Page 93 of Duke's Daring Bookworm
“I just signed a deal to open another location in Charleston.”
Both women squealed over this, and in a surprising move, Lily leaned in and hugged Grace.
“That’s amazing!”
“I know. I’m so excited and nervous and there’s so much to do, but the location is so cute and it’s in the perfect little spot in the French Quarter.” Grace beamed. Her bakery was her life. She loved that place, and every cookie and cake that came out of it stood as a testament to her love.
“I can’t wait to visit it.”
Lily and Grace kept talking. All the while, Lily played with my hair.
Life with my daring little bookworm was perfect.
Epilogue Part Two
Work ran late and by the time Luke, the driver Duke had insisted on, dropped me at home, I was pleasantly exhausted.
“Thank you,” I said to Luke when he opened my door for me. “Sorry to keep you out so late. I’ll be staying home for a few days so you can take the time off.”
“Will do.”
I walked up the short sidewalk to our house. Duke and I moved in together last year. He insisted I pick out our new home. I would have been fine with the apartment—except it was in the busy part of town, the doorman watched me in a way that sent unpleasant shivers down my spine, and the big, empty space echoed when I was there by myself.
So, I picked a house all right, right next door to the one I’d lived in for so many years with Frankie. It had a different floor plan, and it needed extensive work to make it livable, but once the renovations were done, it was perfect. Cozy,relatively small, and so very different from the world Duke came from. He seemed relaxed and happy here, though.
Midnight brushed along my legs when I let myself in, and I bent down to pick the black cat up.
“Where’s daddy?” I asked as I scratched the place just behind his ear he loved so much.
“Call me that again,” Duke said from the kitchen.
“Daddy?” I let Midnight jump from my arms to go hide in his favorite spot in the little library.
“Yes,” he growled as he came up to me and pushed me against the nearest wall, kissing me like he just came back from war. I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him in close, sinking into his embrace and his kiss.
“Hello,” I said when he pulled back.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“I’d rather be eaten than eat right now.” I walked my fingers along his chest, down his stomach, to his pants. “You made me a promise and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it all day.”
He groaned and captured my hand before I could unbutton his jeans and sink to my knees right here.
“Let me put dinner away. If you aren’t naked by the time I get to our room, I’m ripping these clothes off you.” He grabbed my shirt and pulled me in for a quick, hard kiss before turning me around and smacking my ass.
I ran to the room. Eager for tonight, I stripped out of my clothes, throwing them in the basket in the corner, and rifled around the nightstand for what we needed. I set the lube and condoms out on the nightstand just as Duke came back into the room.
“I thought I said to be naked,” he said as he walked up to me, grabbing my hips and pulling me back against him.
“I am?” I looked down and realized what he meant. I’dforgotten to take off my panties, the pink lacy ones I loved. “No, don’t rip these. They’re my favorite.”
He nuzzled behind my ear and then nipped at the lobe.
“Hmm. Mine too. I’ll just take them for myself for a while. How does that sound?”
He had a small collection of my panties in his drawer. I asked him about it once, wondering if there were other women’s panties sitting around as trophies. Apparently, he just did that with me and wasn’t too interested in questioning why.
“Ugh, fine, but I get them back at some point.”
