I fix two hot chocolates with the usual number of marshmallows, four for Max and three for me. Our lives are simple, structured, organized for efficiency. We eat the same meals on the same day of every week. Nothing is ever out of place. Duke disrupted our carefully planned days and turned them into nights neither of us will forget.
I don’t know why I pushed him away. Ted used to tell me I shut him out, that I didn’t let him into my sheltered world. I thought some distance would make our relationship stronger. But the longer we’re apart, I wonder if I’m doing more damage. What if he sees the real me? Will he still want me when he does?
Max sips from her cup, and a chocolate mustache stains her skin. I wipe it away with my finger, and she laughs.
“You had a mustache,” I say and then take a sip from my mug.
Max points her finger at my face and laughs. “You too, Mommy!”
I wipe it away and then lead Max into the living room. She has the iPad tucked under her left arm, drinking her hot chocolate with the other hand.
Max lifts the remote from the coffee table and turns on the television. “Can we watch hockey?”
“Sure, baby. Watch whatever you want.”
Duke is still suspended for a few more games. Pretty soon, though, he’ll be back on the road and busy with his team. It was silly of me to squander the time we could have had together. Instead, I spent the last few weeks moping around the house, taking my bad moods out on Max. She cried for days after watching the videos of Duke and me. I couldn’t stand to see her heartbroken, so I took the iPad away.
Max has begged every night since to get it back. She finally wore me down. And in all honesty, I can’t keep her from the truth forever. No one has secrets when it comes to the Internet. No amount of money or connections can erase my past with Duke. Not that I want to delete him or any of the memories that we made together. Still, I wish I would have made him wait. It was the professional thing to do. It would have been the right thing to do. My decision to date him was purely selfish, which felt right for once.
“The game is about to start,” Max says, tapping me on the arm. “Do you think we’ll see Duke?”
“No, baby. Duke isn’t playing tonight.”
“Can we go to one of his games?”
“If his team makes the playoffs this year.”
“Once Duke is back, Daddy says the team will start playing better.”
“Let’s hope so.”
“Daddy says Duke is the team, and they suck without him.”
“Max,” I say, surprised by her comment. “We don’t talk like that. It’s not nice to say people suck.”
“You just said suck,” she says with laughter in her tone.
“Max,” I warn.
Looking down at her screen, she groans. “But they do, Mommy!” She raises the iPad and shows me the Capitals statistics as proof. As usual, she’s right. “They lost the last five games.”
Before the game begins, the cameras sweep over the Capital One Arena. My mouth falls open in shock when it lands on Duke… and Ted. Together. At the game. What the hell?
Max screams and throws her arm out at the television. “I told you! Daddy and Duke are friends.”
I have no words right now. Why are they at a hockey game together? They’re in the team’s luxury box, and from the looks of it, there are women inside it. I lean forward, straining my eyes to get a better look. Two women, wearing red-white-and-blue uniforms, are talking to them. Are they cheerleaders? If so, why aren’t they closer to the ice instead of in their box?
My stomach knots at the thought of Duke seeing another woman. Before we were together, he was content on having one meaningless relationship after another. Except he changed. So, why hasn’t he tried to call or text? He’s given me more than enough space. I thought by now, I would have heard from him. Duke isn’t one to follow the rules. No, my man likes to break them.
My heart hammers inside my chest, beating so fast it feels like it could explode. What did I do? I thought dating my patient and getting caught was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made. It turns out letting Duke walk away was even worse.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Duke
Senator Banks took his sweet ass time coming through on my favor. Seven days have passed since I was forced to endure the game with Ted. He got what he wanted—a night with Alessandra in his bed. And I get my girl back.
Lila called an hour ago to thank me and then told me I better get my ass over to her house. I knock on Lila’s front door. My stomach is in knots, sick with fear that I will lose her again. I can’t go through this a second time.
Lila opens the door. “Hey,” she says, toying with the hem of her canary yellow sweater.
I lean against the doorframe, invading her personal space. “Hey, yourself.”
Lila smiles and then steps to the side to allow me to enter the living room. I shut the door behind me, and within seconds, I scoop her up and into my arms. Pressing her chest against mine, I wrap my arms around her, afraid to let her go.
I brush my lips against hers, and her lips part for me. Slipping my hand through her hair, I pull her mouth to mine and kiss her so hard my head spins. She moans into my mouth as her hands travel down my arms to grip my biceps.
When our lips separate, she says, “Max is at Ted’s tonight. We have the house to ourselves.”
“I know. I worked it out with Ted.”
“I saw you two at the game.”
“He wanted to meet a cheerleader.”
“Of course, he did.” She laughs. “That’s how we met.”
“You still have your old cheerleading uniform, right?”
She bobs her head.
I set her on the floor and give her ass a light tap. “Put it on for me.”
Lila gives me a sly smile. “What for? You’re only going to take it off.”
I give her ass another slap. “That’s part of the fun.”
Lila runs her hands up my chest, and I can feel her nails through my shirt. “Did you have a thing for cheerleaders in high school?”
“Yeah, I guess. I didn’t care.”
“As long as they put out,” she deadpans.
I roll my shoulders, giving her a wicked smirk that should answer her question. I never said I was a saint. Lila knows all of my secrets. We have nothing to hide from each other.
“Do you want a drink?”
I shake my head.
“You hungry?” Lila drags her nails down my arms, and her delicate touch makes my skin tingle. “I could make you something to eat.”
I bend down to press my lips against hers. “Your pussy is the only thing I want to eat.”
“Well, then.” She laughs and then blush creeps up her chest and dusts her freckled cheeks. “You must be famished.”
“Starved,” I say, and then I kiss her.
“I missed you,” she whispers.
“I bet I missed you more.”
In one swift motion, I lift Lila up and throw her over my shoulder. Her nipples are hard. The tiny buds poke through her shirt and rub against my chest. I bet her panties are already soaking wet for me.
I lower Lila to the floor in front of her bed, and when our eyes meet, her breath hitches. She has the same effect on me, producing an instantaneous hammering in my chest. I push Lila back and onto the bed. She tugs my pants down, and her mouth opens wide enough to fit my cock that springs free.
Lila fists my cock and rolls her tongue along the tip. “I missed you, too.”
I laugh and slip my hands through her hair, pulling her mouth closer. She shoves my cock into her mouth, and my eyes slam shut. Damn, her tongue feels good. When I get close the finding my release, I fight the urge to let her keep going.
“Put on your uniform,” I say, releasing my hold on her hair.
She slides off the bed, her lips puffy and wet, and strolls over to her closet. It’s not that I have a thing for cheerleaders, but the thought of Lila dressed like one makes my cock even harde
r. From the second I heard she still had the uniform, I wanted to see her in it. This is my fantasy, one I’ve dreamed about a lot while we were apart.
Lila strips off her clothes and gives me a show as she ditches her panties and slides the short skirt up her thighs. She locks eyes with me, playing with her nipples for a few seconds before she lowers the red-white-and-blue top over her head. It’s so tight the shirt stops right below her breasts.
“I didn’t have boobs in high school,” she says, attempting to secure her shirt into place. “You might have to cut me out of this thing.”
As she approaches, I kick off my shoes and strip off my clothes. Lila sits on the edge of the mattress and spreads her thighs, giving me a better view.
“I’m soaked,” she says in the sexiest voice ever spoken. “You make me so wet, Duke.”
I lick my lips as she reaches between her legs. She rests her hand on her inner thigh and taps her fingers, looking up at me with a wicked grin on her beautiful face.
“Keep going,” I say.
She scoots closer to me and hikes up her skirt. “Make me,” she challenges.
Staring between her legs, I give myself a few strokes and watch as she slides her fingers in and out of her pussy. Meeting my gaze, she picks up the pace, spreading her legs wider for me as she adds another finger. Her nipples are so hard they poke through her shirt, and now I wish it wasn’t so damn tight because I want to rip it off of her.
After she makes herself come, I reward her by replacing her fingers with my tongue. Gripping her thighs with both hands, I lift her ass up from the mattress. I wasn’t joking when I said I was dying to eat her pussy.
“Duke,” she moans. My name is a whisper on her lips.
The second I make her come with my tongue, I flip her over and onto her stomach. Lila buries her face into the mattress, glancing over her shoulder at me as I grip her legs from behind. I slam into her, unable to control myself after waiting so long. She screams out in pleasure as I pound into her, each thrust harder than the last. This is the Duke she craves. She likes it when I’m rough with her, and I love giving her what we both desire.
After we both chase our high, we collapse onto the mattress, out of breath. I pull Lila into my arms, and she curls into me, resting her head on my sweaty chest.
“I love makeup sex,” she coos with a playful smile on her lips.
I smack a kiss on her forehead, holding her tighter. “And I love you.”
She rolls onto her back, and her blue eyes meet mine. Lila cups my cheek with her hand. “I love you, too, Duke.”
I lean into her hand. “I can’t lose you again, Lila.”
“You won’t. I promise.”
“Don’t make promises you can’t keep.”
“Love is scary,” she says. “It requires you to take a leap of faith and hope everything works out. We can’t predict what will happen in the future, but I’m certain this is one promise I can keep.”
Epilogue
Duke: Nine months later
I’m the luckiest man in the world. As we drive from the airport to my father’s house, I thread my fingers between Lila’s and hold her hand on my lap. She found out she was pregnant a few weeks ago, making our baby the perfect Christmas surprise.
Lila giggles when I move my free hand to her stomach. “Duke, it’s too early to feel a kick.”
I can’t wait to see what Lila will look like with my baby in her belly. She’s shown me pictures of her carrying Max, who doesn’t know about the baby yet. We want to wait until the second trimester before we tell anyone.
“I hope it’s a girl,” I whisper into her ear.
Raising Kat was one of the highlights of my life. I would love to do it all over again from the beginning with my child. I want to create a small army with Lila, though she doesn’t seem too keen on the idea of popping out kids every year.
Lila covers my hand with hers, holding it against her stomach. She smiles so wide it reaches up to her bright blue eyes. “I’m nervous. One or two Baldwins at the same time isn’t that bad, but all of you in one room—”
“Don’t worry. They love you.” I rub my hand over her stomach and whisper, “You, too.”
We considered telling my family, but Lila vetoed the idea immediately. She’s superstitious about the first trimester. Lila had a miscarriage before she conceived Max and doesn’t want to jinx her pregnancy. This is also the first time Lila is meeting Kat, Dean, and Baby Noah, who flew in from Philly for the occasion.
Lila leans into me and rests her head on my shoulder. I love this woman more than life itself. For years, I avoided intimacy with women, too afraid to commit. I will always be scared of losing Lila, but like my father did with my mom, I have to go all-in. I now understand him more than I did before I met Lila. Over the past year, I have learned to forgive him and put the past behind us. I no longer have to fake our interactions in front of my siblings. We’re back to the way we used to be.
Max presses her face to the window as we drive onto the Baldwin Estate. “You live here?” She turns to look at me, her mouth open in shock.
A massive wrought iron gate stretches around several acres of land. In the spring and summer, the property is surrounded by bright flowers that overflow from the beds. But it’s winter in Chicago, which means it’s cold enough to get your nose stuck to the gate. Trust me, I know from experience.
“I did when I was younger.”
“Wow!” Max’s eyes widen. “How big is this place?”
Lila looks equally shocked by the sheer size of my father’s mansion. He built my mother her dream house fit for raising children. When my dad first had the home constructed, we were among the few families in this part of the neighborhood. I’ve been looking at houses for us in D.C. Lila doesn’t know I bought her an engagement ring and that I plan to enlist Max’s help when I ask her to marry me.
“Wait until you see the bowling alley in the basement,” I tell her.
Max claps her hands to her cheeks and squeals. “You have your own bowling alley?”
“My dad does.”
“And I thought Ted was rich,” Lila quips.
“We have a movie theater, too.”
Lila laughs. “Why am I not surprised?”
Max gasps. “Are you kidding?”
I shake my head, and Max screams with delight.
“Mommy,” Max says, tugging on Lila’s coat. “Can we live at Duke’s daddy’s house?”
“No, baby,” Lila says with a chuckle. “We have to go back to D.C. on Sunday. Mommy has patients to see on Monday, and Duke has to get back to his team.”
Max frowns. “You’re no fun.”
Lila points her finger at the window with a confused look on her face. “Is that shrub shaped like Santa?”
I slide my hand across her back, resting my hand on her hip. “Christmas at the Baldwin Estate is like no other. My dad goes all out. It’s his favorite holiday.”
“I can see that,” Lila says in shock.
The shrubs on the front lawn are trimmed to look like Santa Claus and his reindeer. At night, colored lights illuminate the scene, making it look as though it has come to life. I grew up with this ridiculous display every Christmas. I always liked Halloween more, though now that I know myself better, I wonder if I chose the holiday because I was mad at my dad. Therapy has made me see things differently, and because of Lila, I’m now a functional adult.
The driver helps Lila and Max out of the SUV, and then I lead my girls inside the house. I tip my nose in the air and get a good whiff of gingerbread cookies. My dad’s personal chef makes dozens of cookies, everything from gingerbread men to snickerdoodles. I had a picture-perfect childhood.
Before my mom died, the holidays with my family were incredible. If Mom were here today, she would approve of Lila. She would tell me not to fuck this up with her. My mom would welcome Lila into her home like she was one of us. And soon, Lila will be one of us.
I hear Theo and Travis arguing from the front do
or. Of course, the twins are fighting. When we step into the living room, Max clings to my side. Christmas music blares through the speakers suspended from the ceiling. My dad is singing Here Comes Santa Claus to my nephew, Noah, and doing it rather badly. The old man could never carry a tune, but that didn’t stop him from belting out the songs.
Lila looks over at me and smiles to stifle her laughter. My dad is so tone-deaf it’s hard not to laugh at him. He’s dancing with Noah in his arms, shuffling across the living room without a care in the world. Kat and Dean are sitting on the couch in front of him.
Dean hugs Kat against his side and kisses her on the top of her head. He loves my sister and has taken good care of her. What more can I ask for? Messing up his pretty face was the best thing that ever happened to either of us. Dean got instant recognition as a rookie, and I met the love of my life.
The twins are standing in front of the ninety-inch flat-screen television, which takes up a good portion of one wall. Theo elbows Travis in the side, his eyes pointed up at the screen as he taps the remote controller in his hand.
“Get the sword, you idiot,” Theo says to Travis. “We can’t pass the next mage without it.”
The boys are obsessed with this video game that has wizards in it. Thankfully, I can’t hear the sound of their game over my dad’s music. Though, I’m not sure which one would be worse. If you ask me, both are equally annoying.
I stop behind Kat and squeeze her shoulders. Surprised, she jumps and then peeks over her shoulder at me. A bright smile stretches across her face.
“Denny!” She leaps over the back of the couch and throws herself into my arms. “I didn’t hear you come in.”
“Hey, Kit-Kat.” I hug her so tightly she squirms in my arms.
Kat’s eyes travel from mine to Lila, and she gives Lila a broader grin than the one I got. “You must be Lila,” Kat says, extending her hand. They shake hands, and then Kat glances down at Max. “And you must be Max. I’ve heard so much about you.”
Prince Pucking Charming Page 15
