Chapter 4
4
DUKE
N othing in my life had ever felt better than Jessalyn’s arms around me as we rode toward the most beautiful view in town.
She was the most beautiful view in town, actually, and now that we’d introduced ourselves and I knew her name, I realized just how right it felt being with her.
I pulled into the parking lot next to the overlook, breathing a sigh of relief to find it deserted.
That didn’t mean it would stay deserted, but this time of night, it was unlikely we’d have company.
Besides, it was so quiet up here, I’d hear a vehicle coming well in advance.
“Here we are,” I said after I cut the engine, allowing the silence to surround us.
She held on a little longer than she had to.
Did that mean she enjoyed this too?
I planned to find other reasons to have her body against mine by the time the night was through.
“Wow,” she said, looking around as I helped her off the bike.
“This is just…wow.”
“I had a feeling you’d like it. I guess none of your customers have had you drive them all the way up here?”
“Nope.” She shook her head.
“I don’t get to see any beautiful scenery. Most of my pickups are at the lodge. Occasionally, I’ll get a glimpse of the mountains when I’m picking up someone at their cabin, though.”
“I come up here when I need to clear my head. Or when I just need a change of scenery.”
That probably sounded weird to her—that a guy who lived completely alone and had very few interactions with other humans might need to go somewhere to get away.
But the walls of the RV felt like they were closing in on me sometimes.
And if it was between coming up here, looking out at the mountains across the way, or going down to the bar and being surrounded by people, I’d take the view any day of the week.
“I’m going to take a look,” she said.
She started walking, and I opened my mouth to stop her.
I didn’t want her to get too close to the ledge.
This weird overprotective urge had taken over, and I didn’t know what to do with it.
I wanted to keep her safe.
I wanted to put my arms around her and make sure nothing ever harmed her.
And that wasn’t like me at all.
The caring side of me had been wiped out about a decade ago, when I had a large chunk of my leg taken out by shrapnel during my first deployment.
“This seems like the kind of place that would attract teenagers,” she said, turning to face me.
I was only a couple of feet away now—close enough to reach out and touch her.
Which was exactly what I wanted to do.
But I kept my hands firmly at my sides.
“You know, for making out and stuff,” she said.
“There aren’t too many teenagers in this town yet. But that’ll change soon enough.”
She nodded slowly.
“That makes sense. This place really started growing about a decade ago, right?”
“Maybe a little longer. Still not long enough for all the mountain men who’ve met women to have teenagers. So maybe there’ll be a demand for high school teachers.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and smiled.
“I like the way you think.”
I didn’t know what she liked about it, but I’d take it.
I’d take anything she liked about me.
Fuck, I was getting attached.
I really liked her. More than liked her.
I wanted her. I needed her.
I could see myself getting addicted to having her around.
How had that happened so quickly?
I’d never felt anything like it before.
She looked at me thoughtfully.
“Do you think couples come up here to have sex?”
Something about the way she asked the question seemed off to me.
There was an innocence to it, almost like she was seconds from calling it “doing it” instead of “sex.” The woman clearly didn’t have a lot of experience in that area.
I was surprised to find my body responding to that thought.
My dick stirred, threatening to create a bulge behind the zipper of my jeans.
I liked the idea of her being inexperienced—of being able to bring her body to life in ways she’d never known before.
“Not sure,” I somehow managed to say.
“I guess they might.”
“Have you ever had sex on your bike?”
I’d opened my mouth to make conversation about the view, but her question slammed it shut again.
What the actual fuck?
Had she just asked me that?
Maybe she wasn’t as innocent as I thought.
No, she was definitely innocent.
“Can’t say I have,” I said.
“I didn’t get the bike until I moved up here, and…well, I haven’t exactly been dating.”
She was eyeing my bike.
Sizing it up. Was she imagining the two of us on it, naked, doing all the things I didn’t dare fantasize about doing with her?
“How would that even work?” she asked.
“Would it support both of us?”
She wasn’t being general with her questions anymore.
No, this was specific to the two of us.
Yes, she was definitely fantasizing about some things, and now I was too.
“Come on, I’ll show you,” I said.
I cringed at my own words.
That sounded like I was suggesting she get naked and have sex on my bike.
I didn’t mean to assume she wanted to do that.
But I heard the crunch of her feet on the ground behind me and knew she was following me.
I climbed onto the bike, keeping both feet on the ground and putting my hands on the handlebars.
“You would climb on top of me here. I’d have to hold you up. It might be easier just to stand next to the bike with your hands on it as I stand behind you…”
I didn’t go so far as to say, “as I do you from behind.” That would be crass.
I hesitated, waiting for her response, not sure whether she’d shut down this entire conversation.
I wouldn’t blame her if she did.
“I was imagining touching you when we were on the ride here,” she said.
She wasn’t looking at me as she spoke.
Instead, her gaze was cast downward, like she was studying her shoes.
Like she was too shy to say any of this while making eye contact.
“I wondered what you’d do if my hands started wandering,” she said.
“Show me.”
At that, her head snapped up.
Her eyes were wide. She looked directly at me.
“What do you mean?”
I gestured to the seat behind me.
“Climb on and show me what you were thinking about doing. Pretend we’re still riding up here.”
It was far safer than trying it while riding around town.
I wouldn’t do anything that would put her in danger, and having her hands on me while I was trying to navigate through town would definitely put both our lives in danger.
She didn’t move forward for what seemed like the longest time, and I didn’t dare even breathe.
Would she do it or back out?
Was it backing out when she hadn’t committed to doing it in the first place?
But as I sat there, staring straight ahead, hands gripping the handlebars like my life depended on it, she moved toward me.
I watched her out of the corner of my eye.
Oh, crap. She needed help getting on.
I’d helped her the first time.
Should I hop off now or wait until she asked?
But she shocked me by swinging her leg over the seat and climbing on, using my body for leverage.
Her arms wrapped around me, her hands going exactly where they’d been during our ride—stacked on top of my stomach.
I felt her body heat through my shirt.
It warmed me for reasons that had nothing to do with her temperature.
“Your stomach’s so hard,” she said.
The statement made me jerk a little in surprise.
Hard. That wasn’t the only thing that was hard.
That was exactly where my dirty mind went, but I didn’t say that.
Instead, I said, “Thanks.”
She unclasped her hands and flattened one palm on my stomach, moving the other upward, sliding over my pecs.
“Can I touch you under your shirt?” she asked.
“You can touch me anywhere you want, darling,” I said, shoving the words past the tightness that had formed in my throat.
It felt like a vice was gradually tightening around my neck, making it tough to breathe.
But it wasn’t for the usual reasons.
No, this time it was sheer pleasure that was bringing that response.
The feeling grew even more intense when she did exactly what I’d just given her permission to do.
Her hands were on my bare skin, and nothing had ever felt this good.
“Mmm,” she said, pressing the side of her face against my back while continuing to move her hands over me.
She’d slid both hands under my shirt and now she was running her fingers around my nipples.
Fuck. I never even knew my nipples were sensitive like that.
But every circle her fingers made went straight to my growing erection.
“Can you imagine if I did this while you were driving?” she asked.
“It’s exactly what I was fantasizing about doing.”
“What else were you fantasizing about doing?” I asked.
Silence. Maybe that had been too forward.
But her hands were on me right now, so I wasn’t sure I cared.
Finally, she spoke. “Moving my hands down to touch your…you know.”
My you know ?
I ran that through my head.
Oh yeah, she was definitely innocent.
“You’ve been with a man before,” I said.
“Nope.”
I didn’t expect that answer.
And she’d popped it out so quickly, I was sure I must have misheard.
The woman who had her hands on me right now was a virgin?
Was that possible?
No way would I mess with a virgin.
I didn’t even want the complications that came with casual sex.
Sleeping with a virgin would mean feeling like a dick if I deposited her at her place afterward and never spoke to her again.
Her hands slipped lower, and she began unfastening my pants.
I should stop her. This couldn’t go anywhere.
But the more I thought about it, the less I could deny one simple fact.
I liked that she was a virgin.
And I had no plans to walk away after tonight without speaking to her again.
Somehow, this woman had worked her way into my heart.
And damn it, the part of me that wanted to live a completely solo life was slipping away into nothingness.
Suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to go through life with this woman by my side.
And that scared me more than anything ever had because it gave her the power to hurt me.
The power to suffer the same devastation I’d experienced when I’d lost my closest friend in the world to a car accident when I was sixteen.
It had driven me to the military, but there was no running from it.
When someone you loved died, they took a piece of you—and it was a piece you never got back.