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Quickly clasping my bra and slipping the straps over my shoulders, I threw my top over my head, covering myself with my jeans while I kept searching for my missing underwear.

“Last night was a mistake,” I said, purposefully avoiding eye contact with Duke. Or with his dick. His thick, nine-inch, magic dick, which apparently had the power to make me throw all common sense out the window.

“Wait, hold on, what do you mean a mistake?”

“Gracias a Dios,” I said as my fingers landed on the thin lacy fabric of my panties, which had somehow ended up under the bed. After pulling them on, I turned to tell Duke off, but the look on his face caught me off guard. Any trace of cockiness was gone, and if I didn’t know any better, I’d almost say he looked sincere.

“I don’t want you to regret what happened. We’re adults, and we deserve to have a little fun.”

He stepped into a pair of boxer briefs and sat on the edge of the bed, the outline of his manhood in the stretchy cotton sending my mind to the first day we met. In some ways, it felt like we’d come a long way since then. But then again, there I was, half-naked in his bedroom, just like he’d wanted.

But if I’m being honest? Just like I’d wanted, too.

I sighed and sat on the bed next to him.

“But I’m going back to LA soon.”Not to mention Charlotte will have a fucking heyday when she finds out about this.

“I know. But that doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy each other while you’re here.”

I crossed one leg over the other, already aware of the soreness in those tiny thigh muscles that hadn’t been used in awhile. As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Duke lived up to his reputation.

And then some.

Jesus, the man was an animal in bed.

“What do you have in mind?”

Duke smiled, his lip curling into that stupid half-smirk that made me want to slap him and dry hump him at the same time.

“You have a bathing suit? Go get changed. I’ll pick you up in a little while.”

Half an hour later,Duke’s truck pulled up the driveway. My stomach did a backflip at the thought of him in a pair of swim trunks. Not that his six pack was a surprise by this point. But that didn’t mean I wasn’t excited for the show.

I adjusted the strap of my baby blue bikini, tucking it under my tank top. I was grateful in that moment for my over-packing tendencies. Charlotte hadn’t said anything about swimming, but I’d figured it couldn’t hurt to be prepared. Thank God for intuition.

As I climbed into the passenger seat, Duke jerked his head to a picnic basket at my feet.

“Careful, darlin’, you don’t want to crush our lunch.”

“Lunch? Where are we going?”

“You’ll see. And no peeking,” he said, arching a brow as I leaned down to lift the lid. “I was hoping we could leave one last thing to the imagination.”

I sat up straight, raising my hands in surrender.

“I didn’t take you for the modest type.”

“There’s a lot about me you still have to learn.”

With that, Duke turned up the radio, country music filling the truck. Normally, I would have rolled my eyes at that twangy stuff, but as we turned down a dirt road, Duke’s taste in music seemed weirdly perfect. The trees outside my window were unlike anything I’d seen in LA. All the Texas greenery and plant life made the lonely palm trees back home look like sad Hollywood excuses for nature.

We came to a stop at what seemed like the middle of nowhere. Surrounded by more trees and bushes I’d never seen before, the spot was beautiful, sure, but not exactly what I’d imagined our picnic getaway location would look like.

“Is this it?” I asked as Duke put the car in park.

He smiled and shook his head.

“Follow me.”