Chapter 24
M cKenzie carried her sleeping son across the yard to Duke’s house, expecting to have second or third thoughts or regrets or something that would stop her from taking a step that could never be undone.
The only thoughts she had, however, involved excitement, anticipation and relief at finally, finally, finally having found a truly decent man who was also sexy, thoughtful, funny and, much to his dismay, sweet. This must be what it was like to find a unicorn.
That thought made her laugh as she knocked on Duke’s door.
He’d gone over ahead of her to set up a place for Jax to sleep.
“You don’t have to knock here,” he said gruffly as he opened the door for her.
“Yes, I do. It’s polite.”
“Don’t be polite with me.”
“Are we going to fight about me having manners, or was there something else you had in mind?”
“That sassy mouth of yours is going to get you in trouble.”
“Promise?”
His low growl made her giggle.
“Laughing at me isn’t exactly polite.”
“Maybe not, but it’s fun.” If McKenzie had to choose one thing that she liked best about being with him, it was that she felt safe to be herself. There was never a time when she had to think about what she was going to say before she said it or need to worry that she might offend his delicate sensibilities. That’d been a huge challenge with Eric, who was easily offended and didn’t take well to joking around.
Duke’s home was warm and cozy and had framed cross-stitch samplers on almost every wall. She would take a closer look at all of them another time.
“I set him up in here.” Duke led her to a smaller bedroom where he’d placed rolled blankets in a circle on the bed. “Will that work?”
“That’ll be great, thanks. He hardly ever moves when he’s asleep.” McKenzie settled Jax in the center of the nest Duke had made for him and waited to make sure he’d stay asleep.
As she stroked his downy, soft hair and kissed his cheek, he never stirred.
“Mommy loves you,” she whispered.
She got up to leave the room and found Duke leaning against the doorframe. “He’s a lucky boy to have you as his mom.”
“I’m the lucky one.”
“As a boy who never once heard his mother whisper that she loves him, trust me. He’s the lucky one.”
She rested her hands on his hips as she looked up at him. “I’m sorry you didn’t have that.”
“You don’t miss what you never had.”
The way he said that indicated it was something he’d said—and thought—many times before. “How did you become this sweet, kind, loving man with no one showing you how?”
“I had people who showed me how I wanted to live, especially your grandmother.”
“I love that she did that for you.”
“She was my Yoda. She made me want to live the way she did.”
“She’d be so, so proud of you.”
“I hope so.”
“I know so.”
“Look at this.” He took her hand and led her to the mantel over his fireplace, where he showed her a photo of him and Rosemary. “That’s the Christmas I spent at her place on the mainland.”
McKenzie picked up the framed photo to take a closer look. “I remember you now. You were sort of gruff and quiet.”
“I was so nervous about saying the wrong thing or something.”
She put the frame back on the mantel next to others of him with various groups of people. “That’s so sweet.”
“I didn’t lure you over here to talk about your grandmother.”
“No?”
He shook his head before he kissed her. “I can’t think about her when I want to get you naked. It feels wrong.”
McKenzie laughed. “She loved us both. I have to think she’d love us together.”
“Maybe so, but if she’s hanging around keeping an eye on things, this would be a really good time for her to get lost.”
The comment had McKenzie howling with laughter that quickly turned into a moan when Duke kissed her neck. Just like that, her knees went weak, and only his arm around her waist kept her standing. How’d he do that with a simple kiss? That was just one more thing to add to his list of unicorn qualities—the ability to render her weak in the knees with a kiss.
“I was thinking about how you’re a unicorn.”
He tightened his arms around her, lifted her and carried her to the other bedroom at the far end of the hallway. “Huh?”
Impressed by the show of strength, she said, “You’re all these things that most other guys will never be.”
“I’m almost afraid to ask…”
“Sexy.” She kissed his neck to return the favor. “Funny.” More kisses and a bit of teeth tossed in to make him growl.
He didn’t disappoint.
“Thoughtful. That’s a big one.” She dragged her tongue over the pulse point in his throat. “Kind. That one’s huge and hard to find.” More kisses, followed by more groaning as he pressed his erection against her abdomen. “You’re also a loyal, dedicated friend.” She bit his earlobe. “And you can cross-stitch.”
He grunted out a laugh. “That’s really your favorite thing, right?”
“You know it.”
“Never gonna live that down.”
“Not ever.” She used her chin to gesture to his bed. “Did you do those pillows?”
“All of them except the big one in the middle. That was from Rosemary.”
“Duke…”
“Yes, McKenzie?”
“You have throw pillows on your bed.”
“So?”
“I’m ridiculously turned on by that.”
“Are you making fun of me again by any chance?”
“Would I do that?”
“Yes, and you’d enjoy it.”
She looked up at him, meeting his intense gaze, which was completely focused on her. “I enjoy everything with you.”
“Yeah?” he asked, sounding surprised.
“Uh-huh.”
“That’s a heck of a nice thing to say.”
“It’s the truth.”
“I enjoy every freaking second I spend with you—and Jax.”
“Thank you for including him.”
“Of course I included him. He comes with the sweet, sexy, funny, smart, bossy, sarcastic, gorgeous, smoking-hot package named MK.”
“Smoking hot, huh?”
“ Girl …”
She was falling in love with that growl—and every other thing about him. After Eric, she’d promised herself she’d never again give a man the power to break her heart—and she’d fully intended to keep that promise. Until Duke Sullivan sauntered into her life and showed her something she’d never had before. And now that she’d seen it, she wanted as much of it as she could get.
She wanted him. She wanted to love him and take care of him the way he cared for everyone in his life.
He tipped his head and gave her an intense look. “Did you have any second thoughts between your place and mine?”
“Not one. And don’t tell me again that it’s my funeral. I don’t want to hear that.”
The left side of his face lifted in an adorably crooked grin. “The bossiness is a massive turn-on.”
“That ought to give you second thoughts.”
“And yet… It just has me wanting more.” His fingers slipped under her top and scorched her back.
Goose bumps erupted on every inch of her skin, making her shiver.
“Are you cold?”
“Not at all.”
“It’s like that, is it?”
“It is.” She pushed the leather vest off his shoulders to reveal a T-shirt with a skull and crossbones prominently featured.
The badass persona on the outside was in sharp contrast to the softie on the inside. She suspected his tough outer shell had served as a defense mechanism to survive in the world on his own.
“Can we take this off?” she asked, tugging on his T-shirt.
He reached behind him and hauled it up and over, revealing a muscular chest and abdomen that had her licking her lips in anticipation of exploring every hill and valley.
“That time you spend at the gym?”
“Haven’t been getting there lately.”
“You need to keep that up,” she said, dragging her fingertips over his ab muscles, which quivered under her touch.
“Yes, ma’am.” He reached behind her to release the clasp on her bra and stepped back to let it fall to the ground between them.
McKenzie closed her eyes to absorb the wallop of emotions that raced through her as her breasts brushed against the soft hair on his chest.
“Damn,” he whispered.
“Mmm, damn is right.”
“What’re you doing here with me? You’re a fucking goddess.”
“And you’re a fucking unicorn, and don’t you ever forget it.”
“You make me feel ten feet tall.”
“You don’t have to be anything other than exactly who and what you are to make me happier than I’ve ever been.”
“You sure know how to get to me.”
“Do I?”
“Yes, and you know you do.”
She flashed her biggest smile and then reached for the first of five buttons on the fly of his jeans, pulling them open one after the other and then pushing her hands inside the back to remove them.
“You forgot the boots.”
“So I did.” She could tell she surprised him when she dropped to her knees to untie them. When she looked up at him, the gaze he directed her way could only be called scorching.
“I want to remember this for the rest of my life.”
“And you wonder what I’m doing here with you?”
He nodded as she sat up on her knees to press her face against his straining cock.
His fingers dove into her hair as he gasped. “McKenzie…”
“Yes, Duke?”
“I, uh…” His deep sigh amused her.
“You don’t say?”
“Can’t talk.”
McKenzie laughed softly as she freed his erection from snug boxer briefs and took in the sight of him in all his glory. “I’ve got another thing to add to your list of unicorn qualities,” she said as she ran her tongue over the piercing tucked under the broad crown.
“Fuck me ,” he said on a protracted hiss.
“Um, what’s this I see?” she asked of the piercing.
“Can’t talk right now.”
“That must’ve hurt.”
“Like fuck, but you’ll like it.”
“Mmm, is that right?”
“Uh-huh.”
She decided to have some fun with him as she teased him with her tongue and the lightest of teeth before she took as much of him as she could into her mouth, loving the way he tugged at her hair while holding on for dear life.
“Hey, so, um…”
McKenzie doubled down and added the tight squeeze of her hand at the base.
“MK!”
She heard the warning but didn’t back off until he’d shouted from the power of his release. Then she released him slowly, drawing out the pleasure for him as long as she could.
“Mother-effer.” He helped her up and into his arms. “That was… Wow .” He fell backward, bringing her with him as he kicked off his boots and pants. “You’re incredible.”
“So are you.”
“I’ve got nothing on you.”
“Are you trying to make me mad right now?”
“Not even kinda.”
“Then quit talking shit about my new favorite person.”
“I like being your new favorite person.”
“I like being yours.” She raised a brow. “I am, right?”
His laughter was becoming one of her favorite things, mostly because she suspected he didn’t let it loose that often. “Hell yes, you are, and you know it.”
He rolled them so he was on top of her, gazing down at her with all the things she’d hoped to one day find in a man. He didn’t look like the Prince Charming of her childhood dreams, but she’d learned that most of the men who looked like Prince Charming were frogs. This one had everything she could want or need, and she’d known that almost from the first time she ever saw him.
“What’re you thinking about?” he asked as he laid soft kisses on her face, the tip of her nose and then her lips.
“How you showed me who you really are the day we met, and you’ve never deviated from that first impression. You know why that is?”
“Tell me.”
“It’s the truth of who you are. It wasn’t a game you were playing to get me to notice you.”
“Is that how it usually goes?”
“Always. It’s all bullshit at the beginning until they get you where they want you and the ugly truth starts to emerge.”
He used his thumbs to brush the hair back from her face. “And where is it that they want you?”
“Right where you have me.”
“Just for the record, I love having you here, but I loved having you at the shop today, and I loved having you at my firepit and eating with you in the apartment and riding with me in the truck. I like having you everywhere else, too.”
“I know you do, and that means a lot to me. That’s a big part of why I invited myself into your bed.”
“You have a standing invite.”
“Good to know.” She drew him into a kiss that went from soft and sweet to hot and bothered in about three seconds.
He settled between her legs, breaking the kiss only to move down to kiss her breasts. The feel of his mouth closing around her nipple made her crazy with desire and affection and something that felt an awful lot like love for this one-of-a-kind man.
She’d felt safe with him long before they’d gotten naked, and that allowed her to let go of the anxieties that were usually part of the first time with someone new and to relax and wallow in the pleasure.
A sound from another part of the house had her eyes opening while Duke went still on top of her.
“Duke! Wake up!”
Was that Sierra?
“What the fuck?” He pushed himself up and off McKenzie, reaching for a pair of sweats from the foot of the bed. “Sorry. I’ll be right back.”
He put on the pants, left the room and closed the door behind him.
McKenzie pulled a throw blanket over her and tried to hear what they were saying as she hoped against hope that she hadn’t misjudged him.