He hadn’t meant for them to get so close and interact like they were, but he hadn’t been able to keep them apart. Not when he wanted to spend time with both of them. Nate had started asking questions about Kenzie, not anything serious, but more like questions about whether he was going to see her over the weekend. Dare knew that he’d have to be careful as time went on so he wouldn’t end up hurting his son, but he also knew he couldn’t keep them apart when he had Nate. He wanted to spend time with Kenzie, and Nate did too, so that meant the three of them were on this precarious path where he hoped he was making the right decisions.
The thing was, he kept thinking about the fact that when Monica came soon to pick up Nate, she’d said she wanted to talk with him about why they were fighting all the time about custody. Dare didn’t want to argue, but he was damn tired of missing out on the important things when it came to his son.
He had a stable job and a good team who could take over the day-to-day things if he needed time off to be more flexible for Nate. Dare also had a strong family that could help at the drop of a hat, each of his brothers and parents being pillars in the community—even if Fox and Loch would scoff at that.
He wanted more time with Nate, and he hoped to hell Monica would make that happen. But a small part of him was worried that Monica wanted to change things for the worse. At least for him. What if she wanted Nate to never have holidays or weekends with him? What if she made sure the courts saw that he still worked in a bar and wasn’t settled down or married yet as points against him?
What if they thought his past life as a cop could come back and bite him in the ass as it almost had with those letters?
What if they figured that Dare dating and not in a serious relationship would be too hard on Nate and they took him away?
He let out a breath, pissed off with himself for letting his mind go down that path. He didn’t know exactly what Monica wanted to talk about and he needed to go in with no preconceived notions that could possibly trigger his temper and screw everything up.
Kenzie walked up to him at that instant, Nate by her side, and Dare pushed all of those thoughts out of his mind. He’d promised Kenzie that he’d live in the now since that was what she was trying to do, but he couldn’t quite help where his mind went when it came to his son.
“Did you find the leaves you wanted?” Dare asked, running a hand through Nate’s soft hair.
His kid beamed up at him. “Yeah. Can I keep them here with my rock?”
Dare held back a wince at that. He’d kept the smooth rock for his son, but leaves in the house? That might be going too far. “How about we keep them on the porch in one of those stone bowls Grandma brought over? That way, they can be near their leaf brothers.”
Kenzie shot him a look at his bullshit, and he did his best not to laugh. Kids, man, they made you say the weirdest shit.
“Okay!” Nate jumped up and down before running to carefully set his leaves in one of the stone bowls.
Kenzie leaned into Dare’s side, and he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and placed a quick kiss on her temple before Nate turned back. And because he had his attention on his kid and Kenzie, he missed the sound of Monica’s car pulling up. He’d apparently lost all his cop senses since becoming a civilian.
“Hey,” Monica said, smiling over at Nate before giving Kenzie and Dare a look.
Dare pulled away from Kenzie only to turn and face his ex. “Didn’t hear you come up, were you waiting long?”
She shook her head. “I heard you back here, so I just walked around back instead of ringing the doorbell.”
He nodded and cleared his throat. “Monica, this is Kenzie, Kenzie, this is Monica, Nate’s mom.” See? Civil, and not at all awkward. Kenzie was the first woman he’d really dated since Monica, so he’d never had to introduce anyone to Nate or his ex before. He hoped he was doing it right. Wasn’t there a handbook or something for this?
“Nice to meet you,” Kenzie said, holding out her hand.
Monica shook it, and he could tell his ex was studying Kenzie, but not in a malicious way. Just in the way two people did when they met and were connected through other people in their lives.
“Nice to meet you, too.” Monica looked over at Dare. “Think we can talk for a minute?”
He nodded. “Mind watching Nate for a few?” he asked Kenzie.
“No problem,” she said, looking between the two of them.
“Mommy!” Nate cried out, running toward them. He flung himself into Monica’s open arms with the exuberance of any small child hyped up on playing—and a teeny amount of sugar.
“Hey, pumpkin, your dad and I are going to talk for a minute, but Daddy’s friend, Kenzie, is going to hang out with you for a bit. Is that okay?”
Nate grinned and wrapped his arms around Kenzie’s middle. “Uh-huh. I like Kenzie.”
Kenzie smiled softly. “I like you, too, kiddo.”
Dare ran his hand over Nate’s head again, met Kenzie’s eyes, and blew out a breath. See? They were doing this, and no one was yelling or freaking out. Maybe everything would be okay, and he could figure out exactly how he’d take the next steps—whatever they might be.
He and Monica walked off to the side of the house while Kenzie went to ensure that Nate’s leaves were safely in their bowl.
“So…” Dare began, not sure what to say, or what Monica had planned.
“I’m tired of fighting, Dare.” She looked off into the distance at the large trees he had behind his house and held back a sigh.
“I’m not fond of it either, Mon.”
“When I left, it wasn’t because I didn’t want you in Nate’s life.”
Dare set his jaw but didn’t say anything. She had a lead-up, and that was just how she got into heavy subjects. He’d taught himself long ago not to interrupt her, or they’d go off track and start yelling. Again, he didn’t hate Monica, but it wasn’t always the easiest thing not to fight with her either.
“We weren’t working together, and that was something we both knew. I’m not putting words into your mouth because you said something similar right at the end. You’re an amazing father, Dare, but we weren’t amazing together.”
He kept silent, waiting for where she was going with this.
“When I filed for custody, it was because of the man you were when I left. The man I thought you were, for that matter.” She met his gaze, and he did his best to keep the anger out of his eyes. “You loved your job so damn much, Dare. You put all your energy into it, your family, and honestly, just having a good time. We were young enough that the latter wasn’t a bad thing, but I didn’t know the father you’d be, and I didn’t know if you were going to go back to being a cop once you figured out what you wanted. And because of that, I wanted to make sure Nate had the best life.”
“A life without me in it,” he bit out.
She raised her chin. “A stable life. That’s all I wanted. I never wanted to take him out of your life completely, but I also didn’t want him to get hurt.”
“I’d never hurt Nate, and I resent you using that excuse to keep him away from me. I hate that I’m missing everything because I only get him for forty-eight hours out of a month. And I damn well resent the fact that you keep wanting to change my time with him because you want to help Auggie at work. That’s pissing me off, Mon.”
She nodded, her mouth pinched. “Yes, I know. And that’s why things need to change.”
Dare growled. “You’re not taking him away from me. I’ll fight.”
Monica ran a hand over her face. “I know you will, but I’m not saying the change needs to be what you’re thinking, Dare. Let me finish.”
“Then talk faster because I’m not patient.”
“Jesus, I know you aren’t. I don’t know how Kenzie puts up with you.” She held up her hand. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to bring her up. She seems nice.”
“She is, and she’s not part of this conversation.”
She raised a brow. “Uh, she might
just be if she’s in your life for long because if she’s in your life, then she’s in Nate’s, and that is my business.”
“She’s not. We’re not. I just…”
“You’d better think about who she is to you if you want her around my kid, Dare. She’s probably really sweet and nice to him, but I won’t have Nate confused. And now I’m on a tangent.” She blew out a breath. “I think it’s time, now that he’s older, that maybe we should talk about going more towards shared custody.”
Dare blinked, surprised as hell. “What?”
“You’re not the man I left and, frankly, I’m not the woman who left you. I’m tired of fighting, and I think Nate needs both of us. Equally. So maybe we can talk about changing things up, but only if it’s good for Nate.”
Dare could barely process what she was telling him. He couldn’t quite formulate the words as his mind went in a thousand different directions and warmth spread through him.
“You’d let me have him more often?” he asked, his voice hoarse.
“If we can work things out? I hope so. But, Dare, I don’t want Nate hurt. And that means you need to think about what you want and what’s best for him before we sign papers or go over things. Okay?”
He knew she was talking about Kenzie but hadn’t wanted to use her name and start a fight. And since he wasn’t sure where he and Kenzie were, he kept his mouth shut and tried to make his brain catch up with what was going on in front of him.
He had a chance to get more time with his son. After all this time, he might actually get everything he’d ever wanted. His kid, his job, and his family were all coming together and making his world…better.
But with all of that, he knew he had to think long and hard about what it meant for him and Kenzie. Because he didn’t know where they were at in their relationship or how serious they could be…how serious they were.
And if Monica decided that she wouldn’t budge because he was with Kenzie? He wasn’t sure what he could do other than fight.
And that meant he had to talk to Kenzie and see how she felt. Because while part of him knew she was worth fighting for, the other part was worried that she didn’t want to fight at all.
Yet, no matter what, he promised himself, he’d have to do right by his son.
Even if it broke Dare in the process.
Chapter 16
There was something off, and Kenzie knew it, but she couldn’t quite figure out what it was. And because she was at the point where she was tired of keeping things in, she’d have to talk to Dare.
She was falling for him, or might have already done so, and though that broke their original agreement, she wasn’t sure either one of them was in that place anymore.
But before she exposed her innermost feelings to him, she needed to figure out why he’d put just a little bit of distance between them after Monica left his house the day before. He hadn’t told her what the two of them had talked about, and she wasn’t going to ask, not when she knew it would just be prying at this point. If he wanted to talk about it with her, he would, but the fact that he hadn’t worried her.
And not just because her name had probably been mentioned since she’d just met the mother of his child. Kenzie would have expected that, after all—and welcomed it. But, no, the fact that Dare didn’t want to share or couldn’t share made her think that maybe the slow progression of their relationship was all in her head and not really happening.
“I just need to talk to him,” she mumbled to herself. It would be hard, she knew, but she needed to. Worrying about what she didn’t know because she couldn’t talk to him was useless and just a poor way to handle things. It wasn’t necessarily a miscommunication, but it wasn’t a good thing to do in any form of relationship.
So she’d talk to him. Tonight. No more worrying about what-ifs and figuring out exactly how she felt. Because there was no way she could accurately untangle her own feelings without knowing his.
She’d been stupid long enough.
Kenzie gasped as strong hands slid down her waist, over her skirt, and squeezed. “Dare,” she whispered. “I’m working.” And just thinking about him.
He moved her hair from her shoulder and kissed her neck. “Take a long lunch.”
She didn’t arch against him, but it was close. Anyone could walk by at any time, and she couldn’t let them see what Dare did to her. That was only for them, no one else.
“Dare.”
He bit gently down on her neck. “You don’t have any guests right now, and didn’t you say that you only have two check-ins, but both are later? They’re only for the night, right? Play with me, Kenzie.” There was almost a desperation in his tone, and while it should have worried her, she pushed it to the side of her mind and felt. Desperation led to more desperation.
“We’ll have to be quick,” she whispered, her breaths coming in pants. He pulled her away from the desk even as the last words left her mouth, tugging her toward the end of the hall. There were no guest rooms in this section, and her apartment was in the opposite direction, so she was slightly confused as to where he was taking her until he opened the door to the linen closet.
“Really? The closet?” She laughed as he tugged her inside and closed the door. He flipped on the light so they could see each other. He didn’t answer her, though; instead, he held her close and crushed his mouth to hers. She arched into him, gripping his arms for a better hold as he backed her into the shelf on the other end of the closest. Sheets and pillows pressed into her back, and she smiled up at him once he moved away ever so slightly to catch his breath.
“I need to taste you,” he growled.
She shook her head and pushed him slightly away from him. “Me first.”
His eyes darkened. “You want my cock in that mouth of yours? Is that what you’re saying? You want to suck me down and swallow my come?”
Her panties went wet at his words, and she licked her lips before going wordlessly to her knees. It wasn’t easy in her tight skirt, but Dare held her hands so she wouldn’t fall off her heels.
When she undid the button on his jeans, they both let out sharp breaths. She loved having Dare in her mouth, loved tasting him. No matter what they were going through or how many things happened around them that seemed to rattle their cages, the sex they shared was always mind-blowing. Sex wasn’t their problem, and she knew it, but right then, all she wanted to do was suck Dare off and then have him come inside her.
She needed to cling to him for what felt like it would be the last time.
Why did that thought enter her mind? Why on earth did she think she’d never have him in her arms again after this moment?
Dare tugged on her hair, and she came back to the present and out of the dark thoughts that kept creeping in, clinging to her sanity. He sent her a questioning look, and in answer, she unzipped his zipper and pulled his jeans down enough so she could grip his length. She loved the way he felt in her hand, thick and rigid. There was nothing soft about him right then, and she relished it.
At the first taste of him on her tongue, she hummed, pulling a groan out of Dare. She bobbed her head, sucking at the tip and using her hand to cup his balls, squeezing slightly.
He rocked back and forth, sliding between her lips as he tugged on her hair. She hollowed her cheeks, flicking her tongue down his shaft, loving the control she had over him. Oh, he might be the one with a hold on her hair, but she was the one making him lose it.
Dare pulled back suddenly on a growl and stood her up, taking her mouth with his in a demanding kiss. “I need you on my mouth, and if I come right now, I’m going to miss that sweet pussy of yours.”
Understanding, she leaned back on the self, gripping the edge of it so she could widen her legs. Dare knelt in front of her and rucked her skirt up over her hips.
“I fucking love when you wear these tight skirts. It makes your ass look so fucking hot, and I know you’re wet and ready for me underneath.” He slid his knuckle over her damp panties, and she sucked in
a breath. “You want my mouth on your pussy, baby? You want my tongue on your clit?”
In answer, she spread her legs wider.
“Fuck, yeah. You’re already wet for me. He slowly slid her panties down her legs, but only to her knees. That meant her legs were restrained ever so slightly, but it only turned her on even more. With her butt resting on the shelf, she could easily sit and have him take control.
He gripped the bottom of her thighs and lowered his head, licking her pussy in one long swipe. She moaned, arching into him, keeping her grip tight on the shelf. He sucked and licked at her clit, humming and biting.
He teased her opening with his tongue before going back to her clit and sucking it into his mouth. With that, she came hard, biting her lip so she wouldn’t call out his name or scream and let the world know what they were doing in the linen closet. Of course, with the moans and pants they were both making, anyone walking by this corner would know.
And for some reason, that turned her on even more.
She shouldn’t feel like this, shouldn’t feel so protected with him, yet she trusted him completely. She could let herself go in a way she’d never been able to with David and surely not in any way she thought possible after him.
There was a crinkle of a wrapper as he put on the condom he must have brought with him and, suddenly, she was on her feet, her legs spread only as wide as her panties would allow, and her front pressed to the linens.
“Hold on,” he growled.
She held on.
Then he was inside of her, pumping in and out of her wet heat as she arched into him, her butt pressed tightly to his hips. He reached between them, flicking his fingers over her clit as he sucked on her neck, and then she couldn’t hold back anymore.
Kenzie came on him, her legs shaking with the force of her orgasm, and soon, he was following her, his muffled grunts against her neck making her even hotter for him.
She’d never done something so dangerous, and she was lost to the temptation.
Whiskey Secrets Page 16
