Duke nodded. “Yeah, dressed as we were, and with Tiny and Dozer with us, you were absolutely right. You’ll be armed tomorrow, right?”
“I have to take it off to go into the closing, but I’ll be armed the rest of the day.”
“Why will you have to take it off?”
“Because there’s a no weapons sign on the door.”
Duke shook his head, but changed the subject. “I liked your kiss this morning. Can I ask what brought it on?”
Gen shrugged. “Just what I explained. You overwhelm me, and I wanted to see how it would be if it was a little more laid back.”
Duke sat up, with his back against the headboard, and said, “Let’s experiment around with that a little, okay? Swing your leg over mine and sit in my lap, facing me.”
She looked at his legs a few second, but finally sat up and did as he said. Instead of sitting where he probably wanted her, she stayed on his thighs, though. She couldn’t bring herself to get close enough to be on his boy parts.
“Here’s the thing, Beautiful. I’ve never gone passive like that before — let someone else take control. I’d do just about anything for you, but until this morning I wouldn’t have thought I’d do that. You were so sweet with it, though, it wasn’t about you taking charge, but about you asking for…” He shook his head. “I’m not sayin’ this right. Usually, I demand total control, I give orders and I expect them to be obeyed. You call me bossy sometimes, but Beautiful, you haven’t seen just how bossy I can be, yet.”
“Did you not like my kiss this morning?”
Duke smiled. “Baby, I loved your kiss this morning, and I have you on my lap because I’m hoping you’ll want to do it again. But I’m tryin’ to warn you, once I take control, I’m probably gonna take it in a big way. I’m no longer giving you promises about how far I will or won’t go, other than to say I won’t take you farther than your body wants me to.”
Gen shook her head and backed up a few inches. “That’s not right, Duke. My body is going to want to go farther than my head, and I need to listen to my head.”
“There is nothing you can do to make me think you’re a slut, or that you’re easy, Gen. I know how shy you are, I know how uncomfortable you are with sex, and I know I’m falling hard for you and it wouldn’t matter even if I thought you were the biggest slut on the face of the earth. I’m going to be easy with you, careful. I want you to trust me with you, Genesis. Trust me to take care of you, trust me to make it good for you, and trust me to not make you regret giving yourself to me.”
Her knees pushed into the bed around him, and she went backwards on his thighs a few more inches. Duke’s hands landed on her hips, gently holding her in place. “Kiss me again, Beautiful. I’ll sit here a while and let you play. You have permission to touch any part of my body you want. If you want to take my shorts off to get to something, feel free. Nothing on me is off limits tonight.”
“So, I can give you a foot massage, if I want?”
“Not what I had in mind, but yeah, if that’s what you want, we’ll start with a foot massage.”
She slid off his lap, off the bed, and headed downstairs, saying, “Be right back.”
Gen scooped about a half a cup of coconut oil into a bowl, put it in the microwave, and got her vanilla extract while it was melting. She dumped enough in to make it smell good, but not so much he’d complain he smelled funny later, mixed it around, and dashed back upstairs. She stopped at her door, reached behind the armoire, and pulled out the small folding table she kept stored back there, settled it beside the bed near his feet, and plopped the glass bowl with the melted coconut oil on the table. She got a bath towel to go under his feet, and then climbed on the bed and wrapped both hands around his right foot, cradling it, getting it used to her warmth. She reached to the side with her left hand, got it slick, and returned to rub it on her other hand, and then slicked his entire foot up, getting it ready for her to massage.
Bethany, her best friend, was a massage therapist. She’d long ago taught Gen how to give the perfect foot massage, and Gen used every trick her friend had taught her. She was barely into it when she got her first groan out of Duke, and she smiled, happy she could make him feel good. He’d known what he was doing last night when he massaged her hips and bottom after their ride, and she wanted to return the favor.
Gen spent twenty minutes on each foot, and Duke didn’t hurry her or rush her. When she finished, she wiped her hands on the towel under his feet, leaving it in place, and climbed up him, sitting back on his lap. His eyes were simultaneously lazy, and ultra-focused on her, but he kept his hands at his sides as she ran her hands from his shoulders down his arms, feeling the cords of his muscles as she went. Her hands lifted to his hair, and she ran her fingers through it, surprised at how silky and sensual it was. He’d been long past due for a haircut, but she noted he’d had it cut before he took her to a nice restaurant the night before. She wished she’d been able to run her fingers through it when it was longer.