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  Perhaps his mum decided to finally interfere in his life from above, to give him someone who would keep his body and soul together. The two parts of his whole that needed mending and healing. There wouldn't be any more searching for that something elusive he couldn't put his finger on several weeks ago. He had finally found his true north. Something inside him knew that the moment he had laid eyes on Gracie, she was different.

  Because she had saved him.

  He finally found peace. He found his home in the one woman who now meant more than his own life. "I love you, Gracie. I love you. Thank you. You don't know how much that means to me." He placed his forehead on hers, his eyes closed, and unable to suppress his body from shaking.

  "And I love you."

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  This wasn't how Luke wanted to return to work for a few days before the New Year arrived. Sure, he had a lot of paperwork and meetings that needed his attention, negotiating at least two more lucrative contracts for his firm and everything seemed to be coming up roses. After a relaxing and joyous Christmas, he had developed a renewed sense of purpose now that Gracie and Flynn were in his life. His heart swelled at the thought of family, something which he hadn't had in a long time.

  And now this.

  The first thing that greeted him was Terrence closeting him in his office to say that Belton was suing Bryce Engineering for breach of contract. Luke had planned to use the day to catch up with paperwork. Not a legal suit. He had to cancel his lunch with Gracie, telling her he would make it up to her, just to get the ball running for a counter suit. He called Terrence and Barry Slater into his office to get more details of what happened while he was gone.

  "They've got balls to call us out when they've been in breach of contract for so long." Luke's eyes narrowed on the Manchester skyline. "How long before we take them down?"

  "I'll get this sorted ASAP. We can consider misrepresentation. I'll see what kind of damages we can get," Barry said while typing a few more notes on his iPad, his glasses almost sliding to the end of his nose. Barry shifted in his chair. His huge body built like a prize fighter made the chair creak, his shirt straining against his muscled arms. The iPad looked so tiny and fragile he could probably snap it in half with just one hand. Barry had been one of Luke's friends in college. He had always been on the other side of the law for most of his life until he served time in juvenile detention. Something happened to him in jail because when he was let out Barry had changed. Only Luke, then later Terrence were willing to give him a second chance to the point of helping him finish school, celebrating with him when he was accepted into law school. Because Barry was well known to the police, Luke and Terrence always had to vouch for him.

  "I hear that we're not the only one Belton has been doing this to," Terrence piped in as he leaned forward to rest his elbows on his knees. "I happened to bump into one of the managers of Preston Electrics and Belton has been changing the goalposts with them too."

  "What the bloody hell is Belton thinking?" Barry shook his head, his eyes filled with incredulity. "Do they think they can be that flippant without having any repercussions? I wouldn't be surprised if other sub-contractors do the same."

  "Find out what you can from Preston," Luke said, moving away from the window to pin Terrence with a glare. "It might help us with our case. And tell Belton we're pulling out. Barry, I need you to help Terrence with this. Talk with Belton's legal department if you have to. If they so much as twitch, sue their arses off and if they still think they can take the high ground drag them to court. Firms like Belton shouldn't be in this business."

  Barry nodded. "Will do."

  Luke sighed, the anger in his eyes dimmed with each passing moment. "Sorry, mate. They just fucking annoy me."

  Barry snorted. "You're welcome. Gives me more business."

  "That it does." Luke's mouth pulled to a grin, but warned. "Don't you go excessively charging me."

  Barry and Terrence laughed.

  "Says the big spender," Barry drawled as he stood up, running his palm over his salt and pepper close-cropped hair. A part of a tattoo appeared when he flexed his neck. "I have something else to say. It's about Cilla."

  The temperature in the room dipped.

  Luke nodded. "Is there more other than what you've already told me?"

  "She hangs out with the wrong crowd," Barry replied.

  "So?" Terrence snorted. "You used to as well."

  Barry grunted. "I did a hundred and eighty degree turn, man, and if you weren't my friend, I would’ve pureed your gut."

  "Yeah, yeah." Terrence rolled his eyes and grinned when Barry huffed and chuckled.

  "What did you find out?" Luke cocked his head to one side, hands on his narrow hips.

  "Apart from the fact that she has a drug habit? She's bad news. Rumour has it that she's something like a courier but it's never been proved. She has some strong backers." Barry's face was apologetic.

  "Yeah, don't remind me." Luke's eyes narrowed.

  "And you know this because?" Terrence arched an eyebrow.

  "Like you said, I've got a checkered past. I know people who know people."

  Luke exhaled as he looked up at the ceiling. "That explains it. The drugs, I mean," he added. "A very thin film of powder sometimes coated her wallet. Cilla would wipe it down with her hand, then she'd lick her fingers when she thought I wasn't looking."

  Terrence swore as he shook his head. "And you didn't think to ask her."

  Luke arched an eyebrow. "Do you think she'd tell the truth? C'mon. In the two weekends Cilla and I were seeing each other, it was all about sex. A fuckship.”

  Both Barry and Terrence spoke and chortled as they looked at each other. "A fuckship?"

  "A fuckship," Luke repeated. "No strings. No questions. But when money I kept in the loft started to disappear..." Luke let his statement hang. "That's when I asked Barry to do some digging."

  Terrence choked back a laugh in disbelief. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "My God. Serena isn't going to like this."

  "You serious about her?" Luke asked, a smile tugging his mouth.

  "Don't know yet." Terrence avoided his eyes.

  "Do you think she knows?" Barry asked, folding his massive arms over his chest.

  "I really can't say." Terrence shrugged. "What I do know is that they've been friends since college. Got work from the same employment agency."

  Barry gave a short smile. "We all have secrets." He glanced at Luke. "What do you intend to do?"

  "Nothing."

  Barry's eyes flickered with interest and amusement. "Nothing."

  "It's over between us. She was my weekender. No strings attached. That was the deal."

  "Man, you can be cold." Terrence chuckled. "And why the hell do you bring women to your place? Now she knows where you live."

  "At the end of the day, Terrence, it’s no different to a business arrangement," Barry replied, then grinned when Terrence's mouth thinned. "And you," wagging a finger at Luke, "change your locks."

  Luke straightened, crossing his arms over his chest. "Already did."

  "You guys want to grab a drink?" Barry neatly placed his papers into his case.

  "Might as well." Terrence stood up also.

  "I'll join you," Luke said before grabbing his mobile phone from the desk and saw that it was just a little after seven in the evening. "Let me tell Gracie."

  Barry whistled, one eyebrow arched in wonder. "Whoa, mate. New squeeze?" It was his turn to guffaw in disbelief. "And it's the first day of the week. Not a weekender then."

  "Gracie Sinclair," Terrence offered, smiling. "She works for Matt Levinson...and no, she doesn't look frumpy. She's actually very sexy."

  "You're a git." Luke scowled when Terrence told Barry how Luke and Gracie met. He turned away from them to wait for Gracie to answer.

  "Hey," she answered.

  Luke could hear the smile in Gracie's voice.

  "Hey." His face slowly cleared, replaced by a grin, warmth in
his belly and throbbing in the head between his legs. "How's work?"

  "Still the same," Gracie answered. "Matt's assigned me to look at several accounts but it isn't as much as I thought. How did your meeting go?"

  "I've asked Barry to look into suing Belton for breach of contract."

  "Oh, Luke, I'm so sorry to hear that," she replied with regret.

  "Me too. I don't need this bloody aggravation." He sighed. "Are you still in the office?" He heard a few papers being shuffled and the Microsoft shut down tune in the background.

  "I've just switched my computer off. Flynn and Mum know I'm coming home a tad later than usual."

  "We can go home together."

  Gracie's tinkling laugh made his cock notice. "Home, Mr. Bryce?"

  Luke grinned, walking back to the window. This time, he didn't mind her calling him by his last name. "Yes, Mrs. Sinclair. Home. With you."

  She hummed before she teased. "You can always follow me home. Aren't you my personal stalker?"

  Luke's smile widened. He looked up at the black sky where a few stars twinkled. Rare stars. And Gracie was one of them.

  "I'd follow you anywhere, Gracie Sinclair."

  She chuckled. "You do know how to turn on the charm."

  "I can turn on something else to make you wet and it isn't the shower," he murmured.

  "Oh damn, I can feel something."

  "What?" Luke's heart thudded in his chest when he heard a noise. He had an idea what it was, but he wanted to be sure. "Was that something snapping against skin?"

  "Yes." Gracie's voice became soft, sultry, sexy. "My thong, Luke. I think it's wet."

  Blood roared in Luke's ears. His heartbeat as loud as tribal drums. And his trousers were getting tighter by the minute. He swallowed hard at the picture of Gracie with her legs apart and her sex glistening in invitation.

  "Are you alone?" he asked softly, walking to the coat rack to get his jacket.

  "Yes. Everyone's left."

  Luke groaned and closed his eyes. He wouldn't last if he still had to go to the pub with Terrence and Barry.

  "Don't go anywhere," he growled before ending the call. He strode to his office door.

  "Where the hell are you going?" Terrence asked.

  "I'll meet you in the pub." Luke turned to his two dumbfounded friends, leaving it at that.

  He drove as sanely as any mad man could. It normally took him fifteen minutes to get to her office, but he got there in seven, cursing the traffic. To hell with the speed cameras. He'd let Barry deal with any citations. He had money to burn. Right now, he was burning for the woman ensconced in the corner office on the fifth floor of Matt Levinson and Associates. He wanted Gracie, needed and desired her like no other woman.

  He strode through the softly lighted reception area and nearly ran to Gracie's door. Her office's lights were turned down low. Gracie turned around as soon as he swung the door open, her hands supporting her weight against her desk, her auburn hair tumbling around her shoulders, three buttons of her red silk blouse undone, allowing Luke a peek of the swell of her breasts straining against black lace cups. In the centre of her throat was Luke's gift, the one carat diamond sparkling like a beacon.

  And except for her lace rimmed stay up black stockings, black patent three-inch heels and her black thong, she was completely bare.

  In two strides Luke was in front of her, taking her mouth in a savagely primal kiss. Their tongues clashed, explored, mated. Luke growled in triumph at the fervour with which Gracie kissed him, sucked at his lips, gripped his hair. She was as hungry as he was, and when Gracie cupped his erection and squeezed, he nearly came. He lifted her to sit on the desk before unzipping his trousers and pulling them down together with his boxers. His arousal stood long, hard, and hot.

  "No foreplay, Gracie," he bit out. "I need to be inside you now."

  "Take me." She gasped, removing his jacket and shirt. She lifted her mouth again for Luke's kiss and whimpered when Luke slid home and her legs encircled his waist.

  Luke groaned as Gracie's quim closed in on him, warm, wet, tight. He bent forward to swipe the things on her desk before he unhooked her legs to spread her wider. Gracie lay back, gasped and moaned when he pummelled into her, jerking her body back on the flat surface. He wasn't gentle. He was downright fucking her, her juices bathing his cock with her slick heat. She squealed when he tore her blouse, the buttons falling in soft thuds over the carpet. She whimpered and panted when he took out her breasts from her bra and sucked hard on her nipples, her fingers messing with his hair, but had to let go to hold on to the table. Luke continued to pound into her, harder, deeper. He felt his cock thicken and his balls tighten. He heard her cry out, begging him for more, and he gave her what she wanted.

  What they both needed.

  Luke took Gracie so hard that her desk moved even against the carpet. The scent of their joint arousal filled the air, his groans and Gracie's soft cries, their heated breaths and stolen kisses in between Luke driving into her became their music. Luke knew Gracie was close when her whimpers started to crescendo. He could feel it in the tightening of her pussy walls and the encircling of her hole against his cock. He could feel the heat they generated, the friction as their bodies moved in a dance of give and take. He felt his balls tighten, his cock strain.

  And there it was.

  Gracie said his name over and over again.

  With one more thrust, Luke shot his load into her womb, his guttural shout signalling the force of his climax. Gracie milked him for everything. Her channel twitched around his cock and it nearly made his knees buckle underneath him so that he had to fall against her. Luke felt Gracie's frenetic heartbeat against his chest, her breasts and hardened nipples telling him that she was still in the throes of their afterglow. He kissed her deeply when she moved her mouth to his.

  Words were not needed where bodies spoke.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Gracie turned into her driveway and switched off the engine just as Luke parked behind her. She smiled seductively when Luke ambled slowly towards her, his eyes flaring with desire. That was enough to warm her despite her ruined blouse underneath her coat.

  "Hey, you two," Noreen called from across the hedge before striding to them.

  "Noreen." Luke nudged his head in acknowledgment, his arm around Gracie's waist. "How are things?"

  "Very good, actually." Noreen beamed before turning her attention to Gracie. "We just received a huge order from one of those who bought during the last fair."

  "That's brilliant!" Gracie walked towards Noreen, quickly hugging her.

  "I'll need your help this weekend," Noreen said after the embrace. "You think you have time?"

  "Of course! Flynn will have to be with me, though. Mum is helping a friend out, and she'll be gone the entire day."

  "That's okay, babe. Go and help Noreen. I'll stay with Flynn." Luke kissed the top of Gracie's head.

  Gracie felt like melting.

  "You will?" she asked softly with a bit of incredulity.

  "Gracie, when will you ever realize that Flynn means much to me too?" Tenderness weaved through Luke's voice and into Gracie's veins. "We'll be fine. Besides, he wants to get more cars for the toy train I got him, so we can have some man time."

  Gracie threw her head back and laughed. "I love you, Mr. Bryce."

  "I love you, Mrs. Sinclair."

  Noreen turned on her heel to go back to her house, muttering, "There they go again."

  Gracie and Luke walked arm in arm into the house.

  "Happy?" Luke murmured.

  Gracie beamed. "Very."

  "I need to go to the loft for a while." Luke took the key from Gracie's hand, inserting it into the lock. "There’s a homeowner’s meeting I have to attend."

  He swung the door open, entering ahead. "I won't be long. Let's have something to eat first, and I'll talk to Flynn."

  They both entered the threshold.

  And saw Theresa on the floor, hogtied, mumbling against t
he tape over her mouth, partially unconscious. Gracie's first instinct was to run up the stairs, her stomach plummeting as though it was left behind as she ran, the sobs battling with her need to breathe. She barged into her son's room.

  "Flynn!"

  * * *

  Felicity parked her Mini outside the gate of the massive house. Walking through the driveway, she climbed the steps and rang the doorbell by the side of the huge wooden double doors. The bell sounded sonorous through, what Felicity knew, was a nearly cavernous foyer. She had after all, lived here practically most of her life before she decided to bail. She looked around the manicured front lawn where her parents' Bentley stood. Compared to her second hand Mini, it looked opulent for her taste. In the middle of the driveway was a fountain that wasn't switched on, the water's surface caked with ice. Everything remained the same.

  And everything was different.

  After her father's call, she prevaricated on coming to join them even after Christmas. Better for them to suck it in than for her to be a hypocrite.

  In the first few months after she left, they had called her several times, urging her to the point of threatening her to come back. She stood her ground. Her father had even asked his lawyer to see her, but she was a grown woman, so there was no way her parents could force her to return. Unless she was mentally incapable of making her own decisions, no court would deny a person to live the way they wanted. Then her parents and sisters' calls became far in between until they stopped completely. Felicity had expected to feel sadness at the estrangement. It brought about the opposite. She had felt a sense of freedom like no other, a sense that she had come to her own. Would she have felt the same way if she didn't have any money to fall back on? Perhaps not, but her foresight had saved her so many times there was no need to mull over a hypothetical situation that might have made her think differently.