Dropping his face into her neck, he felt her hands as she stroked his back. A gesture that was at once both sweet and yet intimate. "When'd you get the ink, muscle man?"
"Started when I turned twenty-one and just kept adding to it," he mumbled into her vanilla scented skin. "The fuckin' piece you have on your side is sweet."
"And hidden. If my dad knew I had a tattoo, much less one that goes from practically my armpit to the top of my leg, he'd fucking kill me."
Going back up onto his elbows, he brushed her hair off her face. "Uhm, yeah. Sugar, speaking of the asshole, your dad talked to Trey about me."
He watched a frown cross her face but knew she needed to be told of Gus's demand for Dare. "He wants Trey to take my cut or that I head out to the Hellion compound in Sheridan until your chapter leaves. Says he'll pull Spokane support for the Czar…uhm, I mean, club bidness unless I do."
"That's fucking sick," she whispered, her eyes wide as they searched his. "You haven't done anything for them to call for your cut…"
"I know, Ryley."
"And to ask you to go away at the minimum? That's just bullshit, Dare!" He could see she was working herself right the fuck up into a mad-on and he felt his heart swell at the knowledge she was angry for him. For him. But her next words took it all away. "We're only here for a few days, for god's sake! It's not like you and I have a future! Dammit! Where does he get off?"
Temporary. Yeah, she was right. Whatever it was that they had between them, only going to continue until her chapter went back to Spokane.
And the thought plunged a knife into his gut.
No future.
Why did that idea, those words hurt to hear? To fuckin' think, for Christ's sake?
"I'll talk to him. Get him to back off," she promised. "Of course that means that we won't be able to…" her eyes dropped to his mouth. "That what we just did was a one-time thing."
Christ! He felt like he'd been cut wide open with a dull knife.
A one-off?
She'd be happy to be with him just the one time? But, at some level, he knew she was right. They both had jobs, commitments and responsibilities that would be waiting for them in different places when Spokane's time in Missoula was done.
"What if I don't want it to be just the once?" He had to ask the question, had to get it out there to be considered.
"I didn't say I didn't want to be with you again," she tried to explain but her eyes looked so sad. "But that we couldn't."
"Not unless we snuck around, sugar," he groused. "And I'm not that kind of man."
"I know, cowboy," she whispered. "I'll talk to Pops to get him off your ass."
He shifted, sliding himself out of her in order to gain a bit of space as well as to take care of the condom. He made sure to keep his face turned away as he moved.
She, of anyone on the planet, didn't need to see his pain at the thought of not having her in his life. And the pain was there, evident in his reflection as he cleaned himself up.
What did you expect, dude? he asked the man in the mirror. That she was gonna fuckin' stay?
No. He and Ryley had a shelf-life only he hadn't ever admitted it.
Glancing at the closed bathroom door though, he realized she was with him right then, right at that moment. And if that was all he was ever fuckin' gonna get of her, he was gonna make the motherfuckin' most of it!
*.*.*.*.*
I felt like I was in some kind of dream. A dream of me and Dare naked, of me needing and him fulfilling, of me giving and him more than willing to receive all I offered. Although the reality of what we'd just done was better than anything I could've ever come up in my wildest fantasies.
He was, I had to admit to myself, even better than the Honeys had promised but the one thing they hadn't mentioned, that no one had said when describing him was that having sex with Dare was so…personal. As our bodies had pressed together, churning belly to churning belly, our gazes fused in brown eye to aqua, it was if we were the only people in the world. And that his warm eyes on my body as he'd watched me move, sliding myself on his hot, hard length would build something inside that went beyond our sexual fusion and have my heart do its own sort of orgasm because of the connection between us.
And that he kept up that link afterward by teasing, laughing and talking with me?
Oh, holy Jay-sus.
Heaven.
The only bad part had been when he told me of my dad. Goddamn the bastard! I couldn't even have sex with the man of my dreams without my fucked-up, meddlesome pops putting his nose where it didn't belong! I could talk to him though, get him to re-think his viewpoint and as long as I stayed away from Dare, everything would work out. I was sure of it.
While Dare was in the bathroom, I moved to get underneath the covers and turned my mind a different direction, reviewing the mechanics of what we'd done.
Twice in one night?
The fact that he'd been able to do it was amazing enough but what was even more so was that I'd hit it both times.
As in hit it in a screamingly, totally out of control way.
Something I'd never done before. In fact, it was usually cause for celebration if I even came at all when I was with a partner. But to call what I'd experienced with others and those orgasms was like comparing a small sneeze to…geez, I don't know what. A hurricane? Some powerful force of nature that stole your breath, buffeted your body and had tears leaking from its sheer supremacy over you and your physical form.
"Need something to drink," he advised from the bathroom doorway interrupting my train of thought. "Get you anything?"
"Water would be good, thanks."
It was obvious that Dare had the same lack of modesty in his own home that I did in mine, and I watched his thick muscled thighs and glorious ass move as he walked away.
Wow, my heart moaned at the view. His body was absolutely stunning.
Funny. I really wasn't much of a visual person but found Dare's body to be both exciting and inciting. Without volition, I crossed my ankles in order to squeeze my thighs against the now most tender part of me even as I dragged the sheet up higher on my chest, abrading my still taut nipples.
He brought me a water bottle and then crawled slowly over me before diving under the thick comforter and pulling me to his side. "Fuckin' love having you here, Ryley."
I squeezed my thighs together again even as my heart picked up its pace at his words. It was the most perfect thing to say and offered at the most perfect time to say it.
But as the Honeys had said, Dare knew his shit.
So I tilted my chin up from its place on his chest in order to see his face. And the truth I saw reflected there more than matched the sincerity of his voice.
"Me too, Dare. Didn't know if it'd ever happen though I never lost hope."
His fingers slid along my jaw line before capturing my neck, pressing his thumb until my head was tilted just the way he wanted it. And I could hear that same fervent tone as he whispered, "me either," as he curled his upper body in order to kiss me once more.
Chapter Fifteen
It was time. If that night was all that they were ever gonna have, he needed to tell her. Needed to reopen the conversation from the picnic table and let her know how he really felt about the week they'd first met.
Trying not to push her away, Dare rolled halfway up and reached for his jeans, bringing his wallet out of the back pocket, the chain that connected it to his pants clinking softly.
"Here," he said, pressing the worn leather tri-fold her way. "Take it, Ryley."
Her hand reached but she'd turned her face up to his before looking at what he offered. He shoved it at her again, holding it out until she grabbed it. As soon as his hand was free, he picked up the remote on the nightstand and turned on the stereo in his room. He pushed the button to lower the volume before shifting to glance down at her again. "Open it," he instructed in a tight voice and saw her eyebrows crunch together in puzzlement. "Pull out whatever is behind my license."
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He bent an arm behind his head so he could watch her as she opened the sides and then unfolded the braided threads that barely held the once bright blues and purples in their faded strands.
She went very, very quiet and he wondered if she was caught in confusion or was held captive by the memory he was hoping she'd remember.
"Here, Dare," she'd mumbled, tying the bracelet around his much larger wrist and swallowing, which he'd learned meant she was trying to wish her blush away. "I want you to have something to remind you of me. Of us."
At her gasp and from the way her eyes shot to the mp3 player before going back to the worn and shredded bracelet, he knew she got it. But it was fully confirmed when she went up onto an elbow and let him fully see her stricken yet hopeful expression.
"Yeah, Ryley. I remember," he murmured, captured as her gaze turned into one of wonderment. He didn't say anything else mainly because he couldn't over the lump in his throat. But he turned up the volume so they both could hear all the songs that they'd danced to in the equipment warehouse on a summer's night so many years before as he held her body tighter to his side.
Her eyes bored into his as the player cycled through the songs only breaking their gaze to look down at the strands in her hand, the friendship bracelet she'd tied around his wrist before leaving all those years ago.
"I thought you were the sexiest girl on two legs, sugar. The way you danced, flipping your hair and fuckin' looking up at me with all the shit working in your wicked eyes," Dare said, lost in the memories of them in the equipment shed.
"You were the sexy one, Dare," she breathed and he watched as her eyes moved from her palm that cradled the worn thread in her palm, moving over his muscled stomach, his chiseled broad chest until she hit his face. "I counted myself lucky to have danced five songs with you."
"Would've gone a hundred, sugar, but needed to kiss you so fuckin' much I could barely move."
Her eyes held his but they seemed unfocused, like she was caught in the memory. The remembrance of them as they used to be.
"So if your fuckin' brother hadn't interrupted us right in the middle of the lip lock…" he tried to ask, his mind so totally caught in the recollection of him and Ryley. Of him pulling her into one of the darker corners and kissing her for the first time. A kiss that had held the same magic and fuckin' importance as the one they shared on the picnic table almost a decade later.
He felt her full body shiver. "It was my first make-out session, Dare. But I think you know how it might've turned out if Leif hadn't stopped us."
"He ain't here now, sugar." His voice quiet allowing the music to punctuate his words. As their lips touched, Dare found her mouth to be just as sweet, just as fuckin' juicy as how it'd been when they were young.
She pulled back but their eyes couldn't seem to disconnect.
By the time The Callings: 'Wherever You Go' came on, he saw one lone tear spill from her wet eyes and he shifted until he could capture it with his thumb. "Young, yeah. But not too young, Ryley," he murmured roughly, feeling the thick lump in his own throat when he swallowed. A lump that didn't seem to want to go away. "That was the best fuckin' week of my life, bar none."
"Mine, too," she whispered back, her eyes so full of emotion they were hard to look at directly. Feelings that called to the ones he'd locked away for so fuckin' long, he could almost hear the squeak of the rust on them as they shifted into exposure.
*.*.*.*.*
We were quiet as we stared into each other's eyes. I couldn't imagine ever getting tired of looking at him. Jay-sus, into him.
"Stay the night?"
I wanted to. Oh, how I wanted to but I knew it wouldn't be wise to push my luck. Our luck. True, I didn't think anyone really remembered where Lock lived but they knew it was in town. So if I got a call and had to get back, I'd have a hell of a time explaining why it'd taken me longer to arrive than just a few minutes. "Sorry honey," I replied and meant it even though I dropped my eyes. "I can't."
"So you're gonna cut our night, maybe our only fuckin' night together, short?" I caught myself frowning at his question. Why did it hurt so much to be reminded of the fact our time together was limited, restricted.
"It's too dangerous, Dare," I cautioned. "There's too much at stake for us to try and…"
"I asked you at the beginning, Ryley. Asked you straight up if life as we know it would fuckin' end with us getting together."
"I know you did, but…"
"But, nothing. If we only get this time, this fuckin' now, then I want all of it. Fuckin' every second, dig?" His voice, so deep and so sincere cut me up inside.
"I really need to check in about the bar-b-que tonight and everything. But I guess I can stick around a while longer." He just didn't need to know that the 'everything' included the shitload of messages from my dad telling me in no uncertain terms to get my sweet ass back to the club. But I knew what Dare was saying, was asking. And that knowledge broke my heart.
Quiet descended again and I wondered what time it was. I'd promised him a couple of hours but I needed to see about getting myself put back together in order to go to Lock's place. "Can I take a shower?"
The hand that had been rubbing my back stilled.
"Only if you fuckin' share it," he answered and I felt the covers shift from what was moving below his waist even as I heard the challenge in his chuckle.
"I think that's do-able if there's enough room." I was glad we were both back to smiling and hoped he, like me, had pushed aside the thoughts of when we had to part.
He threw back the covers and pulled me off the bed with a laugh.
But the move that captured my attention, that had my jaw dropping in delighted awe, was when he snagged another condom before leading me into the bathroom.
Chapter Sixteen
Dare drove Ryley back to where her Escalade was parked in the forecourt of the Hellion property but he did it with a heavy heart.
In his mind, he should've been doing it with fist pumps about finally knowing what they felt like when they were fuckin' naked together. But, surprisingly there was none of the elation in having done the deed.
No.
Their joining had only created more of an ache to keep her glued to him and never let her go. To know more about her and her life, to see every single fuckin' side to his Ryley and the woman she was compared to the young woman he'd been ga-ga over. And who he suspected was the one woman in the world who could capture his heart.
But because of her fuckin' father…
Christ!
He turned the engine off and coasted his bike in order not to wake whoever had spent the night on property, feeling his heart stutter when he realized she'd be leaving him shortly.
God, this was hell, he thought even as he applied the brakes.
He'd already worked out that she hadn't needed to go to Lock's for the reason she'd given but because of Gus and his threats. The man had always hated the idea of him and Ryley together, which had only gotten worse as they'd gotten older. He'd never been able to figure out the particular stick that was up the old man's butthole, but it obviously had something to do with Dare.
Or more correctly, Dare with Ryley.
And for the fucker to threaten to pull Spokane support was the one card Dare knew would keep his ass in line. And keep Dare away from his princess.
He felt her hand heavy on his shoulder as she climbed off his ride. The early morning light caught on her fresh-scrubbed face and he felt his heart do a double-thump.
"Thank you," she whispered and he knew he'd never be able to get the vision of her, just as she looked at that moment, out of his mind. "Yesterday and last night were…"
"Amazing," he finished for her, swinging his leg off the bike. "Absolutely the fuckin' best."
The smile that spread across her face caught on his heart so hard he didn't feel he could fuckin' breathe. "So kiss me again, Ryley. Give me one that's gonna last until I'm in my grave."
"God, Dare," she whispered, leani
ng into him.
And those two words, almost moaned, were fuckin' music to his ears.
*.*.*.*.*
My mind was on the memory of bracelet I'd made myself and how I'd tied it around his wrist years before as he took me back to the compound. A memory I'd treasured and re-watched on the screen of my mind a thousand times.
After showing me what he'd saved, Dare had let me know he'd never forgotten either. That he had held on to that memory just as tightly as I had. I know he'd spoken some more, but I hadn't paid a damn bit of attention because I was wallowing, reveling in both the memory of young Dare and his adult self.
"Took me a motherfuckin' lifetime to get over you." His face was deadly serious as he talked in between our kisses, walking me to the Escalade. "Seems I'm gonna have the same fuckin' problem going forward."
The bad part was that he probably didn't even know the half of it on my end.
We needed a change of subject, I decided as I settled myself in the driver's seat of the expensive SUV. In my estimation, the best way to do that was to get him in a lip-lock. And all I had to do was lift my mouth and point it at his in order to quickly receive what I wanted.
The only thing I hadn't counted on was how much Dare had changed in the years we'd been apart. When he was a boy, he'd kissed like one with tender presses and gently sliding lips before he'd initiate any tongue play. Not so with the grown up version of Dare!
There wasn't any hesitancy and nothing, nothing, was slow in the adult Dare. He absolutely and positively devoured my mouth as if he was starving for it, twisting me on the seat until my legs bracketed his. And I gave it right back to him, meeting him swirl for swirl, tangle for tangle. Building and recreating the fire we'd always had between us.
Taking a Dare Page 11
