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Bella Notte
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2024-10-29 19:42:56“I’m a little disappointed that the cathedral’s baptistry is closed for renovations,” Caitlyn muttered as she and Duke waited for their reserved time for climbing the dome.
He glanced down at her, amused and a little annoyed to find her rapidly skimming the Opera Di Santa Maria Del Fiore’s brief blurb about the cathedral’s dome, the Duomo, and its history on his phone. He liked having her undivided attention. Liked how her toffee-colored eyes focused, sparkling and flashing her interest.
Leaning towards her, he dipped his head and caught her earlobe between his lips. Immediately, her head shot up and she stifled a little gasp with her hand over her lush mouth.
“You’d have had to cut your nap short if we’d been able to tour the baptistry,” he whisper-drawled.
Caitlyn nearly groaned aloud as he nipped her earlobe, then gently sucked the brief sting of pain away. She eyed him with an arched brow. “We had time after my nap. What we’d have had to cut short
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Rachel barely recognized the hollow-eyed face of her transparent reflection in the glass doors of the hotel as she approached them, dragging her luggage behind her. She wasn’t the kind of woman who made a habit of being miserable, but at this point, she was giving it serious consideration. The life-sustaining nicotine-coffee-chocolate buzz she’d subsisted on since the truck stop earlier in the day had long since worn off and she’d been running on fumes for hours. Her skin felt gross and she was sure she must stink after two days without a shower, even if she’d been blessed to spend most of it in refrigerated air. She’d long since passed the point of hunger, and now, she was fairly certain she’d be too exhausted to eat, regardless of the quality of the meal presented her. The automated doors slid open as she triggered their sensor and she turned exhausted eyes to the front desk. “Rachel?” Pausing, she pivoted toward the sound of her name. Dex.
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Duke wasn’t certain whether it was the nighttime view of the city from the Duomo’s lantern. Or the second bottle of wine and tiramisu they’d shared while listening to tonight’s orchestra concert on the Piazza Santa Croce after dinner. All he knew was that their cozy little table nestled in a sheltered corner of the restaurant’s patio seating was draped in shadows, making it remarkably intimate for a thrillingly public venue. That as the evening wore on and the crowd thinned, Caitlyn’s hand had crept over his thigh and opened his fly without a single provocation from him. And since she had her hand inside his slacks, he wasn’t about to ask what had gotten into her. Besides the electric thrill that came with the risk of discovery and her initiating something so risqué, there was an equally rousing rush that came from her tentative explorations. She’d captivated him from the start, but the combination of her innocence and her lustful daring was a heady potion, o
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Her heart leapt joyfully at Duke’s encouraging words. Basking in the warmth radiating off of him, Caitlyn drew nearer, pressing her body lightly against his. What had happened at the door had been frightening—she’d never seen him with so little control. Even swept as she was into the storm of passionate sensations he stirred, she still retained at least that much presence of mind to hear what he was saying, to know what he was doing.So much instinctive drive was flattering too, she had to admit. To hold a man like him so enthralled. Even now, he was responding—his fingers leaving hers to caress along the bumpy ridge of her spine, his head dipping to nuzzle her neck. To control him—and herself—she was going to have to be firm.“Duke,” she pressed at his tattooed forearms insistently, forcing him to release her, and pulled out of reach of his lips. “I love what you do when you touch and kiss me, but I want to learn what you like too.”With a wry grin, he tucked his hands behind his bac
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Leaning against his chiseled chest, Caitlyn wrapped her arms around the back of his neck in an extended stretch. Then she wiggled and flexed with no particular grace and absolutely no idea what she was doing, rubbing her bottom against the heated steel of Duke’s erection. With her heart racing in a frenzied thumping, she waited for his reaction. Rapt, he gently enfolded her in his tattooed arms, closing one large hand at her throat and pressing her into his strong, warm body. She was so primed that she gasped as his questing palm brushed over the sensitized tips of her breasts and squeezed lightly before angling downward to skate across her abdomen. He was making a beeline for her pleasure zone’s command central. Too fast. Already she could feel herself being sucked in to his seduction and overpowered. “Wait.” His hand stilled and he nuzzled into her neck, forcing his breathing to steady as he inhaled the florally-female scent off her skin and fought the dema
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What escaped him was something between an agonized howl of pain and a bitter growl of frustration. But he yielded. Setting her on her feet gently, Duke separated them. Then he took an unsteady step back, pivoted so his back was to her and took a seat on the side of the bed. He ran a frustrated hand through his hair, then fell back to stare blankly at the ceiling, his chest heaving and ropey veins standing out along his neck and shoulders, down into his tattooed forearms. His eyes slammed closed and he exhaled a sharp breath. He could have overpowered her like he had at the door. But he’d given her his word, and he’d kept it. Now he’d given her infinitely more. He’d set her free. Liberated her from her own insecurities. Unshackled the bonds of the past that had kept her prisoner. Elated, Caitlynn pushed herself off the wall and stumbled to the side of the bed. Duke’s breath left him with a soft ‘oophf’ as she fell upon him, but there was no tim
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“Rachel, you’d probably feel better if you ate something,” Dex said quietly, reaching for his cup of espresso. Ignoring him, she glanced at her watch and scowled, then sat up straighter and craned her neck, skimming the people at the other tables in the hotel’s restaurant. “Where are they? You said they’re usually down here for breakfast by seven. It’s seven fifty-five.” Sighing heavily, Dex used the time it took him to set his cup down to rattle off a mental ten-count. “The operative word was ‘usually’, Rachel. If I knew where they were, I wouldn’t be here having my meal ruined by your frenzied tapping and annoyed huffing. Maybe they came earlier.” “We were down here at quarter after six!” Not willingly, he thought, but remained silent. He lowered his head and rubbed his eyes slowly, his jaw clenched. “Fine. Maybe they’re late. Maybe they’re having breakfast somewhere else or getting room service. There’s not a way for me to answer your question or I
Italy With A Duke Shocks
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As Rachel sputtered and Dex gaped, Caitlyn stumbled a few more steps backwards into the room, her soft doe eyes locked on Duke in astonishment and accusation, flickering with distrust. He knew the look all too well—he’d made her nervous. That he didn’t like. He took a slow step closer, taking in the damp cling of her dark hair to her delicate neck, the slenderness of her shoulders. She was shaking like a leaf in a gale, her mind obviously an unfathomable swamp of questions and misunderstandings—things with some significant negative potential. That made him nervous. “Caitlyn,” he whispered, taking another step towards her. In his periphery, he saw her hired companion, Dex, lunge forward and capture the destructive little meddler, Rachel by the shoulders. “We need to stay out of this,” Dex hissed. “Like hell we—.” Her words cut off as he covered her mouth with a hand. For the first time since Duke had laid eyes on him, he was gra
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Tucking the thin parcel under his arm to hold it, Duke pressed his thumb against the biometric security lock at the lab door, then entered his security code. When the door released, he pulled it open, then closed behind him. He stopped in the entry room, juggling Caitlyn’s package between hands to don his long, white lab coat and a pair of safety glasses. “Hey Paula.” He gave his wife’s lab worker a polite smile and nod as he passed through the wet lab between the aquarium racks teeming with zebra fish. “Hi Duke. She’s in at the microscope.” “Thanks.” On the opposite side of the room, he passed through another door into the main laboratory space, a generous work area with water-resistant flooring, provisions for tissue cultures, microscopy, cell cultures and chemical prep rooms outfitted with biological safety cabinets. Immediately, he spotted his wife. As he’d been advised, Caitlyn was seated at one of the sturdy laboratory tables before a microscope
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“Mr. Ellis,” the low voice droned, filling the small sitting. It belonged to a man clearly used to issuing orders that were obeyed. For a call of this magnitude, Allie had gathered their ragtag band— Jay, Duke, Caitlyn and herself—in her suite on the Italian Riviera. When it was all said and done, it had been easier getting to the awaiting boat than Caitlyn had anticipated. Of course, gravity tended to work that way. As soon as Dex had placed a portion of his weight upon it, as Duke had anticipated, the damaged and rusted grate over the collapsing drainage shaft had groaned loudly then given way, unceremoniously dumping the three of them into the open air. Immediately, Duke had deployed the parachute to slow their fall. The fire-heated sea drafts had carried them in a descending spiral, out over the frigid water of the Adriatic where they’d landed safely. Dex slipped the makeshift harness before they’d resurfaced and struck hard for the boat, bringing it along
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Caitlyn heaved forcefully as the choking fumes were piped down her throat and into her lungs, singing the sensitive passageways. She collapsed into the muck in a spasming heap. “Duke!” Squeezing onto his side, Dex dragged himself alongside the hacking, weakly thrashing woman as she clawed at her throat. Glancing back, Duke cursed. “Can you pull her?” Another rumbling explosion rocked the tunnel. This time, bits of dust and pebbles tumbled from between the stones above them. “Oh hell.” “Uh-huh. Got it.” Dex wrapped an arm around the floundering woman’s hips and braced his feet on opposite sides of the tunnel. With one arm and using the slime on the bottom to reduce the friction from their weight, he inched them both toward the exit. In the lead, Duke watched the struggling pair, debating whether he should go ahead and prepare for the jump to their escape or wait until they caught up so he could take Caitlyn from the other man. Both thoughts were immedi
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“Alex!” she breathed, starting forward when he raised a violently shaking hand towards her. His thin mouth opened in silent accusation and supplication. Then both Dex and Duke were turning her, one on each upper arm with a firm grip. They propelled her swiftly through the hidden door. “Duke, the latch,” Dex ordered as they rushed into the narrow passageway. He pointed at the door, then reached for the switch to reconnect his communication equipment. “Knight 2 and 3. Asset acquired. Allie, we could use an exit plan.” As Duke released her, Caitlyn jerked herself free of Dex’s grasp. She flung herself at the door. “No! He needs my help!” Ramming the bolt home, he pivoted and grasped her by the upper arms. “Caitlyn!” he snapped harshly, shaking her once to get her attention as the light dimmed to nothingness. “No matter what he did to stay alive before, you can’t save him now.” “You don’t know that!” she cried to the darkness.
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“Caitlyn!” The lump of stone that had become his heart leapt into Duke’s throat with ringing alarm. “Shut your mouth, you worthless whore!” Alex jerked the pistol at her furiously. “How dare you even speak to me like that!?” A soft gasp escaped her and she took a step backwards, closer to Duke and the meager amount of safety he presented as Alex advanced on her. She'd intended to provoke him. This was a much bigger reaction than she'd anticipated. “You have no idea! No fucking idea how I felt having to squat just to stand in your shadow!” His vicious words spat at her through clenched teeth. His bourgeoning rage scorched over her, filling the tiny antechamber with its malevolent presence. “You don’t know what it’s like to have your life’s work—the epitome of your creativity and intelligence— shown up and disproven by some pathetic little girl who refuses to see potential! To watch as you dusted your hands of it, like everything I did wa
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Except in photographs, Duke had only ever seen Alex Maddox once—the day the man’s body had been moved from the hospital morgue to the funeral home where Caitlyn had made final arrangements. Frankly, he didn’t look much better now than he had in the body bag, even if he did technically have a pulse. But he had no doubt in Caitlyn’s recognition. Whatever Alex had put himself through to create the illusion that he was dying, it clearly hadn’t been without lasting effect. Not that he’d ever been particularly robust anyway. True, he hadn’t been the stereotypical scrawny, bespectacled and pocket-protected scientist obsessing over his collection of tribble plushies. Like his med school performance, Alex Maddox had been average. Average height and weight, average build, average looks. Though Duke never would have guessed it studying the skeletal creature leveling a pistol at his weeping wife. He had been fastidious about his appearance—getting a haircut every 28 days without fail and only w
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Frozen in place and unable to turn away, Caitlyn watched the violence of the wild seizures as Tommaso thrashed on the hard stone floor. Each second that ticked away was a new horror as her potent chemical cocktail took effect. Within seconds, the man’s uncontrolled muscle spasms had pulled bones from joints or outright snapped them. His respirations turned into hiccupping gasps, shallow and forced and his skin flushed dark red from the fierce pounding of his heart.And then it was over.As a physician, she knew what the man’s final second had involved and she gagged, stumbling backwards a few steps knowing that she’d caused it. Catching herself with one slim hand on the edge of a lab table, she crashed to her knees and vomited. Like pulling the trigger of the gun aimed at Agent Richards, it had been too easy—far too easy to kill.She gave a weak sob, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Even with Duke’s words in her head, she knew that until she reached her foul captor’s ch
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“Knight 1. In position,” Jay drawled lazily through the comms, and Duke couldn’t suppress his grin. Both he and Jay were uncomfortable, but there hadn’t been time to develop a full-scale assault plan. At most, they might get twenty-four hours before Caitlyn was either killed or sold to another terrorist group. They’d already lost seven and half hours just getting to her location. They couldn’t afford to wait. A few seconds after, Dex’s acknowledgement hissed through his earpiece. “Knight 2. In position.” Ignoring the brief bursts of chatter through his comms, Duke reached for another handhold, and pulled himself up the sheer face of the cliff on the ocean-facing side of the stone fortress. A hot twinge of pain shot along his nerves from his shoulder, as the numbing medication wore off. He gritted his teeth against it, continuing his climb. Of course, they had the benefit of some of the most advanced surveillance equipment in the world, and arguably the most brilliant mind to opera
