Chapter 9
Bailey sighed with pleasure when Duke pulled his mouth from hers to trail long, hot, slow kisses down the column of her throat, leaving his every sense heightened.
Duke couldn’t hold back any longer. He had already suffered through the longest three hours of his life.
He drew her closer, needing to feel all of her.
Caress all of her. The cool air in the room didn’t do anything to cool either of them off from the heat swamping them.
The light from the moon outside gave her skin an ethereal glow and he stroked his hands up and down her back, enjoying the softness of her skin.
Bailey’s hands grabbed his shoulders and every one of her fingertips seemed to mark him, sending tiny arcs of fire that reached into a part of him that had gone untouched for longer than he could remember.
Her breathing was rapid, panting, filtering out over his skin, warming him.
A blaze flared up within him. His heart began to thud rapidly in his chest and everything but feeling the warmth recess of her body became unimportant.
All he craved, all he yearned for was her.
Her lips against his. Her caress. The feel of her body gripping his as he thrust into her.
He lowered his head to take one of her nipples into his mouth.
She pressed closer to him, her fingernails scoring his back.
“Duke,” she murmured around a gasp. He could relate to the need that he heard in her voice.
Purposely, he skimmed the edges of his teeth over her stiff nipple.
Bailey moaned and moved one hand to the back of his head, holding him in place.
She didn’t have to worry about him stopping.
Even if it had meant taking his last breath, he couldn’t have quit.
Tugging on the sensitive bud, he suckled her, pulling on her flesh with a gradually mounting force that propelled her forward, toward the edge of a cliff they had both teetered over for hours.
As he gave one breast, then the other, his full attention, his hand eased between her legs.
When he found her drenched with need, he lowered his head even more, placing kisses along her rib cage, across her stomach, and finally, on the patch of curls guarding her sex.
Bailey arched upward and he tightened his grip on her.
“You’re stunning,” he whispered as his hands traveled up her leg. “I don’t think you realize just how much.”
She gasped and clutched at his shoulders again to steady herself. “Duke,” she murmured, “don’t keep me waiting. Make love to me.”
“I plan to, sweetheart,” he replied and gently eased her legs further apart. “Nothing is going to stop us from being together tonight.”
Hands spanning her waist, Duke moved closer and trailed a line of kisses along her stomach. Her legs quivered. His hold on her waist tightened and he lowered his head to taste her.
“Duke!” she moaned his name and dug her fingernails deeper into his shoulders.
Quivers traveled through her, leaving him dazed.
He pressed the tip of his tongue against the small, hard bud and felt her body tremble in response.
Wet heat tickled out and Duke gave himself over to the feeling of pleasuring her.
Each moan of enjoyment that erupted from her throat only fed the out-of-control yearning rushing through him.
“Yes, Duke. Don’t stop,” she managed to get out around a gasp. Her leg muscles tensed, her hips thrust against his mouth as she attempted to open herself even more to him.
He flattened his tongue across the sensitive spot as he brought his hand up to join his mouth.
His lips and tongue caressed her silkiness and Duke tenderly dipped two fingers into the tight heat of her body.
She stiffened, every muscle in her body abruptly going rigid.
He redoubled his efforts. His fingers slid in and out of her velvety softness and his mouth picked up the slack to pay attention to whatever his fingers couldn’t.
Bailey spread her legs even further apart, allowing him into the heart of her, quietly demanding the orgasm that he knew she was rushing toward.
A stilted cry fell from her lips when the first quivers of release rippled through her.
She clutched the back of his head to her and Duke moaned along with her as if her satisfaction were his own.
After several moments passed, he lifted his head to look at her. She gave him a shy smile.
“Duke, I never knew that it could be like this. So. . .” Her eyes fluttered closed and she inhaled deeply before releasing the breath shakily. When she reopened her eyes again, she reached for him, lifting arms that were still quivering.
Not able to wait for another second to be within her, he surged upward. He hesitated only long enough to reach into the nightstand next to the bed. Then he turned back to her, already opening the foil packet.
She stared up at him and smiled. “Thank you.”
Duke slipped the latex on, then moved to rest between the legs she opened in the provocation. Smiling at her, he said, “This time we’re going to do it right.”
* * *
Bailey raised her hips as he slid into her with one smooth glide. Even though the remnants of her release still fluttered through her, she was instantly aroused again. As his solid, resilient body moved in and out of hers, she felt another surge of need building within her.
Tightness filled her limbs. She squeezed her eyes shut, positive that this time, the orgasm will kill her.
Bailey squeezed him tighter, holding herself to him.
Explosions rocketed through her. Her hips matched his in rhythm.
Hands stroked. Mouths mashed together in hungry kisses that left them both struggling to draw in air.
One last thrust and her body tightened rhythmically around his.
He moaned her name as he fell into her arms and Bailey used the last of her strength to embrace him.
His strong, firm body weighed her down and she could hardly draw a good breath. Regardless, she still had no desire to dislodge him. She wanted to freeze time so that this moment never ended.
In a few hours, she would have to decide if she wanted to take the emergency contraception sitting on the table in his living room. Tears began to gather in her eyes and Bailey blinked them back before they could fall. Duke pulled her closer as if he could sense her need for comfort.
She never thought she would have to face such a difficult situation.
The last thing she wanted to do was be like her mother.
Speaking her fears into existence earlier had lifted a weight off of her that she did know she’d been carrying.
Hearing the level of understanding in Duke’s words, feeling it in his embrace had made her feel supported in a way she’d never experienced.
Still, she was smart enough to know that a baby didn’t guarantee that a couple would stay together and be happy. Her parents were proof of that. She refused to put herself in a situation to walk down the same path that her parents had.
Not even for a man as potent at Duke.
Somewhere along the way she’d done something she’d thought impossible when she’d met him—fallen for him.
She didn’t know when it had happened or even how.
The fact of the matter was that she’d allowed a man to steal her heart.
She shut her eyes and tried to figure out how she was going to keep it together if he was no longer a part of her life.