Take a Chance on Me

by Alexa Land

  Duke braced his hands on the wall and leaned against me to hide our erections as a couple came in from the pool area. They were all over each other. The guy’s shirt was totally unbuttoned, and the woman gripped her high heels with one hand and her boyfriend’s ass with the other. When they passed us, they stopped kissing long enough for the guy to acknowledge us with a quick bro nod. Once they disappeared into the lobby at the far end of the hallway, Duke ground his cock against mine and said, “See? It’s Vegas. Nobody cares what we do.”

  I flashed him a big smile as I slid my hands down to his ass. “And here I thought I’d married such a nice, quiet boy.”

  “Oh, I’m very nice. But I’m not planning to be quiet tonight.” He tossed me over his shoulder, and I burst out laughing.

  Duke carried me down the hall, but instead of cutting through the lobby, he ducked into the empty stairwell. I made him put me down, because I really didn’t want to tire him out before we got to our room. We jogged upstairs, pausing on every second or third landing to make out wildly. When we reached the tenth floor, we caught our breath, and as Duke kissed me, I slipped my hand into his shorts and massaged his thick cock while he kneaded my ass. Both of us were shaking with desire.

  We burst out of the stairwell and rushed to our room. He pulled the key from one of the little pouches on his utility belt and jammed it into the lock, and then we tumbled inside, kissing feverishly. As the door swung shut behind us, I dropped to my knees, totally consumed by lust, and pulled down the front of Duke’s shorts. I sucked his cock as I pushed my shorts to mid-thigh and jerked myself off, and after a few minutes I gripped his shaft and looked up at him as I rasped, “I need you in me.”

  Duke scooped me into his arms and took me with him when he hurried to the bathroom to find the lube. He put me down in the center of the long vanity before rifling through my toiletry case. Meanwhile, I tossed my shorts aside, slid my ass to the edge of the counter and leaned back against the mirror. When he raised the bottle triumphantly, I smiled at him and swung one leg up and over his head, then planted my boots on the lip of each of the sinks, so far apart that I was almost doing the splits.

  He grinned and said, “What an awesome bonus to have a husband who’s that flexible.”

  “Husband,” I repeated as he tore the seal off the new container of lube. “That has such a nice ring to it.”

  “Doesn’t it, though?” Duke dumped way too much lube into his palm and said, “Woops.” He shook some of the excess into the sink, set the bottle aside, and pushed two very well-lubed fingers inside me, which made me moan and arch my back. While he worked the lube into my hole, he pushed his shorts down with his other hand and stepped out of them, leaving both of us in only a cape and boots.

  I retrieved the lube, squirted some into my hand, and jerked him off as I rode his fingers. After a while I asked, around my labored breathing, “Where do you want to do it? Here? The bed? The balcony?”

  “All of the above over the next few hours, but let’s start with right here, right now.” He slid his fingers from me and wiped his hand on a towel before grasping his cock and pointing it at my hole. When he leaned forward, the tip pressed against my opening. I bore down to open myself up for him, and the pressure increased. For a moment, it seemed like he wasn’t going to fit. But then my body yielded just enough, and the tip slid into me.

  Duke eased his length into me as our eyes met. He murmured, “You feel amazing,” and then he rocked his hips a little, sliding his cock in and out of me. It was a tight fit because he was so thick, and I exhaled slowly and bore down again. He kept going until he bottomed out in me, and I shifted my hips a little, getting used to the way he filled me up.

  He kissed me as he grasped my butt. When he began thrusting into me, I moaned against his lips and started moving with him, and he took me harder. I threw my arms around his neck, bracing myself against the edge of both sinks with my feet, and rode his cock as he fucked me. Wave after wave of pleasure radiated through me, and my cock throbbed as it rubbed against his stomach.

  When Duke reached between us and started jerking me off, I knew I wouldn’t last long. In just a couple of minutes, I cried out and started to cum as I clutched his big, powerful body. A tremor went through me, and I drove myself onto him as his hips slammed against my ass. He came in me moments later, with a primal, almost animalistic growl. It was the sexiest thing I’d ever heard.

  When it was all over, we fell against each other, gasping for air, and Duke murmured, “Wow.” I grinned and wrapped my arms and legs around him, holding on tight as my heartbeat gradually returned to normal. When he caught his breath, Duke said, “You know, I’d been thinking about our first time for weeks and trying to picture what it would be like. Never once did I imagine we’d both be wearing capes.”

  I burst out laughing, and Duke chuckled, then carefully eased his cock from my body. As he washed up, I untied my boots and let them fall to the floor, followed by my socks. I hopped off the counter and looked at myself in the mirror while I cleaned up at the other sink, and I asked him, “Whatever happened to my mask?”

  He grinned at my reflection and said, “You took it off in the cab on the way back to the hotel. That was the last I saw of it.”

  “Was I wearing it when we proposed to each other?”

  “Yup. It was very cute.” He dried his hands and checked the pocket on the inside of his cape, but he produced only a single glove. “I guess my cowl got lost too, maybe when we were running to our wedding. Oh well.” Duke untied his laces and deposited his boots and socks on the bathroom floor. Like me, he kept wearing the cape.

  When I finished cleaning up, I turned to him and asked, “Do you want to go out? I’m sure Vegas will keep partying until dawn, and there’s still a lot to see.”

  “Actually, for the remainder of this trip, all I really want to see is the inside of this hotel room.” He flashed me a mischievous smile.

  I smiled too and said, “In that case, onward, caped crusader, to the porn bed! I’ll race you.”

  We both ran across the suite. Duke took a flying leap at the bed a moment before I did, and we both went sliding across those slick, satin sheets. He landed on the floor with a yelp, and I landed on top of him. We both looked startled for a moment, and then we howled with laughter.

  Duke tossed me onto the bed, and then he crawled up beside me and kissed me tenderly before saying, “What an epic birthday.”

  I laced my fingers with his and slid close to him. “It really was.”

  He said, “We should return to Las Vegas every Halloween and renew our wedding vows in different costumes.”

  “We totally have to do that!”

  “Maybe next time, we can dress as Captain America and Bucky,” he said. “Or anything, really. I’d marry you dressed as a ham sandwich, or a giant bottle of lube. I don’t care, as long as I get to say I do over and over again. In fact, I’d marry you a thousand times if I could, because that’s how much I love you.”

  “I feel exactly the same way.”

  We settled in face-to-face, sharing the same pillow, and he said, “I’m totally serious about this. I want us to be standing in front of that fake volcano when we’re in our nineties, getting married yet again while dressed like shriveled-up superheroes with walkers.”

  I kissed him and said, “Then that’s what we’ll do.” His smile was glorious.

  Epilogue

  Two months later

  Sawyer MacNeil’s new coffee house was a thing of beauty, especially with its sparkling holiday decorations. An elegant Christmas tree with a thousand white lights cast reflections onto the highly polished wood floor, and the warm brick walls and brass fixtures made the reclaimed warehouse seem warm and cozy on that chilly December morning. Most of the tables were full, and I smiled and nodded to Sawyer and his partner Alastair, who sat side-by-side with twin laptops in their booth at the back of the large café. I got a matched set of smiles and waves in return.

  I stepped ar
ound the long line of customers and put the box I was carrying behind the counter. The assistant manager greeted me with, “Hey Quinn, you’re just in time. We’re down to our last rainbow, and the holiday cookies totally sold out.”

  Since he and the five baristas were busy, I offered to fill the case for him and exchanged my wool gloves for plastic ones. I took a moment to admire the oval label on the box, which read, ‘Duke & Quinn Takahashi’ above the line ‘Artistic Edibles, San Francisco, California’. The clean, modern font was colored in a rainbow, the red letters on the far left blending into orange, then yellow, and so on across a white background.

  I slid open the door to the huge bakery case and restocked the top shelf with sugar cookies, which sparkled under the bright lights shining down from the top of the cabinet. In addition to our usual bestsellers, the cheerful rainbows, we’d also been making Christmas trees, menorahs, presents, and dragons wearing Santa hats for the holiday season, all perfectly iced and lightly dusted in translucent edible glitter. As soon as I put them out, the customers in line began ordering them, which made me smile.

  Duke still worked as a police officer, but he’d recently been able to cut back to just a four-day work week. Not only was our cookie company beginning to take off, but our mortgage was far more affordable now that Xavier owned half the duplex. That took a lot of the financial pressure off and allowed my husband to pursue his passion, instead of worrying about making ends meet.

  The cookie business’s overnight success was thanks in large part to Sawyer. From the moment his newest coffee house opened in a prime location near the Castro, he’d prominently featured our products. That in turn brought in even more business, since he and his crew were always quick to hand out our business card whenever a customer raved about our cookies. Plus, he was in the process of renovating three more buildings around the city and had already contracted with us to provide baked goods for all of those locations once they opened.

  Life was hectic with both Duke and me working two jobs, but it was invigorating, too. We’d been sharing an industrial kitchen with our friends Cole and River and spent most evenings there, baking around their catering schedule to fill the next day’s orders. The timeshare had been a great way to start out, but we were looking into renting our own kitchen, and that was going to help normalize our hours.

  I’d quit my job as a go-go boy, since I was so busy with the dance troupe and the cookie company. Dare to Dance had six shows coming up over the next twelve months. Our first show had been a critically-acclaimed smash hit, so we’d signed a contract with the theater we’d used for our first performance and set up a website with subscriptions and advance ticket sales. That meant we all had a little money coming in, and it was wonderful to see Dare, Haley and the rest of the guys so happy.

  Once the case was filled, I switched out my gloves again and carried a small, pink box back to Sawyer and Alastair. Both men were wearing elegant cashmere sweaters, and since one of Sawyer’s long legs was sticking out from under the table, I noticed he’d paired his with a miniskirt, tights, and sexy thigh-high boots, all in black. I loved the way he totally owned his personal style. “Hey,” I said as I handed Sawyer the box. “I brought you a batch of Florentine cookies. Duke’s been baking them by the hundreds, and he thinks he’s close to perfecting the recipe.”

  Sawyer said, “Thanks for these, and for coming back with a second batch of sugar cookies to get us through to closing. They sold out in record time today.”

  “Which is awesome,” I said.

  “It is! Can you stay and have a cup of coffee with us?”

  “I wish I could, but I have an appointment in a few minutes. Next time for sure. How late is the coffee house staying open tonight?”

  “Just until two, so our employees can get home in time for Christmas Eve dinner with their families.” Sawyer pulled a thin, lacy cookie from the box and took a bite, then exclaimed, “That’s delicious! Tell Duke it’s perfect and to stop tinkering with it. You’re going to start selling these to me, right? They’d go so well with a latte.”

  I grinned and said, “I’ll add it to your wish list for our expanded product line. I’d better get going. Merry Christmas, you two! I’ll see you at Nana’s party tomorrow.”

  From there, I drove Duke’s truck a few blocks to Yoshi’s tattoo studio. Duke, Max and Yoshi were all waiting for me in the lobby, and Max said, “You’re really gonna do it this time, right?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  Duke took my hand and we went back to Yoshi’s station, where a woman named Kes with long, black hair, a beautiful, deep skin tone, and some fierce tattoos was setting up her traditional, Samoan instruments. They were basically a series of tiny metal combs of various widths on long, wooden handles. I’d met with her ahead of time and she knew exactly what I wanted. Now it was just a question of making it through the procedure.

  I stripped off my gloves, T-shirt, and awesome tacky Christmas sweater with a light-up tree on the front, then settled in on the black leather chaise. As Yoshi prepped my skin, he said, “There’s no shame in tapping out if you need to, Quinn. This is definitely going to hurt, and like I mentioned before, the ribs are one of the most sensitive areas on the body.”

  “I know. I really want this tattoo, and I now have the added motivation of covering the finely rendered dick you drew on me.”

  I smiled at him, and Yoshi grinned and said, “You drew that on yourself, Jumping Jack Flash. If you decide to leap up this time, give Kes at least a second’s notice, okay?”

  “Definitely.”

  Yoshi and Kes switched places, while Duke sat down on my right and took my hand. Max asked me, “Are you disappointed that you won’t be getting Totoro, like you originally wanted?”

  “Not at all. The design Kes and I came up with is gorgeous,” I said. “Plus, Totoro’s services are no longer required. I wanted that tattoo so he’d always be with me. But now, I have my gorgeous husband by my side, so I never have to worry about being alone.”

  Duke asked, “Is that really why you wanted the tattoo?” When I nodded, he said softly, “I promise I’ll always be right here, Quinn.”

  I smiled at him and said, “I know.”

  “I’m ready to get started if you are. Remember what we talked about,” Kes said. “It’s going to hurt, and it’s going to bleed. Maybe don’t watch if you think the sight of blood will bother you.” Max sat down beside her and pulled on a pair of gloves. He was there not only to observe the procedure, but to help Kes by stretching my skin taught while she worked and by wiping away the blood and excess ink.

  “Yeah, I’m definitely not watching.” I focused on Duke as I told Kes, “Go ahead and do it. I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

  Max put both hands on my ribcage, stretching and framing the spot where the tattoo would go. I braced myself as Kes pressed an ink-laden tool to my body and struck it with a second implement, which pushed the black pigment into my skin. The sharp poke definitely didn’t feel great, but it didn’t trigger any bad memories, either. I knew right away that I could do this.

  It took her about two hours to apply the four-inch tattoo. I kept my eyes on Duke. Max helped pass the time by chattering animatedly about all he’d learned in the last month as Yoshi’s apprentice.

  Finally, Kes sat back and said, “I’m done. Take a look.”

  I glanced at the gorgeous design on my ribcage, and a huge smile spread across my face. The letters D and Q were integrated into a geometric pattern that formed a beautiful, artistic heart. It was even better than I’d envisioned it.

  Kes covered it in plastic and repeated the care instructions she’d mentioned during our consultation. I thanked her and got dressed, and as I settled my bill, I asked Max, “You’re coming to dinner tonight, right?”

  “Of course! Your dad’s been cooking for two days, and it’s going to be a feast! I don’t even think it’s all healthy this time. Although it’s good that you and Duke are bringing dessert, so at least I can go
rge on that if it does turn out to be a health food extravaganza.” He turned to Yoshi and said, “I meant to ask earlier if you have plans for Christmas Eve. If you don’t, you’re welcome to join my family and me.” Then he told Kes, “You too, ma’am.”

  She peeled off her black latex gloves and said, “Thanks for the offer, but my husband and I are expected at my in-laws’ tonight. That pretty much blows, but it’s the holidays, so what’re you going to do?”

  Yoshi stretched his back as he said, “Thanks for asking, but I have plans, too. I’m having dinner with my friend Mike and his boys. After the kids go to bed, I’m supposed to help him play Santa and put together this elaborate train set. He went completely overboard. It’s so big that it laps his entire living room, which is so decked out for the holidays that it looks like the set of ten Christmas movies rolled into one.”

  Duke said, “He sounds like a great dad.”

  Yoshi smiled sweetly. “He really is.”

  I asked, “Do you want a ride back to Oakland, Max? We’re heading over early to help Dad cook.”

  “Thanks,” he said, “but I need to hit a few shops before I head home.”

  “Please tell me you’re not planning to do all your Christmas shopping in a single afternoon.”

  He grinned at me and said, “Of course I am, dude. Why break with tradition?” Some things never changed.

  After we all said our goodbyes, Duke and I headed to his truck, and he asked, “Are you in a lot of pain? I was surprised by how much that bled.”

  “It’s definitely sore, but nothing major.”

  “Are you happy you got it done?”

  “I really am, not just because the tattoo is amazing. It was important to me, because I didn’t want to let fear keep me from something I really wanted.” I thought about that and added, “I guess I didn’t really face my fear, because I got it done a different way, but it still feels like an accomplishment.”

  Duke turned to me when we reached the truck and said, “You not only faced your fear, you climbed over it, and then you found a new path forward. I think that tattoo is a total victory. Oh, and by the way, it looks incredibly sexy.”