Thrasher (20 page)

His lips came crashing down onto mine, and instinctively I winced in pain as the pressure on my stitches throbbed, pulsating through my body.

Duke quickly pulled away, and I grabbed him, feeling out of breath from his kiss, the pain being taken over by sheer passion and desire to be with this man. “Please. Don’t. Stop.” I breathed heavily, and before I knew it, he’d hoisted me up around his waist and was consuming my body with his kiss alone.

A flood of memories came crashing back down upon me as Duke and I ravaged each other’s lips, and I couldn’t have been more thankful that he’d come back for me like he’d promised. He was there to protect me.

The passion between the two of us was undeniable; our bodies hadn’t been together like this in so long it was as if we were reintroducing a reformed addict back to his drug of choice. My heels dug into Duke’s back, holding on as tight as I could while his hands explored every centimeter of my body that was within arm’s reach, sending chills straight down my spine.

The sound of his feet hitting each step echoed through the house as he carried me up the stairs, never pulling away from my mouth to even see where he was going. My bedroom door bounced off the wall behind it as Duke crashed our bodies against it, allowing entrance into the room.

He gently laid my body down on the bed and stood at the edge in front of me. Lying there, I stared up at this man, gawking at his perfect body as his fingers reached for the hem of his shirt. He pulled it over his head and tossed it to the floor beside him.

My eyes traveled to each of his tattoos. It was amazing how much I’d missed tracing each one of them, listening over and over again to the stories of what they symbolized and how much they meant to him.

When my eyes met his again, there was a faint smile on his face. “You checking me out like that is not helping the situation in my pants.”

I snickered softly. “I think I’ve got a solution to your problem.” I winked up at Duke as my hands made their way down my belly to the button of my jeans and unfastened it, slowly tugging at the cold zipper.

His chest rose and fell, and I watched intently as his muscles grew with each breath, his fingers mimicking mine as they made their way down to the button of his shorts and undid them. My eyes followed his hands that were now pushing his shorts down his thick, muscular legs. When he stood back up, I couldn’t help but stare at the bulge that was pushing through his boxers.

Duke stood before me, one article of clothing away from being completely naked, and I still had everything on. Feeling way too covered up, I shimmied out of my jeans and pulled my shirt above my head, taking my bra with it. Now I lay there in nothing but my black lace panties.

“Fuck, baby, I’ve missed all of this,” he whispered, climbing into bed on top of me. He leaned in and kissed the length of my collarbone. “Is this okay? We don’t have to if you don’t want to. I know it may be too soon.”

His words brought back a faint memory of Blake being on top of me, and my insides shuddered.

Not allowing what had happened that night to pollute this perfect moment with Duke, I pushed it out of my head and laced my fingers around his neck. “There isn’t anything on earth that I’d rather be doing right now than this.”

His teeth filled my eyesight as an earth-shattering smile erupted onto his face. He leaned in and kissed my lips.

“I love you, Brianna. I love you so much.” His kiss intensified, and in the heat of the moment, he was out of his boxers in no time. He tugged my panties down my long legs and tossed them aside so there’d be nothing between us as we made love for what felt like the very first time.

I lay there and did my best to get my breathing under control. Duke and I had been together numerous times, but it had never been like this. This was something I’d never experienced in my entire life. He took my body to levels I’d never imagined possible; it was raw and emotional, sweet and seductive. It was something one could only dream of when imagining what making love to her perfect soul mate would feel like.

I rolled over to Duke and rested my head on his sweaty chest as it heaved up and down. “Oh my, that was…” I tried to find the right words, but there were none. I couldn’t come up with one word that could describe how I felt. And then a smile took hold of my face, and I turned so I was looking up into Duke’s eyes. “…supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!”

The funniest look took hold of his face. “Supercala-what?” he asked as I began to laugh.

“You’ve never seen
Mary Poppins
? It’s a word that you say when you don’t know what else to say. In this case, what just happened was seriously
supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!
”

His body began to shake with laughter. “I just made love in the best way possible to the woman I’m crazy about, and she recites Mary Poppins as a comparison. I think I just lost my manhood.”

I sat up and pulled the sheet around my naked body. “Oh please don’t say that.” I begged with a smirk on my face “Now that I’ve finally gotten you back, I can’t possibly risk losing your amazing
manhood
all over again.” I winked.

Duke propped himself up on his elbows. “Keep stroking my ego. It’ll help your cause.”

I climbed on top of him, straddled his hips, and kissed his chest. “I’m about to stroke something else.” I pulled the sheets over the two of us and leaned down. I pressed my lips to his, feeling his
ego
growing underneath me.

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

As I made my way down the stairs, I held onto the handrail, glancing around at the scenery of the tiny Barbados airport where we’d just arrived. Duke’s arms wrapped around me from behind, and he kissed my neck. “Vacation. Just what we all needed.”

We made our way down the rest of the stairs, the sound of Tripp’s voice echoing behind us. “Lifestyles of the rich and famous, Hamilton-style. Thank you, Daddy, for the private jet.”

Megan slapped his arm. “Can you act like a civilized human being? The locals are going to think we’ve brought a buffoon to the island with us.”

Tripp began dancing around in his board shorts and tank top, flailing his arms and singing island music to embarrass her even further.

Megan’s cheeks flushed red as a tomato, and she rushed over to me, interlocked our arms, and shoved Duke from my side. “Please go kill him. The world would be a better place.”

Duke let out a loud laugh. “What’s wrong? He’s just excited about vacation.” He walked over to Tripp and began dancing just like him.

I couldn’t help but laugh hysterically as Megan hid her face in my shoulder. “Didn’t the ad say we were getting big, bad, tough guys?”

I shook my head and pulled her toward the town car that was awaiting us, still laughing at the two of them making fools of themselves.

The house was magnificent, hidden by a jungle-filled front yard, only to be completely open in the back to a pristine, white, sandy beach met by crystal-clear, blue ocean water. I couldn’t help but rush through the open layout and make my way onto the white sand, Megan hot on my heels. I discarded my dress and sandals on the patio, dashed down to the water, and dove in headfirst.

When I came up for air, Megan was prancing around in her bikini on the shoreline. “It’s too cold. How did you just jump in like that?” She hollered louder the farther I swam out.

“Oh, quit being a baby!” I shouted, trying to keep her attention on me as I saw Duke and Tripp rushing up behind her. I knew what Tripp was about to do.

I stared at Duke, smiling as he ran toward me in nothing but his board shorts. He bypassed Megan, dove into the water, and swam out to me just as Tripp scooped her up into his arms and ran into the waves as fast as he could. Megan screamed at the top of her lungs.

Duke popped out of the water right next to me, and I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him hard before turning my attention back to Megan and Tripp. He had her over his shoulder and was slapping her ass as she kicked and screamed, trying to get him to put her down, laughing the entire time.

“I’m glad we did this,” Duke said. He kissed my neck and pulled me back to the shallow end where he could hold me without having to tread water.

Once he was able to stand, I slid my legs around his waist. “Me too. It was much needed. I know summer break isn’t far away, but it’s nice to just get away for a few days.”

We both turned toward Tripp and Megan, watching as he chased her around the sand, trying to catch her and put her back in the water.

“When is he going to pop the question? It’s obvious he’s head-over-heels in love with that girl.” I questioned, looking back to Duke, who all of the sudden had a funny look on his face.

My stomach fluttered. “Oh my gosh, he’s going to ask her, isn’t he?” I asked in a high-pitched whisper. “Does he have the ring already? Is he going to do it this weekend?” I grabbed Duke’s face and kissed his forehead. “She is going to freak out. The diamond is princess-cut, right? That’s her favorite. Did he ask her dad? What about her brother? Oh my gosh, we are going to get to plan a wedding! This is so exciting!”

Duke shook his head, “Good Lord, you women are crazy about weddings. I never said he was going to propose to her. I have no idea when he’s going to ask her.”

I bounced up and down in his arms, grinning from ear to ear. “Is that why you just said you don’t know
when
he’s going to ask her? I get it. I can keep a secret. She’ll never know it’s coming, I promise.”

Duke shook his head. “You’re insane.”

I leaned in and kissed his lips, tasting the salt water on his mouth. “Insanely in love with my man.”

Megan and I spent the next few hours lying out on the beach, working on our tans while the guys went into town to buy groceries for the next few nights.

“So, you and Tripp are doing really well. Do you think he is going to pop the question soon?”

Megan sat up quickly in her lounge chair. “I’m not sure. I mean, I feel like I’m ready, but you know how guys are. It could take Tripp forever to figure out if I’m
the one
. What about you and Duke? Do you think it’ll be soon?”

I sat up so I was eye-level with her and crisscrossed my legs. “I’m not sure. I think with everything that went down, it may be too soon. It’s only been a month since we’ve been back together. I mean, I know I’m ready. If he asked me today, I’d say yes, but like you said, you never know with men. I almost wish the rule was that women asked the men. That way we wouldn’t have to wait so long.”

Megan hopped off her chair and reached for a giant coconut that was on the ground next to the group of palm trees and then got down on one knee in front of me. “I can see it now. ‘Oh, Duke, please do me the honor of being my beautiful bride.’”

I laughed at my best friend but played right into her dramatization, standing on top of my chair, folding my arms over my chest, and stomping my foot, trying to talk in a deep voice. “’That ring is entirely too small, and the least you could have done was allow me to get a proper manicure before you proposed. I’m just appalled.’”

Megan dropped the coconut and pulled me inside as we both continued laughing at the other’s acting skills. Megan opened the refrigerator and pulled out two beers then cracked them both open and handed one to me. “Well, at least we have each other if all else fails!”

We clinked our bottles together and yelled, “Cheers!”

The sound of music made its way into the house, and the slamming of two car doors indicated that the guys were back from the grocery store. The front door swung open, and they were both carrying loads of groceries, way too much for our four-night trip.

“What is all of this?” I asked curiously.

Duke set his bags down on the countertop. “Food. There’s more in the trunk. We couldn’t resist. There was just so much to choose from.”

Megan and I started emptying the bags as Duke and Tripp made three more trips to the car. Once everything was unloaded and out of the bags, I stood there in shock, trying to figure out how in the world the four of us were going to eat all of this food.

I lifted up one of the bags. “You literally have enough food here to feed a small army.”

Tripp wrinkled his nose at my statement. “We only feed marines.”

I rolled my eyes. “Whatever! Now you two go enjoy yourselves while Megan and I figure out where we are going to put all of this.”

Duke walked passed me and slapped my bikini-clad ass before he leaned into my ear. “Love you, beautiful.”

My lips curled up into a smile, and I tilted my head so he had plenty of room to shower my neck with kisses. “Love you more.”

I handed him two beers, and he and Tripp went on their merry way outside toward the water.

“What are we going to do with all of this food?” Megan asked, picking up an entire fish and holding it in the air, pretending it could talk. “Help me. I need to be released back into the ocean.”

My hands wrapped around the fish and took it from her hands. I put it back into the thick white paper she’d pulled it out from. “How do you even cook this stuff? Duke knows I don’t cook well, so I hope he and Tripp are up to playing chef for the next few days.”