Chapter 3

Duke never tookhis eyes off me as I cooked breakfast. His gaze was intense, setting off sparks of arousal in the pit of my stomach. I had finally met my match in a man who could keep up with my excessive sex drive and give it to me hard the way I liked it.

What I hadn’t expected was to be so deeply affected by him making love to me like I was someone he cherished. It was something I’d think about once he left—because I knew for a fact he’d be leaving. No one caged an alpha like him, and he would chafe as soon as he realized I intended to claim him. But he would be back because his curiosity would demand he return and never leave me again.

I hummed as I prepared breakfast quesadillas for us. Stuffed with cheese and bacon, it was sure to bring him back to my side later. He wouldn’t be the first man I had seduced with my culinary skills, but he would be my last. Anyone who could make me come from gentle lovemaking was worth holding on to for good.

I plated up our meal and brought it over to set in front of him at my kitchen table. He was so huge that it made my furniture look like it belonged in a dollhouse. It was almost laughable how out of place he and his big muscles were in my small studio apartment.

“It smells amazing,” he said in his gravelly voice that gave me tingles all over.

“Enjoy.” I took a seat across from him and began eating. It had turned out perfect.

Watching his hulking beast frame cutting into the fluffy egg quesadillas and taking a delicate bite fascinated me. His eyes widened in surprise as he covered his mouth with his hand while looking down at his plate in amazement. “Oh, that is incredible.”

“Thanks. I enjoy cooking, so I’d love to own a café someday.” It was my big dream that I was working hard to achieve. That was why I was a business major, to learn how to run the café successfully and not into the ground.

“With cooking like this, you’d have regulars who came every day.” His words made me feel warm all over. “Damn, Duchess. You’re a hell of a good cook.”

I preened at the compliment, but I still had to tease him. “So, I’m back to Duchess? Is Early not to your liking?”

“Sorry, Duchess feels right somehow.” His gaze softened, setting my butterflies free from their cage in my heart. “But Early suits you since it’s as unique as you are. How did you end up with that name?”

“My mom is pretty hippie-dippy. She believed I should name myself when I was born.”

One of his dark eyebrows cocked upward, which was sexy as fuck. “She expected you to name yourself as a newborn infant?” He took another bite as he chewed with a thoughtful expression. “How does that work?”

“She thought I’d tell her my name when she looked into my eyes. The first time she held me, the first word that popped into her head was ‘early,’ and thus, I was given that name. Considering I was two weeks late and her third kid, I have no idea why that was the word she associated with me. She can’t explain it, either.” I grinned at him. “It could have been worse, though. I could have been Nachos if she had been craving them like she did her whole pregnancy.”

He laughed hard, a booming bark of laughter that tickled me to no end. “Truly, a cosmic mystery. Do your siblings have equally unusual names?”

“My oldest brother is Eleven, and my middle sister is Moonbeam. She goes by Beamie, though. Everyone assumes my brother is the eleventh child in the family or born in November or on the eleventh, so he gets to spend his whole life explaining, ‘No, Mom’s just weird.’”

He gave me a suspicious look. “I can’t tell if you’re serious or fucking with me.”

I got up to fish my phone out of my pants pocket from where I had stripped them off the night before. Returning to the table, I pulled up the last conversation I had with my brother and handed my cell to him to check for himself.

Eleven

Did Beamie talk to you about Mom’s birthday?

Early

Not yet. Why?

Oh, you better brace yourself.

For what?

For an epic WTF. You’ll lose your shit when you hear her idea.

Duke arched both of his eyebrows at that as he passed my phone back to me. “Did you ever find out what your sister has planned?”

“No, and I’m going to enjoy my blissful ignorance for as long as it’s allowed.” I took another bite of my delicious breakfast. “Beamie is the only one more outlandish than Mom, so I can only imagine what nonsense she’s come up with. Last year, she wanted us all to tandem jump out of an airplane to celebrate our grandmother’s eightieth birthday.”

The amusement in his gray eyes warmed them up. “Please tell me you didn’t do that.”

“Me jumping out of a plane? Oh, hell no. I’m not doing anything that foolish. I stayed on the ground and recorded the video while threatening them that Grammy better not break a hip when she landed.”

“Your eighty-year-old grandmother seriously went skydiving?”

“It was actually her idea. Beamie was just the one who made it happen.” I shook my head. “They’re all nuts if you ask me. The only time I like my feet off the ground is when an alpha is holding me up and fucking me against a wall.”

He laughed again before there was a shift in his demeanor to something almost sad. “You’re lucky you have them.”

“I am. None of our dads were ever in the picture, so it’s always been us sticking together.”

His expression turned surprised. “Same. My pathetic excuse for a father walked out on Mom right after my brother, Fitzy, was born.”

My heart went out to him. “Damn, that sucks. But wow, my brain is boggling at trying to imagine a cute name like Fitzy on someone who looks like you.”

That drew a chuckle from him. “Mom is a huge jazz fan, so she named me after Duke Ellington. She was told my brother would be a girl, so she wanted to name him Ella after Ella Fitzgerald. When it turned out he was a boy, she chose Fitzgerald instead. But he’s too cute for that kind of name since he took after Mom, so we call him Fitzy.”

“I love that.” A wry grin spread on my face. “Ironically, my mom never knew my dad’s name.”

His eyebrows wrinkled in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Eleven’s dad was Mom’s high school sweetheart. He was apparently a great guy, but he died in a motorcycle accident when Eleven was three. Beamie’s dad was a deadbeat rebound who walked out on Mom when he found out she was pregnant. I’m the product of Mom having a threesome on vacation with two hot guys. She never learned their names since it was supposed to be a single night of passionate fun, so she had no way of finding them or knowing which one was the father.”

I waited for the inevitable judgment that usually came after people heard about my mom’s misadventures with men. It was my barometer test for whether a guy was worth keeping. Most of the men who reached that stage of my interest ended up calling my mom a whore for fucking around and being stupid enough to get pregnant, which meant they were immediately shown the door. I said a silent prayer that Duke would differ from the rest of the jerks I had kicked out of my apartment after using them for their glorious dicks.

He was quiet for a long moment as he studied me with his arctic-blue eyes. “Is that why you refused to tell me your name at first?”

“You only need to know it if you plan on sticking around.” I shrugged, even as I secretly cheered on the inside that he hadn’t gone straight to insulting my mom. “Most men don’t.”

“I’m not most men.”

I grinned. “Trust me, I’m well aware of that, hon.”

He arched an eyebrow at being called “hon” but said nothing about it. Instead, he surprised me. “I think it’s wonderful you share your mother’s wild and free spirit.”

Since I was already testing his boundaries, I pushed a little further. “I also share her love for threesomes.” When he didn’t react, I rested my chin on my propped-up hand and gave him a flirty look. “What’s your stance on those?”

“I’ve had my fair share of them.” His words caused my cock to stir with interest.

“It helps to have two men at the same time when I’m insatiable.” The thought of Duke fucking me from behind while I gave another guy a blow job made me horny as fuck. “But I’m not sure an alpha like you could share me when you strike me as the possessive caveman type once you stake your claim on someone.”

He shrugged. “It’s never come up before since I don’t do the boyfriend thing.”

“I guess I’ll find out later, huh?”

The stunned expression on his face was almost comical. “What are you implying?”

“You’re smart. You’ll figure it out,” I told him in a teasing tone. It was hard not to laugh when he focused on finishing his breakfast instead of acknowledging what I had said.

Once he finished eating, I got up and straddled myself over his lap in the chair. It pleased me when his arms automatically looped around my waist. “Remember this when you’re wondering why you were dumb enough to leave.” I leaned in and gave him a hungry kiss, daring him to dominate me.

One of his hands came up to cup the nape of my neck as he tugged me closer. He took complete control of the kiss, which was hot as hell. His aggressive passion lit my fire all over again as I whimpered against his lips and gave it back as good as I got it.

There was no denying that I was already addicted to him. I just hoped he didn’t keep me waiting too long because once he returned, I was never letting him go again.