Page 105 of The Duke's Virgin
At the same time, I hurt for him.
“Are you happy?” I asked.
The scowl on his face softened, replaced by a smile.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m happy. I’ve got the life I’ve always wanted, and I can give my parents everything they sacrificed so I could have this life, and then some. I’ve got great friends, I drive kick-ass cars…and when I want to hook up…” He winked. “Well, I’m never alone unless I want to be. Look, Luka, I’m not doing this because I’m forced to. It’s my choice. And when the time’s right, I’ll let people know. But again, that’s going to be my choice.”
Not knowing what else to say, I hugged him. “I guess that’s all that matters then. If you’re happy with your life, that’s what matters to me most.”
He hugged me back, and as I pulled away, I said, “And thank you.”
“Why?” Emmett cocked a brow.
Stacia moved to join us at just that moment, and I glanced at her, too much emotion spilling free inside in that moment. It took another moment for me to steady myself, then I looked back at Emmett.
“For being willing to kick my ass if need be.”
“Oh, that?” He rolled his eyes. “Don’t mention it.”
Thirty-Five
Stacia
“I can’t believeI let you talk me into this.”
Luka collapsed face down on the plush mattress, groaning. I sat in a chair, grinning at him and telling myself I wasnotsmirking over his misery. I was sore, too. I hadn’t ridden a horse in years. But Luka had bragged, or at leastconfidently stated his experiencewith horses, and the tour guide had taken him at his word.
Myhorse had been placid and calm, while Luka’s seemed to come straight out of an old country-western, one of those horses called Diablo or Hellfire or something. It spent the first part of the trip trying to throw my husband, and the rest of it giving Luka the roughest ride imaginable because he hadn’t succeeded in the throwing.
“Tell me there are no more horses or camels or…” He suddenly jerked up his head and glared at me. “You said something about elephants. Stacia, I’mnotriding an elephant.”
“That’s good to know because I wasn’t planning on it either. No, we’re just going on a photo safari, and we’ll be some distance away. They try to respect the animals’ natural habitats with this company.” I sipped the glass of wine, savoring the treat while I could. After tomorrow night, I’d be back to no alcohol since I’d be back home feeding the baby. For now, I was pumping and dumping every few hours so my milk production didn’t dry up.
Luka and I had been married for six months, but this was the first trip we’d actually been able to take for ourselves, just the two of us. We’d had a private ceremony not long after arriving in Luxembourg but had elected to hold a more public one after the baby was born.
That had been just days ago, and we were enjoying a quick honeymoon in Africa. Luka had just gaped at me when I told him I wanted to do one of the luxury safaris I’d read about, complete with tents.
He’d tried to talk me out of it, but the deal had been if we went on a honeymoon without Ella Rose, thenIgot to pick where we went and what we did. And it could only be for five days. She was close to three months old, and although the doctor had told me she’d be fine with Willa and the nanny we’d hired, I still felt odd leaving her, even for just a few days.
We were on the third day of our trip. I’d always wanted to see Africa, especially Kenya, but it wasn’t a trip I’d wanted to take alone. Something this memorable needed to be shared—and who better to share it with than my husband?
Even as I thought that, he flopped onto his back and threw an arm over his eyes. “The point of a honeymoon is for me to fuck my wife senseless, and you bring me on this torture trip where I’m so sore half the time, I can’t eventhinkabout sex.”
“Really?” I finished my wine and rose from the chair, walking over to him.
He must have heard something in my voice because he lowered his arm and cracked one eye, then the other, open.
“You can’t eventhinkabout sex?” I stood in front of him, slowing unbuttoning the nightshirt I’d pulled on after my shower. This luxury expedition came witheverything.
“Well.” He let his gaze slide lower as I finished with the buttons. “Maybe I can think. If you do all the work, I might even be able to do more than think.”
“I guess I can work with that.” I shrugged out of the shirt and let it fall to the floor. Bracing one knee on the edge of the bed, I unzipped the khaki-colored, lightweight pants he’d tugged on after his shower, then worked them down and off. I bent to kiss the head of his cock, but before he caught hold of my head, I pulled back, moving to straddle him. “You’re probably too tired for the whole nine yards, Your Highness.”
“I’m actually feeling quite a bit better, My Duchess.”
“Hmm…well, I’m the one in control tonight.” I slid back and forth over him, enjoying the thick heat.
He shifted beneath me, going to angle his hips, but when he would have gone to push inside, I pulled away. “No, no, no…I’m doing the work, remember?”
