๋ก๊ทธ์ธ๊ณต์
Slow Dance
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2022-09-18 12:18:08It was the last thing that Caitlyn had expected to hear thousands of miles away from home on a piazza in Italy, but there was no mistaking the familiar tune and the lyrics of the sultry songstress singing Ella Fitzgerald.
Grinning like the cat that swallowed the canary, Duke dragged her with him through the loose crowd, to an empty spot beneath the illuminated fountain of Neptune. There, he pivoted, his open palm sliding around her waist to her lower back to press her against him while his free hand lifted hers. โLetโs dance.โ
โThereโs no one dancing!โ she sputtered in a near-panic.
He merely grinned, politely refusing to accept her refusal. โThere will be.โ
โIโno! DukeโIโcanโt!โ Stumbling over the cobblestones, she clung to him, tripping over her own feet and his.
โSure, you can,โ he encouraged, reluctantly allowing some space between their bodies and directing her attention to his feet. โItโs a two-step. Easy-peasy for a woman with your IQ.
๊ด๋ จ ์ฑํฐ
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Fast Forward
โYou sure about this?โ Duke demanded again, waving the key card in front of the sensor lock beside the knob and gritting his teeth in frustration when the little red light didnโt waver. Wedging her soft, sweet body between him and the door, Caitlyn knotted her fingers in his shirt at his waist. โIโm sure,โ she replied firmly, then her voice dropped to a soft whisper. โTake me to bed with you, Duke.โ Utterly vexed, he groaned, banging the card against the sensor several times. Forcing himself to be calm, he rested it gently against it and waited a three-count. An ear-blistering string of obscenities hissed from his mouth. Hell with it. Heโd just break the damned thing down. Then a flash of brilliance struck him. Stuffing his hand back in his pocket, he pulled out the second key card heโd been carrying, then waved it in front of the sensor. Immediately, the light blinked from red to green. Brainless idiotโheโd been waving her room key in front of his door. He c
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-20Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Only His
The words were simple enough. The concept too. In theory. But Caitlyn found herself at a loss to actually accomplish what heโd asked. How could she ask him for something sheโd never experienced? Something sheโd only read about in foolish stories and didnโt even know whether it was true? In truth, he already knew her body better than she did. Uncertain what else to do, she nodded mutely. โGood,โ Duke purred, smiling that lady-killer smile of his. Then he dipped his head again and layered a sizzling trail of kisses from her ear to her collarbones. Walking backwards on his hands, he positioned himself over her breasts, then leaned down to tease first one tip with his tongue, then the other. She gasped softly as he lowered himself to his forearms, the hot steely length of him brushing along her thighs. Yielding to his unconscious suggestion, she opened them and Duke settled his hips between her knees and pressed a kiss to her soft belly. โOoh!โ sh
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-21Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Dreamworld
Beneath him, Caitlyn slumped, her exhausted body flattening on the bed, limp as a rag doll. Releasing her wrists, Duke lowered his body with hers. Careful not to separate their merged flesh, he rolled her with him to his side so her slender form wasnโt suffering his weight. She sighed, pillowing her neck on his muscled bicep as he wrapped an arm around her middle and pulled her back against his chest. For several long moments, the only sound in the room was the mingled song of their heaving breath. Under his arm, he could feel her pounding heart, slowly settling into its resting rhythm along with his. โCaitlyn?โ A drowsy little hum was all he got in return. โDarlinโ, did I hurt you?โ โMmm, no.โ For a moment, she said nothing more and Duke nuzzled into her hair, believing sheโd fallen asleep. He pressed a light kiss at her temple, snuggling her tight against him. โDuke?โ โDid you say something, darlinโ?โ He wasnโt certai
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-22Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Some-when Else
Caitlynโs eyes flew open wide as a warm mouth closed over the puckered tip of her breast, sending her body rocketing into the stratosphere. She arched, trying to focus, driving away the bewilderment. Her confusion retreated as she concentrated. Not Alex. Alex had never touched her breasts with his lips, never teased the tip with his hot mouth. And the fingers inside her were longer, surer and so so much more skilled. The forearm clutched by her desperate palm was thicker, stronger and more powerful. An outdoorsman, not an academic. Beneath her seeking, trembling hand, the hair she stroked was thick and curling, not straight and short and bristly. She felt like a cheat. Like some shameless, adulterous whore, imagining how devastated Alex would have been to know sheโd been with another man, pretending to herself that it was him. How crestfallen would Duke be to know she was dreaming of herself with her long-lost husband? โDuke, Iโ.โ she gasped, then arc
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-23Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Present
The low sounds of breaths drawn harshly into heaving lungs loomed into the long silence that followed their lovemaking, peppered with the nearly inaudible pop of the tender kisses Duke layered along Caitlynโs jaw, the side of her neck and across her shoulder. He released her knees in part to make her more comfortable, but mostly so he could have every supple inch of her making physical contact with his skin. Beneath him, she quivered still with each tiny aftershock that passed between them. Her slender arms twined about his neck, but instead of clinging to him for dear life, she held him gently now. The clean floral of her hair and skin was overlaid with his scent, like an invisible brand upon her, soothing to the possessive beast inside him whoโd claimed her as his own. โI didnโt mean to be so rough.โ His regret suffused his whispered voice in the semi-darkness. โBut when you woke me up, touching me and with the things you said,โ he shook his head, โmy self-control
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-24Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Debates
<Do you actually intend on showing up? Are you even in Italy?> Tapping an impatient foot, Rachel let her arm fall to her side and took another drag off the slender Italian cigaretteโher third in the last fifteen minutes. The nicotine rush temporarily soothed her fury. Three days. Three damn days sheโd been in this God-forsaken country, trying to get from point A to point B to rescue a stupid client. And sheโd barely made it out of the airport. Sheโd slept in the goddamn bus terminal last night, just to ensure she got out of Venice today, for Chrissakes, and she didnโt need lip from Dex about it! Glancing over her shoulder, she flashed a tight smile at another couple on her bus, returning from the truck stop with their purchases, then paced a few steps away to stand in the shade and reply to her mouthy duke. <Of course Iโm in Italy.> Trying to reign in her temper, she lifted the phone and snapped a quick photo of the parking lot with the po
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-25Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Victor and Spoils
โIโm not going to lie,โ Duke drawled as they emerged from the Accademia Gallery into the shady plaza between the wings. โI donโt see what all the hullabaloo is about David. Heโs not even entirely Michaelangeloโs work. And his eyeballs are off.โ Beside him, Caitlyn rolled her eyes, but refused to be drawn into his mischief. โI liked that Ninfa Arnina much better.โ The Ninfa Arnina, translated as the Nymph of the Arno, was one of the first full-body figures sculpted by Bartolini after his return to Florence from Paris. The river nymph was so lovely that before the sculpture was even complete, it had already inspired a poem by Benedetti. Not that Duke knew who either of them were. She knew he didnโt care either. What heโd liked was that the statue, like so many Renaissance pieces, was fully nude. And female. โNow that was a spectacular piece of work,โ he continued, deliberately egging her as they wandered towards the exit. โThe way her hairโs pul
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-26Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Object Lessons
โCaitlyn? Darlinโ?โ Duke ran his fingers along the bumpy ridge of her spine, gently calling her back from where her dreams had taken her. Where he couldnโt follow, he thought jealously. Rising from the bed, he padded the short distance across the bedroom and picked up his phone, utterly unselfconscious about his nudity.A quarter โtil four. There was still time to get back to the Piazza del Duomo, and to climb the cathedralโs dome, if she was up for it.Up for it. He snorted to himself, setting his phone down.When wasnโt she up for something? For as delicate and fragile as she looked, the woman had the staminaโand interestingly, the drivesโof a hormonal teenaged boy, chest-deep in the throes of puberty. His gaze swiveled to where she lay in the bed, barely covered by the tangled sheet like the Ninfa Arnina.A slow smile curled his lips and he prowled towards her, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. He liked thinking about her drives. He liked engaging them even more.He grazed his
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๋ฐ์ดํธ : 2022-09-27
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Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Afterwards
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 Caitlynโs package between hands to don his long, white lab coat and a pair of safety glasses. โHey Paula.โ He gave his wifeโs lab worker a polite smile and nod as he passed through the wet lab between the aquarium racks teeming with zebra fish. โHi Duke. Sheโs in at the microscope.โ โThanks.โ 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 heโd been advised, Caitlyn was seated at one of the sturdy laboratory tables before a microscope
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Rock and a Hard Place
Turning the knob slowly, Duke eased the latch free and peered around the door into the bedroom of his suite with Caitlyn. Piercing green eyes landed instinctively on the bed, where she lay with her back to him. Her knees were curled up towards her chest, her shoulders rolled forward almost protectively. Closing the door as silently as heโd opened it, he covered the few paces to the bedside without a sound. Sheโd slept a lot in the last few daysโhealing, sheโd told him. It was a sentiment reiterated by the medic with Jayโs team. But even though something about that sat wrong with him, he wasnโt going to wake her. If she was able to sleep, then her body needed the rest. All he needed was to be close to her, even if that didnโt involve touching or holding her. Heโd have preferred if it involved touching and holding her. He wanted to saturate himself in her beauty, in the yielding sweetness of her warm body, to let his own stress and fear dissipate. Even if only for a little while. Al
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Debriefing
โMr. Ellis,โ 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 bandโ Jay, Duke, Caitlyn and herselfโin 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 theyโd landed safely. Dex slipped the makeshift harness before theyโd resurfaced and struck hard for the boat, bringing it along
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Risky
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. โDuke!โ Squeezing onto his side, Dex dragged himself alongside the hacking, weakly thrashing woman as she clawed at her throat. Glancing back, Duke cursed. โCan you pull her?โ Another rumbling explosion rocked the tunnel. This time, bits of dust and pebbles tumbled from between the stones above them. โOh hell.โ โUh-huh. Got it.โ Dex wrapped an arm around the floundering womanโs 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
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Cut and Run
โAlex!โ 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. โDuke, the latch,โ Dex ordered as they rushed into the narrow passageway. He pointed at the door, then reached for the switch to reconnect his communication equipment. โKnight 2 and 3. Asset acquired. Allie, we could use an exit plan.โ As Duke released her, Caitlyn jerked herself free of Dexโs grasp. She flung herself at the door. โNo! He needs my help!โ Ramming the bolt home, he pivoted and grasped her by the upper arms. โCaitlyn!โ he snapped harshly, shaking her once to get her attention as the light dimmed to nothingness. โNo matter what he did to stay alive before, you canโt save him now.โ โYou donโt know that!โ she cried to the darkness.
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Verdict of the Fates
โCaitlyn!โ The lump of stone that had become his heart leapt into Dukeโs throat with ringing alarm. โShut your mouth, you worthless whore!โ Alex jerked the pistol at her furiously. โHow dare you even speak to me like that!?โ 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. โYou have no idea! No fucking idea how I felt having to squat just to stand in your shadow!โ His vicious words spat at her through clenched teeth. His bourgeoning rage scorched over her, filling the tiny antechamber with its malevolent presence. โYou donโt know what itโs like to have your lifeโs workโthe epitome of your creativity and intelligenceโ 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
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Senza Umanitร
Except in photographs, Duke had only ever seen Alex Maddox onceโthe day the manโs body had been moved from the hospital morgue to the funeral home where Caitlyn had made final arrangements. Frankly, he didnโt 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 Caitlynโs recognition. Whatever Alex had put himself through to create the illusion that he was dying, it clearly hadnโt been without lasting effect. Not that heโd ever been particularly robust anyway. True, he hadnโt 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 appearanceโgetting a haircut every 28 days without fail and only w
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Vengeance Denied
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 manโs 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 manโs final second had involved and she gagged, stumbling backwards a few steps knowing that sheโd 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 easyโfar too easy to kill.She gave a weak sob, then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. Even with Dukeโs words in her head, she knew that until she reached her foul captorโs ch
Italy With A Dukeย ย ย Best Laid Plans
โKnight 1. In position,โ Jay drawled lazily through the comms, and Duke couldnโt suppress his grin. Both he and Jay were uncomfortable, but there hadnโt 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. Theyโd already lost seven and half hours just getting to her location. They couldnโt afford to wait. A few seconds after, Dexโs acknowledgement hissed through his earpiece. โKnight 2. In position.โ 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
