Page 24 of Daring Wicked Love (Wicked Dade #2)

“Sorry to tell you, but you’re stuck with just me tonight.”

“Oh, where’s Pen?” I attempted to smooth out the damn crease in my dress for the seventeenth time. It refused to budge, which was mainly my own fault for throwing it into my suitcase without folding it like I always did.

Frederic’s nostrils flamed when I picked up the hem of my dress past my knees and tried to forcefully smooth out the material. “She’s spending the night with my Grand-mère. ”

When Florence video-called earlier, Penelope was practically bouncing around in the background.

The pair of them had been baking and spending the day down on the beach, and it was clear from the glances I managed to steal off the screen that Florence was loving every second of having her great-granddaughter to herself.

Though I didn’t know much about Frederic’s relationship with his family, the concern lining Florence’s face when she spoke to Frederic, the softer tone in her voice when the two of them spoke in French — it was obvious that she was worried about him.

She and I both.

Being with him today, seeing him come out of his spiked shell and flourish, did nothing to smother the glowing embers of desire threatening to engulf me.

“Looks like I don’t have to fight with this dress anymore.” I chuckled. “Pretty sure whatever fancy restaurant you were planning on taking us would have frowned upon my crumpled attire.”

“Why do you assume it would be a fancy restaurant?”

“Because I doubt billionaires eat in McDonald’s. ”

“That’s because Burger King is far superior.”

“How wrong you are, my friend. Five Guys is the only place you go to for a proper, tasty burger.”

“I’ve never eaten there before.”

“Why am I not surprised?” I bit back my smirk. “Then again, you did order that bubble-gum ice cream, so I am no longer surprised by your appalling taste.”

“There is nothing wrong with my taste.”

“Says the man who put ketchup on his pasta bake. I’ve met toddlers with a better sense of taste than you.”

“You and that mouth of yours…” He trailed off, teeth sinking into his bottom lip.

No matter how hard he tried to hide it, I was able to see exactly what was going on in that guarded mind of his. It was written all over his sharply handsome face.

Lust. Desire. Need.

Despite my insides flaming to life and my core tightening to the point of near pain, I stepped back toward the safety of my bedroom.

“Orla.”

He said my name like it was created to be only said by him.

Our eyes met, and I saw every fractured piece of him. Every scar he tried to hide. Every chipped fragment of his heart.

The self-imposed forbidden sense of yearning threatened to take hold of me.

I needed to leave. I needed distance.

“We could go if you want,” he said abruptly.

“Go where?”

“To get these so-called amazing burgers.” Frederic stepped forward. “There is a Five Guys in Cannes.”

“That’s nearly an hour’s drive away,” I said, ignoring the way his aftershave caused the hair on my arms to stand on end.

He shrugged. “And?”

“We’re not going to drive for nearly an hour for some burgers.”

“Is it because you know that my choice in fast food restaurants is, in fact, superior, and that you’re wrong?”

I blinked twice. He was baiting me.

Rise above. Remember to always rise above.

He smirked with a boyish twinkle in those baby blues. “It’s okay to admit that you’re wrong.”

“I’m fully aware of what you’re doing, and I am not falling for it.”

“Because you know I am right.” He nodded. “I get it. I mean if I were you, I’d walk away too, save myself the embarrassment of being proven wrong.”

The natural competitiveness within me awoke. “Get in the car, Fred. I am about to make you eat your own freaking words.”

After subjecting Frederic to my ‘ I told you so’ dance in the middle of the fast-food restaurant, I was on an all-time high.

It wasn’t just being right that made me skip with joy back to the car, but the time alone with Frederic had me perched high on cloud nine.

And I didn’t want to think about coming back down.

By the time we arrived back at the villa, it was well past midnight, with Frederic taking a strangely longer way back.

Either the dark roads confused him, or he too shared the same unspoken sentiment as I did — I wanted our night together to keep going.

“Thanks for dinner.” I stepped out of the car. “And I will accept your handwritten letter of defeat any day now.”

He chuckled lightly. “How about I write you one over a couple glasses of wine by the pool?”

Nervously excited butterflies fluttered to life. “Sounds like a plan.”

Just as we walked through the front door, the shrill noise of my phone ringing echoed throughout the silent villa.

Grabbing it from my dress pocket, the withheld number staring back at me caused the cheeseburger and banana milkshake in my stomach to turn acidic.

It didn’t take three guesses to know exactly who was calling me.

I rejected the call, only for it to ring promptly again.

Mint and undertones of wicked spice wrapped around me. Frederic’s body heat radiated into my back and brought the hairs on my neck to a standing salute.

“Don’t ignore the call on my account.”

I stiffly shook my head. “It’s nothing important. Probably one of those scam calls.” My finger pressed the decline button, but the phone just burst back into life yet again.

“Seems pretty persistent to be a scammer.” The sound of his teeth grinding together echoed between the rings. “Answer it.”

Fumbling with the buttons, I turned my phone off and silenced the calls from, no doubt, my father. His bullshit needed to stop, and I was going to put an end to it one way or another.

I just needed to figure out how.

“I’m going to bed,” Frederic’s tone was ice-cold. “So you don’t need to ignore your petit ami’s calls any longer.”

Petit ami.

My mind raced trying to remember the words in English.

I swung around to face him. “Did you just say boyfriend?”

His jaw muscles tightened.

“I don’t have a boyfriend.”

“Then who did you spend the night with the night you called in sick, turned your phone off, and didn’t bother to come home?”

I failed to keep my voice steady. “First of all, how dare you throw that shit back in my face? We moved past that, or so I thought.”

The corner of his left eye twitched.

“Secondly, it’s none of your damn business who I spent the night with.”

“It is my business.”

“Like hell it is.” I gritted between my teeth. “What on God’s green earth gives you the right to think you deserve to know anything about my private life?”

“Because I am your boss.”

I reared back, my blood pumping violently between my ears.

Here we were again, right back to square-fucking-one.

Fuck, I really am a fool for believing any of his shit.

Turns out Frederic’s actions meant nothing compared to his words.

“You’re my boss again, are you? The whole being my friend thing was just a load of utter bullshit, huh?”

His hands ran through his oil-black hair, pulling at the roots. “ Tu me rends fou. That’s not what I meant.”

“Of course it’s not.” I laughed without a lick of humor. “Go on, apologize again just like before. Oh, and the time before that. You’re unbelievable, and what’s worse is that I fell for your bullshit again .”

“Listen to me…”

“No,” I snapped. “I’m done listening to you. I told you I wanted us to be nothing more than boss and employee, but you somehow worked your way back under my skin and convinced me you wanted more. Well shame on fucking me for believing you.”

Before I got the chance to turn on my heel and walk away — my hands itching to slam a door for good measure — Frederic’s hand grabbed mine.

A single touch from him was like being struck by lightning.

Every nerve ending responded to him, and by the stars, I hated that he held the power to affect me so much.

“You don’t understand,” he said quietly.

“The night you didn’t come home, your friend Callie informed me you were safe and not lying dead somewhere.

Then she stopped responding. She didn’t tell me where you were or where you were staying.

She went radio silent, just like you, and all I could picture was you with another man. ”

I attempted to breathe normally. “And what if I was with someone?”

“ S’il te pla?t, I can’t stand it.” His brows pinched together. “The idea of another man touching you, kissing you, exploring every inch of you…It sickens me. It makes me want to rip your dress off and remove all traces of any other man on you.”

My tongue rolled along my bottom lip, coaxing a hiss from him.

“But I can’t do that to you, even though it kills me,” his voice strained, “because I know once I touch you, once I taste you, I’ll never be the same again. I’ll be undoubtedly ruined beyond repair, and the worst thing is I know I’ll never be able to give you what you deserve.”

Didn’t he realize that he wasn’t the only one who would be forever changed?

I knew in my soul that just one kiss from him would be enough to tip me over the edge and send me plummeting into unfounded and dangerous territory.

And yet, staring up at him, I wanted to jump.

I wanted to take the risk with him.

“Fred,” I said, barely a whisper. “Kiss me anyway.”

His chest rose and fell rapidly, and a flicker of pain passed through his eyes like a falling star. “Orla…”

“I dare you to kiss me.”

My heart steeled itself to feel the familiar sting of his rejection.

Instead, all whispers of doubt were silenced the second Frederic’s lips sealed themselves against mine.