“It will work out,” I try to comfort him.
“Why don’t I believe that?” he asks me.
“Probably, because it’s so damn difficult to see the end now. Trust me, Evan, everything happens for a reason,” I advise him.
“Everything?” he asks.
Evan raises an eyebrow at me, and I know the reference is to us.
“Does it really matter if now isn’t the time to work this out?” I ask.
He shrugs at me, and I click my tongue in disgust.
“I miss you,” I tell him.
We’ve spent a lot of time together in the last year or so, and everything boils down to the fact that I need his presence.
I’m so used to him in my life, I can’t imagine him out of it.
“I miss you, too,” he replies.
Evan reads my thoughts, and I find my lips against his in mere seconds.
It’s so easy to be in his arms and let the world fade away around us.
The stress I’ve felt for the last few days melts away, and I’m happy for a moment.
Until Evan pulls away from the kiss, abruptly.
“We shouldn’t,” he says.
He knows where this is about to go.
“Who cares?” I ask.
My lips hover over his, then he devours me hungrily, and kisses me as though the world is about to end.
Isn’t it though?
I’ve already said my goodbyes to my single life, and I am utterly enthralled by this man.
Evan could very well be that love of my life, and I’m just too stupid to admit to it.
Or I do admit it, but only to myself.
His warm hands on my skin set fire to every inch of my body, and Evan starts to inch my skirt up around my hips.
No games this time, no time for a chat, just raw emotion.
“I need you,” Evan’s whisper is in my ear.
His teeth sink into my neck, and I let out a content sigh.
Why did I ever break up with this man, who makes me weak in the knees?
My mind spirals out of control as Evan presses me against the wall and his hands tangle in my hair.
Every smooth, firm kiss only edges me closer to him.
I want to be with him so badly, even if only for a few, precious, moments.
My hands make quick work of his belt and push Evan’s pants down so that they fall to the floor.
He grabs me by the ass, lifting me off the ground, and presses me against the wall, and then the gratification of feeling Evan inside me takes over.
My nails sink into his shoulders, underneath his shirt and I let out a satisfied gasp.
“Evan,” I moan.
“Vic,” he whispers back.
My legs automatically wrap around his waist, and his thick member sinks further inside me.
Evan carries me towards the couch until I sink into the soft suede underneath him.
Pinned underneath his hard, muscular body, I quickly fall into that trance where only we exist.
Every slow, exquisite thrust only serves to draw his name from my lips, to urge him to continue.
Evan does continue, and our lips find each other as we slowly move against each other, and find a slow, steady rhythm that draws out every inch of emotion left in me.
I wrap my arms around his neck, kissing him heatedly, and push my hips up against his.
Slow, pure love making that draws out everything I’ve got left.
I cannot hold myself back from this man, and I say his name over and over again.
Evan is all I need to feel complete.
The emptiness I felt previously is filled when he is around.
Our moans and groans fill the cold air of my apartment.
Evan pins my hands above my head, claims my lips and I instantly know he’s about to tip me over the edge of no return.
“You’re beautiful,” he murmurs in my ear.
“Evan,” I moan in response.
“Cum for me,” he whispers in my ear.
That’s really all it takes to drive me over the edge, his cock draws in and out of me a few more times before my thighs begin to shake and my back arches against his body.
The orgasm takes hold of me and binds me to him.
“Evan!” I call his name.
“Victoire!” he calls in response.
We cum at the same time and his cock pulses as his hot seed spills inside me with a reckless abandon I don’t recognize.
Our unsteady breaths mingle together, and we spend eternity lost in each other’s lips.
I twist around in the sheets to get a good look at Evan.
His eyes are closed, but I know he’s not asleep.
We’ve made love most of the afternoon, and we are both unwilling to talk about what this means.
“You need to leave soon,” I tell him.
“Why?” he asks.
“Your dinner with Duke Whittaker,” I remind him.
“Oh, that,” he scoffs.
Evan wraps his arms around me and pulls me against his bare flesh.
“You need to,” I remind him.
“It sounded like the Duke wanted to be alone with you,” I add.
“Are you really suspicious of him?” Evan asks.
“Yes and no,” I admit.
“How so?” he persists.
“If your father has caused so much trouble in the past, why is he so eager to help you out? Hm? He came all the way to New York on a moment’s notice, he must want something big from you,” I tell Evan seriously.
I begin to laugh as Evan’s lips travel along my neck.
“Evan! I’m serious!” I giggle.
“You don’t sound serious,” he mocks me.
“Well, I am,” I say.
I push him away.
“You need to pick him up, and your reservation probably won’t hold if you’re late,” I tell him.
“Didn’t you say it was for Duke Whittaker?” he asks.
“Yes,” I tell him.
“Then, it can wait,” Evan persists.
“Evan, this can wait,” I try to argue.
We cuddle under the covers until the very last second before he must leave.
“Are we going to talk about what this means?” Evan asks.
“Eventually,” I admit.
“Like you said, now is not the time,” I say and my voice is grave.
His hands smooth over the pink silk of my robe as he leans in for one last kiss.
“You’re right,” Evan admits.
I physically push him through the door because he has to leave and watch his figure disappear down the hallway.
At the last second, I blow him a kiss before he gets into the elevator.
Then the second elevator opens, and I see someone I don’t expect.
Elizabeth.
“Of all the men in the world,” she says.
“You had to pick my son to get into bed with,” she finishes.
Elizabeth clicks her tongue.
“What do you want from me, Isa?” I groan.
“I haven’t heard that name in a while, it’s got a good ring to it, don’t you agree?” Elizabeth asks.
I’m face to face with the woman who single-handedly ruined my life.
“Invite me in,” she orders.
“Fine, come in,” I say.
I step aside, and Elizabeth Darlington is inside my tiny apartment.
“You would think, after all I paid, you would have a nicer apartment than this,” she sniffs.
I sigh.
“I work for Noah Stone now. I don’t work for you anymore,” I tell her.
“You admit, the money I paid is better than whatever my ex-husband pays you,” she says.
“He wasn’t your husband,” I remind her boldly.
“Dear, I could’ve had him if I’d wanted,” Elizabeth sniffs.
“What do you want?” I get to the point.
“Don’t you want to have a coffee first?” she asks.
S
he harkens back to when coffee in her office was my first trip of the day, and we would discuss all manner of things.
Elizabeth was far from a mother figure to me, but there was a time when I thought she was wise in the way of advice.
“Sure,” I oblige her, my tone sweet.
“That’s the Victoire that I know,” Elizabeth says.
She gives me that lizard-smile that makes all my nerve endings stand on end.
Jesus Christ.
She could kill me right now, and no one would be none the wiser.
“You still drink your coffee black?” I ask.
Elizabeth drapes herself elegantly across the heavily worn couch in my one bedroom.
I don’t bother changing, she’s seen me more naked than this.
“Yes, you remembered,” she says.
“Of course, I did, Isa,” I say.
Elizabeth smirks, almost as though she’s happy I’ve said that.
“I miss the name. I loved Isa, she was as much a part of me, as Vicky was to you,” she says.
Yes.
Vicky James was my name, in the business.
She used to pass off Ava and me as sisters once upon a time.
I put a pod in the machine and hit ‘BREW’.
“Shall I call you Vicky?” Elizabeth asks.
“Yes, Isa,” I say with a wink.
It’s an attempt to put myself at ease as the second cup finishes its pour.
I bring the two cups to the coffee table and set them down, then take my seat.
Evan’s mother is only more intimidating because I am pregnant.
“So, you’re dating my son,” she says.
“It’s much more complicated than that,” I admit to her.
“Oh Vicky, you either love him, or you don’t. It’s that simple,” Elizabeth says.
“Isa, sometimes love just isn't enough,” I say.
“But the baby?” Elizabeth asks.
My posture is ramrod straight when she says this to me.
“What baby?” I say.
“The pregnancy test,” Elizabeth says.
She lazily flips open the book on my coffee table.
It’s hollow, and inside is the pregnancy test.
“Oh! My God!” I sigh.
“I suspect you aren’t keeping it?” Elizabeth asks.
“I don’t know what to do,” I say honestly.
“But,” Elizabeth says, “If you knew what you wanted, wouldn’t you have taken care of that already?”
She’s right, and my stomach sinks.
It feels like my heart is suddenly in my stomach, and all I can hear is the thump of my heart ready to pound out of my chest.
A cold sweat comes over me as the realization hits me.
I hadn’t decided if I wanted to be a mother or not, but I’d never once truly considered abortion.
“You are keeping the baby then?” Elizabeth asks.
I just nod curtly.
“I can’t entirely applaud you, but since my son seems so enamored of you, it wouldn’t be the worst thing in the world. Another grandchild,” she says.
She waves an elegant hand, as though it’s one more thing to contend with.
“This doesn’t make us family,” I tell her.
“Oh dear, it does,” Elizabeth says.
“So, let’s be straight with each other. What do you want from me? I was out. I’m out of this. I’m good, gone, and done with all your bullshit,” I say.
“Do you want me to tell Evan about all that you did to keep Ava from their father?” Elizabeth asks.
I take a deep breath.
“I can explain all of that, and Evan will forgive me,” I spit back at her.
She chuckles, sipping her coffee.
I want to smash her in her smug face.
“I’m pregnant with his child, he’ll forgive me,” my voice is defiant.
“But that will always hang over you, the guilt of what you did,” she says.
Her tone is snide with me.
Elizabeth clicks her tongue.
“I didn’t do anything I wasn’t forced to do,” I sneer right back.
“Well, either way, I’m not finished with you yet. I’ve got plenty more, where that little tidbit came from,” Elizabeth says.
I deflate immediately.
She’s right.
I make a mental note to take some self-defense classes with Lucius if I live through this.
“Well, since Ventretti is your boss,” I start.
“Ventretti was a simple pawn,” Elizabeth explains.
She whips out a folded newspaper.
New Year’s Day Gift to the City - Dominic Ventretti Found Dead of Heart attack
“You...,” I trail off.
“Yes, yes. I did before you even ask. I didn’t train you to be so stupid, Vicky. It’s easy enough to fake a heart attack. All I had to do was slip something in that man’s drink when he wasn’t looking,” she sighs.
“The girl that never learns. I set that marriage up perfectly for you, and then you go and divorce him less than a year later. What is wrong with you? I thought to be a submissive was your dream?” she says.
“Submissive, not subordinate,” I say emphatically.
“You did that to me, knowing he was going to use me, knowing that he was just going to beat me and…” I stop myself.
No.
I will not go backward.
“It doesn’t matter,” I tell myself.
“No dear, it doesn’t matter,” Elizabeth says.
“What matters, is what happens next, you’re going to do me a favor, or else that father of yours will wind up good and dead. If he doesn’t do himself in before I get to that,” she laughs harshly.
“Jesus Christ!” I swear.
“You really are the devil,” I tell Elizabeth.
“Yes, I am,” she smirks at me.
“Well then, just spit the fire at me, or get the hell out of my apartment,” I tell her.
“I was rather enjoying this interlude,” Elizabeth says.
I’m just spent with this right now, I do not want her here.
“I have a job for you, and you’ll do it,” Elizabeth says.
She pulls a cellphone out of her purse.
“When I call, you answer,” she says.
“And if I don’t?” I say.
“Then, daddy dies,” she says.
She mocks sadness, and the sharpness of her features makes me realize that she’s had work done.
I never noticed that before.
How did I not notice that before?
I mean she’s always looked the same, but I never thought she’d had work done.
Her natural hair makes her look much more beautiful.
She’s elegant, sophisticated and barely looks thirty.
I aspired to be like her at one point.
Now, I’m filled with disgust, mostly for myself, for thinking that I had to measure up to scum like Elizabeth Darlington.
“I’ll take the phone, but I can’t promise that I’ll answer,” I tell her.
“Dear, you will,” Elizabeth says.
Then she drains the rest of her coffee and lets herself out, without another word.
Fuck.
24
Evan
January 1, 2018
On most Monday nights, Nobu is usually packed, and it’s impossible to get a reservation, but Vic called ahead with Duke Geoffrey Whittaker’s name.
For that reason, we are at the top of the list for a prime booth to give enough space for five.
With ramrod straight posture, I can only imagine what it would’ve been like, to grow up as the son of a Duke.
Thank god, I never had that chance.
“How have things been in New York?” Geoffrey asks.
“Your grace, they’ve been well. My father’s financial firm is one of the top firms in the country, it grows by leaps and bounds every single day, it’s incredible what he’s done,” I say.
&nbs
p; “Your father has also caused me a lot of trouble, which is why I refuse to save the business,” he says.
“Refuse?” I’m confused.
“I cannot go any further for your father, he’s harmed my family enough, as you know,” he says.
I’m confused.
“What?” I say.
“You know good and well by now, that Tinsley Whittaker is a distant relation of mine,” Geoffrey says.
“I didn’t,” I say.
“Tinsley is the only one, out of the entire Whittaker line, that I believe is capable of taking over my Dukedom, after my son’s death last year,” Geoffrey explains.
“Oh,” is all I can manage.
“So, you can imagine, all the trouble she caused, in the name of her love for your father, wasn’t taken kindly. I almost considered someone else, until she managed to consolidate both companies and make them stronger. Especially after her late husband's untimely demise, on his Lamborghini, no less,” he states.
The Duke’s words are crisp.
It’s like I’m suddenly flat on the floor.
He continues to talk.
“So, when I say, I refuse to do anything further for your father, you understand me clearly?” he says.
“Yes, Your Grace,” I say.
I even bow my head slightly because I get it.
He had plans, and my father indirectly threw a wrench in those plans.
I don’t dare say another word about the business.
Or the fact that my father is engaged to Tinsley Whittaker.
Then mercifully, the waitress comes, and the Duke orders from the menu like he’s been to Nobu thousands of times.
“I quite enjoy Sushi,” he says.
There is a container of Sake placed in front of us.
I’ve never been a fan of Sake, but I’ll drink whatever the Duke wants me to swallow if it means I can smooth things over between him and my father.
“Tinsley means to marry well, this time around. If she accepts, of course,” The Duke says.
“And if she doesn’t?” I ask.
“What woman wouldn’t want to be a duchess?” he laughs at me.
“She will accept, though we’ll have to find her a proper husband. Though I can see her running everything with an iron fist alone as well. She’s proven to be quite a woman,” The Duke says.
“Tinsley is amazing,” I agree.
“I’ve known her my whole life, and I always knew she was strong. She only continues to prove it,” I say.
I leave my father out of this for now.
Heat_A Stone Billionaire Series Novel Page 17
