Page 23 of Under the Influence

“You like when women flirt at you. Typical man.”

Glancing at me, Duke wears the expression of a man who’s just realized he’s dating crazy. I smile at his worry.

“What if a guy was being so obvious toward me?” I ask when he doesn’t respond to my earlier accusation.

“I wouldn’t mind. Having men drool is part of the bargain when dating beautiful women.”

“You wouldn’t be jealous at all?”

“No, because I know you’re here with me.”

“I am,” I say, shifting gears and sounding lovestruck.

Duke offers me a little smile. “And I’m here with you, so ignore that thirsty bitch.”

Smiling at how he insulted her, I scoot closer and ignore the menu. “Did you seriously tell your family that a stripper gave you a hickey?”

“Yes. What did you tell yours?”

“They didn’t ask. It’s very common for me to come home with hickeys. I’m wildly slutty.”

Duke grins at my lie. “Why did you look upset when I got here?”

My smile fades. “I hate keeping this a secret. My family is open about everything. This feels wrong.”

“I’m curious what you told them.”

“When my brother Otto kept pushing, I claimed you were an auditor who drives a Mazda and likes to DJ on the weekends. I figured those were boring enough details to ensure they didn’t want to know more.”

Duke chuckles. “If I used those lies, my mom would have insisted on meeting the nerd who’d marked me.”

“Oh, and my family would absolutely want to meet the stripper who gave me a hickey.” I stroke the hickey on his throat left behind by my hot kisses. “I didn’t know I did that.”

Duke rests the menu on the table and admires me. “And I didn’t know I marked you. But I’m not surprised. You tasted so damn good, I couldn’t stop myself.”

I nearly crawl into Duke’s lap when he fesses up to feeling what I do. Instead, I lean closer and meet his lips with mine.

I’ve never known this kind of lust before. This isn’t that “butterflies in the stomach” crap. This is crazy heat crawling all over my skin and setting me on fire inside.

I breathe as if I’ve run a mile. I can’t think straight. Every sound around us is too loud yet muffled. All I can see, hear, feel, and taste is Duke McGraw.

His arm slides around my body and holds me closer. When our lips part, I stare at him and wait for something. I feel panicked as if I’m in trouble.

“Keeping this a secret is making me crazy and weak,” I blurt out and then lower my gaze when the waitress pops up to get our order.

Duke gently waves her off before focusing on me. “Because you tell your family everything or because you think hiding this means we’re doing something wrong?”

“Both.”

“Well, we’re obviously not doing anything wrong. We’re single adults.”

“What would happen if we told people?” I ask, studying his handsome face. “Help me picture the alternative to feeling guilty and weird like I do right now.”

Duke studies me with his dark blue eyes. I feel both invigorated and deflated by this attention. I’m all over the place emotionally. He’s all I want, yet I keep thinking we should end things.

Mostly, I miss my old life when I knew I could say anything to my family. Tuesday would never hide her relationship.Why do I have to be sensible?

“This alliance between the clubs is new. Your dad and uncles were never hostile as much as indifferent toward my club. However, I’ve always viewed them as rivals. Their club was more established and had better management. We could have been allies long ago and stuck to our territory, but we chose not to. Now I’m asking them to take on my problems.”

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