7.

Duke felt like garbage and not because he was sick either. He had been texting Aira, and she had vanished. The last he had spoken to her was the day she left to do whatever it was with Dave and Vince. You probably scared her away. Probably broke her back. When she left this time, she took everything with her. He opened up his freezer and pulled out some of the frozen soup she put in there for him. Its been like three days, maybe she left. He hadn't seen her in town and he had been avoiding the Marriott. He didn't want to see the gray mini he knew was going to be up there. As he heated up the stew, the smell made him remember her cooking in his t-shirt. She even had to scald him for almost messing her up. He couldn't keep his hands off of her, and he was certain she had felt the same about him. Shouldn't have almost broke her spine. He chastised himself.

He ate the stew slow, savoring the taste, savoring the memory on the boat. He had thought he was failing and just like that she was naked, offering herself to him. On his last bite he looked at the time and realized that he had to collect the rent from Audrey. She liked to sneak off and hide. He put on a faded blue tank and grabbed his keys. It was fairly sunny outside so he decided the jacket would be a waste of time. He almost missed the one day of heavy sunlight, but he could have dealt without all the heat. A warm breeze hit him as he got on the ships deck, making him have flashes of the outing they had. He sighed loudly, he felt like he was forcing himself to do things. Many girls don't text you back. He thought, but he knew something was different with her and he hated that he felt like he was hugely mistaken about her. She didn't seem like the type to pretend someone didn't exist, but he had been wrong before.

He got in his jeep and drove into town. People were out doing their own things, living life, loving. I sound like a broody teenager. Get your shit together Duke. It was just one girl, many just like her. He knew that didn't sound right either. As he pulled into the parking lot he saw that Nathan's car was there. Ugh, Nathan, but at least Audrey's here. He got out of the jeep and jogged up the stairs and knocked firmly. Nathan opened the door.

"Duke." Nathan said plainly. Duke could feel he might have interrupted something and he felt jealousy swirl in him so he smirked.

"Don't mean to intrude, just need the rent check from Audrey."

"This can't wait…." Nathan started.

"Need to do this now actually." He pushed.

"I have it!" Audrey shouted. There was a crash then a yelp. Both Duke and Nathan looked at her. She wore a t-shirt that was obviously Nathans, and an open robe. Her hair was down and all over the place. She handed him the check awkwardly trying to cover herself. "Hi, Duke."

"Hello." He couldn't help but chuckle at the situation. "There's brunch at the restaurant."

"We are good." Nathan said. "Heard anything from that Aira Dawson."

Duke felt his chest ache at her name. Duke knew Nathan didn't know what was going on between them but it hurt still. "Think that's none of your business." He spat then turned to leave, leaving the two confused. His thoughts raged as he entered the Grey Gull. Denise popped up with her usual smile.

"Hey, stranger! Thought you were the owner." She joked.

He had been absent for a while. He couldn't believe how affected by her he was. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Something wrong?" she looked serious.

"Just…girl issues."

"I know what you mean. I saw that Aira girl in here yesterday and gave her my number and she hasn't even texted me!"

Duke felt like he was in a fun house. "She was here?" he was so busy sulking at home he had no idea she would probably stop by. "Did she ask for me…by chance?"

"She was here with some woman with insanely curly brown hair. Didn't look serious so I flirted and gave her my number. She did order a shrimp linguini with bacon to go."

Duke would have said he felt numb, but numb would mean he didn't feel anything. He felt angry, upset, jealous, and so much more. She just ditched me…. "Um, I gotta go." He said in a mumble as he turned. Denise called after him but all he could hear was his breathing. He passed his jeep and was headed toward Haven Bank. He ran his fingers threw his hair and jogged across the street, still getting his head together. As he entered the bank he saw Vince and Dave inside speaking with a woman with large curly hair. Vince waved him over and he groaned internally. He just wanted to go home and smother himself with his pillow.

"Hey Duke! How ya been?" Dave asked. "You've been MIA." He laughed. He turned toward the woman. "Thank you, Margaret, I hope those final details Miss Dawson wanted are to her liking."

"She is a very smart woman." Margaret said with admiration in her voice. Duke looked at her again and noticed she had long curly brown hair. Has to be her. Jealousy stirred in him.

"Details?" Duke asked when Margaret left.

"Just paperwork and notes. Boring stuff Aira seems so good with." Vince responded. Vince gasped excitedly. "Oh, I know! You seem to hang with Aira!"

"Well…." Duke went to give him the sad truth. She fucking used me.

"She left her phone at the office three days ago, could you give it back when you see her next?" Vince asked.

Wait…. "She left her phone?" Duke's heart picked up.

"It keeps going off and she has a passcode and we can't even tell people she lost her phone." Dave continued.

Duke reached out and snatched her phone. It was in a black and green otterbox case and covered in glitter and rhinestones. "I will bring this to her…when I see her." He added. "I just have to deposit some checks first.

When he finally finished at the bank he practically ran out of the building and was about to run into the street when a car honked. He shouted his apologies and then looked both ways before running out into the street. He essentially ripped his door open to get in. She was never getting my texts. Or the call I made. There was still hope and he was racing toward it. He almost wished he knew how to drift the jeep. The Marriott appeared in front of him and he couldn't feel happier. He parked terribly in two spots and then rushed out of the vehicle only to turn back around to have to grab her phone. He marched right up to the desk and waved her phone and asked to be let up. The guy had recognized him and agreed. Thank God. He hadn't remembered the elevator moving so slow the last time he was here, which was a long while ago. The elevator dinged and opened to her floor. He walked toward her door and heard the hotel rooms phone ring.

"Hello?" it was Aira's voice. "Candy!" her voice became clearer the closer he got. She must be close to the door. "Stop yelling! I'm sorry! I can't find my phone!" he looked at her phone in his hand. He went to knock but paused when he heard his name. "What about him." He heard a short giggle. "I haven't seen him since we went boating and ended up spending the night." This time he could here the girl she was talking to scream. "Oh my God, yes, I know, but he probably thinks I'm some whore who wanted to try a man out or something." That's what he had thought and he regretted it so much at this moment, just hearing her voice. "I'm too embarrassed to just show up at his place because I didn't leave anything there…at least I don't think I did. I just thought maybe he'd stop by here." She was silent again. "Yes, we did." More silence. "It was amazing!" she had exaggerated the word, elongating it. "Like, all I can think about is putting my lips around his thick ass…." He knocked loudly on the door. He knew what she was going to say, and he rather not have an erection standing in a hallway. Now all I can think about is her putting those lips around my thick ass…. She opened the door. Her hair was piled on her head in an intricate twisted bun. Her amber eyes widened at the sight of him. She put the phone to her ear. "I'll call you back, Candy." She simply hung up. She wore a tube top and spandex shorts that were probably more like underwear than shorts that were both the same color as her skin. After hearing her conversation, it was hard not to look at her like the appetizer, main course, and dessert that she was. "Uh, come in." she smiled awkwardly, but her beauty was also in her shyness. It only made him want her more. She shut the door behind him and walked to the refrigerator, giving him a view of her perfect ass. "Would you like a drink? I have Strongbow's in here." She smiled.

"That would be great." He said. "I ran into Vince and Dave and they found your phone." Duke said. She turned with a huge smile.

"Oh, thank fuck!" she cursed loudly. "I have been going nuts without it! I bet my assistant is losing her shit." She walked to him and handed him the drink and got her phone. She unlocked it and shook her head. "So many texts, and calls." She paused. "I'm so sorry about your missed texts, I…." He cut her off.

"No worries." Even though he had been a wreck. He watched her push herself onto the countertop. God, he wanted to run his hands over her thighs. He cracked open the Strongbow and began to drink. He could feel her eyes on him as he downed the cider. It was good but he was pretty sure she was going to taste much better.

"I'm glad you came to see me." She sounded so small when she said it.

He finished the cider and crushed the can in his hand. He gave a smirk before making eye contact with her. Her tongue flicked over her lips. "Fuck it." He dove at her, lips crashing into each other. She answered by thrusting her hips toward him, rubbing herself on his quickly growing erection. He yanked her top down exposing her breast. She moaned when he sucked on her nipple, playing with her piercing. He hadn't realized how much he hungered for her body, it was down right barbaric how he grabbed and gripped at her. He pushed her back and pulled off her shorts and top. His mouth nibbled up her thigh before landing at her mound. She writhed under his tongue, so much to point he had to hold her legs back. She whispered something under her breath before her legs began to quake. Duke felt the splash of her orgasm on him and felt something switch in him. He needed to be inside her, and it had to be now. He lifted up and put her on his shoulder. She shouted in surprise then laughed. He took her to her bed and tossed her on the bed. Her twisted bun came down and her locs collapsed on her shoulders onto the bed. Beautiful. He pulled off his shirt and crawled over her. Her hands scratched his back, giving him the chills. He dug in his pocket for his wallet that had a condom. She was working on the button of his shorts when he pulled the condom out. She pulled down on his clothes, wanting them off of him as much as he wanted them off of him She kissed him hard and nibbled his ear while begging in Spanish. He was pretty sure she was telling him to hurry the hell up. When he finally slid inside her she gripped his hair and they both moaned. He rested on his elbows as he pressed into her. She was a wild one, and it excited him. She knew how to sneak control. She rolled them over and she rode him, grinding her hips into him in a way she only could. He loved how her hair would graze over him. He loved her nails trailing down his chest. Watching her watch him was the best part. Her eyes would suck him in to a world he didn't want to escape.

Aira didn't know how long they made love for, she just knew it was fantastic. She laid on her back and stretched. He stared at her while stroking her skin between her breasts down passed her navel. He did it slowly and soft. "What are you thinking?" she asked.

He smiled. "How beautiful you are right now." He leaned into her and kissed her. His hand veered down her thigh but stayed in a safe zone, but it turned her on nonetheless.

She smiled. "I was so sure you hated me." She said.

"To be honest, I thought I did." He was surprisingly open with her. "I had to go to the bank today and ran into Vince and Dave."

"Luckily they had my phone."

"They said something about details for you to approve on."

"Oh," she laughed. "I have a few different business degrees, so I like my shit, excuse me, my things to be handled properly."

"What business in haven do you have, if you don't mind me being nosey."

"I don't care." Aira laughed. "I think we can be a little more comfortable with each other right." She winked at him. His hand gripped her thigh, feeling it wanting to slip between her. Chill. "After I left your place I went to the old Stanford place. That place is so beautiful, awful sticker bush situation. I am now the legal owner of the estate as nearest heir. So, I had to make sure my paperwork was worded exactly how it needed to be to ensure no secret relative comes out of no where and snatches the deed. Weird having two homes."

"You bought a house here?"

"Yes." She smiled. She felt his hand slide just a bit and she felt the heat pour from her.

"Are you going to live in it?" he asked slowly.

"I intend to." She smirked. Just ask me already.

"Are you staying in Haven?" he asked. Ding ding ding!

"I very much am." She smiled. She reached up to him, drawing him in for a kiss. His hand drove up her leg until he was pressing against her. Aira felt like she couldn't help herself against the drug that was Duke. Right when she was confidant with herself, Liam's face flashed in her memory. Laughing at her, telling her she needed to handle herself, reel in her lust. She pulled back. "Sorry, didn't mean to…."

"You seem to apologize a lot."

"I'm sorr-," She caught herself before she said it. "I'm just adjusting to this because not only is this different for me, you're different from the only other man I can compare you too."

She watched him slide down to be more level with her. "Tell me who he is."

Aira shut her eyes, memories flooding her vision. Bastard. Both truthful and insulting for that jerk. She thought. "His name was Liam Dayburg. Rich asshole from South Africa. I met him on leave in Florida. I blew him off three times, Gold Star lesbian at this point. He literally follows me around for the whole month I was there. Then two days before I leave he shows up at my door, he finally has some of my attention and I became curious what being with a man would be like. I was nineteen, and I was underage drinking I will admit, I did it, and then from then on, I was his. He told me that. I said okay to that. He used to call me his little trained bitch to his friends." She paused when he sounded like he was saying something. He remained silent but his demeanor felt different. "Let's just say he was allowed to cheat and I wasn't. He destroyed my car when he found out I slept with a girl the day after I found out he fucked some bitch from Holland on his private jet. There's literally a slew of other whores but that's not the point. Liam was bad. I failed to see it over a span of a seven years. Off and on. I'd end it, move on, then he would come back and somehow, I would cave cuz he would use the one thing I was both good and helpless at. Sex." She stopped. She was embarrassed.

"Have you ever told anybody some of the things he did to you?"

The back of her eyes prickled and she clenched her eyes tighter but it only made the tears well up faster. "No."

"Hey, hey, hey." He scooped one arm under her and brought her in for a hug.

Get your shit together Aira. "I'm fine, seriously. Don't know why I did that. After I was discharged from hospital for my back and was taken back home by my first sergeant, I came home to Liam. I was twenty-six I believe. We had been broken up for four months because of him getting me pregnant and him not wanting to be a father yet…again. I had miscarried for the second time during our split-up and I didn't bother to tell him I lost the baby because I knew he would pop up again, yet there he was, in my home. It was normal for a week then I finally told him I couldn't be with him anymore. My liver was sick from my alcohol abuse from trying to deal with his ass. He exploded." She paused. She hadn't told anyone this. "He beat me, and I couldn't do anything to protect myself. I was still in casts. He kept me inside my house and nurse me back to health and took care of the bruising on my face. Made me look like he didn't hit me over and over. How I had to go in for a belated surgery to fix the fracturing in my weak bones from falling." She heard the tremble in her voice. She cleared her throat. "Uh, he used to think the way I orgasmed was disgusting and told me to hold off until he came so I had to take care of myself most of the time. When I was in the mood and he wasn't or I wanted another round or just wanting to cuddle he would tell me to stop being a whore and wait until he was ready for me." She was about to continue but he placed his finger over her lips. She then noticed tears were blurring her vision and she was shaking hard.

"Breathe." She followed his instructions. "I had no idea this guy was going to be Satan."

She laughed as she wiped her eyes. "I'm bipolar, and I rely on some meds and the help of cannabis to keep me level and not make stupid decisions. My type of bipolar makes me hypersexual, especially if I'm really into someone. Then its kinda hard for me to hold back." She was widely aware she was staring into his eyes.

Duke stared back with an intense gaze. "How into me are you?"

Aira pushed herself toward him, closing their short distance. She wanted the mood change. She excepted it like a drug. I am way into you Duke. She pushed him onto his back then slid down on his hard shaft. He moaned as he reached up to grab at anything on her body. One on her hip and another on her breast. She threw her head back. "Voy a llevarte a la cama." (I'm going to ride you into the bed) She purred. "Entonces me voy a correrme en tu gran polla." (Then I'm going to cum all over your big cock.) Aira did everything on top that she wanted. She could see he wanted to cum, feel it in the tension in his hands, trying to control how she was doing it. So, she slowed down, and change the rhythm. Duke moaned more, cursing under his breath. He pressed his hip into her, catching her off guard, making her moan sharply. He is so big! She bit her bottom lip as she felt herself succumb to her orgasm. She shivered as she dug her nails into him. His hands gripped her waist, she knew he was close. She quickly climbed off of him and took his length into her mouth. This is what I was telling Candy about earlier. She watched as Duke gripped the sheets as his toes curled. She slowly slid him from her mouth and released her suction right at his tip causing him to make a sound somewhere between a groan and a growl. Duke reached for her and brought her toward him.

"You turn me on so bad." He said into her neck as he kissed and sucked.

She liked hearing it, especially from him. His hands roamed her body and she felt like he was gearing them up for a round three. "Do you have any more condoms or…." His hands froze but they still gripped her. "Cuz you are kinda turning me on and don't want to get off of you again." She smirked.

He groaned. "I do not." He sighed.

"Keep grabbing me like that though, I don't know what I am going to do to you." Aira said. She looked at the time. Jesus, we sure know how to kill time. "I can order us dinner."

Duke turned toward the clock. "Five 'o' clock, glad I left the house today."

"Silly." Aira got off of Duke and stretched as she stood.

"I could run to my jeep for a second." Aira turned back toward him. "I have more condoms."

"Oh." She couldn't help but laugh. "Then I suggest you grab those and I will order food." She went to walk towards the rooms kitchen and Duke had moved quickly to grab her. He spun her back around and gripped her ass. "Duke." He bit on her lower stomach. She let out a soft sigh. "You already know what you have to do."

He stood up and stared down at her, almost like he was weighing the options of having an accidental pregnancy. "Is walking through the lobby naked an option?"

"How bout this, if you don't go now, I can make it so you will get close to cumming but not actually cumming." She pressed on him so he sat back down on the bed. "I can do that over," she gripped his shaft and began to massage. He moaned in her ear. "And over," she trailed her hands toward his balls and gently handled them. "And over." She sucked on his ear while going to climb on top of him again. "Do you want that?" she whispered in his ear.

Dukes breath was shaky as Aira continued to slowly take control over the situation. "No, wait." He took a deep breath. "Ill be right back." He looked her over like he wanted to change his mind but stood up anyways. She was aware of the boner he had, and the fact she was still gripping him firmly.

She released her hold on him. "I'll call for room service then."

"You are so naughty." Duke smiled.