Chapter 16: King of Deception: Chapter 16

The sun is hot and even after dipping into the pool, I’m starting to sweat. I’m just about to go inside when my phone rings.

My eyes widen in surprise. It’s Gris. “Hey.”

“Hey, gorgeous, where are you?”

“Where are you?” I smile nipping at my lip. After talking with Mason, it’s just nice to hear his voice.

“Outside your apartment door, but you’re not answering.”

I give a half sigh even as my smile grows. “Mrs. Gillette is going to have a fit.”

“Who’s that?”

“My next-door neighbor. People have started banging on my door several times a day.” I lean back in the chair. “She’s going to file a complaint for sure.”

“Now that is a problem I can take care of for you,” he rumbles into the phone. “And you still haven’t told me where you are.”

“Why do you want to know?” I know I’m being difficult. But it’s fun. I might like the way Gris chases me.

“Because I want to kiss you.”

“Good answer. I’m down by the pool.”

He hangs up without a word and I stare at my phone. That little game of cat and mouse ended quickly. But a minute later, Gris is striding across the pool deck.

I’m in a small white bikini, covered in sunblock, and sweaty from the sun. My hair is in a high ponytail and my feet are bare. I look nothing like the polished woman in heels and a silk gown, and I’m intimately aware that he is draped in an expensive Armani suit.

He looks every inch the powerful aristocrat as he strides toward me. I touch my messy ponytail, nipping at my lip. “I wasn’t expecting guests.”

He keeps moving toward me. “I noticed.”

Does he not like it? “I can…”

“You look hot as fuck, Bella. I’m just glad there aren’t any other men out here, I’d have to kill them.”

My teeth slip off my lip as I smile. “Oh.” Does he know what he does to me when he says stuff like that? Appreciates me like that? “Is that why you’re here? To kill random men?”

He chuckles. “No. I only came to run my hands over your skin. And the fact that you’re in a bathing suit makes that very easy.”

“Gris,” I lightly groan. He’s going to wreck me, talking like that. “This is so complicated…”

And I promised my brother I’d pretend at being engaged for a few more days at least. I can’t keep letting Gris in my bed. Can I?

Because while I didn’t feel that guilty about Preston, I kind of hate that I’m going behind my brother’s back. Or should I say brothers’ backs. I don’t think Luke would be very happy either if he knew what Gris and I have been doing.

“It’s not complicated, princess. Not for you.”

“Not for me?”

“You let me touch you all over. I get to listen to your sweet little moans and your begging cries and then…” His lips press into a firm line. “You let me be your soldier.”

I frown. That requires a certain level of trust we don’t have. I trust him with my body, I know that. But my life, I’m not so sure.

And the lives of my brothers, particularly Mason. I know for a fact that Gris is the last man I can trust. “You can’t be my soldier if the person you most want to fight is Mason.” I turn away to look at the pool.

He’s silent, but he sits on the edge of my chair, his hand running up my leg until it reaches the edge of my bikini bottom. He’s so close to my… I feel my body tense up, my muscles flexing in a way that makes me ache between my legs.

And then he slides his hand over my mound, the tips of his fingers just grazing my clit. “Are you trying to say I have to choose my family or yours?”

I shake my head, my hair brushing my shoulders. “I’d never ask you to do that. They’re your family.”

He leans in then, kissing that spot behind my ear that makes me shiver. “You wouldn’t?”

“They’re your partners, Gris. Your brothers. Family should stay together. Luke should…” I stop. I’m saying too much.

He rumbles in a way I don’t understand. Does he agree, not agree? He stands back up, and for a second, I think he’s going to leave, that I’ve pushed him away.

Which was my intent.

But it still stings. He reaches a hand down, and after only a moment’s hesitation, I slip my fingers into his. He helps me from my chair and reaches into my bag, pulling out my cover-up.

I cock my head to the side in question.

“Put it on,” he growls out in response.

“But I’m not done tanning.”

“First, you don’t need to tan. Your skin is gorgeous. And secondly, soldier or no, I’m taking you upstairs and bending you over the bed until you scream my name. Licking your pussy is my new favorite pastime and I’ve gone too long already.”

I’m absolutely drenched in a second as he yanks the little strapless dress over my head, settling it over my bathing suit.

I barely have time to grab my flip flops and bag before he’s yanking me toward the doors.

“Gris,” I give a breathless giggle. “At least let me get my shoes on.”

His response is to put an arm around my shoulder blades and then, in an arching stoop, hook another under my knees, pulling me into his arms so that he’s carrying me. “Good lord, man, I can walk.”

“I like carrying you,” he says, like that’s an explanation, and pushes the door open while still holding onto me.

The moment the elevator door closes, his lips find mine, his tongue sliding between my lips as he devours my mouth.

This is my apartment building. Any resident could step into this elevator with us, but I’m not sure I care as he tips my head back a little further, our tongues tangling.

The elevator dings and I yank my mouth away, gasping for breath.

I must look like I’ve been ravaged, but no one enters. We’re on my floor.

Striding down the hall, he only sets me down so I can fish out my keys from my bag.

That’s when Mrs. Gillette yanks open the door. Gris is turned toward me, mostly blocking her from my view, but I catch her gaze over his shoulder. “How many times is someone going to bang on your door, young lady?”

But she stops the moment her eyes land on Gris’s back. His very broad back.

Subtly, he shifts his cock and then, slides a hand in his pocket, before he turns to face her. “You must be Mrs. Gillette.”

“Oh,” she says, sounding like a smitten schoolgirl the way her voice gets all breathless and her eyes turn glassy. “Why, yes.”

“I’m so sorry for the noise.” Gris must flash her a smile the way she grins back. “That Preston is proving to be a real thorn.” Then he pulls out a business card. “This is my personal number. If he shows up here making noise, you call me. Any time. Day or night and I will come take care of him.”

“Oh,” Mrs. Gillette says again, and this time, she clutches her pearls. She. Clutches. Her. Pearls. “I will.”

I unlock the door and step inside, Gris giving Mrs. Gillette a warm goodbye before he follows.

“That is why I can’t trust you. You’re too Hugh Grant.”

“Hugh Grant is not titled,” he grouses back. “And I did that for you. If Preston shows his face around here, I want to know.”

I drop my bag and my flip flops and then pull down the cover up, letting it fall on the kitchen floor.

Then I pull out the elastic holding my hair as I start for the bedroom. I let my hair fall down as walk and then I give it a little fluff. “You’re a giver, Gris Smith.”

“Damn right I am.”

My back to him, I untie my bikini top and let it drop too. “Come give some more to me.”

He makes this noise that reverberates through his chest, and it makes me ache, it’s so masculine. And then I hear his footsteps tap across the floor as he follows.

I pick up the pace, wrapping an arm around my bare breasts, as I break out into a run, giving a giggle as I reach my room. He moves faster too, but I almost make it to the bed before he catches me, his arms coming around me as he lifts me off the ground. “That was fucking hot.”

It was. I’m dripping down my thighs, my body humming. “Next time, we’ll play hide and seek.”

He grabs the string on the side of my hip and tugs, the string coming undone, the bottoms half falling off. Then he plunges his fingers between my legs.

I cry out, it feels so good, my toes curling as the muscles of my thighs flex. “Gris,” I gasp out. “Oh God.”

He takes the last step to the bed and then sets me down on my belly, my legs hanging over the side.

“Don’t move,” he commands as he yanks at his own clothing. I catch the pale blue of his dress shirt as it hits the floor.

And then his mouth covers my seam, as he licks me from one end to the other. “Oh God,” I cry out, the friction so good as I fist the blankets. “Yes.”

He licks me, even as he uses one hand to undo his belt buckle, I hear the clank before the sound of zipper fills the room.

Is he planning on pushing inside me from behind? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t object. I want to feel Gris inside me.

But he doesn’t.

He eases back and then I feel nothing. Lifting up, I look over my shoulder…