Duke (25 page)

“
Oh, online. Just looking stuff up, and I watched some videos. It’s kind of messed up, and I stopped looking because I realized I’d be happier not knowing.”

Duke’s soft kiss to the top of her head had her eyes closing again.

“
Nothing wrong with not being into it, Gen. I’m kind of glad you aren’t, because I’m not, either.”

“
But, what we just did? Wasn’t that BDSM?”

“
If you ever want me to stop doing something, you tell me to stop. We aren’t playing with safewords, we aren’t role playing. I want control in the bedroom, on my bike, or anytime there’s danger close — and I expect you to immediately do as you’re told under those circumstances. There may be some times we’re out of town in another club’s territory and I’ll need you to not backtalk me in public or at their functions, but my guys seem to be okay with you at this point, so I’m not going to try to make you conform in our own clubhouse.”

“
Conform?”

His sigh told her she wasn’t going to like what came next. “We’re a male oriented club. Women fall into a couple of categories, and many of the girlfriends and wives had to come up through the ranks before they reached relationship status with a brother. You jumped straight into old lady status with the president of the club, so there’s a lot you don’t understand.”

“
What categories do the women fall into?”

“
Bottom of the pile are the girls who are pretty much club property. They’re allowed to hang around the clubhouse, but in exchange they’ll open their mouth or spread their legs for any brother or prospect who tells them to.” He stroked her hip. “Once you figure out who these girls are, I hope you’ll treat them with kindness. You aren’t one of them, and won’t be expected to socialize with them, but you aren’t required to be a bitch, either. I don’t know, nor do I care, what their motivation is, but they play a part in the club. As my Duchess, you’ll have to figure out your own part, where you fit in.”

“
So, if you told one of
them
to bend over the table and lift their skirt, they would?”

“
I won’t, Gen. You have to trust me. When I say I’m with you, I am.”

“
You know I don’t give second chances, right? I ever catch you with someone else, we’re done. I’ll have Isaac help me figure out how to keep you out of my house, and I’ll hire someone from Drake security if I have to, but you won’t come near me again.”

“
Just promise me you won’t jump to conclusions, and you’ll give me a chance to explain before you assume the worst.”

“
Depends on what I see with my own eyes. I see your cock in someone? You don’t get a chance to explain shit.”

“
You won’t, but you may see me with my arm around someone, or kissing them on the forehead. It’s who I am, but it’s all harmless flirting.”

“
And if you saw someone with their arm around me, kissing me on the forehead?”

“
It isn’t who you are, Gen. I mean, it kind of is with Isaac and Cam, but I’m good with that. I can’t imagine you letting anyone else that close, though.”

“
Ethan hugs me sometimes, and he makes me feel tiny when he does. I have a few guy friends I hug, but I don’t think any of them kiss me on the forehead.” Duke didn’t say anything, and Gen finally added, “If something makes me feel uncomfortable, I’ll talk to you.”

“
Thank you.” He paused and added, “Also, my duties as president… when someone’s woman gets out of line and disrespects the club, sometimes there’s a vote she has to be spanked in front of the club, as recompense. As president, the spanking falls to me.”

Gen’s eyes boggled and she protested, “You can’t just
spank
people, Duke!”

“
They have to agree to it. Usually, the vote says if they want back on RTMC grounds they have to submit to it. I don’t spank them against their will — they walk in, bare their bottom, and bend over for it.”

“
For the record, you give me that kind of ultimatum and I’ll never show up on your precious property again.”

Duke grinned. “I believe you, Beautiful, but I also can’t see you purposefully disrespecting my men, or doing something to intentionally put us in danger.”

“
Does everyone get to watch? Or just club members?”

“
Everyone. Serves as a deterrent to the other women.”

Gen shook her head, crossed her arms, and looked down. “Okay. You don’t like me having dinner with other men, but I have to as part of my job. This is your job, but I don’t want you spanking them with your hand. Use a paddle or belt or something, so you don’t actually touch them. Also, I don’t want to have to watch.”

* * * *

Gen turned the alarm off before Duke awoke, and stumbled to the shower. She missed morning sex, but had an early meeting over breakfast with a client who’d come to town to view some properties. Duke was sleeping so good, she didn’t want to wake him.

Her day was hectic, with both a business lunch and a business dinner, and it was nearly seven when she texted Duke she was on her way to the clubhouse.

She parked in the lot, not the garage, and wished she’d brought something to change into. Or at least different shoes. Jimmy Choo’s weren’t designed for twelve hour days.

Duke was laughing at a table, a beer in front of him, when she walked in the door. His face grew solemn as he took her in, and he was up and to her in seconds.

Gen let him draw her into his arms, so tired she didn’t care they had an audience. Before Duke, she’d have gone home, drank a glass of wine, and fallen asleep. Now? She’d looked forward to the safe cocoon of his arms the entire drive to the compound.

He stepped back, leaned down, and the next thing she knew, he was carrying her through the clubhouse like a baby.

“
Those shoes are sexy as fuck, Beautiful,” he told her as they walked.

She rested her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes, saying, “For what they cost, they should be.”

Someone opened the door to let them into the back hallway, and when Duke reached his room he opened the door with one hand and then kicked it shut once they were through.

“
I brought your boots and jacket this morning. You still have jeans and some shirts here. If you don’t want me messing up this outfit, I suggest you get out of it as quickly as possible, and figure out how you want me to fuck you. I’m not gonna be particular about your position, but I want the shoes to stay on until I’m done.”

She wouldn’t have believed she could get horny this easily when she pulled into the compound, so tired she only wanted him to hold her, but his words lit a fire between her legs and she held eye contact with him as she slipped out of her suit jacket, hung it on the doorknob, and began unbuttoning her silk blouse.

He wasn’t taking his clothes off, but he didn’t look like he wanted to explain, so she worked the hidden zipper in her flare-legged suit pants, stepped out of them, and draped them over the chair with her blouse.

His patience gone, Duke stepped forward and got rid of her bra as Gen let her panties fall to the floor.

“
How do you want it?” he practically growled.

“
Pick me up, my legs around you, my back against the wall?” This had to be her favorite position of all, though a padded wall might be nice. She’d have to look at maybe putting up some kind of cork decorative material on a wall of her room. Did they make bleached cork?

Duke unbuckled his belt, unfastened his pants, and had them around his thighs in a handful of seconds. He backed her up to the wall, put both his hands on either side of her head, and his lips met hers in what she expected to be a crushing kiss, but was sweet, slow, and gentle.

She met his tongue with hers and kissed him back. It wasn’t her surviving one of his he-man kisses, she got to participate, was allowed to show him she wanted to be here, wanted to kiss him.

Of course, this didn’t last long, and when he decided to take over, she was suddenly gasping for air, her mouth crushed under his as he took her mouth and controlled her body.

She wasn’t sure what he was waiting for, but at her first moan he lifted her and began getting her into position, and she realized he’d been waiting for her to be ready.

She leaned her shoulders against the wall, wrapped her legs around his waist, and rested her forearms on his shoulders as he positioned her and then pushed up into her as he slowly let her down.

Gen closed her eyes and moaned again, and she heard his deep chuckle. “I love your noises, Beautiful. I can give you slow for a few minutes, but that’s it. You good?”

“
Not asking you to go slow, Duke.”

He didn’t need any further encouragement, and Gen wrapped her arms around him and tried not to scream in his ear as his hips pistoned his cock in and out of her, taking her.

No longer tired, no longer sleepy, and glad he had no reason to deny her orgasm, she luxuriated in the feel of the pleasure building, felt it grow, and moved her mouth away from his ear as she screamed her release.

Duke came with a series of growls as she was on her way down from her orgasm, and he walked her to the bed, settled her gently on her back, and made his way to the tiny bathroom to dispose of the condom. Only four of the rooms back here had a bathroom, everyone else had to use the restrooms down the hall. Gen had yet to stay the night, but figured she would eventually, and was happy for the bathroom.

He picked her panties and bra up as he walked by them, and tossed them onto the bed, saying, “You realize every wolf in the building heard you scream, right?”

“
Oh, God.” Gen’s face went hot and she covered it with her open hands. “Is there a back door? So I can leave without seeing any of them? Darn! Why did you let me do that? How mortifying!”

He sat beside her and pulled her hands from her face. “They know we have sex, Beautiful. I’m sure they thought we were going at it long before we actually did.”

She realized he had a point. However, “They don’t have to know I enjoy it quite so much!”

“
You’d rather they think you hate it?”

Gen couldn’t remember ever
growling
at anyone in her life, but she heard a sound close to Duke’s growl come out of her throat, and it surprised her so much, she smiled.

He took her shoes off and spent a few seconds looking them over. “So, just how much do these sexy shoes cost?”

“
Oh no. We aren’t going to even
start
having those conversations. I buy my own clothes, you don’t need to know how much they cost.”

“
No, I don’t, but I’m curious. You don’t tell me, all I have to do is Google Jimmy Choo and find out, right?”

Gen sighed. “These shoes retail for around twelve hundred dollars, but I bought them on sale for nine hundred and fifty.”

Duke’s face was completely blank for a count of five, and then he blinked. Twice.

“
I was thinking a hundred, maybe two hundred dollars. How can a shoe cost so much?”

“
Don’t try to make sense of it, Duke. There is absolutely no logic to it. It’s what I have to wear to be successful in business, so I do.” She walked to the drawer he’d put her jeans and tees in, pulled a pair out, and put them on. “How much did you spend on your motorcycle boots?”

“
That’s different. There’s a ton of expensive leather on them, thick rubber soles, and they still cost a little under three hundred dollars. I wear them nearly every day — I don’t have a closet full of them.”

“
Do me a favor and don’t get caught up in what I spend on my clothes and shoes, okay? I’m never going to ask you to buy them for me, so it shouldn’t bother you.” She found some socks, slid them on, and changed the conversation as she buckled on the boots. “I was exhausted, now I’m full of energy. How did that happen? Usually after sex I just want to go to sleep.”

“
You only had one orgasm. I didn’t wear you out.”

“
No one’s going to look at me funny when we walk out, right?”

“
I can text someone to tell them to leave you alone, or we can walk out and you can blush and laugh if they tease you.”

Gen looked up from lacing the boots, her voice barely above a whisper as she managed to say, “Tease me?”

“
Yes, Beautiful. You’ve won them over, and when they like someone, they cut-up with them and tease them.”

Gen didn’t say anything, just kept looking at him, though in the back of her mind she was trying to figure out how to escape to her car without going through the clubhouse. There was a way, if she could get to the garage and then go out the side door. She wasn’t sure she could find her way through the maze of hallways, though.

Duke shook his head and reached for his phone. “I’ll ask Bash to tell them to leave you alone about it.”

“
No, can’t we just go? I have my boots on, we can go through the garage to your bike and go for a ride, right?”

He smiled as he typed on his phone, and then pulled Gen to her feet and into his arms. “No, Beautiful. You have to face them eventually, it may as well be now.”

He walked towards the door but she held onto his arm, and when he stopped and turned to look at her, she asked, “What’s the plan for the evening?”

“
I was kind of hoping you’d be okay to hang out here, spend some time with my brothers, and maybe spend the night? I know it isn’t a top of the line mattress with fancy sheets, but I’d like to see you wake up in my bed tomorrow morning, watch you eat breakfast with the rest of us, maybe hang out and just have a lazy morning? You said you don’t have to be anywhere until two tomorrow, right?”

“
That’s my first appointment, but I have a few hours of research to do. If Brain can let me borrow a laptop I can log into my computer at the office and still hang out with ya’ll.