Double Dare You

by Cara Lockwood

  “Because you are.”

  “I’m not.” Now the teasing was going too far. Annoyance bubbled in Beck. Why wouldn’t she just admit it? He knew it was about pride, but if she just admitted it, she could move on.

  “Okay,” Beck said, his mind feeling like it was crawling with ants. Allie was getting under his skin. He took a step closer and almost felt like he wanted to drown in those green eyes. So defiant, so full of ire and so stubbornly unwilling to admit that she still had feelings for him, which she clearly did. He was going to do something rash, something that broke his own rules, but he had such a hard time toeing the line. Hell, he didn’t even see the line with her right in front of him. “If you are over me, and I don’t mean anything to you, then prove it.” She blinked fast. He grinned, slowly, letting the tension build. He was going to enjoy this. “I dare you to kiss me.”

  CHAPTER THREE

  ALLIE FELT THE entire world on the other side of their little nook fade away into nothing. For a second, she forgot to breathe and there was just her and Beck, the only two people on earth. Because it all seemed more than absurd, she laughed. A brittle, bitter laugh.

  The man must be joking. That was the only way she could think to explain it. How else was it that Beck, who’d been happily sleeping with the tourists of Aspen for the last two months, wanted to kiss her? He was the one who’d made it clear to her that they had no future, and yet now he wanted to come back for more?

  “Why are you laughing?” His steady, serious gaze told her she’d miscalculated. He was deadly serious.

  “Because you have to be joking.”

  “I’m not.” He was so close now, she could see the darker flecks in his blond stubble. The man seemed as if he belonged in the middle of a snowboarding commercial beneath the bright mountain sun. She wanted to put her hands in his hair. Touch it, see if it was as soft as she remembered. She had to shake herself. That was not an option. Not now. Not ever. “If you don’t care for me at all, then kiss me. I’ll be able to tell, and then I won’t bother you anymore, and you can take that scruffy bartender home.”

  “This is ridiculous.” She shifted her feet in her broken boots, the soles feeling oddly angled against the bar floor. She felt exposed.

  What was the man’s game? He could have anyone in the bar, and in fact, Channing was already in a pout across the room because she’d lost her prize.

  There was only one reason why she could think that he’d be interested in her again.

  Was the adventuring ski god of Aspen...jealous? He didn’t want her for himself, but didn’t want anyone else to have her?

  “So? What about that dare?” His blue eyes never left hers. They were steady, serious.

  She laughed again, but this time it came out sounding thin and a little nervous. “No,” she said and folded her arms across her chest.

  “Why not?” Now he moved a beat closer. She could almost feel his body heat, and she’d forgotten how broad he was, and the nook they were in barely contained them. He was all muscle, and if he wanted that kiss, he could get it whether she wanted it or not. But that wasn’t Beck’s way. She knew it as well as he did. Besides, women in Aspen would line up for a chance to kiss Liam Beck, for a chance to do much more than that.

  The worst part was that even though he’d discarded her just two months ago, her body didn’t seem to care. Right in that moment, all she wanted to do was reach on her tippy toes and kiss that man right here. After all, he was a phenomenal kisser. A man with that much practice couldn’t help but be.

  “You know why,” she said, voice low. Because we had amazing sex and then you dropped off the face of the earth. Then I hear you think I’m boring. But Allie couldn’t get herself to say those things out loud.

  “If you take that bartender home, but you’re still hung up on me, it’s not going to be good for you.”

  White-hot anger rushed through her, warming her right through her toes. “It’s my mistake to make, then.” She could not believe this man. He ghosted her, then spread rumors she was a dud in bed, and now he was micromanaging her dating life?

  “You don’t get to pick who I sleep with, Beck.”

  “I know.” Beck glanced away, almost looking guilty. “I know that.”

  The vulnerability he showed in that moment sliced through her. He seemed so lost...so untethered. For a second, she wondered if the breakup had hit him hard. Harder than she’d imagined. Here she thought he’d just resumed his life, no worse for wear, but the look of pain across his face told her a different story. Could it be that he had suffered, like she suffered?

  It almost made her want to kiss him, just to make him feel better. She nearly laughed. She wanted to make him feel better? What was she thinking? She wasn’t. She never did when it came to Beck.

  “Go ahead, then,” Beck said, sounding resigned. “Go back to him.”

  She hated that in that moment of him dismissing her, it made her only want to stay. Why, she didn’t know. The more Beck pushed her away, the more she wanted to be with him. She hated that weakness in herself. She glanced over Beck’s shoulder and saw the bartender eyeing them from the bar. He’d come to her rescue if she signaled him, she thought. But part of her didn’t want to be rescued. She wanted to stay just where she was and that was what worried her.

  “Maybe I will.”

  Beck stared at her for a beat. “You’re not moving.”

  No, she wasn’t. It felt like she was caught in Beck’s gravitational field, fixed like a moon in orbit.

  “I don’t think you want to go,” Beck said at last. Damn him for reading her mind. She scooted a bit against the wall, but her elf boot hit the edge of a nearby mat, and she stumbled. He caught her, steadying her. His strong hands on her elbows made her remember how talented they were in exploring other parts of her body. How she felt so delicate, so little, in his arms. Allie froze then, the moment turning serious suddenly. He ran a finger down the outside of her upper arm. His touch felt hot. She watched his finger trail the seam of her sleeve, remembering how well his hands already knew her body. Despite all her logical misgivings, some part of her still burned for him. “I think you want to kiss me. I think you haven’t gotten enough of me.”

  There was no boast in the words. It was true, after all. How could he read her so well?

  She blinked fast. Her heart ticked up a notch. She wanted to kiss him, but she was scared. One kiss and she might be a slave to him again, a slave to her own passions, all logic and will gone. Beck moved forward, and she was in the dark corner of the alcove now, away from the bar, out of the line of vision of anyone there. The bartender wouldn’t be able to help her now, but she didn’t want anyone’s help.

  She decided then and there, she wasn’t going to be afraid of Liam Beck. She could kiss him and not feel anything. She could do this and prove to him and herself that she was beyond him.

  “I’ll kiss you, just to prove that weekend meant nothing,” she said. “I don’t feel anything for you, Liam Beck.”

  Beck nodded, once. “Good. If that’s true, then I’ll leave you alone.”

  She needed Liam Beck out of her life. And if kissing him one last time was the way to do it, then she’d do it. It’s just a kiss, she told herself. It would mean nothing. And then she’d be free of him.

  “Fine.” She tilted her head up, lips ready. Beck wasted no time. His big palm sneaked behind her back, and he pulled her to him. In seconds, she was pressed flat against the massive muscles in his chest. He was so big, she felt tiny. She held a breath, her heart fighting like a rabbit trying to get out of its cage. Beck took his time. His eyes studying hers and then moving ever so slowly down her face to her lips. They parted on their own accord, already tingling in anticipation. It won’t mean anything. I won’t feel anything, she told herself.

  He pressed his full lips against hers, tentatively at first. Gently. She kept her lips still. If
I don’t move, then everything will be fine. But she knew already this wasn’t going to be a quick peck on the lips. Beck had something else in mind. The second his lips moved on hers, the entire last two months disappeared. It was as if they’d never spent a second apart and they were right back in that lodge.

  His mouth, warm and determined, found hers in just the way she liked. Instantly, all her senses lit up, like blinking lights on a massive Christmas tree, and she felt the surge of electricity down to her fingertips. She didn’t know whose tongue sought the other’s first, only that soon the kiss turned deeper, more dangerous. He anticipated every move she made and countered it, in a way that made her feel like they were partners in the world’s oldest dance. There was something about the way the man tasted, something so irresistible that she didn’t want to stop. In seconds, her hands, with a will of their own, had crawled up the back of his neck and into his hair. Yes, that thick, soft shock of blond, and his neck thick with muscle. His hands kept firm on the small of her back and she was reminded how big his hands were, how they seemed to span most of her waist.

  And then Beck’s hands snaked up the back of her sweater, and she felt his palms on her skin. The heat from his hands traveled all the way through her. Want, powerful and raw, came to life in her belly, and she realized how she’d stuffed down her own desires for weeks, how she’d denied herself, how she’d tried so hard to forget how Beck felt. Now here he was, mouth on hers, and all she could think was more. I want more. I want his lips. I want his hands. I want everything. She felt as if she’d only just woken up to the fact that she had been starving for this.

  His hands roamed downward, outside the fabric of her jeans, and he cupped her possessively, pushing her flat against him, and then she felt the hardness bulging in the front of his jeans. He wanted her, too. Badly. The discovery made her kiss him even harder; she wanted to devour him. Stand in that chaos once more that was loving Beck, cling to him in the ferocious whirlwind that was him. Kissing the bartender was now a distant, faint memory. Here, right here, this was what passion was meant to be. His hands roamed freely now, as did hers, neither seeming to be able to stop groping. She realized the stark truth: it wasn’t that she couldn’t stop kissing Beck. She didn’t want to stop.

  Distantly, she heard someone come out of the locked bathroom behind them, and in a second, Beck was steering her inside. She went willingly, unable to believe how fast things were moving, but then, that was what Beck did. He tackled everything fast: slopes, cars, women. Beck himself was like a thrilling roller coaster ride, one without a safety harness. She pushed him against the bathroom wall, running her hands up his thick, fit chest. And then she realized that she could have him, right there in the bathroom of this bar. No one would have to know.

  She pressed her hand to the front of his jeans and found him hard and ready. All she’d have to do was free him, a single zipper standing between her and him. That was all she wanted. One more time. One more and she’d be done with him.

  Or would she? She wondered if she’d ever, truly, be over Liam Beck, or if he’d stay in her blood forever, like a dormant virus, ready to come to life at the first touch. She pulled away from Beck first, breaking the spell. She saw surprise on his face, as he panted, out of breath. The extreme snowboarding athlete that never met a mountain he couldn’t climb or ski seemed winded and disoriented. God, she wondered what she looked like. Hell, probably, her lipstick smudged, her hair a mess. She felt as surprised as Beck looked. Well, guess he wasn’t expecting that, either. He’d forgotten, just as she had, how electric they’d been. How much like gasoline on flames. It was why he was so addictive, so hard to quit. That kind of fire didn’t come along every day. Or, hell, every lifetime.

  “Al...” Beck’s voice was a guttural growl. His blue eyes nearly black, his pupils were so big with desire. His hair was ruffled, too, she noticed. That was where her hands had been two seconds ago. “Al, oh, but I missed you.”

  The words sliced through her. She wanted to tell him she’d missed him, too. She wanted to take him home to her bed and show him just how much she’d missed him. But she couldn’t. Things were different now. They’d never be the same.

  She slid her hands down the front of his pants and he groaned. A flicker of mischief ran through her. She glanced downward, at her hand covering his fly, and then she slowly worked his zipper down, a centimeter at a time. She expected him to...what? Stop her? Tell her they weren’t right together? That this was all some kind of mistake. Would he warn her about tomorrow or the next day when he wouldn’t call?

  But the want in his eyes was like flame, and she knew he wasn’t going to stop her. She reached into his pants and wrapped her hands around his thick shaft, and he sucked in a breath. Smooth, hard and thick, just as she remembered. Absolutely, blindingly perfect. Then, just as quickly, she released him.

  She smiled, slowly.

  “Looks like you’re the one who’s not over me, Beck.”

  And then she turned, leaving him leaning against the wall, face frozen in shock. She left him there, and he let her go, the look in his eyes telling her that whatever it was between them was far, far from done. Why did she have a sudden and definite feeling that she’d kicked a hornet’s nest?

  CHAPTER FOUR

  “YOU DID NOT seriously do that! Left him, dick literally in his hands!” squealed Mira the next day, as she jabbed a piece of spinach salad and forked it into her mouth. They sat in the retro-styled café near the slopes, which seemed both quaint and modern at the same time, with sleek stainless-steel tables and leather-bound booths. More Christmas music blared happily from the speakers and the restaurant was decorated floor to ceiling in freshly harvested garlands and wreaths. The whole restaurant smelled like pine trees. Allie was busy explaining why she’d made a hasty exit the night before, leaving well before the party was over. Mira had to stay until the end—it was the party she’d helped organize, after all. “Serves him right. That’ll teach him to ghost you. And here I thought you were in hot water with Beck. I knew he’d gone after you, but I didn’t think... Well, damn, girl. I didn’t think you had it in you.”

  “Why? Think he’d kiss me and I’d beg for more?”

  Mira glanced at her friend, wary. “Well, yes. The man is a sex god. Look at him.” Her friend sent her a sympathetic look. “And you did say he was amazing.”

  “Whose side are you on?”

  “Yours—obviously.” Mira leaned closer. “You sure you didn’t feel anything when he kissed you?”

  “Nope.” Technically, she didn’t feel anything. She felt everything. Every possible nerve ending in her body lighting up, like a power grid that only Beck could ignite. But she couldn’t let that derail her. She knew Beck, knew that he could never truly be serious about anyone.

  “Good. I thought you might be sucked into his web again. He’s not the kind of man who’s ever going to settle down. Or if he does, he’ll be sixty and opt for a twenty-year-old.”

  “I know. I should never have thought about him as relationship material. That was my mistake. He was a good time, nothing more.” The more she said it, the more she hoped it would be true. The problem was she’d had feelings for Beck for a long time before they rolled into bed together. Again, her fault. She’d always prided herself on being the girl who wasn’t sucked in by the guy every girl wanted. Then again, she’d always been bookish, so it wasn’t like the hottest guy in school was after the honors society president, either. Still, she told herself it was mutual as she’d steered well clear of the popular and gorgeous egomaniacs who devoured her friends’ self-esteem and left them used and mangled. But then came Beck. She thought being friends with him was a safe bet, but it turned out to be anything but. She’d fallen for him hard. Just like most of the women in Aspen. She was almost disappointed in herself for stumbling into the same trap, for being so ordinary. She thought she’d had better sense than every other woman in town.

 
“Not to mention, who wants to be his girlfriend anyway? Waiting for him to come home after one of his skiing trips in avalanche country?”

  Mira nodded. “He’s an adrenaline junkie. It’s like he’s addicted to it.”

  There was something in Beck that seemed hell-bent on self-destruction. Some people did it with drugs or alcohol. Beck did it with crazy stunts on the mountains. Allie always wanted to show him things could be different, but he didn’t seem willing to see that. And now she wouldn’t really get the chance.

  “He’ll probably be dead by forty.”

  “Don’t say that.” Allie’s voice was sharper than she intended. They might not be a couple, or hell, even friends anymore, but Allie couldn’t bear the thought of an accident taking Beck’s life. She realized she’d just shown Mira that she still cared, and she hated that. She wondered when there would ever be a time she truly could care less about Liam Beck.

  “Sorry.” Mira backed away quickly, her dark eyes full of apology. “I didn’t mean it.”

  “I know you didn’t.” She sighed. Allie fiddled with her spoon. Suddenly, the steaming hot bowl of cheesy onion soup in front of her didn’t seem so appetizing anymore. The upbeat jangly holiday music grated, and all she wanted to do was skip over the cheery holiday mood and land in bleak late January. Allie pushed around some of the melted cheese in the bowl in front of her.

  “It’s just that if he really cared about you, he would’ve called.”

  “I know.”

  “And not just that.” Mira searched for the right words. “If he cared, he would’ve made room for you in his life. He seems like a man who puts everyone in a box. As long as you were in the friend box, that was okay. But then, when you hopped on out of there and wanted a bigger box, a girlfriend box, he freaked out.”

  Allie nodded. “Well, that’s the nice way of looking at it. He freaked out because he cared too much about me, instead of the fact that sex with me bored him to tears.”