Duke

“New subject, please. What’s it like being mega pregnant?” Esther asks, then she kicks me causing me to laugh. “Shit! Sorry, Duke.” Now I know something is up with these two.

“No harm done, Esther,” I respond. If blushes on her face get any brighter, I’m afraid she will catch on fire.

When our food arrives, we all dig in, except for Esther. For a few minutes, I watch as she pushes her food around on her plate.

“Do you not like your food, baby doll?” I ask, forgetting myself.

Baron chokes on his drink again, and Frannie stifles a giggle. But my girl’s eyes meet mine, and we might as well be the only people at the table. There is only her and me in the restaurant and sitting at the table. At this point, I’m about ten seconds from whisking her away from the table, out the restaurant doors, and never letting her go. Unfortunately, others would probably say that it borders on the criminally insane.

“Um… No… I like it,” she says, taking a large bite of her salad. “See,” she says, and I can’t help laughing. She eats, but only a small portion and I don’t like that.

After dinner, Baron and I take care of the check and meet the girls outside and in front of the restaurant. The valet has Baron’s car waiting and they leave after Frannie and Esther hug.

“Would you like to have a nightcap with me?” I ask, as we are waiting for her cab. It would be wonderful to talk to her without having chaperones.

“Uh… that’s not a good idea. I need to be somewhere in the morning, and I don’t want to take the chance of being late.” After those words fly out through her lips, I take a chance and back her up to the building.

“Did I tell you how beautiful you look tonight?” I whisper into her ear, while inhaling her lily and honey scent.

“No,” she whispers back.

“You look amazing in that dress, baby doll.” She has the old Hollywood hourglass figure that I crave to touch. The need to make her mine is overwhelming. My desire is to knock her up and tie her to me forever, but I know I have to move one step at time. I have to order myself to slow the fuck down.

“Thank you, Duke.” Her blush is rising again. I want to rip her dress off and see how far down the blush travels.

“So, about that nightcap?” I ask her again.

“I shouldn’t,” she says, but I think she’s wavering. Just as I am about to kiss her for the first time, I pull back and open my mouth to speak. I should have kept it shut.

“What were you doing at Kilworth, Kent, and Horowitz for so long today?” I ask, unable to help myself. I move to look at her face and immediately regret the question. Her eyes darken and she pushes me away from her.

Shit.Chapter EightEstherSuddenly I’m preparing myself for what I know should be a soul altering kiss. Then the words leaving his mouth hit me hard and throws me off balance. Pulling back, I look him in the face and something akin to indignation comes over me.

“What did you just ask me?” Immediately, he is looking abash as he realizes what he just said. Even with the cat out of the bag, it doesn’t stop him from continuing. I start pushing against his chest to get him to release me, but have you ever tried to push a boulder over a cliff? By yourself? Yeah. Not going to happen

“I think you heard what I asked, baby. What were you doing there for well over an hour?” He doesn’t bother justifying his question, or the fact that he knows where I was. Instead, he runs his nose up the side of my neck with his tongue taking little licks as he goes. My eyes are almost closed, and my body is getting lost in the sensation of finally being in his arms. There are parts of him touching me and making it extremely hard to concentrate, then suddenly everything finally comes back into focus.

“I was there for a job interview,” I say matter of factly, while trying to put the pieces of the puzzle together. His head slowly moves away from my neck, and his eyes land on mine with something akin to anger glazing out of them.

“If you were there for a job interview, then why the fuck was his hands on you?” It takes me a minute to realize what he was talking about, and then I begin to get pissed off. Who does he think he is?

“First of all, Mr. Huge Guy.” Great, now I cannot come up with anything better than Mr. Huge Guy? “He was walking me out, due to the fact that I got the job. Second of all, how the hell do you know all of this? Lastly, why am I defending myself to you? If you’ll excuse me, I have to go home and get ready for my first day of work.'' I turn to hail a cab when he grabs my arm and pulls me back to him.