Duke (The Henchmen MC 5)

I watched, finally getting my arms in, a little bit horrified and a lot a bit turned on, as he slowly slid his fingers into his mouth and licked my taste off of them.

I shook my head, dropping down beside him just as the footsteps landed on the last step and Cash came into view.

"Oh, hey honey," Cash said, looking surprised like he hadn't told me where to find Duke less than an hour before. If the way his dark green eyes danced and the way he tried to contain his lip-twitching was any indication, he knew exactly what had been going on before he came down. "You found him," he said, voice light.

"Ah, yeah. I did," I said, nodding, pulling my legs in toward my body like I could hide from the embarrassment.

"Need me for something?" Duke asked, dragging Cash's attention to him, for which I was eternally grateful.

"Nah, man. Just checking in. Penny said she was worried. It got me worrying too."

"Well, no need. I'm good."

"Yeah," Cash said, having to bite into his cheek to keep the smile from spreading. "I guess you are. Alright. Well, I am going to go order some pizza," he declared, and took off toward the stairs.

I listened until his footsteps moved across the floor above us before whispering, "Do you think he heard anything?"

"Nah," Duke said, shaking his head, looking over at me. But then his lips twitched until the smile broke free. "But the fact that your shirt is not only inside out, but backward where it hadn't been when you came down here might have given him a clue."

I looked down, eyes huge, and sure enough... there was the tag right under my neck.

Great.

That was just fantastic.

Duke's chuckle drew my attention.

"This is so not funny," I grumbled, shaking my head at him.

"Babe, all the guys just assume we're fucking already anyway."

"But... why would..."

"Dirty by association, remember?" he asked, reaching out and snagging my chin. "Come back over here. Don't like leaving the job unfinished."

"What? No!" I shrieked. "Someone could..."

"Penny," he said, dragging it out, eyes devilish.

"Turn around," I demanded, dragging my arms back into my shirt.

"Why?"

"Because I need to fix this shirt."

"Seriously?" he asked, making no attempt to hide his amusement. "Baby, I just had your tits in my mouth and now you're being shy?"

"Shh!" I demanded, slapping a hand into his arm, which only made him chuckle. Then he reached out, grabbed the shirt, and yanked it over my head. "Duke!" I whisper-yelled, hands flying to my chest to try to cover up. He made no reaction to my objection, turning the shirt inside out and then putting it on over my head the right way.

"Arms in," he said, brow raised, eyes wicked.

Yeah, well, I had experience finding all the ways to change for gym class without showing any delicate skin. I wrapped one arm across my chest to cover my breasts and slid one in. The shirt fell down and I dropped my other hand, sliding it into the other hole.

"You're ridiculous," he said, shaking his head as he watched me. "But it's cute as fuck so I'll let it slide."

With that, he ducked and slid out from under the bed, offering me a hand which I took, and helped me out too.

"He's not going to tell everyone, is he?"

"Depends on your definition of 'everyone'," Duke said, still smiling, as he slung an arm around my hips and led me to the stairs.

"That's just..."

"Look," Duke said, both hands going to my hips, turning me to face him. He hunched his shoulders and ducked lower toward me. "You gave me permission for something here that I'd like to finish. And, so long as that permission is given, I plan to take advantage of it. The guys will know we're fucking. Either by sheer guesses or because I will make you scream loud enough to wake up the whole compound. Either way, they'll know. You're just going to have to find a way to be okay with that. And the guys will be dicks. They'll whistle or make innuendos. That's what they do. That being said, if any of them makes you directly uncomfortable, you tell me and I put an end to it."

"Really?" I asked, brows drawing together. "But aren't bike clubs sort of a... brothers above everything thing?"

"There's some exceptions made for some girls."

"What kind of girls?" I pressed, a little disappointed when his hands fell from my hips.

"The kind guys want to do more than fuck with," he said, then turned and jogged up the stairs.

The kind guys want to do more than fuck with.

He wanted more than to just sleep with me?

I wasn't quite sure if I was supposed to be delighted or absolutely terrified by that development.

So I went ahead and let myself be both.TENDukeFor someone who had been through a trauma and was living in a compound with a bunch of strangers, she slept like the dead. I had been standing beside the bed calling her for two minutes with increasing volume.