Page 82 of High Roller

“I’m fine. A little stressed, but OK.”

“Come here.”

She stares at me for a moment, and I wonder what is going through her mind.

“I don’t like asking twice, Grace.”

She comes to stand in front of me. Her hands tremble, and her gaze darts everywhere but my face. Why is she so nervous?

“Grace, what do you think is going to happen?”

Her head moves back and forth slowly. “I’m not sure, and that’s part of my problem. What’s happening with us, Victor?”

I pick up a lock of her hair and rub it between my fingers. “It seems as though we’re both finally giving in to the attraction we’ve had to each other since we met.”

“But why now? Not that I’m complaining. I just want to make sure it’s real and not forced.”

My hand slides to the base of her skull where I take a handful of hair and twist, so her head is back, and I have access to her perfect neck and jaw. I kiss and nibble along the column of her neck and along her jaw until I get to her lips where I plunge my tongue between her lips and take her mouth in a powerful kiss. Her arms loop around my neck and she opens for me, letting me explore her mouth.

When I pull away, I grip her chin and force her to meet my gaze. “Does that seem forced to you, Grace?”

“No, Sir. Not even a little.”

“Good. Then let’s just enjoy figuring each other out, OK?”

That seems to placate her, and I shove her towards the bed. She hesitates when I try to get her to lie down, so I sit on the edge next to her and pull her close.

“What is it?”

“I… I don’t know if I want to have sex yet. It’s weird with Lili down the hall. I’m not sure what that means. Is that bad?”

Kissing her temple, I pull her onto my lap and shift her so she’s straddling me.

“I think it means you’re a normal bisexual human experiencing attraction to more than one person. It’s not a bad thing.”

Grace chews on her lip, and I frame her face with my hands. “Spit it out, butterfly.”

“It’s just that I see the way Luke and Matteo get when another man even looks at Zara and Skylar. Tobias and Owen are the same way with Bellamy. Would you be so calm if it were another man I was experiencing attraction for?”

It’s a fair question, and one I’m not exactly how to answer. Tobias and Owen have made me look at things differently. Many of the members of our club enjoy complex polyamorous connections, but I’ve always been a one-woman kind of man. Then again, Grace has had her own experiences with non-monogamy that I had a front-row seat to. Though I was often under the impression she’d been coerced into that relationship, so I can’t actually say where she stands on monogamy. There are too many things to factor into this situation, so I settle on a vague response.

“I think it would depend on the man. Right now, I can’t think of one I’m willing to share you with.”

“But you would share me with Lili?”

I laugh. “You’re making this way too complicated, butterfly. I’m not collaring you. We aren’t getting married. You kissed Lili and now you’re kissing me. That’s really all that matters. When we figure out what kind of relationship we want to have, we’ll have to answer those questions. Right now, let’s just enjoy this. I watched you with Sampson and Kara. You’re capable of being attracted to more than one person.”

Her questions are unsettling but understandable. If I were in her position I might have the same ones. My feelings about her and Lili together go beyond the basic male fantasy of two women making out in front of him, but Lili is temporary. As soon as we get rid of her husband, I’m sure she’ll be on her way to rebuild her life far away from us.

Grace crawls off my lap and paces the room. I let her pass in front of me several times before I grab her hand and pull her in front of me again.

“What would you like to do with our evening, Grace? We have to stay put until we figure out who is watching us and how to move Lili.”

“I haven’t eaten since breakfast. Would you want to take dinner to Lili and sit with her? It has to suck being in that room all alone. She doesn’t like silence.”

It’s not exactly what I had in mind for our night together, but it’s hard to argue with the plan when Grace is the one asking. “Let’s go then, butterfly.”

We stand and head for the front of the building where Grace puts a tray of food together for us including an assortment of cookies and brownies that Tyson Vance recently started making for us to sell.

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