by Barb Han
He closed his eyes and brushed his lips against hers and heat flooded her body, pooling at the apex of her thighs.
Daniel was dark and gorgeous and sinful temptation wrapped up into one.
He was also damaged and dangerous. Both thoughts flew out the window when his lips made their second round. This time needy.
She parted her lips for him and dug her fingers into his course, wavy hair.
A thunderclap of need sprung from somewhere deep within and Clara was caught off guard at its potency. But then Daniel was all testosterone and masculinity, quiet, brooding strength in a sexier than hell package.
His hands moved around her neck, fingers trailing across her collar bone. And then ran a line down to her nipples. Her breasts full, straining.
She delved her tongue inside his mouth and the next thing she knew she was walking back a couple of steps until her back was flat against a brick wall.
Her breath quickened, matching the tempo of his.
Everything in her world reduced to the two of them. And for the first time in longer than she could remember, Clara got lost in the feeling.
The school bell buzzed, bringing Clara back to the sharp reality that her niece needed her.
She ducked out of Daniel’s grasp, her lips still stinging and swollen, wishing for more.
“I can’t do this.”
Daniel stood there with his flat palm against the brick wall. What the hell had just happened?
He chalked the intensity of the experience up to overwrought emotions. An irritating voice in the back of his head tried to tell him that there’d never been a kiss that had made him so damn hungry for a person. That same damn voice tried to convince him that what he felt for Clara was in a league of its own. He was too broken to put much stock in the thought. Where would it go? Where could it go?
His emotions were clearly in overdrive but the drumming between his ears had eased and he was thankful for the reprieve.
“Let’s get out of here,” he said, taking Clara by the hand and linking their fingers. Contact kept him tethered to reality and not that place inside his head that drove him to the brink.
Back in the truck, his fingers hovered over the key in the ignition.
“You have questions,” he finally said. She had to be curious about what would cause a man like him to unravel. Then again, she was the psychologist. She had to have some idea what had just happened. Talking was hard and he didn’t plan to go there.
There was another long silence as though Clara needed to gain the confidence to ask. Hell, she could just be concerned about his response or fearing she’d trigger another episode. So, he waited.
“What happened to your daughter?” Clara finally asked.
He’d known the question was coming.
“Ask another question,” he said.
“I don’t have one.” She looked at him with apologetic eyes.
“I don’t want to talk about her,” he said honestly.
“I know. And you don’t have to. At least, not to me. But you need to talk to someone at some point. It isn’t healthy to bottle it all—”
“Save the psycho-babble for your patients,” he bit out. His response was a copout. She’d called him on it. And that stung. It was true. He could barely say his daughter’s name without that angry beast inside of him taking over. There was so much rage and no realistic outlet.
The fact that Clara looked as though she’d just taken a physical blow knocked him back a step mentally.
He tried to form the words for an apology but it died on his lips. He didn’t want to hurt Clara but he wasn’t sorry for being angry and she needed to know that some topics were off-limits. Period. He may never want to discuss his family. He sure as hell didn’t deserve to…what? Get better? Live without pain? That pain reminded him he was alive when all he’d wanted to do for two years was join Naomi and Ruthie. There was no reason he should be alive.
“I didn’t see a wedding ring or I never would’ve let you kiss me yesterday,” she said quietly.
“I don’t have a wife anymore,” he snapped. “She’s dead. And you didn’t ‘let’ me do anything.”
She issued a grunt. This wasn’t the time to notice how sexy the sound was coming from her.
“Nothing happens to me that I don’t allow. Not anymore.” Those last two words came out so quietly that he almost thought she hadn’t said them.
He made a mental note to ask about that later. Right now, he was too angry, too worked up.
“Let’s get the hell out of here.” He needed to spend a couple of hours at the gym and work out some of his frustration so he could think straight.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“Hotel.”
She issued another grunt.
“Relax. I only go where I’m invited.” Yeah, he was being cocky. His defense mechanisms flared up and he needed to put up a wall. Because for a few seconds when the two of them were body-to-body, he didn’t hate himself and that scared the hell out of him.
The hotel in downtown Dallas was a fifteen-minute drive with no traffic.
He self-parked, checked in and handed Clara a key.
“Make yourself at home,” he said.
“My apartment isn’t that far from here,” she said. “We could’ve driven there instead.”
There was no way he was stepping into her personal space. Daniel needed to be in neutral territory.
“Stay here until I get back. Get some rest.” Before she could put up a fight, he twined their fingers and walked her to the elevator. “Please.”
Clara took in a sharp breath.
“I need a run to clear my head.” He put his earbuds in as the elevator dinged. He didn’t bother to look back after he turned and jogged away from the doors.
Daniel’s run and subsequent two-hour workout at the gym had had its desired effect. He’d worked out enough of his anger to function again. The cool shower after felt good on his burning skin. He always kept clean clothes in his backpack, so he put those on.
With the workout routine came clarity. And that lead him back to thinking about something productive—the investigation.
He opened the hotel room door with the second key he’d kept.
“Where do you go when you’re traveling and you need Internet but you forgot the charger for your laptop?” he asked Clara who was sitting at the table with a notepad out. The room had double beds and a small seating area with a round table and two chairs. There was an office space and a flat-screen television. The beds had white comforters and the check-in person in the lobby boasted of some kind of miracle mattress.
“Hello to you too,” Clara said with a sarcastic edge.
He’d left abruptly. She was mad. Since he didn’t have a peace offering he’d have to talk his way through this. Something he was no longer good at. “Sorry, I was rude before—”
“How often do you have those episodes?” Clara sipped from a cup of what looked like a fresh pot of coffee.
“We can talk about those later. Right now—”
She shot a severe look.
“I promise.” He put his hands in the surrender position. He could admit that he’d been rather abrupt with her. He made a mental note to dial it down a few notches. Frustrating her wouldn’t help and he could admit to himself that having her there during one of his episodes calmed him a helluva lot faster than in the past. She brought other areas of him to life and threatened to crack the casing around his heart.
“If it’s something I can’t use my phone for then I go to the business center,” Clara stated, recovering the initial conversation.
“Exactly,” Daniel agreed. He shot a look of gratitude for letting him off the hook.
“You think Ashlyn used the business center so that her parents couldn’t track her every move.” Clara rocked her head. Then she put a finger up mid-air. “Hold on a second. There’s nothing on her social media page besides pictures with Makayla. We’ve already scanned those and came up
empty.” She froze and then it seemed to dawn on her. “But she wouldn’t use the social media page that her mother was on. And with all the things I’m learning about the secrets she kept I have to believe she had a page no one knew about.”
“I have a guy who can hack into the resort’s computer. It shouldn’t take long. Most places like that don’t keep a sophisticated business center. People go on vacation to get away from work and the ones who bring it along with them transport their own technology with them.” He already had his phone out punching in a text.
A dangerous ray of hope brightened Clara’s eyes. “That’s why she would’ve been hanging around in the lobby instead of on the beach. Maybe she was waiting for the computer or scouting out a good time to use it. That would also explain why she reacted to Makayla’s little brother. She didn’t want to be figured out.”
Daniel rocked his head.
The response from Emmanuel came a few seconds later. Daniel had expected as much considering technology was always within Emmanuel’s reach.
Sounds intriguing. Where’s the system?
“What’s the name of the resort?” Daniel asked Clara.
“Jamaica Royale,” she supplied.
Daniel texted the information.
Hold tight.
“What did he say?” Clara asked as she got up and walked over to Daniel.
He held up the screen and tilted it toward her.
This close, her flowers and sunshine scent filled his senses. He was starting to rethink the hotel room idea. But then, neutral territory was best for both of them.
“Coffee?” Clara asked and her voice was raw with need. She didn’t step away.
All the chemistry that had been sizzling between them roared back in a fury. A spark ignited and the flame had been simmering.
No kids. No wedding ring. No commitments.
Clara was in her late twenties and drop-dead beautiful. Daniel told himself he’d noticed as part of the investigation and not because of the out-of-character kisses that he couldn’t stop rehashing.
Or the one coming next.
Chapter 12
“I can admit that I’ve never been good at idly sitting by.” Daniel’s gaze trailed across Clara’s face and down her neck. The way he took her in, appreciated her was sexier than any physical touch she’d ever felt.
“This isn’t a good idea,” she said. The man had a troubled past that would come back to bite her.
And yet…
It had been so damn long since anyone had made her feel the way he did, maybe never. Clara wanted his hands on her, roaming her body in the way that his gaze was right now. She craved the touch of this man, who was so intense and damaged and sexy.
“That’s probably true.” He blew out a sharp breath. “I know I’m FUBAR and can’t offer much more than this...” He trailed a finger along her collar bone and toward the V in her shirt. “I want to touch you. Really touch you.”
His locked onto her gaze, his dark eyes hungry and predatory.
“But I won’t go where I’m not invited and I sure as hell don’t want to end up hurting you.” He sat on the edge of the bed and Clara stood in front of him. For one long moment she stared at the beautiful man in front of her.
Daniel fit the dark and sexy description to a T. The day-old scruff on his chin stirred an urge to smooth her fingers over it.
Clara had a decision to make. Because she could like this man. Really like this man. The sex would be great. She could tell that based on the sheer amount of chemistry sizzling between them. She had one question. Could she take it when he walked away? Because this man would break her heart.
“Touch me, Daniel.”
“Damn, I like the sound of my name on your tongue.”
Clara unbuttoned her top button. Daniel’s hands joined hers and her shirt was in a pile on the carpet in a matter of seconds.
He stood, practically towering over her, and issued a throaty growl when she unhooked her bra and it hit the floor.
“Do you want me, Daniel?” she asked.
“That’s not a question.”
She unzipped her slacks and stepped out of it. She stood wearing nothing but spiked heels and blue panties.
“My favorite color,” he said in a throaty growl. The man standing in front of her looked at her with hungry, predatory eyes. He slicked his tongue across his bottom lip before saying, “Damn, you’re beautiful. And sexy.”
Standing naked in front of any man should make her feel awkward and self-conscious. Not this man. He made her feel incredible.
So, she put her hands on him. She could feel his rapid heartbeat through a solid-walled chest, tattooing at a rising pace.
Clara dropped her hands to the hem of his shirt and helped him off with it.
He was displaying incredible self-discipline considering she was standing almost completely naked and right in front of him. One look in his eyes said he barely contained his hunger.
Her hand immediately flew to the zipper of his jeans. He let her take the lead, freeing his straining erection from the denim confining it. His length was substantial and a trill of awareness skittered across her skin the second she wrapped her fingers around his shaft.
His primal groan was sexy as hell and Clara got a thrill out of being the one in control.
He stepped out of his jeans and his boxers joined them next. And then he was standing in front of her, completely naked. This man had the body of a well-tuned athlete. She ran her fingers along the ridges in his chest, smoothing her hand flat over the solid wall that was Daniel. There were scars, not imperfections, scattered across his olive skin. Reminders that he’d worked in a job that faced life and death every day.
“Touch me,” she said, dropping her hands to her sides.
Daniel’s dark gaze intensified. “With what? Fingers or tongue?”
The suggestion sent a sensual current rippling through her.
“No hands.”
“Do you trust me?” His gaze on her goose bumped her arms.
“Yes.”
“Take your panties off,” he practically roared.
She hitched her fingers on each strap at her hips and then slowly slid them down before stepping out of them.
He watched her like a lion assessing its prey, but there was something sensual about it.
And then he took a couple of aggressive steps toward her, causing her breath to hitch and for her to back up until she was smashed against the wall. His gaze captured hers the entire time, not so much as flinching with the movement.
He kept space between them as he trapped her, planting his hands on either side of her neck against the wall.
Her body trembled but not from fear. From need. A bone-deep need to have this man inside her caused her to quake.
Her breasts strained to be touched, her nipples beaded and she could barely catch her breath as her heart pounded her ribs. Her sex heated, craving his touch.
“Daniel, I want you inside me. Now.”
He looked her square in the eye.
“No.”
And then he dipped his head and demanded her mouth, delving his tongue inside, claiming her. Her body was so keenly aware of him, so close, but no contact. He kissed her so thoroughly that she finally understood what it meant to go weak at the knees. Hers were rubber and she was surprised they held her weight.
Daniel tugged, sucked and caught her lower lip in his teeth.
Her body was so alive with sensation. Her breath was already coming out in gasps as her nipples strained for contact.
“Please, Daniel. Touch me. I want to feel you all over me.”
“Not yet.”
His tongue trailed down her neck, across her collar bone before making its way south. Clara put her hands flat against the wall to stop them from reaching out to touch him.
Electric sensations pulsed from her core to her fingertips, alighting her senses as he took a nipple in his mouth. His hot breath lit a fire insider her as she trembled, gripping the wal
l to keep her upright.
And then he released her breast, cold air immediately covered her. Her breathing was jagged and a thunderclap of need welled from deep within.
Suddenly, he was on his knees.
“Hitch your leg over my shoulder,” he said. She lifted her high heel and did exactly as he said.
He turned his head, still keeping his hands off her, and slid his tongue along her inner thigh, his hot breath marking a trail toward her sex.
Clara couldn’t hold back anymore. She tunneled her fingers into his thick hair.
He stopped and his muscles went rigid.
“Hands against the wall,” he demanded. His masculine voice trailed along her skin and her stomach freefell.
She moved her hands, gripping the wall. In the next second his tongue was teasing her sex. She gasped and then lost her breath like she’d just dropped forty feet on a roller coaster.
Erotic sensations pulsed through her as three of his fingers worked circles on her heat. His tongue dipped inside her and she moaned with pleasure.
All she could do was surrender to the heat building inside her, begging, straining, desperate for release.
Before she tipped over the edge, she pushed him away. She wanted the feeling of jumping off that mountain together.
Words were no longer necessary.
He seemed to understand exactly what she needed, exactly what her body craved.
Daniel was on his feet in the next second as the flame threatened to consume both of them. He picked her up like she weighed nothing and she wrapped her legs around his midsection. The tip of his silky-steel length entered her and she reacted by wiggling him deeper inside.
Their breath was coming out in rasps now. She loved the feel of him inside her, the feel of his hands on her round bottom, moving her up and down on his shaft as she bucked her hips.
She slicked her tongue over his bottom lip and wrapped her arms around him. Her straining breasts were flush against his muscled chest. His fingers dug into her hips as he aided her sliding up and down on his erection, riding him so hard and fast and furious that need took over and her body threatened to tip over the edge.
