Betting the Bad Boy (18 page)

When she’d proposed the bet, she hadn’t though Duke would fall into fatherhood so seamlessly. There were big bumps in the road, but they were all between him and her and she didn’t know how they would fare in Vegas. In his territory where neither she nor Ryder knew anyone. Maybe she could talk to Duke and he would reconsider.

And maybe she would sprout a horn and wings and fly away.

“Come on, Ryder. We’re going to be late.”

She dropped him off at school and after running a few errands, she went to the bank to pay her bills. She could have paid them online, but she needed an excuse to be out of the house for a while. She didn’t want to see what Duke was doing to her home and she didn’t want to fight with him right now. She just didn’t know how to be around him during the day and she was afraid things would always be like this. When they were young, they always had to sneak off to be with each other. Their time together was stolen, every moment they spent together precious, and it made her wonder: If they had been in the same places in life all those years ago, would things have worked out? Would they have loved so strongly? Would their love have lasted more than a few weeks if it had ever really started in the first place?

“Hey there, Grace,” Eunice, the longtime bank teller, greeted her when she walked up. “Come for a withdrawal?”

“No. I’m here to pay my mortgage and my electric bill.”

“You sure about that?” Eunice frowned.

“Yes.”

“I’m pretty sure those things have been paid.” She typed something into her computer. “Yup. Your mortgage was paid in full this morning and all your bills are paid probably for the next five years.”

“Excuse me?”

“Must be nice to have Duke back. Who would have thought you would have struck gold when you fell for him? My grandmother used to say the gates of prison were crying for that boy and they were, but he made good. I don’t know how I didn’t see that your boy was his. Looks just like him! We knew you and Duke had a little thing going after he got into that fight with the Andersen boy, but we never guessed how big that thing would be. You fooled us good by being gone all that time. We figured Ryder belonged to that man your daddy told us you were engaged to.”

“Tell me, Eunice, do people have anything else better to do in this town besides discuss my business?”

“Nope.” Eunice shook her head. “Where there are Kings there is talk, and now that Colt is the owner of this here bank, everybody is going to be talking about them for a long time. Why don’t you take some money out and get your hair done or buy some new clothes? You have a rich man in your pocket, you might as well make use of it.”

“I’ve got to go, Eunice. That rich man and I have some discussing to do.”

She drove home on autopilot. When she arrived, she found her house in a state that was nearly unrecognizable.

Some of the shingles on the roof had been replaced. All the rotting pieces of the porch had been replaced with fresh new wood, and the house was being transformed from an ugly brown to a pretty sand color. Duke stood out there alone in front of a newly constructed monstrosity of a garage/shed.

Her irritation went up a few notches. “Where’s the army?”

“At lunch,” he grunted as he looked up at the building his crew had constructed in a matter of hours. “Good workers. But then again, I’m paying them enough to work this hard.”

“Is that your solution to every problem? Just throw money at it?”

Duke looked at her, his gorgeous dark eyes full of heat. “Yup,” he said slowly. “It’s one of the beautiful things about being rich. I can pay for shit to get done quickly and exactly the way I want it.”

“But life isn’t all about what you want, is it? There are other people you have to consult, to consider. You just can’t throw your weight around and expect everyone to fall at your feet. Life doesn’t work that way.”

“It works that way for me now.”

“Are you serious? Do you think this macho-man crap is going to work with me? The world may ask how high when you say jump, but I won’t. If we’re going to do this together you need to talk to me. Your last name may be King but you don’t rule me.”

“What do you want me to do?” He rounded on her, heat in his eyes. “Apologize? For what? Replacing your piece-of-shit car? Making this place not a fucking embarrassment for my son? Paying your bills so you can spend more time with him, instead of with people who don’t need you? The way I see it, you should be thanking me instead of giving me shit for doing what’s right.”

“Damn it, Duke. You don’t get to do this. You don’t get to make me into a bad guy. I did the best I could for our son. He’s fine. I’m sick of you making me feel like what I did isn’t good enough.”

“It’s not good enough!” he barked at her.

“I will not let you make me feel like a bad mother. I’ve worked my ass off for him! Everything I have done is for him.”

“You didn’t have to do it alone. You could have come to me.”

“When was a good time? When you were in prison serving hard time? Or the day you got out with no job and no prospects? I could have taken the easy road out and let my father arrange a marriage for me. I could have had a man take care of me and never worked a day in my life, but I did it all on my own. I went to school and work and I raised a baby with a father in prison and it was damn hard. I learned about hard work from you. I learned about pride and instead of throwing it in my face that I can’t give my son the best of everything, you should appreciate what a great kid he is despite all the stuff that could have gone wrong. I thought you would have been proud of what I did, because as I was doing it, I thought about you. I thought this is how you would want him to be raised. It may not have been perfect, but it’s sure as hell better than what you had with your father.”

“Don’t you bring up my father.”

“And don’t you dare doubt my parenting.” She walked away from him then, knowing that this argument wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter 14

“I can’t believe you bought Ryder a car.”

Duke lay on his back that evening thinking about the day. It was something that he always did. Reflect. Go over his actions and see if he could have done anything differently. He had started doing this in prison—really evaluating his decisions and thinking about different paths he could have taken. A lot of the time he had no regrets. He still would have gone after Patrick Andersen. He still would have ended up in prison.

Prison wasn’t fun for him, but he had learned a lot there. About people, about friendships, about loyalty and family. About Colt, who—now that he thought about it—was probably the most loyal to him of them all. Colt was the one who’d picked him up when he was released from prison. Colt was the one who took him home and gave him a place to stay. Colt was the only one who didn’t bat an eyelash when Duke told him that he wanted to open up a car customizing shop and staff it with ex-cons.

He’d just nodded and said, “Let me be in charge of expansion.” Duke agreed, and now they had a billion-dollar empire.

Colt had done so much for him. He had always done the most for him without thought or question or wanting thanks. And the only reason for it that Duke could think of was that Duke had taken more than a few beatings from their father for stuff Colt did. He was bigger. He could take it, and toward the end, he could give it back to their father.

It was the reason he’d left. He had gone after Levi for breaking a plate and Duke had broken his nose. They never saw their father again after that. Maybe that’s why Colt did all he did. Who knows how they would have turned out if he had stuck around?

Colt was there with him today, along with Levi, when he showed Ryder the car he’d had delivered there for him for them to restore together. They should have been closer, gotten along better, but maybe that’s just how he and Colt were. They didn’t need big conversations or bonding moments. They were just there for each other when it mattered.

And that’s why Duke couldn’t regret what he’d done today. He wasn’t a big believer in fate, but there had to be a reason that old El Camino was at the house across the street from the judge. There had to be a reason that Ryder was outside then. This car was meant for them to work on.

He could still see Grace’s face, completely pissed with him for making another big decision without telling her. He had paid off all her debts, bought her a new car, and changed her house without asking her about any of it. If somebody did that to him, he would have been pissed, too. He was used to always being in charge, always doing things for himself without consulting anyone. Maybe he should have told her before he did those things, but he didn’t regret any of it. He wanted her to live a life without worry, without stress. Her life should be as easy as possible and if he could do that for her, he would.

The door at the top of the stairs opened and soon he heard Grace’s familiar footsteps. He was surprised that she was there. He thought this would be another night without her. She was still pissed at him. He could see it all over her face as she walked toward him.

She pulled off her nightgown as he sat up. Damn, he loved her body. The plumpness in her hips and thighs. The roundness in her bottom, the way her breasts slightly bounced as she walked over to him.

He reached for her, attempted to touch her, but she slapped his hands away. “Don’t kiss me. I’m furious with you. I want this over as quickly as possible.”

“You don’t have to do this,” he said to her. She made it sound like sleeping with him was a chore. It wasn’t something he had asked her to do.

“Yes, I do.” She straddled him and he could feel the heat from her sex on him and it made it hard in an instant. He studied her face as she took his hand and guided it to her breast and then her nipple. “Squeeze them. I like it when you do it.” He could see the arousal in her eyes, and he felt his heart began to pound as he did what she asked. “Now put it in your mouth. I like that, too.”

“Would you tell me if you didn’t like something?”

“I-I…” He eyes drifted shut and her mouth hung open slightly as he sucked her nipple into his mouth. He could hear the catch in her voice and he slipped his fingers between her legs and stroked her just so he could see how aroused she was. His fingers came away wet. “I like everything you do,” she admitted but he had a feeling that she hadn’t wanted to. “I’m ready,” she panted. And when he went to kiss her again she pushed against his chest and gave him a hard, hot look. The arousal and anger in her eyes was such a stunning combination that it made him want her even more.

“Lie down,” she ordered. He had to admit that he found her bossiness sexy. He liked to be in charge, but yielding to her was fun.

She took him from his boxers, his erection standing straight up, ready for whatever it was she was prepared to do. She looked at him once, licking her lips, but she didn’t put him in her mouth like she usually did. She rose up over him and slowly slid down onto him. And he watched as every inch of him disappeared inside her. She squeezed around him and he knew she wasn’t playing around tonight. She was going to end this quickly. Hands on his chest, she began to ride him.

She wasn’t trying to turn him on, to tantalize him. No part of her steady rhythm was meant to please him. She was just about pleasing herself tonight, and he found that sexier than anything any other woman had ever done to him. So he just watched her. Her eyes closed, her mouth slightly open, her head tilted back. It was almost as if he weren’t there, as if he was having an out-of-body experience, a voyeur to her private moment. But he was there and she was tight and wet around him and bringing him closer to release with every slick slide.

“Oh, God,” she cried out and she went stiff before she began to tremble on top of him. Her face, the way her sex squeezed around him as she came, caused him to explode inside her. Their sex was quick and powerful and good but he didn’t want it to be over yet. But all too soon she had caught her breath and was detaching herself from him.

“You don’t have to have sex with me because you feel guilty,” he said to her.

That made her pause, a frown crossing her pretty flushed face. “I’m not having sex with you because I feel guilty. You’re the one who should be guilty. I would hit you with a two-by-four right now if I could. I’m having sex with you because I haven’t had sex in thirteen years and while you are here I’m going to make sure I get good use out of you.” She bent down to pick up her nightgown but he caught her hand, not sure that he’d heard her right.

“What?”

She seemed flustered, like she hadn’t meant to say what she had, and he knew it was true. “I have never brought another man into Ryder’s life. I’ve never been on more than a coffee date. I’ve never seriously been with anyone else because even if you were never in Ryder’s life, I didn’t want anyone else replacing you.”

She hadn’t been with anybody else even when she’d thought he’d ignored her letters. Even when she’d thought he didn’t want to be a father to Ryder.

He wasn’t like her. He wasn’t good with his words. He wasn’t good with expressing himself, so he just grabbed her and pulled her down on the bed, his lips seeking hers. She turned her head, avoiding his kiss.

“Don’t kiss me. I’m mad at you.”

But he didn’t care. Their relationship wasn’t easy. It probably never would be easy, but they did have one, a connection, something strong between them that pulled them back together. He placed his heavy body on top of hers; pinning her to the bed and taking her face in his hands, he kissed her as long and slow and as deep as he could manage. It took a few moments, but he felt her go completely soft beneath him.

“Damn it, Duke,” she said when he broke the kiss. “I hate you.”

“You don’t.”

She shut her eyes and rested her head on the mattress. “I don’t.”

He stroked his thumb along her cheek until she opened her eyes and looked into his. “Let me take care of you.” He wanted to. More than he wanted King’s Customs. More than he wanted happiness for himself. He wanted to take care of her. He wanted her to be happy. It was why he’d sent her away in the first place.