Page 10 of Duke
“Thanks, Duke.”
“Welcome, Wheeler.”
Relax. Shit’ll happen the way it’s supposed to.
I step into her touch, our legs mingling. I’ve rolled up my sleeves, so her fingers meet bare skin as she wraps them around my arm. She sips her beer. I sip mine. For the first time all night, I hear the music that’s pumping through the speakers overhead.
Garth. An oldie but a goodie.
“Do cowboys dance?” Wheeler starts to rock side to side. Her body, tits to thighs, brushes against mine.
I look down at her, unable to resist putting a hand on her waist to hold her against me. She feels impossibly soft. Impossibly warm. “The good ones do.”
“You wanna be good to me?”
Sweetheart, I’d be so good to you.
So fucking good.
My dick throbs. I take a deep breath. Let it out.
“What about our game?” I glance at the darts on the table. “You haven’t finished kicking my ass yet.”
Her eyes are dark as they rake over my face, catching on my mouth. “We’re done with darts, aren’t we?”
She’s not talking about darts. Well, she is. But she’s also talking about…talking. She knows all she needs to about me, and now she’s ready to get physical.
I’m not hurt. Just doesn’t feel right.
“I like playing darts with you, though.” I sip my beer.
Is that a flicker of surprise I see in her eyes? For a split second, I panic. I hope she doesn’t think I’m turning her down, does she?
I just don’t get why me wanting to get to know her better would come as a surprise to Wheeler. Surely I’m not the first guy to think she’s hotandinteresting. Intelligent. Funny.
“I think I’d like dancing with you better,” she replies.
I look her in the eyes. “How ’bout this? You let me pick your brain for the rest of this game, and then we’ll dance. That a deal?”
Wheeler blinks, a funny expression on her face. “What do you want to know?”
“Everything.”
She goes still.
Very, very still.
So does everything inside me. I swear I can feel my heart trip and fall over the curb of my rib cage.
Shit. I came on way too strong. I’ve made her uncomfortable, and now she’s not gonna talk to me. Definitely not gonna be yelling my name later.
I’m crushed by disappointment.
Crushed by the knowledge that I fucked up my one chance to make this bright, beautiful stranger mine.
CHAPTER 3
Risks Not Worth Taking
