Page 21 of Duke

THE POWERFUL ENGINE throttles under me. This old bike still wields power. My eyes wait for the light to change and my boot taps on the pavement impatiently.

Fucking turn green already.

My thoughts are all over the goddamn place. What is it about that girl?

Christ, I lose all my sanity the second my eyes land on her. All I can think is MINE MINE MINE!

Fuck.

I just want to grab her already and ride off into the fucking sunset because I already know how this story is going to end—with her in my bed as I drive into her sweet body until I come so hard I pass out. Then I’m fucking putting a ring on that shit. That girl imprinted on my soul the second I found her. I just don’t have the patience to slow down and date her. It’d be much easier to seduce her into loving me.

Shit.

Maybe, I’m not a man worth loving.

The light finally changes. Picking up my foot, I ride out of town just needing the freedom of the open road and nothing but wind on my face.

It’s the closest to feeling free a man can get and almost reaches the peak of sex… almost.

I zip around the curves ignoring the double yellow lines, just needing to get this girl out of my head.

I’m in no state to marry her or anyone else. The truth is: I’m a fucking mess and I’m not lucky enough to think a girl on fire like Shanna Flynn could ever love a broken bastard like me.

But I just can’t accept that another man will feel her fire, fan her flames and combust in her. I thirst for her like a dying man thirsts for water in a desert. My phone vibrates in the back pocket of my jeans, reluctantly I pull over.

"What?" I bark.

"Get your ass back here. You were only supposed to be gone a few days."

"Shit, I know Smith. I got held up. What's up?"

"We're drowning in orders, and the MC wants a favor."

"Fuck."

"I know. I think I've put them off for a few days, but you need to haul ass back to California brother."

"Dammit, alright. I need to resolve a few things here. My head is all fucked up.”

“Christ, pull yourself together. I’ve never heard you talk like this.”

“Fuck, I know. Being back here is not what I expected. This girl—”

“Jesus, please don’t tell me—you are letting shit blow up here because of a piece of ass?”

I rub a hand across my face, “Shit. She is more than that. I’m just trying to figure out how she did it.”

“Did what?”

“Be the one.”

“Ah, fuck no. Get your ass back here.”

“Call me if shit goes sideways,” I half laugh, realizing how pathetic I must sound.

"Will do."

I tuck my phone back into my pants, turn the bike around and race back towards town. I'm running out of time. But I can't leave Oregon without getting to know her more and definitely not before making her, my woman in every way a man can.

---