Love and Whiskers

by Olivia Myers

  The smile blazing from beneath his helmet was a bit of a shock though.

  Another photo showed him in front of a Christmas tree with an older couple and an arm around a woman who looked so much like the delicate, feminine version of him that she could only be a sister. There were several more, Duke with various family members and friends. Two in particular caught her eye though, both of them of him by himself.

  One showed him standing behind the bar, arms crossed and brow furrowed in the now familiar scowl. But there was a twinkle in his eye and the corner of his mouth was turned slightly up as if he was fighting off a grin. He looked a couple years younger and the bar looked significantly less scuffed up. Taken when he first bought it, perhaps. Lexi could easily imagine his sister behind the camera, trying to cajole a smile out of him.

  The other was a candid outdoor shot of him in three quarter profile. He was dressed casually in a t-shirt and cargo shorts, sunglasses covering his dark eyes. What was remarkable about it was that he was halfway up what looked to her like a nearly sheer cliff face. She could see the black lines of the harness around his thighs and waist and the very thin (in her opinion) rope disappearing above him, but the sight of him clinging to the rock, the muscles of his arms and calves bulging with tension, took her breath away.

  “You ever been?”

  Duke’s low voice made her heart skip a beat. She dragged her attention away from the picture to find him staring at her, a sheaf of papers in his hand. Her throat made a dry clicking noise as she swallowed.

  “What?”

  “Rock climbing,” he clarified, nodding at the picture she’d been ogling. “Ever been?”

  “Oh. No. It… uh… looks fun.” It looked scary as hell.

  She watched his full mouth curve upward. The smile wasn’t quite as bright as the ones he sported in the pictures on the wall, but it was still enough to make her clench her thighs together.

  “It’s a total rush. It gets your heart pumping and when it’s a really good climb you feel it in your whole body. It’s… exhilarating.”

  Lexi’s blood seemed to have been replaced with thick honey. It trickled through her veins, slow and sweet. Looking into Duke’s dark eyes, she felt heavy and warm and ripe. Her tongue slid out to toy at the corner of her mouth.

  “Oh? I like the sound of that.”

  Duke seemed to realize the effect his words had on her, because the smile faded, replaced by a heated look from beneath his heavy brows. The papers fluttered to the floor as he closed the short distance between them.

  They’d been dancing around the attraction between them since the moment she’d walked into Shotguns, so it was absolutely no surprise to Lexi that the minute Duke’s mouth touched hers she went up in flames.

  He angled his head and took her lips with savage grace. Lexi opened for his tongue, sucking at the slick muscle as it invaded her mouth. Duke growled, the sound reverberating deliciously through her chest. His big hands clutched at her hips, blunt-tipped fingers digging into her flesh through the denim of her skirt.

  She reached up, standing on tip-toe and wrapping her arms around his muscled shoulders. The hair at the nape of his neck was short and silky. She scratched at it lightly with her fingernails.

  Duke shoved her back against the wall, rattling several things on the shelf above their heads. A coil of soft rope slid down from its place looped around a bracket to brush her cheek. One calloused hand skated down her thigh to tease the back of her knee. When it trailed back up her thigh, he hiked her skirt with it.

  Lexi nipped his lower lip, pressing her shoulders back against the wall as he pulled her leg up around his waist. She hooked her boot heel behind his thigh and arched her hips, undulating to press against the prominent ridge of his erection.

  “Christ, I can feel how hot you are.” He groaned the words against her ear before trailing wet, open mouthed kisses down her throat.

  She lifted her other leg, letting him take her weight as she locked her ankles behind his back. Duke shoved up her shirt and bra, his mouth latching onto the hard tip of her breast and sucking greedily, making her arch her back and cry out. Her fingernails dug into his biceps as her hands roamed his arms and chest.

  “Duke, please, fuck… just…” Lexi didn’t know what she was saying. Her brain was all white noise and pleasure, her skin aflame everywhere he touched her. One minute his big hands were kneading her ass as he devoured her breasts, turning her into a writhing, whimpering thing.

  Then he pulled her grip from around his neck, clutching both her thin wrists in one broad palm and pressing them over her head. Her fingertips brushed the underside of the shelf as his left hand fumbled at her shoulder.

  She tried to turn her head to see what he was doing, but he caught her mouth in another bruising kiss. It became clear a second later anyway when she felt him wind the first loop of rope around her wrists.

  “What…? Ah!” Lexi’s eyes widened at the sensation of Duke pulling the rope taut. Her arms weren’t fully extended, she could bend her elbows a little, but the binding was secure. She could feel the blood tingling in her fingertips and lips and nipples. Her clit throbbed.

  Duke pinned her against the wall with his hips and stroked his hands down her body. He started at her bound wrists and trailed his palms along her forearms, giving her biceps a little squeeze before continuing down her shoulders. The brush of his fingers against the side of her breasts and her ribs had her gasping and jerking in his grip. He stared down at her, eyes intent on the rise and fall of her flushed breasts and the quivering of her stomach muscles. Once he was again cupping her buttocks, he thrust languidly, rubbing his still jean-clad cock against her.

  Lexi had had enough of foreplay. The whole night had been one long tease. She wanted the barriers between them gone. She wanted to be flesh to flesh. She wanted, no needed, him inside her.

  She stretched her neck, swiping her tongue across his lower lip.

  “Are you just going to rub up on me like a high school virgin, or are you going to fuck me?”

  Fire flared in Duke’s dark eyes at her words.

  “Christ, woman. Do you ever shut up?”

  She remembered their encounter earlier and grinned up at him. “Make me.”

  His mouth was on hers a second later, hotter and harder than before. One hand left her ass and she heard the rasp of his zipper. The sound alone made her buck and moan. He tugged aside her panties and then she finally felt the press of hot, smooth flesh against her sex.

  Her thighs tightened around his waist and she rolled her hips, trying to pull him into her.

  Duke growled, shifted his stance, and then buried himself inside her with one hard thrust.

  Lexi had thought he looked thick earlier when she’d seen his erection straining against his jeans, and now, feeling herself stretch to accommodate his girth, she realized her suspicions were right.

  He moaned against her jaw as he withdrew and then thrust again.

  “Harder,” she panted. “Faster.”

  Duke obliged, setting a thrilling, punishing pace. With her arms bound, she could only cling to him with her legs and let him take her. His hands were hard and steady on her ass, easily taking her weight as he slid in and out of her slippery sheath.

  Every deep, rocking thrust twisted the burning pleasure within her tighter and tighter.

  His mouth never left her skin, his lips, tongue, and teeth dragging over her collarbone, her throat, her chin. He bent to suck and nip at her breasts, making her gasp and arch up to press herself to his lips. Lexi could feel her orgasm building, throbbing in every cell. Even her fingernails tingled with pleasure as Duke used his entire body to make her feel good.

  When he kissed her, she tipped over the edge, crying out her release into his mouth.

  He rode her through it, suckling her lower lip gently between his even as his pace increased and grew uneven. Lexi could sense he was close, could feel it in the tightness of his grip and the urgency of his thrusts.


  She trailed her lips along his jaw, feeling the rasp of his stubble, to take his earlobe between her teeth and flick it with her tongue. She breathed words into his ear. “Do it. Come for me, Duke.”

  Lexi felt another all-over shiver of pleasure as he slammed into her all the way to the hilt, pinning her to the wall. She tightened her legs mercilessly to hold him close as she felt the warm pulse of him within her. He buried his face against her neck, shuddering and moaning.

  For several long moments, the only sound in the room was their ragged breathing. Lexi tipped her head back against the wall, enjoying the warm lethargy spreading through her tired muscles. Opening her eyes, she caught sight of her bound wrists and felt a faint spark of arousal fire in the pit of her stomach. The blue and yellow rope looped around her arms reminded her of what they had been discussing when things took a turn for the physical. Lexi giggled.

  “Well, if rock climbing is anything like that, I will definitely be giving it a try.”

  Duke lifted his head. Their gazes collided, his brown eyes were still hazy with pleasure, but the familiar furrow appeared between his brows. Then he followed her look to her bound wrists. Lexi watched a flush darken his cheeks and he bit the corner of his lip. The gesture was uncertain and curiously endearing.

  He reached up and unwound the rope, rubbing at her wrists with gentle fingers. His eyes remained on her arms as he coughed slightly to clear his throat.

  “I, ah, didn’t hurt you, did I?”

  Lexi felt the broad grin stretching her cheeks. She touched still tingling fingers to the rope. “Do you mean with this?” She arched her hips, making him give a sharp gasp. “Or this?”

  “Either,” he said, stepping back and lowering her gently to her feet. He still wouldn’t meet her eyes. Lexi took a minute to smooth her clothes back into place and let him collect himself. When they were both once again clothed, she caught his eye and patted the center of his chest.

  “Hey. We’re good, okay? You didn’t do anything I didn’t want you to. You know that, right?”

  He shoved a hand through his hair, blew out a breath, and nodded. “Yeah. Yeah, I know.”

  Lexi lifted both brows. “So we’re good?”

  “We’re good.”

  “Awesome. Because I still want this job, so it would suck if things were going to be weird between us now.”

  Duke bent to gather up the forgotten paperwork. “I’m not gonna fire you, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

  “I wasn’t, but you’re acting a little squirrely now, boss. Look, we’re both adults. We felt an attraction. We had a little… okay, a lot… of fun. But it’s just sex. And now that it’s out of our systems, I’m sure it’ll be a lot easier to work together.”

  Honestly, Lexi wasn’t so sure that last part was true. They’d only just finished and she already wanted to reach out and pull him back against her. But she didn’t do repeats, no matter how tempting.

  “Right.” Duke didn’t sound convinced either, but when she met his eyes he gave her a short nod. “Your paperwork.”

  She took the sheaf of paper, studying his handsome face. Something was clearly bothering him. Though he was trying not to frown, the line between his brows was there and his lips were turned down at the corners the tiniest bit. She didn’t know if he was upset that he’d given in to his attraction to her, or maybe because he’d had sex with an employee. Whatever it was, she hoped he’d get over it. She liked the job and she liked him. More than she should, probably.

  Tapping the papers against her palm, Lexi forced a smile to her lips.

  “See you tomorrow night, then.”

  Duke ducked his chin in a curt nod. “Tomorrow.”

  ***

  Two months. It had been two long, frustrating months since she’d first started working at Shotguns and she still couldn’t get her mind off the mind-blowing back room sex she’d had with Surly McCrankyPants… aka her boss, Duke.

  Lexi knew some of her friends considered her a slut. She rejected completely the idea that her worth had any connection to the amount of guys she slept with. But even she had to admit that two months was a fairly long stretch for her not to have hooked up with someone.

  Not that she hadn’t tried.

  At first, she just wrote off her lack of interest to the fact that her kinky rope encounter with Duke had been a bout of fantastically satisfying and athletic sex. It had been, in fact, the best sex she’d ever had. It was bound—she smirked at the pun—to tide her over for awhile.

  Besides, between school and the new job, she was pretty busy. So what if the few interactions she did have on her nights off lacked the fire of her and Duke’s verbal sparring? She didn’t have to hook up.

  But when several weeks had passed and she still hadn’t found a single other interesting prospect, Lexi began to worry. The problem was, Duke had made it clear he’d be more than willing to go again. She could almost wish for the awkwardness she’d worried about right after they’d had sex. But no.

  The next afternoon when she showed up for work, Duke was all glowering, heavy brows as he took in her tight black leather vest and purple mini-skirt. He grumbled, “If you wear things like that, we’re going to end up back against the office wall.”

  She’d replied with a stern, “No, we will not,” despite the fact that everything in her body had tightened.

  Apparently, Duke had decided he liked a challenge. Either that, or he was secretly a sadistic bastard, because from that moment on he seemed determined to make her go back on her word. Since they were the only two employees, they worked together every Thursday through Sunday from five in the evening until one, sometimes two in the morning.

  Every night, he gave her shit about what she was wearing, or how she did her job. Lexi knew he was just fucking with her, and she wanted to be annoyed, but it was hard when he seemed to delight in her giving back as good as she got. She’d never met a guy who seemed to enjoy getting snarked at as much as Duke did. It was almost a game for them, seeing which one of them could get in the funniest dig or get a rise out of the other the quickest.

  Several of the regulars even got in on the fun. Buz, the white-haired old biker that came in almost every night, had taken to shouting, “Get a room!” at them when they got going. Duke would usually flip him the bird and then tip his head toward the back hall.

  “Got a room right back there, if you think you can handle it, Blondie.”

  That always caused a flare of irritation and Duke knew it, though she doubted he knew exactly why. The truth was, the teasing nickname reminded her of that first day, and the way he moaned ‘Lexi’ against her neck when he came.

  It had become automatic for her to reply, “Keep dreaming, boss,” and try to repress her smile as he shot back, “Every night, Blondie. Every night.”

  Of course, that was on the good nights, when they were joking and picking at each other. But the more time stretched between them and that first night, the more tense they both became. Lexi didn’t think it was just the bubbling heat between them keeping Duke on edge, though.

  She heard him cursing to himself while he was back in the office doing paperwork. She’d offered to help because she was getting her degree in Business Administration, after all, but he’d waved her off. She wanted to ask what was wrong, but that felt like a step too far.

  Besides, she was trying to distance herself from him.

  No repeats, she reminded herself every night as he told her to ‘get the lead out and serve some drinks for Christ’s sake,’ or rested a hand on her hip as he maneuvered around her in the supply closet after closing.

  He didn’t try to grab her or kiss her though. He wasn’t pushy. Lexi almost wished he would be, because then she could get good and angry at him and then maybe she wouldn’t think about how it had felt when he drove into her.

  After a month of that torture, she’d gotten desperate. She’d known it wasn’t a great idea to sit on Luca’s knee, but the leanly muscled Italian biker was gorgeous
enough to be an underwear model if you overlooked the slightly crooked teeth and prison tats. He was a motorcycle mechanic and had a great laugh and was exactly the kind of guy Lexi would enjoy having in her bed for a night and then never seeing again.

  Except he did nothing for her, even when he leaned down and drunkenly whispered in her ear what he wanted to do to her. Several of them were wonderfully filthy and normally would have had her all aquiver. But she hadn’t felt so much as a single flutter in weeks that wasn’t caused by her stubborn, scowling boss.

  The stubborn, scowling boss who proceeded to toss Luca out on his ear for ‘manhandling the waitstaff.’ And damn it if seeing Duke’s muscles bulge as he hefted the smaller man out into the parking lot hadn’t made her mouth water and her thighs shake.

  Which was maddening, because it wasn’t the last time. In fact, it became pretty common over the last several weeks, seeing as Duke seemed to take exception any time he felt one of the customers was getting too handsy with her… or she was being too friendly with them.

  Hot or not, she wasn’t about to let him keep it up. When he came back in from tossing a huge, three hundred and fifty pound bruiser out on his face in the gravel parking lot, Lexi cornered him behind the bar. He raised both brows and wiped at the thin rivulet of blood trickling from the corner of his mouth where he’d caught a stray elbow.

  Lexi balled up her fist and socked him in the shoulder. It hurt her hand, but helped some of the twisting in her stomach calm down.

  “Knock it the fuck off, Duke.”

  “What?” His tongue poked against his cheek and he winced. Some young, shaggy haired guy whose cut was brand spanking new raised his hand for another beer, but subsided when Lexi shot him a glare.

  She turned the fierce look back on her boss. “Don’t ‘what’ me, mister. You know exactly what I’m talking about. You can’t keep kicking out every guy that makes a pass at me. For one thing, if you keep it up you’re going to run out of customers, and it’s not like you’ve got that many to begin with.”