He wanted to keep walking. Hell, he wanted to run. After all, running was what he did best. But he realized this was a turning point for him, and instead of ducking away like he’d done something wrong, he straightened his shoulders and stopped walking, facing his father. In doing so, he pulled Ella to a halt as well. She came up beside him and he felt, rather than saw, her stiffen. Obviously she was reading the situation at the table the same way he was. This wasn’t a business meeting he’d intruded upon.
“Dad.”
“Tyler.” Even in the faint lighting, he couldn’t mistake the ruddy flush staining his father’s cheeks.
“You remember Ella Shaw?” Tyler placed a hand on her back, surprised his voice was steady.
Robert Dare nodded. He slid his napkin off his lap and pushed himself out of the booth, not introducing the woman beside him, who seemed to shrink into herself in the corner.
He stepped up to them.
“Maybe I should meet you at the table?” Ella offered, tilting her head toward the hostess waiting patiently with the menus for them to continue along with her.
“No, you’re with me.”
Robert shrugged, as if to say, suit yourself, and Tyler pulled Ella tighter against him, drawing strength from her presence.
Last time he’d been in this situation, he’d been young and alone. He appreciated knowing she stood by his side. It was a novel feeling, one he’d think about further when he’d put this mess behind him.
“This isn’t what it looks like,” his father said.
Tyler narrowed his gaze. “It’s exactly what it looks like, just like it was when I was fourteen and walked in on you and Savannah.”
Ella’s sharp intake of breath reverberated around them, and Tyler hoped his old man squirmed.
“Okay then, if you insist on making this ugly, let’s revisit what I told you then.”
Tyler remembered every word.
You don’t want to be responsible for your mother’s pain, son. Be a man. Keep my secret.
“I don’t owe Savannah anything,” he said of his father’s current wife, although he did have a relationship with his half siblings. “But whatever I decide to do about this? It’ll be because I am a man who makes his own decisions.”
Robert narrowed his gaze. “You wouldn’t dare tell Savannah or the kids.”
Tyler shrugged. “You don’t know me well enough to know what I’d do, Dad. And whose fault is that?” he asked, not bothering to hide either his sarcasm or his disgust.
The man had done enough damage to Tyler’s mother and siblings that it was a wonder any of them had moved on and were engaged in healthy, permanent relationships. Of course, they all had except Tyler. And he was working on it.
“Come on, Ella.” He nudged her into motion, leaving his father standing with his mouth open and hopefully a very real fear in the pit of his stomach.
If he loved Savannah, he’d be in a full-blown panic. Although Tyler wondered if the man was capable of loving anyone but himself.
Before they walked away, Ella tugged at his hand. “Would you rather leave?” she asked.
He shook his head. “I’m finished letting him run my life in any way. We’ll stay.” He winked at her, intent on reassuring her he was okay.
Except, he realized as they walked away, his hands shook and his stomach was in knots, letting him know that despite wanting to be fine, Robert Dare had once again shaken him to his core. The only difference was, this time, he wasn’t about to let his father dictate how he’d deal with this newest revelation and betrayal.
* * *
Ella couldn’t believe what she’d seen or how well Tyler had handled his father. He put up a good front, but she knew he had to be affected by what he’d witnessed and the confrontation they’d had—heck, she was too upset to eat.
And if he wasn’t going to admit it, she was. “Tyler?”
“Yes?” He met her gaze, not bothering to hide the turmoil in his navy eyes.
She placed a comforting hand on his arm. “If you don’t mind, I think I’d like to leave anyway. I’ve … I sort of lost my appetite,” she murmured, giving him the out she sensed he needed.
He dropped his shoulders and groaned. “Can’t say I blame you,” he muttered. “Be right back.” He walked over to the hostess and explained they wouldn’t be staying, apologizing for holding her up and reserving a table they wouldn’t be using.
They drove the reverse trip back to the hotel in silence, Ella giving him the space she knew she’d need if the situation were reversed. Once they’d given the car to the valet, she turned to him.
“What do you say we go for gelato? There’s a place we passed on the corner. We can skip dinner and go right for dessert. I’d say you could use it.”
That got her a smile. “Why not?” Although he held her hand, he remained silent on the walk to the store.
She wanted him to open up, to know she’d be there for him the same way he was there for her, but she also knew he deserved privacy for the conversation. Coffee-flavored gelato for her and chocolate for him in hand, they walked back to the hotel. By the time they arrived, they’d each finished their dessert, and she was definitely indulging in a sugar rush from the treat.
“Want to head to the veranda?” she asked of the rooftop, which hosted a pool by day and a moonlit sky at night.
“Sure.”
She waited until they were alone, settled together in a double swing chair in a private corner, before broaching the subject. As promised in the hotel brochures, the moon shone overhead, the stars twinkling in the inky night sky as they rocked back and forth. If the mood weren’t so serious, she’d enjoy the scenery a lot more.
“You know you can talk to me. I won’t repeat anything and I won’t judge.”
He leaned forward and dipped his head, staring at his clenched hands. “It’s complicated.”
“Most families are.” She nudged him with her knee. “Mine isn’t exactly the poster child for stability, right? My dad’s in jail and we haven’t spoken in years,” she said, a lump forming in her throat. “Not to mention, I spent vacations with your sister. I know what you all went through.”
He kicked the ground, pushing the swing higher. “You don’t know what I went through,” he said, the pain in his voice as raw and tortured as his expression.
She grasped his hand. “Then tell me. You said something about walking in on your father and Savannah when you were fourteen?” she asked softly.
“I showed up at his office on a school holiday. I can’t even remember why I went there now, but … yeah. I caught them … more in the act than what we saw tonight.”
She winced at the image he presented, feeling sorry for the young boy who’d seen his father’s failings at an age when he couldn’t possibly understand.
“I take it he didn’t act any guiltier than he did tonight?” She stared down at Tyler’s big, tanned hand, running her thumb over his skin.
“No, he didn’t feel bad at all. Savannah was horrified, but dear old Dad shifted the burden onto me.” Tyler stiffened as he continued. “‘You don’t want to be responsible for your mother’s pain, son. Be a man, keep my secret. It’s better for everyone,’” he said in an imitation of Robert Dare.
And a damned good one too. Ella had never been comfortable around the man, but considering how little time he spent with his family, she hadn’t had to see him all that often.
“You did what he asked?”
“I did.” He met her gaze with his tortured one. “And it was a mistake. I should have told Ian or my mom. She could have found out in a way that cushioned the blow, instead of how my father chose to handle things.” He ran a shaky hand through his hair. “Hey, Emma, sorry to tell you like this, but I have another family and my youngest daughter has cancer, and I need your kids tested to see if their bone marrow matches,” he spat out in disgust.
“I hope he told her more gently than that,” she murmured. Though, seeing his callous behavior tonight, Ella dou
bted it.
“I wasn’t there. I just remember the yelling, Mom’s wailing and crying.” His body trembled, and she wrapped an arm around him, resting her head on his shoulder. “It was the crying that was the worst. I’d hear her at night … and I thought, if I’d just told her last year, maybe it would have been different or better. And I felt guilty because I knew.”
“And you kept that inside? You never told your mom what you saw?”
He shook his head, eyes downcast.
“Ian? Scott?”
“Nope. My discovery, my betrayal, my fuckup. And that was just the beginning.”
“Of what?” she asked, confused by whatever he was insinuating, but her gut told her he had so much twisted in his head, this ought to be a doozy.
He tipped his head back, resting on the striped cushions, staring at the starlit sky. “Of my pattern of running when things were emotionally difficult, of disappointing people,” he said, the disgust in his tone catching her by surprise.
She blinked and immediately shook her head. “That’s just not true.”
Using his foot, he ground the swing to a sudden stop, rose, and began pacing in front of her. “You of all people can say that with a straight face?” he asked her.
“Tyler, I don’t get it … what are you talking about?”
“I ran out on you the morning after. I was more of an adult than you were, and instead of staying to face what we’d done, I packed my things and headed right back to base. I know I blew it badly.”
She sucked in a sharp breath, surprised he put her in the category of people he’d let down. “I thought we already agreed, I overstepped that night.”
“And I handled it terribly. And it wasn’t like I fixed things over the years either. I let things between us remain awkward and uncomfortable. We lied to my sister and I treated you like shit.” He ran a shaking hand through his hair, his emotions on the surface. “So yeah, that’s all on me. Because I didn’t face up to my responsibilities.”
She doubted he’d be responsive to her arguments, so she remained silent, trying to find some way to reach him.
To her surprise, he continued. “I had a friend in the Army. Serena’s husband, Jack.”
“Oh! I didn’t realize you knew Serena before she came to work with you.” Ella curled her legs beneath her, tucking her long skirt discreetly around her.
This was the first time he was opening up and sharing with her, and despite the fact that he obviously blamed himself for things that didn’t seem to be his fault, she treasured the insight and hoped she could help him through it.
“Serena and Jack were high school sweethearts. Jack was a happy-go-lucky guy … until the Army and war got ahold of him. Then all he could talk about was getting out. And he did. Went AWOL and got himself killed. I don’t want to discuss that tonight, but he’s another example of a time when I should have done something. Could have prevented a tragedy from occurring.”
Ella pushed off the swing and rose to her feet. “God,” she said.
“Excuse me?”
“That’s who you must think you are, right?” Ella asked. “Because you really think you could control a lot of things. Like … your mom? She’d have been destroyed by the news no matter how she found out. And Jack? Even if you’d prevented him from leaving base, something inside him was clearly already broken.”
She drew a deep breath. “And as for me, I might have been legal, but I was just a kid. Even if you’d faced me the next day, it would have been awkward, and I’d have been mortified. I doubt much of how I viewed things would have changed.” Her issues went deeper than her first sexual affair gone wrong.
Tyler’s expression turned wry. “You’re the second person who’s told me I couldn’t change things.”
She walked over and took his face between her hands. “Then maybe you ought to listen?” she asked, pulling him close for a lingering kiss.
He tasted of chocolate, and she couldn’t help but moan as she licked at his lips, then slid her tongue inside, determined to make him forget about his troubles. And from the way he kissed her back, she’d quickly accomplished her goal.
He broke the kiss and said, “Come here.”
Hands on her waist, he backed them up until he sat on the swing, pulling her down with him. She shifted until her knees were on either side of his thighs, her sex directly over the hard ridge of his cock through his jeans.
She rubbed against him and moaned as waves of pleasure ricocheted through her body. She grasped his shoulders and held on, just as he leaned forward and licked a path up her neck, nibbling on her earlobe. She trembled at his seductive licks and nips, and all the while, he worked her skirt up around her waist.
“What about you?” she asked, bringing her hands to his fly and undoing the button.
“What about me?” he asked in a gruff voice.
“I want to touch you.” She eased the zipper gently over his protruding erection, then slipped her hand into his briefs and freed his velvety shaft.
She slid her hand up and down, squeezing as she pumped, feeling his pre-come coat the palm of her hand. Desire pulsed through her veins, and her sex clenched with the need to have him inside her.
He let out a low growl and grabbed her wrist. “Hang on.”
She slid her tongue over her lower lip. “I want you, Tyler. I want to feel you inside me.”
His big hands cupped her breasts, kneading and plumping them through her top, until her nipples pebbled into tight peaks, and the aching between her thighs grew unbearable.
“And I want you to come around my cock,” he rumbled in a gruff tone.
She trembled at his stark, honest words. “I want that too.”
“Stand up.”
She followed his command. Waited as he rose and pulled his jeans and boxer briefs down his legs, leaving them hidden by a table in front of the swing.
He sat back down, and she hiked her skirt up, once again straddling him, but this time there was nothing between them. Nothing to stop the plump head of his cock from sliding through the damp folds of her sex, opening her to him as he thrust up and she took him completely inside.
She sucked in a startled breath at his width, allowing her body to get used to the feel of his heat, thickness, and length, pulsing inside her. “God, you feel amazing.”
“You feel pretty fucking spectacular too.”
He surprised her by rustling the material of her dress, shifting the fabric around until their bodies were completely covered.
“Just in case we have company,” he said with a sexy wink, as he continued to shift and move inside her, every slight motion causing a ripple of arousal to take her that little bit higher.
But now that he’d mentioned it, she couldn’t stop thinking about how they were outside and the possibility of being caught. To her surprise, the idea of someone walking in on them was mortifying … and oddly arousing.
She wrinkled her nose, wondering when she’d become this wanton woman willing to have sex in public. He was doing what he’d promised, soothing her old fears and insecurities, allowing her to become a butterfly emerging from her cocoon, braver and stronger than she’d been before. No matter what happened between them in the end, she’d owe him for showing her this side of herself, she thought.
“They’ll still know,” she whispered.
“But they won’t see.” He grinned. “How hot would it be if someone watched us like this?” He braced his hands on the bench and jerked his hips upward, the movement of the swing and the angle of his body hitting her in exactly the right spot.
“Oh!”
“Go ahead, sweet girl. Let me feel you come.”
Her entire body shivered at his words, and she nearly flew apart when he continued to impale her with his shaft. Over and over, he thrust upward, and she met him each time, grinding her hips down, her clit hitting his pubic bone with each successive meeting of their bodies.
He took her hard and fast, and soon she was screaming, “Tyler, Tyle
r, Tyler!” as her world came apart, the stars she viewed brighter than the ones in the inky night sky.
He rammed himself upward once, twice, three times more. “Fuck!” He came, his hips jerking up and into her, causing aftershocks to rack her body until she collapsed against him, sweaty and spent.
He breathed heavily in her ear, his body lax against the cushions, the swing rocking beneath them. She’d clearly accomplished her goal, put his problems out of his mind, given him something else to focus on. And oh, had he focused on her, as he always did when they were intimately wrapped in each other.
He was inside her body, and she felt him there, and still, she wanted to get closer, to crawl into his skin. And that was the problem.
She was too wrapped up in him. Oh, she told herself she would protect her heart, but that same heart pounded hard in her chest, her emotions at the surface, too ready to break free. And that was something she couldn’t allow because the risk of heartache was too great.
* * *
Tyler woke up in the hotel bed. He bolted upright, relying on senses that had served him well in the past, knew immediately he was alone. Worried, he turned to Ella’s side of the bed to find a note.
Went to the lobby to get us coffee. Back in a few.
She wasn’t planning on leaving the hotel, and he breathed out a huge sigh of relief. No matter what went on between them, she was still in need of protection until they figured out who was targeting her and why.
He relaxed back against the pillows, his mind turning to last night. He couldn’t believe he’d run into his father with another woman. Again. Not that he wished it on any of his brothers or sisters, but damn, he had the worst luck. And his father was a horrible human being. It was a miracle his siblings all took after their mother, because Robert Dare set the worst example as a parent that Tyler could imagine.
Before he could think on it and further ruin his morning, he heard the sound of the key card in the door, and Ella walked in, coffee tray in one hand and a bag in the other. She wore a pair of frayed denim shorts and a tee shirt that read Bookworms Do It Better across her lush breasts.
Dare to Take (Dare to Love #6) Page 11
