Chapter 10
Chapter Ten
D uke plagued my dreams last night.
“Touch yourself,” he said, but touched me before I ever could. I woke to slippery thighs and tight nipples, arousal and the cool air sending shivers down my spine.
Frustration plagued me, though. It was… amazing, last night, but I hadn’t exactly hoped to wake up alone. In my dreams, no matter how often I reached for Duke, he was always just a hair away, close enough to touch me, but always just out of my reach.
I didn’t expect this thing with Duke to be so intense.
Sure, he had a reputation, and I’d heard enough about it, but with nothing to compare it to, the stories always seemed…
overblown, unbelievable. I pushed my frustration aside and pulled the covers over my head, letting out a small scream while I kicked my legs, excitement driving me to move .
I’d had the best orgasm of my life last night, and dwelling on waking alone wasn’t going to get me down.
Frankie sat at the dining room table when I finally pulled myself from bed and my delicious memories.
“So…” she prompted as she sipped on her energy drink, noise canceling headphones covering one ear, but leaving the other exposed, and a haunted look in her eyes lit by the screen of her computer. The bags and purple bruises under her eyes screamed that she had been up all night.
“So what?” I hedged. I knew exactly what she wanted to know, but I didn’t want to tell her. What if… what if Duke leaving was a sign of something bad? What if I wasn’t good enough and Frankie saw it right away when I told her? No, better to keep as much to myself as I could.
She took her headphones off. “You and Duke.”
“I don’t know what you want to know. You have to be specific.” I stared at the contents of the fridge, unable to truly see any of it, before closing it and giving up on breakfast. It was almost time to get to work, anyway.
“Ugh, right? Did you have sex with Duke last night, or did you put that metaphorical sock on the door for nothing?” She closed her laptop, finished her energy drink, and grabbed her keys so she could take us to work.
“None of your business.” I turned to hide my blush, too embarrassed to admit what happened—or didn’t happen.
We rarely worked Sundays, but the Natural History Museum was hosting a special event.
The director wanted to traipse out Frankie—who stubbornly refused to do more than straighten her bright pink wig and throw on a white lab coat—as their star archeologist.
My boss conscripted me to give tours of the archival department for potential donors. Anxiety raced through me at the thought of having to talk to people. Hopefully, my boss, Tom, would take over most of the conversations and all I would have to do was look busy.
The imposing, ornate museum loomed before us as Frankie pulled around to the employee parking lot.
Large white vans lined up in all the loading docks painted with logos representing a variety of party related businesses.
It overwhelmed me just to look at it. I couldn’t imagine needing to be a genuine part of it.
“I’m going to hide in my office until they need me.” I smoothed my hands down the calf length black pencil skirt of the suit I made Frankie pick out for me. She may have the privilege of dressing however she wanted because of her family’s money, but I didn’t have that luxury.
Thankfully, she found something that was comfortable enough to not be a sensory nightmare while still looking put together with little effort. It wasn’t my usual work attire, neither was it as formal as the guest would be dressed, but Frankie assured me it was appropriate for what I would be doing.
I didn’t know where I would be without her. Probably in khaki. Or a ditch somewhere. Who knew?
“I wish I could,” she said longingly as she put on a fresh layer of deodorant and the slightly wrinkled white lab coat, the long sleeves covering the tattoos crawling up and down her arms. She rarely wore it to work, usually just when she wanted to put a show on for the kids.
I wondered if she saw these events as a show and the guests as children.
“There you are,” Tom said when I walked in. He wore a black suit that stretched to its limits over his generous stomach, his over-gelled hair slicked back tight, which only emphasized how thin it was. “It’s about time you showed up. We need to walk through our pitch for potential donors.”
“I—” I wanted to point out that I was early, but experience taught me that was pointless. “I thought you would pitch, and I would nod along.”
He looked me up and down, dissecting me as I spoke, and it took everything in me not to cringe in discomfort. His eyes rested too long on my breasts, making me more uncomfortable. I pulled my suit coat closer over me and hunched my shoulders while I waited for his answer.
“Well, I certainly don’t expect you to lead it,” he lashed out, his eyes snapping to mine, and I swallowed around the lump in my throat, further shrinking in on myself under his glare and harsh words. “Fine. I’ll do the talking. You just stand there and look pretty. I’m sure you can manage that.”
Rage built in me at his words. I’ve tried to report him before and nearly lost my job for the trouble.
He didn’t bother waiting for my response before he stepped around me. I turned with him and pushed back against the wall behind me to gain more distance between us.
When he was out of sight, I went to my office and pulled up a collection I had been working on to pass the time until I was needed. Turns out being needed meant that I stood by my workstation while Tom gave a tour to richly dressed people my parents’ age.
I recognized Frankie’s parents, generous and frequent donors to the museum, in the first group that came through. By the fifth group of partygoers, I could smell the alcohol wafting off them, and many simply looked to be searching out a private place to escape to with one or two other guests.
The night wore on, my feet ached in my heels, and I wondered when this would finally end, and I could go home and sleep.
“Hey,” a low, masculine voice said from behind me as the most recent group of people passed by. I jumped at the sound, but it was so familiar that my body relaxed before I even fully caught up to it.
I turned to find Duke standing behind me, his hazel eyes sparkling with mischief. I wanted to smack him for scaring me.
“What are you doing here?”
I registered his suit and put the pieces together before I finished my question.
I didn’t know the first thing about fashion, but even I could tell his suit was expensive.
It was clearly bespoke and perfectly tailored to show off his broad shoulders, the material leagues above anything I’ve ever worn.
In all my years of knowing Duke, of knowing just how much wealth he had, seeing his cars, his house, all the obvious indications of how different our lives were, I never felt inadequate next to him—not until now.
Even in the best clothing I owned, I couldn’t compare. It never mattered before, but now, now, he’d seen me naked, tasted me, and I didn’t want to disappoint him.
“I’m thinking of donating to the museum and figured I would see if the pretty archivist would give me a private tour.” He stepped closer to me, his eyes locked on mine, boxing me in against the desk behind me. Voices sounded in the distance, but Duke stole all my focus.
“Pretty?”
“Mmhmm.” He brushed my cheek and picked up a piece of my hair that had escaped from my high pony. “Come here.”
He let go of my hair and grasped my hand, tugging gently toward a back hallway that led to the bathroom, supply closets, and an emergency exit.
I didn’t even hesitate as I followed him.
“I believe you have a federally protected right to a break. It’s about time you take one.” Somehow, he knew I hadn’t stopped working all night.
“But…” I didn’t have an argument. I hadn’t had a break all day. “My boss?—”
“Is in the main hall drinking too much and talking too loud. Real insufferable man.”
I snorted with laughter. It explained why the last few groups of people were simply looking for more places to party, and not for information about what we do.
He pushed on the first door and found it locked. The second led to a small bathroom that smelled vaguely of vomit. The third was where we stored office supplies and though it had a lock, it opened when Duke tried it.
He pulled me into the room, closing and locking the door behind us, and pushed me up against the door.
“Just say no,” he said before he took my lips in a searing kiss. ‘No’ didn’t even cross my mind as I gripped his expensive suit and pulled him in closer to me, giving myself over to the feel of his body against mine, a warm contrast to the cold steel door behind me.
He pulled away from my mouth and kissed his way across my jaw and down my neck, sucking gently on my pulse point.
“Duke,” I whimpered.
“Can I touch you?” he asked as his hand ran along my waist. I had shed my suit coat hours ago, the limited range of motion frustrating me and distracting me from the work I wanted to do.
He toyed with the buttons of my dark green shirt, but didn’t do more until I nodded my head, words escaping me.
He quickly unbuttoned and untucked my shirt, groaning at the black lace bra I wore underneath.
It occurred to me as he stared at me I was completely comfortable with his appraisal. I didn’t have even an inkling of the discomfort and self-consciousness that I had when most men looked at me.
Of course, when we were twelve, and I had to get a bra for the first time, he punched all the boys at his birthday party who commented on it after one girl threw water on my white shirt.
“It’s just part of growing up, and they are all stupid anyway,” he said when he found me crying behind the tree.
He brought a piece of the cake I missed out on and ate it with me.
He sat with me until my shirt was dry, telling me bad jokes.
The party ended by then, and I didn’t have to face any of the bullies again.
The next time I saw them, they barely looked at me, which left me plenty of time to read in the corner, exactly where I preferred to be.
I cupped Duke’s face and brought him down for another soft kiss.
“Please touch me.”
He kissed me again as he cupped my breast with one hand, the other wrapping around my waist to toy with the zipper on my skirt.
I pushed my hands into his unbuttoned suit coat. The silky fabric of his shirt let me glide my hands softly over his chest, tracing the lean muscles of his chest.
“More, Duke. I need more,” I begged, my hands sliding down, feeling the taut muscle until I reached the waist of his pants.
“I know, baby.” He pulled the zipper down on my skirt and pushed it off my hips until it dropped to the floor.
Oh, god .
The cool door at my back reminded me we were at my work and definitely shouldn’t be doing this, but then his hand slid around my hip and down my thigh, pulling my leg up to wrap around him. His cock strained against his pants, pressing against my already wet core.
I whimpered at the contact.
“I’m not going to fuck you.”
“Please.”
“Not here.” He moved his hand back around me, along my ass, and down until he touched my pussy through my panties. Black silk this time.
“Duke, please.” I didn’t even know what I begged for as he caressed me, my hips moving of their own accord, trying to grind against his cock, his hand, anything.
“You’re going to come on my hand for me.
” Not a question—a command delivered with a steady strum of my clit through my soaked silk panties.
The feel of him, the forbidden nature of what we were doing, his words, his hand on my breast caressing my nipple through the lacy fabric.
All of it came together in a kaleidoscope of sensation and pleasure and?—
“Duke,” I breathed out, trying desperately to stay quiet as I rode the wave of my orgasm.
“That’s it.” He slowed his movements, letting me come down gently.
I came back to myself, only to realize he was still fully clothed. Again. Meanwhile, my skirt laid on the ground, my shirt was wide open, and a slight throbbing on my neck told me I would probably have a hickey forming there. My first one, but the satisfaction of that never came.
I tried to undo his pants, wanting to feel him and see him, but he stopped my hands.
“No time. ”
Hurt pierced my chest. That was twice now that he kept himself back.
I set the rules.
One month. Just friends.
This was about my pleasure, but I wondered if he didn’t want me after all. I didn’t know if I could handle it if he did this just out of pity.
He guided my leg down and helped me right my clothing. Desperate for something I couldn’t voice, I pulled him in for a kiss. He didn’t hold back as he devoured my lips, wrapping his arms around me to pull me in for a hug when we were done, like he knew I needed reassurance.
“When…” The words stuck in my throat, and I took a deep breath to gather the courage to push them out. “When will we…” I still couldn’t do it. I’d already asked once, and I couldn’t do it again. It felt too desperate.
“I have to work late tomorrow.”
I couldn’t look at him. I gripped him tighter and just nodded my head. This was where he said no. This was where he backed out and we went back to being friends.
“You know what? I’ll move the meeting.” He tightened his arms around me, just a flex, gone before I could melt into it.
I pulled back, surprised.
“Really?”
“Yeah. How’s seven? I’ll bring a toothbrush and stay over.”
I tried to jump onto him in excitement, but forgot I wore a restrictive skirt and ended up falling on him instead.
“Careful there.” He laughed with me, though. “Now, I was serious. Time’s up tonight. Back to work.”
He turned me to the door and smacked my ass while I unlocked it.
I looked down the hall to make sure it was empty before going back to my office.
Duke’s hand pressed on my lower back as we walked, a warm, welcome weight.
It felt right, and I missed the touch when he kissed my cheek and went back to the party I was glad to be missing.