was about to make myself an omelet anyway.” He went into the kitchen and pulled off a pan from the rack over the island, and then walked to the fridge, his boots clomping against the floor. “I’m a good cook, don’t worry. You’ll like what I put into your mouth.”
Erica blushed, and when Duke stood up to line up the items on the countertop, he had that confident smirk on his face again.
“Can I do anything to help?” Erica asked, and then remembered she wasn’t supposed to get up.
Duke chuckled and said, “You can talk to me. Tell me about yourself... um?”
“Erica. Sorry, I probably should have introduced myself before you carried me across your threshold.”
Duke stopped what he was doing and looked at Erica. Erica gulped. Was this too intimate a joke? She was only joking though. Either way, Duke’s face did not reveal his reaction. He simply said, “Probably,” and then went back to whisking a few eggs.
There was a moment of silence. Then Duke prodded. “So, Erica, tell me about yourself.”
“Oh, right. Well, I’m a freshman, and—”
Duke stopped stirring. “Freshman?” he said. He turned completely around. “Freshman at university, or… high school?”
Erica laughed. “University.” And she saw Duke’s shoulders relax.
“What are you studying?”
“Oh, a little bit of everything. I haven’t really decided what I want to do yet.” She looked up at the man in the kitchen, at his strong shoulders as he whisked the eggs. For a moment it looked like the same motion as if he were jacking off, and Erica found herself distracted. When she realized he had been quiet, she tried to regain the conversation by asking a question. “So can I ask you a personal question?”
“Yeah, go ahead.”
“You’re a fireman, right?”
“Sure am.”
“How can a fireman afford this great place?”
Duke gave a tense grin. “I thought that might come up. It always does.” He let out a deep sigh. “Are you familiar with Grimaldi Enterprises?”
Erica stared back at him with a blank expression. “Should I be?”
“Grimaldi Holding Companies?” Duke prodded. “Grimaldi Financial?”
Erica shook her head. “Do you, like, work for them or something?”
Duke laughed. “Not a lot of firemen on their staff. Bankers, mostly. They pretty much run the European financial markets.” He looked at her, realized she still wasn’t getting it. With considerable effort, he explained, “How can I afford this place? And my place in the Hamptons, and my place in Italy and in London and San Francisco? I can afford it all because the guy that runs Grimaldi Enterprises, Vittorio Grimaldi, he’s my dad. I’m Duke Grimaldi, his only son.”
Erica raised an eyebrow. “Are you serious?”
He raised a hand. “On my honor.”
“Prove it.”
Duke looked at her for a moment. She wasn’t sure if he found her rude, or amusing. Then he grinned. “You’re feisty. I like that.” He walked over to her, reaching into his front pocket on the way and pulling out his phone. He put in the code to unlock it, then opened up the photos application.
“There is yours truly,” he said, “with my father at our Corsica mansion.” He held up the phone for her to see. There Duke stood with a considerably less fit older man with swept back grey hair and an expensive-looking suit. “And here we are on our yacht off the Mediterrean. Here we are dining with the Prime Minister. With the President. This one was at the Oscars.” He turned the phone toward me and pressed the photo. It turned out to be a video. There Duke was sitting at a table eating with celebrities and movies stars. An action star had his arm around Duke, thanking him for contributing funds to his latest film.
My mouth dropped open. “Whoa.” He put his phone away and started walking back to the kitchen. “So that’s what it’s like to be a millionaire.”
“Billionaire,” he corrected, returned to stir the eggs.
Erica nodded, taking this in. The townhouse was starting to make sense, although she couldn’t help but feel a little jealous of Duke’s windfall. But the guy was so nice, and so muscular, that Erica decided to forgive him. “So,” she said, eager to keep the conversation going, “what made you decide to be a fireman? You could have done anything.”
Duke took out a cutting board, and started chopping onions. “I just always wanted to be one, as far back as I could remember. I was a fireman for every Halloween since I was a little kid. I guess I could have followed in my father’s footsteps, but money always seemed so boring. I guess growing up rich, it was never a real concept in a way. It could be alienating too. People judge and hate you before they even know you. So I decided I’d do something worthwhile, partly to prove everyone wrong, but also to prove to myself that I could be a decent human being. So after I fulfilled my family obligations of attending the best university and getting a totally pointless diploma, I went right out and signed up to run into burning buildings.”
Erica watched him. She had never met a fireman before, let alone a billionaire one. “Have you ever done that?” she asked. “Had to run into burning buildings?”
Duke nodded. “Only once so far. Mostly it’s small stuff: cat in a tree, someone getting too carried away with their grill, that sort of thing.” He turned to the stove and started up the gas burner. He adjusted it to the right height, and then placed a black pan over the flames. “But you never really know what each day’s going to bring. That’s sort of the appeal of it, I guess. It’s never boring.”
Erica thought about this a bit. “I don’t think I could do it. I think I’d be too stressed out by it.”
“It’s not for everyone.” He poured the egg mixture into the pan, and it began to sizzle. “Besides, I wouldn’t have a job if everyone did it. And I like saving people.”
“You certainly helped me out back there. I would probably still be in the woods right now if it weren’t for you.”
Duke finished the omelets and set up the breakfast on the coffee table in front of the couch, sliding over his helmet and the medical supplies to make room. Erica started to lean forward for her plate, but Duke put up a han
d.
“Nope. You stay where you are.”
Erica did as she was told.
Duke returned with two glasses of orange juice, and set them down on the table. Then he pulled up a chair next to Erica.
“Here,” he said, handing Erica a plate. They were suddenly so close to each other, the excitement of this made Erica’s heart race. She took the plate, but Duke didn’t let go. “You got it?” he asked, his eyes on Erica’s.
“Yeah,” Erica said, and smiled. This was getting intense for breakfast. Somehow knowing that he was a billionaire had raised the stakes. Not only did she want him to like her body, she wanted him to like her too. “Thanks.”
After she took the plate, Duke leaned back and they both began eating.
“Wow, this is really good,” Erica said when she tasted the eggs.
Duke’s confident smirk returned. “You don’t have to sound so surprised.”
Erica scarfed down her plate and chugged her glass of orange juice. She hadn’t really been thinking about her hunger, but once the food was in front of her, she was starving. It wasn’t long before she was wiping her lips and setting her napkin down on the empty plate.
“You enjoyed that, huh?” Duke said, looking pleased.
Erica tried to come up with a clever response, but she was too nervous. She just smiled and handed back the plate. Duke set it on the table, and the two made eye contact again.
The tension was getting to Erica. How was this guy a billionaire? He seemed so normal. But he wasn’t. And even if she did like him, he’d just think she was after his money. He didn’t invite her here on a date. He saved her. Now if she stayed, he would think she’s some sort of freeloader, using up his supplies and eating all his food and hoping to cash in on his status. Plus she felt really unattractive right now. She was sure she smelled from the run, and she was all muddy still. She looked at the front of Duke’s shirt, and realized she had smeared dirt across his chest while being carried.
Erica sat up and swung her feet onto the floor. “Well,” she said, “I’d better be going.”
Duke looked up at her, a smile on his face but something like fear in his eyes. “Nah, stay. I have the rest of day off. I could use the company.”
“Yeah, but… I mean, you’ve already helped me out, and I really appreciate that, but I should get home and take a shower.” Why was she getting so upset? And then she realized it was because she really liked him, and she knew she had absolutely no chance with a guy like Duke. He was perfect, in every way. And who was she? She was nobody.
She started to stand. “You’ve been really nice but I feel so gross right now. I need to clean up.”
Duke was still. Then he said quietly, “I have a shower.”
They met eyes again, and Erica’s felt a rush of warmth between her legs. Her heart was beating like crazy. Would she be okay with just sleeping with this guy? Even if she got her heart broken, it might be worth it. He looked like he’d be a good lover. She knew she’d regret not finding out where this was going.
“Okay,” she managed to whisper.
Duke didn’t say anything. He gathered up the breakfast dishes and walked them to the kitchen sink. Then he opened up a drawer and took out a few plastic grocery bags. “So your bandages don’t get wet,” he said when he returned.
Erica nodded.
Then Duke sat on the coffee table in front of Erica. He took up her injured leg carefully and rested it in his lap. Erica had trouble not gasping—not because of the pain, but because her calf was on Duke’s massive thigh, and her heel was pressed against Duke’s warm crotch.
Carefully, Duke wrapped Erica’s bandages around with the plastic bags, and then sealed them with bandage tape. Then he looked up at Erica.
“The shower’s upstairs,” he said, his voice low.
If the tension between them had made Erica feel awkward before, now she was downright squirming. She swallowed.
Duke stood up and placed his arms around Erica’s shoulders and helped lift her off the couch. He was able to do this easily, and with apparently no effort, and held Erica in front of him as she made her way to the stairs.
They started to climb the stairs, Erica with her hand on the banister and Duke with two arms around Erica’s middle. At first his grip had been high, under her armpits, but as they made their way upstairs, his hands worked their way down. When they reached the top of the next flight of stairs, Duke had both his hands firmly around Erica’s waist.
There was a small hallway that overlooked the stairway. Then a door that opened into a semi-dark bedroom. Duke pushed the door open and helped Erica inside.
They both stopped in the doorway, and Erica looked down at the king bed in the middle of the room, the sheets downturned from when Duke had been wrapped in them. She had the sudden urge to go to the man’s pillow and press herself into the man’s smell. But with Duke standing right next to her, she could do nothing but wait for Duke to walk around her and open the door to the bathroom.
“The shower’s in here,” Duke said, and flicked on the light.
The bathroom was white and pristine, with a high sink in front of a round mirror, a toilet, and a tub with a shower. Everything was perfect and clean, as if Duke had been expecting guests. Erica couldn’t help but to compare it in her mind to the bathroom she shared at school with about twenty other students. This was so much nicer. Then she realized he probably had someone to clean it for him. It would never get dirty.
Erica leaned against the sink while Duke fiddled with the silver knobs of the shower. The water seemed incredibly loud as it crashed onto the floor of the tub, and Erica felt again how incredibly alone they were. If it had seemed quieter in Duke’s living room than on the street, up here in this master bathroom, it was like they were in a whole different world. This wasn’t New York anymore; this was Duke’s space. But at the same time, she felt totally safe with this man. If anything, being more alone with him felt like it was a step in the right direction, even if the tension between them lent the air a dangerous flavor.
When the water was at the right temperature, Duke pulled a switch and the water sputtered out of the shower nozzle. Then Duke stood up and faced Erica, towering over her.
“It’s all set,” he said, but his voice had a sultry undertone to it. He wasn’t smiling. He was eyeing Erica with what seemed like hunger.
Duke looked down at his shirt, and brushed his hand on the soil that had been smeared there by Erica. “Geez,” he said. “I’m a mess. I should wash up, too.” Then he looked up at Erica, and asked, “You mind if I join you?”
Erica felt a bolt shoot down to her innermost regions. Duke was so casual in his forward nature that it was obvious that, fireman or not, he was used to getting what he wanted.
It didn’t hurt that this was exactly what Erica wanted too. If nothing more, it would be a great story to tell in the future, the time she was rescued by a billionaire fireman. Plus the idea of seeing this Adonis naked was not something she could refuse.
Duke was watching her, waiting for a reply. “Yeah,” Erica squeaked out.
Duke nodded. “Cool.” Then, without a moment’s hesitation, Duke reached his massive arms to his shoulders, unlatched his suspenders, and pulled off his shirt. He tossed it on the floor, and stood before Erica bare-chested, his impressive physique heaving as the man took each breath.
Erica mouthed the word, “Wow.” Duke was amazing. He had rounded pecs that Erica wanted to reach out and feel. His nipples looked delicious. And despite his bulk, he seemed to have absolutely no body fat to hide the definition of his muscles. His stomach was ripped: an enviable six-pack; and except for a thin line of hair leading down from his bellybutton, he was smooth. His skin was tanned, and Erica’s eyes followed the abstract tattoos she had noticed before on Duke’s upper arms. These swirled around his shoulders and disappeared down his back. Erica wanted desperate to trace them with her tongue.
Erica shook her head, trying not to stare. She took her hand away f
rom the sink and pulled off her shirt. She tossed it to the floor next to Duke’s, and then hesitated.
She had showered in front of others many times in the past few months at the community shower at her dorm. She had showered in front of strangers at the university gym as well. But somehow, showering naked in front of Duke when it was just them, it didn’t have the same feel to it. This felt more personal, more naked.
Duke didn’t share her modesty. The man kicked off his boots, unfastened his belt, and unbuttoned his pants. He wasn’t wearing underwear, and his trimmed pubes were instantly visible. Then he leaned down and slid his pants off, stepping out of them. He stood back up, and Erica’s eyes bulged as Duke’s plump cock swung back and forth between his legs. Even soft it looked incredible, hanging over Duke’s full balls.
Duke turned and stepped into the shower, revealing an ass that was as perfect and mouthwatering as the rest of him. His nakedness also showed off a network of tattoos that ran down the center of his muscular back, looking almost like wings as they split and ran up around his shoulders.
Erica blinked, coming back to reality. The shower sprayed over Duke’s tanned shoulders and sprinkled down to the tub.
Erica gulped. Now it was her turn. She slid her shorts over her thin waist, and clumsily stepped out of them. Her underwear were wet from her excitement and she pulled them off before Duke could see. Then she pulled off her bra and let it fall to the floor. Erica hung her head, unable to look at Duke. She was both turned on, and terribly embarrassed. She was still uncomfortable in her body, the body shame still present from all her time as an overweight teen.
“Come on,” Duke said. “The water’s getting cold.”
She looked up to see Duke facing her, the water streaming off of his thick cock. Duke grinned, seeing Erica admire him, and stepped aside to make room. She took a careful step and climbed over the rim of the tub into the shower. She stood in front of Duke, feeling the man towering over her from behind, and faced the shower nozzle.
The warm water splashed down her breasts, and she leaned her head forward to wet her hair. She looked down at her nakedness, and found that her desire was stronger than ever. The warmth of the water felt incredible as it beat down on her, all over her. It made her want to touch herself.
Billionaire on Fire (Firefighter Billionaire Stand-Alone Romance) Page 2
