Duke (The Henchmen MC 5)

"Hey, she flirted with me first. It was just good manners to flirt back."

"She was a looker in her time too," I added, remembering the black and white pictures in the big, heavy albums I used to sit and stare at cross-legged in her living room for hours.

"I bet she was. You have her eyes."

I did.

It was cool he noticed that.

"Will I be able to see her again?"

"Probably a lot more if you're up at Hailstorm. That place is pretty state-of-the-art. And they have a lot of trained men and women who will escort you where you need to be, stay with you, then get you back safe. Really, you probably should have been there all along."

"Why wasn't I?" I asked, eyes focused down toward his chest where I was tracing little shapes across his skin.

"Mix of guilt and selfishness."

My gaze went upward. "Guilt and selfishness?"

"The only reason this," he said, fingers tracing the edge of my cuts, "happened to you is because you talked to me. Feel like shit about that. Probably always will. You'll have a scar here to remind me."

I shrugged a shoulder, wanting to take that haunted look out of his eyes. "Maybe you can give me the name of the dermatologist who is doing your tattoo and I can have them work on the scar." When he didn't say anything, I pressed. "And selfishness?" I asked, maybe needing the ego boost a little.

"Wanted you the second I set eyes on you, babe. Hailstorm would have been able to take better care of you, but I wanted you there in my bed."

"You showed an impressive amount of self-control then," I said, my smile a little saucy because I could feel him getting hard against my stomach and my own body came alive in response, my breasts getting heavy, my nipples hardening, my sex tightening.

"Yeah, crazy thing though..." he said, lips turned up at one side.

"What's that?"

"I guess I ran through all of it."

"All of what?"

"My self-control."

"Oh," I said, smiling. "Well, I think I'm okay with that."

"Good. 'Cause while you were sleeping, I came up with a position to try."

"Oh, really?" I asked as he slowly rolled me onto my side, holding me there when I went to move.

"Yep," he said, going onto his knees and reaching for the condoms on the bed. He slipped one on and moved toward me.

He grabbed the ankle of the top leg, cocking it up at an angle as he moved in, his legs straddling my one until I felt his hardness press against where I needed him most. He grabbed the ankle of my cocked leg, taking it and wrapping it around his lower back as he pressed inside me.

"Oh my G..." I started, head falling backward on a groan.

"Yeah, thought this would be a winner," he said with a cocky smile as one of his hands stayed on my thigh, helping me hold it up so my muscles didn't cramp. The other moved up my belly to roll my nipple between his thumb and forefinger.

He started moving then, slow, languidly, completely unhurried. His eyes were on mine, intense. A muscle ticked in his jaw, the only indication that he was holding onto his control as his pace continued- slow, sweet, so intimate that I finally truly understood the term 'making love'. I had spent my life cringing at the phrase, but I suddenly felt the sting of tears at the backs of my eyes at experiencing it.

I blinked hard, uncomfortable with the rush of emotion. "Duke, harder," I demanded, my hand reaching out and landing on the side of his thigh.

"No," he said, shaking his head.

"No?" I asked, surprised as he just kept rocking inside me, making a slow orgasm build, my muscles grabbing him hard with each thrust and withdraw.

"No. I gave you hard already. I'm giving you sweet now." And as if to prove a point, his fingers on my nipple softened, brushing over it soft as a feather and my sex clenched hard in return. "You like it. You're just afraid of it," he said, somehow reading the situation perfectly.

"Duke, please..." I said, trying to thrust down into him, but the position wouldn't allow it.

"Like the sound of you begging, baby. But it isn't going to work this time."

I knew there was no use.

I took a deep breath and tried to lock down the emotions, while trying to relax at the same time.

And, well, it obviously didn't work.

"Penny, stop fighting it babe," he demanded, leaning forward, angling his body closer to mine, making me take him even deeper. I whimpered and he nodded. "There you go. That's it. Just let go for me," he demanded and I did. I let it go. "Fuck yeah," he said, taking a deep breath as my sex got tighter and tighter, signaling the inevitable. "Give it to me, baby," he demanded as his cock rocked deep, making my air get caught in my chest as the orgasm rolled through me as slow and deep and overwhelming as the entire experience had been.