Duane’s Determination (Broken Wheel Ranch #9)

Chapter 19

CHAPTER 19

Duane looked at her in shock, cleared his throat, and shook his head. “I don’t want to put you out.”

“You won’t. Besides my and Lorissa’s rooms upstairs, there are two spare bedrooms. Why don’t you go out to your vehicle to get your luggage, and I’ll make my way up to make the bed. I like to keep the sheets off if no one is using them.”

“Okay, would you like me to lock up when I return?”

“Please,” Laurie said as she turned and started toward the stairs. At the bottom of them she looked at him. “Up the stairs, down the hall, second door on the right. The first door is the hall bathroom.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back, give me a few minutes.”

Laurie nodded and used the hand railing to take one step at a time on her way up. Since being attacked in her own home, and the subsequent operations, she had learned to do things that she knew was now her new normal. She shook her head as she made her way up the stairs, and lost in her own thoughts of hoping the next home she moved into would all be on one level. As much as she loved this house, there was no way she could continue to go up and down the stairs with her bum knee. There was also no way to move her bedroom downstairs, it just wasn’t feasible. She had the money to accomplish it, however, they layout of the house wouldn’t accommodate what she would need.

In the room she told Duane to meet her at, she went to the dresser on the other side of the room. She had to use the furniture and wall to help guide her because she’d left her cane downstairs. On a sigh, because there was no way she was going back down, she shook her head and removed the linens from the bottom dresser drawer. She laid them on top of the bureau, then turned with the fitted sheet in her hands. After unfolding it, she went to the top, slipped the corner of the sheet over the mattress, went to the bottom, hooked that, moved onto the third corner, and made her way up to the last corner. She stumbled and cried out when she felt hands on her waist. In the confusion, she ended up landing on the bed, and bounced when Duane ended up next to her.

She looked at him and laughed. “You scared me.”

“I see that. I called your name from the doorway, but you didn’t hear me.”

“Sorry,” she laughed, and struggled to rise. He helped her and told her to stay put as he finished putting the fitted sheet on the bed. She stepped back and allowed him to get the other bedding, and the two of them finished making the bed. Again, she forgot she didn’t have her cane, and when she turned to leave, even though she wore her brace, her knee buckled and she ended up flopped back on the bed.

“Are you okay?” Duane rushed around the bed to her side. “Did you hurt yourself?”

“No,” Laurie said on a gigantic sigh. She looked at him in frustration. “I forgot my cane downstairs and I twisted as I turned to leave.”

“May I?” he asked as he pointed to her leg brace, and at her scowl of confusion, he began undoing the Velcro straps. “Damn, those are loud.”

“Yeah, but they’re solid.”

“I see that.” He removed the brace and started massaging her leg. He saw she didn’t have anything between it and her skin, and could see the markings of the brace. He began to massage her leg from the calf and stopped just above her knee.

“I’ll give you a thousand dollars not to stop.” She chuckled and when he looked up at her, she didn’t know who moved into who, but their faces were inches apart. Again, she didn’t know which of them moved first, and they ended up with their lips lightly touching. At the first feel of his lips on her, she jerked at the shock, then reached up, shoved her hands in his hair and brought him closer. By the time they came up for air, they were both laid out on the bed breathing heavily.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered to him.

“Don’t be, I’m not.” He lowered his head and took her lips on his again. The next time they broke apart, she saw his white dress shirt was unbuttoned, and she ran her hands over his extremely impressive chest and defined abs.

“Do you always wear a dress shirt?”

“Not always, I wore one today because it was in a sort of professional capacity. You know, me telling you about tomorrow’s meeting. Back on the ranch, I like the shirt I wear there for the freedom of their movement.” He shook his head and chuckled as he propped his head on a hand, laid the other one on her stomach, and gave her a smirk.

“What?”

“If you had seen me when I was undercover, you’d understand why I like to dress differently now.”

“How did you dress?”

“Most of the time I was one of the homeless you’d find on the streets of Los Angeles. During one assignment, I was determined to get this perp off the streets. He was preying on homeless women. But not all of them, just the ones under the age of forty.”

“Really? Are there that many homeless women?”

“You’d be surprised.” Duane shook his head sadly, and sighed. “That’s for another time. Anyway, I made myself live with the homeless and it took two months, but I was able to get the guy.” He chuckled and shook his head at the memory. “The looks I got from the local police station when I had this guy cuffed, and dragged him kicking and screaming into the station. It took a good hour for them to listen to me. It wasn’t until I told them who to call that they started to listen.”

“I know this isn’t any of my business, but who did you tell them to call?” She hadn’t realized she was rubbing her hands over his chest the entire time he talked.

“Their Captain. Again, it took almost an hour before they would believe me, but once the Captain arrived, and they got their shit together, it was all sorted out.”

“Couldn’t you just pull your badge and pull rank? You were FBI, and they were locals, right?”

“I could, however, since I was undercover, and there are a lot of people stealing from the homeless, I didn’t want to take the chance that my credentials got stolen. I did have my back-up piece strapped to my ankle. I figured if anyone tried to take it, I’d know.”

“Wow, were you undercover all the time?”

“Not all the time. Once the assignment was complete, I’d go into the office for a few months, until the next case crossed my desk.” He smiled at her and her insides melted. “I’m not saying I was perfect, but I enjoyed the variety the job entailed. I wasn’t constantly at the desk, but then again, I wasn’t constantly undercover. The only thing I hated about being undercover was the lack of sleep. Being homeless, I think I literally slept with one eye open all the time. Thankfully, I had an understanding boss, and once the perps were arrested, the paperwork done, and it was out of our hands, I was awarded a week off to catch up on sleep, and I swear my water bill tripled after every assignment.”

Laurie chuckled and looked at him with a grin. “Well, I can’t say anything about when you were undercover, but I can attest to the fact that you smell amazing now. I noticed it when I first met you.”

“Thank you,” Duane said with a grin, and because it felt like the most natural thing to do, he bent his head and took her lips with his again. The next time they came up for air, he asked quietly, “Do you want to continue?”

“I do, do you?”

“I wouldn’t have asked if I didn’t want to.” He shook his head and closed his eyes. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to snark. I like you Laurie, a lot. I could have called you about tomorrow’s meeting, but I wanted to see you again, that’s why I came in person to tell you what’s been going on. I hope to start something with you. I’m also hoping that if your daughter takes the job Erin’s going to offer her, you’ll come along for the ride.”

“I don’t know about coming along for the ride, but I will definitely be back for the program to try and rehabilitate my leg. I also like you a lot, Duane. Yes, I want to continue, but you have to remember that it has been a very, very long time for me. Peter was the only man I’ve ever been with.”

“Even after the divorce?”

“Even after the divorce. It had been so long that it wasn’t such a big deal.”

“I totally understand. I thought the six or seven years it’s been for me was a long time.” He didn’t allow her to say anything more as he looked at her with a grin, bent down and took her lips with his. This time, it was a totally different kiss than what they had been doing before. He didn’t want to overwhelm her, but he needed to taste more of her. As his lips devoured hers, his hands were busy removing her clothing. He only broke the kiss to jump to his feet, dig a condom out of his wallet, and strip naked.

“Please tell me that condom hasn’t been in your wallet all this time?” She quirked a brow at him.

“Naw, I bought some on the way to the airport to come here on the off chance that something like this might happen. These are fresh.” He tossed them on the bed beside her as he climbed on and kissed his way up his body. Once he settled between her legs, he moved her hair out of her face and stared down into her eyes. His green eyes glowed with an inner light, and Laurie felt something crack in her chest. She started to wrap her arms around his neck, but he stopped her as he reached up, grabbed a condom, and quickly donned it. There was so much he wanted to do with her, but he didn’t want to scare her away. He looked at her, and something in her look got to him enough that he moved further down the bed, and looked at her spread out before him.

“Fuck it,” he whispered, then leaned down and kissed the inside of her thighs, and as he felt her hands in his hair, he leaned in and licked her. He didn’t remember much of what came next because it was like that one little lick sent her into a tailspin. He had to hold her hips down, and when she put her feet on his shoulders and shoved her core into his face, he didn’t let up until she had her orgasm. As she rode it out, he crawled up her body, moved her hair from her face again, and smiled down at her. The look of utter bliss on her face made the last little bit of concrete surrounding his heart shatter into a million pieces. He slowly slipped into her core, and had to grit his teeth at how tight she was. He took his time, sighing in relief when she wrapped both her arms and legs around him. He went as slow as he could, and when he was all the way in, he paused.

“Don’t stop,” she whispered in his ear, and sucked the lobe into her mouth. Unable to resist such a sweet, sweet request, he continued to move, and before long he felt her nails on his back and didn’t know who encouraged the other more. When he felt the tingle in the base of his spine, and his sac start to tighten, he moved faster, reached between them, pinched her clit, and they both flew over the edge at the same time. His only thought when he saw the fireworks display behind his closed eyes was that thankfully there was no one else in the house to come running at all the noise they made. He fell forward, breathing hard, and hadn’t realized he’d passed out for a few minutes until he jerked awake.

“Are you okay?”

“Um,” she mumbled, and continued to lay there with a smile on her face. After a few more moments, she opened one eye and grinned. “I’m fine, how about you?”

“Let’s just say it was an out of body experience.”

“Yeah, for me too.” She continued to lie there with a sappy smile on her face, and turned to him with a sigh. “Thank you.”

“Oh, it was no problem. I thoroughly enjoyed myself and can’t wait to do it again. I think once we rest for a few minutes, I’ll be ready to go.” He grinned at her snorted laugh, and said he’d be right back. After using the bathroom, he hurried back to her, and grabbed a blanket from the top of where the linens had been, quickly put the pillowcases on the pillows, fluffed the blanket over the sheet, and crawled in the bed behind her. He liked that she immediately rolled over to snuggle with him. He only realized that was the biggest thing he missed about having a relationship with someone, the snuggling after an intense session of making love. He wrapped his arm around her, held the hand she had on his chest and fell into a contented sleep. Three times in the night they reached for one another, and at no time was either of them left lacking. In the wee hours of the morning they both fell into a deep sleep, and when they awoke, they were both refreshed.