Italy With A Duke

“Good morning. Welcome to The Duke Agency.” Caitlyn flicked a quick, self-conscious smile at the overly-cheery receptionist as she stepped off the elevator into The Duke Agency’s plush lobby. “Yes. To you also,” she replied hesitantly. “I’m Caitlyn Maddox. I have an appointment this morning with—.” Eagerly, the girl behind the enormous marble reception desk clasped her hands together beneath her chin and her smile grew brighter. “With Rachel!” Caitlyn startled slightly at the younger woman’s excited outburst, watching with wide-eyes her sudden scurrying movements behind the desk. “Oh, you’re so lucky! She’s our very best coordinator. You’re just going to love her,” the girl continued, quickly gathering a neat package of papers together in a folder tabbed with Caitlyn’s name. “I swear, she’s got a magic touch when it comes to coordinating the right Duke with a client. You couldn’t be in better hands. If you’ll just follow me.” Rooted to her spot by the sudden burst of frenetic ac

“Final call for boarding. Flight 175 to Philadelphia at gate B34,” a gate attendant announced over the loudspeaker as Caitlyn strolled her carry-on past, searching the signs overhead for her own gate number. “Passenger D. Carter, that’s passenger D. Carter, please. D. Carter, report to the ticketing counter at gate B37, please,” urged another voice. Despite the early hour, the airport was already bustling with activity. People chattered to one another from the nearby seating areas, or rushed by headed for other connections—some searching overhead, like her, and others with their faces buried in their phones. Turning sideways, she quickly dodged one such oblivious traveler, a tall, handsome young man dressed in a Hawaiian shirt and cargo shorts in a particularly careless rush. “I beg your pardon,” she mumbled as he brushed past without even noticing her. Stopping, she watched his retreating figure and felt the butterflies leap in her belly. Obv

“Caitlyn.”A shiver rippled over her at the sound of his voice. She turned and cuddled into his chest before settling again. Much as he needed to, Duke couldn’t bring himself to attempt to rouse her.Something peculiar fluttered through his chest, settling there lightly. Something more than his usual protective instinct. He cursed himself silently. She was the job, and he’d be damned if he wouldn’t die to keep her safe. But this?This was something else entirely.Caitlyn Maddox had him— hook, line and sinker— from the minute she’d spoken his name. That one arched brow over those great big toffee-colored eyes and that teasing little smile on her absolutely luscious lips.His mission briefing hadn’t prepared him for her.Neither had the grainy images taken at a distance of a mousy-looking researcher. Which she might be. She definitely gave off an air of fragility and the social ineptitude of a genius savant.But this tallish, slender woman with the figure of a centerfold certainly didn’

“That went faster than I expected.” Caitlyn covered her yawn with a hand, then reached high over her head with both arms in a long stretch. “You mean Customs? Or the flight?” Duke asked, tucking the handle of her roller luggage in as he parked it beside his, then loading it under the bus while the driver worked on other bags. Standing upright, he watched her, enjoying the view. “Both.” Beyond them in the trees lining the airport’s bus parking, a bird trilled an unfamiliar song and she turned her attention towards it. Coming alongside her, Duke bent, hoisting her carry-on bag onto his own shoulder opposite his backpack, then took her elbow, directing her towards the nearest of the two bus entrances. “Twenty-five isn’t a large group. Plus, I think we got lucky. We must’ve been the first international flight landing in that terminal. Did you see the line behind us?” Ahead of him, she shook her brown, delightful head and climbed the three stairs to the bu

Caitlyn yielded, her entire body turning to mush as his tongue delved inside her mouth, fluttering over hers. Feeling her concession, Duke deepened the kiss, and was soon plundering the sweetness there aggressively, as if he could never get enough. Maybe he couldn’t. Though she trembled in his tightening arms, she was anything but cold. After so long alone, so long lost, his touch felt like the first of spring’s thaw, breaking the back of a harsh, endless winter. She closed her eyes, arching her neck, silently begging for everything his talented mouth would give. Taking as he wanted, Duke fed hungrily there, and she let him. She savored his answering desire, her fingers knotting into the soft cotton of his t-shirt then releasing in an unconscious come hither, flattening again over the solid wall of muscle beneath them. Leaning harder into him, she tentatively brushed her tongue past his, raking it along the edge of his front teeth. He stiffened as the