Page 90 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
“She made a deal with him she couldn’t keep. She should have known she could never keep it. It wasn’t a very good one. You see, she made him promise to love her, but only for a month. What a fool she had been.”
A small smile played on his lips, like this was exactly what he wanted to hear. Hope bloomed in me, and I powered on.
“You see, Lily didn’t believe she was worth loving. She thought that because she struggled so much, no one could love her. How could she be a wife or mother when she couldn’t even remember to feed herself? She kept trying, though, and each time she tried, she felt more and more out of place in her own life.”
Duke brushed a tear from my cheek before I even knew it fell.
“What did the best friend do?” he asked when I didn’t continue.
“He gave her pleasure, found her every time she needed him, held her while she cried, showed her every day for that month that she was worthy of love.”
I choked on the last word, remnants of self-doubt creeping back in. The ‘what-if’s’ fought for dominance again, but his hands were on me—gentle, soft, and warm.
“The world wasn’t made for me, but maybe… maybe you were. I’ll never be a socialite. I’ll only wear dresses if they have pockets, and I don’t want to host dinners. I’m probably going to lose my job soon. I don’t know how much longer I can keep up with the demands. I’m clumsy. I read too much, and I forget to eat and then have breakdowns in the middle of grocery stores.
Sometimes, I feel like I’m the only one that doesn’t understand what’s happening around me, like everyone sees a world that I just can’t. It makes me feel stupid even though, logically, I know I’m not. I get told to just be myself, but no one ever accepts me as myself. I get rejected at every turn. I’m not perfect?—”
He stopped me, his fingers brushing my lips before I could finish my sentence.
“Lily, baby, I’m not looking for perfection. I’m not looking at all because I already have you. I love you, so much, exactly how you are. Please let me love you.”
I nodded. Tears fell down my face again as I pressed my lips to his, just a whisper of a touch at first, the salty taste mixing with the flavor of him. I pushed closer to him as he threaded his hands in my hair, deepening the kiss until we were gasping for breath.
I pulled back and rested my head on his shoulder. I didn’t want to push him right now. He was still healing and under doctor’s orders to rest.
“Why did you ever agree to it?” I asked. “Why did you ever agree to that first kiss?”
“Wanting to kiss you is like breathing. I don’t know when it started, and I think I’ll keep wanting it until the day I die. There had never been a time in our lives that I didn’t love you. I just never thought I could be with you, so when you offered me a taste of what I’d been craving my entire life, I could no more say no than cut off my own arm.”
“I—I don’t think I can say the same. You’ve always been the most important person to me, but—” I couldn’t finish. What if that was the thing that broke his heart?
“I know.” He ran his hands down myback. “It’s ok. I was happy just to get what I could with you. That was probably foolish, but I’ve never been very smart.”
I sat up and smacked his chest.
“No one talks about my best friend like that.” He laughed at me and pulled me back down.
“I would have kept loving you from afar, content to be your friend. I’m yours, Lily, however you will have me for as long as you want.”
I kissed his chest, bare and beautiful in the evening light spilling through the tall windows.
“I think I’ll keep you forever. You have a really nice cock, after all.”
He snorted and pinched my ass.
“Minx.”
Chapter Thirty-Four
ONE WEEK LATER
Lily had barely left my side since the island and I couldn’t be happier about that, but there was one thing I needed to take care of that was better done without her knowing.
“I got the information you wanted,” Tink said when he picked up the phone. Lily’s sick leave had run out and Frankie picked her up about an hour ago for work. I didn’t want to waste any more time on this side project than I had to.
“And?” I prompted him when he didn’t continue. I didn’t want to deal with theatrics, not today.
“He works for one of your subsidiaries, believe it or not. That tech company you’re acquiring, actually. Pretty high up. He was in charge of the project that led to the little drama going around right now.”
