by Virna DePaul
Smiling, he kissed her forehead. “I do know, and I’m glad. Because in the short time I’ve known you, Dara, I believe it wholeheartedly. You can do anything you want. Be anything you want. You just have to believe it, too.”
CHAPTER TEN
“Here, remember to tuck your thumb underneath.” Alder took Dara’s hand, moving the aforementioned thumb to the right position. “If you keep it out like that, you’ll end up breaking it.”
Dara nodded, but she could barely concentrate on what he was saying. She was too focused on how his chest pressed against her back, how he smelled like sweat and mint, and how he grinned whenever she got in a decent punch. Her heart pounded at his nearness, just as it had all day. She’d had so much fun, walking around Hope Falls with Alder. He was intoxicating in everyday life; Lord, watching him licking an ice cream cone had gotten her hot and bothered. But now, seeing Alder in his element, showing her how to fight, made him even sexier than usual.
His muscles flexed and gleamed in the light, his tank top barely covering the grooves and planes of his spectacular chest. She could barely stop staring at his tattoos and the way the designs flexed as he moved across the floor.
“Okay, once again,” he said. “I’m going to come at you from behind.”
She nodded, staring at the wall ahead of her. That’s when Alder grabbed her, circling his strong arms around her. Adrenaline burst through her—although she had to admit, it wasn’t from fear—and she promptly stomped on his instep before whirling away.
He cursed; she smiled.
“Damn, you wanna break my foot?” He grimaced.
“You were the one begging me to learn self-defense.” She had to laugh at his exaggerated hurt expression. “Or do you want me to fake it so I don’t hurt your feelings?”
Grabbing her arm, he pulled her toward him, chest to chest. Locking his arms around her again, he said in a low voice, “Hurt my feelings all you want, sweetheart.”
Pressed up against him like this, Dara’s body instantly came even more alive. She could feel his hardness against her belly, and she almost groaned. Memories of him sliding into her body filled her mind.
Gazing up at him, their shallow breaths mingled. She studied his lashes, long and dark, and the slight flush across his cheeks. She tilted her head back, and his gaze sharpened.
Then she head-butted him.
“Ow! Dammit!” Alder let her go, rubbing his forehead. “You little brat!”
She laughed, rubbing her forehead but not caring that she’d probably have a nice bruise for her effort. But that laugh turned into a squeal when he spun her around and wrapped his arms around her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides. She struggled, but she was no match for him.
“I told you I’d teach you self-defense,” he said into her ear, his breath hot, “not give you the opportunity to beat me black and blue.”
“It’s not my fault you keep underestimating me.” Her voice was breathy and husky, and she wiggled her ass against him.
He groaned. “I’d never underestimate you, Dara. Haven’t you figured that out by now?”
Dara froze, then deliberately pressed her ass back against him, feeling him grow harder. “So you going to show me any more moves, or are you all tired out?” she asked lightly.
His fingers danced along the patch of bare skin between her top and pants, and she shuddered. “I’m just getting started,” he said.
The session progressed, with Alder showing Dara more tips for self-defense, including using her keys or anything she had as a weapon. “You’re not going to win on brute strength,” he explained, “but you’re small, which is to your advantage. You just want your attacker to be surprised enough to let you go, and then run like hell. Got it?”
She nodded. She was never going to be the Karate Kid, but she could at least know enough to keep herself safe. Alder also emphasized that if someone were trying to kidnap her, she should struggle as much as possible, and make as much noise as she could. “Be like a cat that doesn’t want to go to the vet,” he said, and she laughed at the image. “Kidnappers want easy targets. Don’t make their job easy.”
They role-played a few more scenarios, including one in which Alder picked her up and tried to run off with her. Dara struggled—trying not to laugh—and somehow the two of them got so tangled up that he dropped to the floor, rolling away so he wouldn’t crush her. A pile of limbs now, Dara burst out laughing, splayed out on the gym floor.
“Some kidnapper you are,” she said. “I think you just broke my entire body.”
Alder rolled toward her, and climbing over her, pinned her arms. “The exercise wasn’t to get me to trip and crush you, brat.”
“Hey, whatever works.” She squirmed, but his grip held firm. The gym had emptied out, and they were tucked away in a corner that wasn’t visible to the few people still working out.
The two of them gazed at each other, the moment lengthening. She could feel his body heat, even just through his hands gripping her wrists. Dizziness filled her, and her heart beat so fast she was sure he could hear it. Part of her wanted him to kiss her right here, take her on the gym floor, she wanted him so badly.
“Alder,” she whispered.
He leaned down, nipping her throat. His breath—hot and disjointed—made her breasts ache and her blood pulse.
“Dara—”
“Ahem. Dara?”
They both jerked and looked up to see Liam standing a few feet from them. Alder rolled off of her instantly and stood, offering her his hand to help her up.
“Sorry to interrupt, but I’m hungry. I was thinking of grabbing dinner. You want to join me?”
Liam’s shirt was soaked with sweat. Alder had introduced him to Lucky—her cousin had almost been struck dumb at getting to meet Alder and Lucky all in one day—and the two of them had been sparring and working out while Alder showed Dara self-defense moves.
Dara blinked at her cousin, at a loss for words. What had Alder been about to say? His expression had been serious. So affectionate.
So…loving?
But no. That couldn’t be right. She’d obviously just been imagining things.
Alder handed her a bottle of water, and she took it gratefully.
“I think we’re done for today,” he said.
She nodded, wiping her mouth. Her heart still pounded. “Yeah, we’re done,” she said. “Let’s head back, Liam, unless you want to take a shower here?”
“Nah, I’ll take a shower at the cottage.” The younger man glanced between Dara and Alder and, as if sensing the tension between them, said, “I’ll see you outside, Dara,” before leaving.
She didn’t know what to say. But she knew what she wanted: to get Alder into her bed again as soon as possible.
“The lady who rented us the cottage…she said there’s a nice hot tub out back. Would you like to meet me for a late night soak later?” she asked, looking up at him through her lashes.
His eyes widened, but his face quickly transformed into a sultry smile. He stroked her cheek, replying, “How could I say no to that?”
“Good.” She gave him the address. “See you at 10:30,” she said.
***
At 10:20, Dara changed into the purple bikini she’d packed. She gazed at herself in the mirror, sucking in her stomach, and then laughed at herself. She threw on a cover up. Alder had already seen her body up close and personal, and he certainly hadn’t seemed to be put off by any part of her. She glanced at the clock again, fairly vibrating with excitement.
After they’d had dinner at a place called JT’s Roadhouse, Liam had told her he was going to meet someone for drinks, a young woman he’d met downtown. He didn’t tell Dara her name or anything else about his new friend, and for that reason Dara suspected Liam had just decided to make himself scarce because he wanted to give Dara and Alder some alone time. Dara loved her cousin dearly, but sometimes he was too perceptive. She didn’t know him extremely well, since he’d lived in Ireland his entire life
while she lived in California, but once he’d arrived in the States, she’d found that she enjoyed his company immensely.
But as she walked out the back door of the cottage, darkness flowing around her, all thoughts of her cousin dissipated. The hot tub was surrounded by dimly lit lights, giving it an almost ethereal glow. She made short work of removing the cover and turned on the jets. When Alder still hadn’t shown, her stomach dropped—had he decided he wasn’t interested in meeting her after all? Glancing at her phone, she saw that it was just 10:30. She was being silly.
The evening was warm but not hot, and looking up at the sky, Dara could see a number of constellations sparkling above. She stripped off her cover-up and slid into the hot tub, moaning as the hot water surrounded her.
The jets bubbled and swirled, the light on the bottom giving the hot tub a white glow. Dara dipped down to her chin, closing her eyes and enjoying the water. She hadn’t been in a hot tub in ages; she’d forgotten how awesome they were. Whoever had invented them in the first place deserved a medal.
“Enjoying yourself?” a deep voice asked.
Her eyes flew open and there was Alder, gazing at her. She could just make out his expression in the dim light: his eyes were hooded, a lazy smile playing across his mouth. He wore black swim trunks, his chest completely bare. She admired the rippling of his muscles as he got in, the light illuminated his tattoos, and she found herself wanting to ask him all about them.
That is until he snaked an arm around her and kissed her full on the mouth. Before he’d come to get her at the bookstore, she’d convinced herself it would be best to end things between them. She’d been determined to own up to her jealousy rather than make Alder wonder why she was cutting things off between them so abruptly. But then he’d spoken to her with such heartfelt sincerity, telling her that he felt jealous whenever he thought of her with other men. Telling her that he was becoming more and more open to exploring the attraction between them, even if that ultimately resulted in a committed relationship. How in the world could she leave after that?
Now, briefly, she once again second-guessed the wisdom of allowing herself to fall harder for Alder. Part of her knew that if she continued on this course, she was going to fall head over heels in love with him, giving him the power to hurt her more than she’d ever been hurt.
But also giving them the power, together, to experience something most people only ever dreamed of. As if reading her mind, Alder pulled back and brushed her hair from her face. “Relax, Dara,” he said. “This is good. We’re good. Let me show you just how good we are.” He lowered his head again. As his tongue traced her lips and his arm tightened around her waist, all of her doubts disappeared. Twining her arms around his neck, she reciprocated the kiss, giving as good as she got. He tasted of beer and mint, and he smelled like heaven.
“God, Dara,” he said, his hands tracing her sides. “I can’t stop thinking about you. You’re on my mind day and night. I dream about you. Just being with you, here and now? It feels like a dream and I never want to wake up.”
She shivered at his words, her heart cracking open.
Fine. She was accepting it. She was a goner.
She’d fallen for Alder Hanson.
“Same,” she replied in a whisper. “Even when I wanted to knee you in the nuts when you were calling me ‘young woman’ and harping on me about seeing the world, I still wanted to climb you like a cat.”
Laughing, he buried his nose in the crook of her shoulder. God, he was so warm! Warm and muscular and so divinely handsome she wanted to touch and lick every part of him.
“If it makes you feel better, my balls have ached for you every minute that we’ve been apart.”
“Even after you visited me in Forestville?”
“Especially after I visited you in Forestville. You own me, girl.”
He yelped when she pinched him.
“I own you, huh? Wow, is that a line you give all the girls?”
“Nah, just you.” He kissed her nose. “You’re special.”
She rolled her eyes, but she couldn’t help smiling, either. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d bantered with a man like this—most guys didn’t want to talk at all—and her heart did a little flip at the smile in his eyes.
Dara traced the sword and shield on his bicep. “Will you tell me about your tattoos?” She knew the reasons behind a tattoo were often intimate, so she half-expected him to balk.
But to her surprise, he said, “The sword and shield? I got it when my brother died.”
She stiffened. “What? Oh no! I’m so sorry. You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.”
“It’s okay. It was almost ten years ago now. He died of cancer. I miss him, but it doesn’t hurt like when it just happened, you know?”
The only person Dara had lost was her grandfather, and she’d been comforted by the fact he’d lived a long and full life; she couldn’t imagine losing a sibling so young. “Was there a reason for the sword and shield?”
“Jacob was my older brother,” he explained, “and he protected me from a lot of shit. I got the tattoo a week after his funeral.”
She traced the design, enjoying the feel of his skin underneath her fingertips. His arm flexed as she touched him, and she couldn’t help but lean forward and kiss his damp skin. Her tongue lightly touched him, and he groaned.
“Dara, God,” he muttered, tangling his hands in her hair. “I should let you go. You’re too young for me. You have better things than me ahead of you. But…”
When he’d talked like that before, it had hurt and pissed her off. But now, looking into his eyes, knowing that despite what he believed, he still couldn’t stay away from her…
“Alder, I’ve never had better than you. Never. And I’ve never felt better about myself than when I’m with you. This afternoon, you watched me draw. And I’ve never let anyone watch me draw.”
“Never?”
She shook her head. “But with you, it felt right. And what you said? How you encouraged me and made me believe I could do anything, maybe even go to art school and try to pursue a creative profession, no one has ever made me truly believe that but you.”
“I’m glad. Because you are incredibly talented, Dara. And I do believe in you.” He lowered his head. His lips were warm and soft, and his stubble brushed her cheeks as he kissed and licked at her mouth. Cupping her face, he ravished her. That was a perfect word for it: Ravished. His mouth was taking her. Claiming her. And she loved it.
He nipped at her bottom lip, then kissed the bite of pain away. She couldn’t help but suck on his lower lip in return, and he growled. Their mouths and tongues tangled and parried, as if they were battling for dominance. But Alder was a formidable opponent, and she had to give way to his sensual onslaught, moaning low in her throat. Her body had already been warm from his proximity and the heat of the water, but she felt like she was on fire now.
He sprinkled kisses along her jaw. Fisting his hands tighter in her hair, he bent her head back so he could have full access to her throat. She felt exposed, vulnerable, and her heart pounded. But at the same time, she reveled in his dominance. She’d often had to lead in a relationship but Alder showed her how different things could be with a man who knew not only his own mind, but his way around a woman’s body, too.
He nipped, leaving a hickey on the slope between her neck and her shoulder. Normally she would’ve told a guy to stop—she wasn’t sixteen and having hickeys was not her thing—but she wanted to be marked by him. The thought of wearing a mark on her skin from him made her shudder.
Dara wasn’t idle, though. She touched him all over: his hair, his wide shoulders, his muscular arms. She danced her fingers across the silken hair at the nape of his neck, and he shivered. She wanted to touch and kiss and stroke and feel every inch of him. She expected to see even more steam rising from the hot tub, they were so desperate for each other.
Alder’s hands made their way to her bikini bottom, and he
easily untied the slim ribbons so the material unfolded, leaving her vulnerable to his touch. Dara moaned, and she moaned louder when his fingers danced across her hipbones. Her pulse pounded, centered in her aching core.
“Are you wet for me?” he asked.
She could only nod—even with the water surrounding her, she knew she was soaking for him. She’d been longing for him to touch her again the instant he’d left her room in Forestville.
“Touch me, please. Touch my—my pussy.” Dara hardly recognized her voice: who was this woman who spoke so boldly, desperation lacing her voice?
But he didn’t do as she asked. Instead, he touched her everywhere else, increasing the tension until she could’ve screamed. Rubbing her breasts against his chest, she bit his collarbone.
He laughed. “The vixen bites, does she?”
She bit harder.
Finally, he reached down and parted her folds, causing them both to groan. He played with her, making her so hot she saw stars. She could come just from this, she realized. Just him petting her, kissing her shoulder softly.
When he thrust his finger inside her, she screamed a little. He caught her mouth, kissing her deeply. But as she was about to contract around his finger, he pulled away. “I can’t wait one more second,” he said, stripping off his swim trunks but not before retrieving a condom packet.
As she watched, he rolled on protection. Then he grabbed her. Wrapping an arm around her waist, he positioned his cock at her entrance, pushing until he was sheathed completely inside her. Dara tipped her head back, basking in the pleasure. Tremors wracked her frame: she was so close to orgasm that a few thrusts from him would send her over the edge.
Alder didn’t wait. He began fucking her, fast and hard, water splashing over the edge of the hot tub. The sound of their bodies slapping together coupled with their moans filled the night, normally so quiet in this sleepy town. She knew anyone could hear them. At any point, someone could walk by and see what they were doing. But she didn’t care. She’d suffer the embarrassment if it meant Alder kept moving inside her, pushing her closer and closer to climax.
