“Mine.” I growl the word and slide my teeth over her wrist. I feel her heartbeat pick up, and I lick her there, tasting her sweetness.

There’s something passing between us, and it’s intense. This is unlike anything I’ve ever felt before, and I can’t explain it. Being in her presence is like being punched in the gut and jerked off at the same time. It’s overwhelming and amazing.

“Here we go,” Rick says, breaking the spell. We sit back as he lays down plate after plate of food. The small table is comical, loaded with a ridiculous amount of food. I can’t help but laugh as Penelope smiles, reaching for the syrup and digging in.

* * *

“I can’t move.”

“Pussy,” Penelope says as we walk out of the diner.

I clutch my belly and laugh as I follow behind her, grabbing her hand. I can’t believe she out-ate me. I smile over to her and squeeze her hand a little. She doesn’t pull away from me as we walk back to the garage in silence.

When we get there, I see her car is already in the shop, and Butch is under the hood. I wrote up a work order and left it on the counter before we left so they would know what to fix. I just needed to get her here this morning, and now I need to make her stay.

“When will my car be ready? I’m supposed to be somewhere.” She pulls her hand from mine and crosses her arms, not looking at me.

“That someplace you gotta be have anything to do with you getting married?”

She snaps her head up and gives me a hard look. “That’s none of your business. I don’t have to explain myself to you. I don’t even know you.” She starts to look away, but I move in front of her and hold her jaw so she can’t look anywhere else but into my eyes.

“Don’t act like you don’t feel it, too, Duchess.”

“Feelings don’t have anything to do with this. We don’t always get what we want, Paine.”

The way she says my name sounds a lot like regret. “Fine. You wanna pretend? So can I.” With that, I grab her arm and pull her inside the shop to my office in the back. Once we get in there, I close the blinds and lock the door.

Turning around, I see Penelope has her arms crossed again, and she looks mad as hell. “You can go ahead and unlock that door. I’m not doing anything with you.”

I approach her slowly, making my moves clear.

“Sorry, but the work on your car isn’t free.”

Her eyes widen in shock. “You’re the one who broke it.”

“Cash or ass, Duchess. It’s time to pay up.”

“Fuck you, Paine. I’m not a whore.” She uncrosses her arms and makes fists at her hips. She’s pissed, and I love it. I get even harder seeing the fight in her. It’s going to make taming her so much sweeter. It’s clear that with her I have to push, and I’m willing to do that for her.

Standing in front of her, I push my big body against hers. I grab her upper arms and lift her onto the desk, pinning her there. “You’re not a whore, Duchess. You’re mine. And when I say it’s time to pay up, that means you’re gonna slide off those jeans and show me your cunt.”

I hear her intake of breath, and there’s a slight tremor to it. She likes my dirty talk. I lean over her more and push her all the way back so she’s lying on my desk, with her legs hanging over the edge. Once she’s down, I sit up and move my hands to the waistband of her jeans. When I grab for the zipper, she reaches out and tries to stop my hand. I push her fingers away and go back to what I was doing, unzipping her jeans and grabbing the top of them. Before I pull them down, I look up into her eyes and watch her reaction as I slowly pull her jeans and panties off her hips, down her thighs, and push them to her knees. I keep my eyes locked on hers, and I run my hands up her warm soft thighs, watching as she bites her lip. She looks nervous, as if she’s close to telling me to stop.

“You gonna try to tell me no?”

She closes her eyes when I rub the palm of my hand over her bare pussy and just rest it there. Letting the heat of my hand melt against the heat of her cunt. I don’t move, I just wait for her response, feeling her dampen my palm.

“Duchess?”

She opens her eyes, and they are glazed over. She’s turned on by all of this, even if she doesn’t want to admit it. After a second she swallows, licks her lips. “I’ve never done this before.”

“I’ve never done anything like this either, baby.” I lean down and kiss her bare stomach where her flannel shirt has come open. “It’s been so long since I had anything to do with a woman, I’m not sure I know how anymore. Besides, any thought of someone else left my mind the day your ass walked into my shop.”

I feel her laugh nervously as I kiss her tummy and rub my beard across her delicate flesh. Seeing my stained hands against her creamy skin reminds me of how different we are. But that doesn’t matter right now. All that matters now is that I get to taste a little bit of heaven.

“That’s not what I mean, Paine.” I feel her tense against me, and I look up into her eyes. She looks almost scared.

“What do you mean?” I sit up but leave my hands on her body, hoping to calm her with my touch.

She bites her lip again and then takes another deep breath. “I hadn’t done anything before yesterday. Nothing. I’m a virgin.”

I think my jaw comes unhinged at the same time my cock swells to the point of pain in my jeans. She’s so fucking beautiful. I expected her to have left a trail of men behind her. But to know I’m the first to touch her makes me want to shoot off a cannon and plant a stake beside her that reads ‘This land is claimed.’ She’s an undiscovered country, and I wanna be the goddamn king of it.