They were silent for a long time, then Kara sighed, and without thinking, he said, “I really want to kiss you.”
***Kara***
Kara looked up at him in shock; his admission was so honest and sincere, she couldn’t resist him. It was probably a huge mistake, but she’d been fighting her desire for him for too long. “I think that would be okay,” she said, feeling like a young girl again.
Danny’s face turned a healthy shade of pink, and she was sure that she’d shocked him with her answer. But he reached out and cupped her face with his big hands, stroked her cheeks with his thumbs then leaned in and kissed her.
It was just a peck on the lips, but that was all it took for the passion between them to erupt like a dry forest on fire. The heat between them flared, and desire raced through her body, making her tingle deep inside and taking her breath away.
She opened her mouth to him, letting his tongue slide inside to explore. Moaning, she leaned into him, wishing her arms weren’t trapped inside the sleeping bag, but all too aware that underneath, she was naked. Danny pulled her onto his lap and cradled her there, his strong arms wrapped around her as his tongue continued to drive her crazy.
It only took Kara a few minutes to know that she was completely done fighting the feelings she had for Danny. Any thoughts she’d had about him being innocent vanished as he kissed her, and she realized that Danny wasn’t innocent. He was kind and sincere, the kind of guy who wouldn’t hurt her, the kind of guy who wasn’t just interested in sex.
A bit shocked by the sudden depth of her feelings for him, she pulled back and looked up him. “Danny, are you sure this is what you want? This could be the only night we ever have together.”
Danny looked down at her. “Kara, the only thing that could hurt me is if you refuse me again. I want you, more than I’ve ever wanted a woman, and I think you want me just as much,” he said, then kissed her again to make sure she understood.
When he finally let her up for a breath, she looked up at him again, searching his eyes for something. “I’m scared,” she finally said. “I’m scared that one night won’t be enough.”
“So am I, but if this one night is all we ever have, I’ll never be sorry,” he said, his eyes searching hers.
Kara not only heard his words, she felt them, felt them somewhere deep inside. Her heart felt like it was going to burst, her head began to swim, and she had to take a deep breath, or she knew she was going to faint.
In that instant, she understood that over the last week, she’d fallen in love with Danny, that she was head over heels in love with him and didn’t care. It didn’t matter that they might not have a future together, after all, she was still lying to him, she wanted him.
Letting the sleeping bag fall from her hands, she reached up and pulled his head down and kissed him. He was a bit shocked at first, but then he gathered her up in his arms and kissed her back until they were both breathless. Then he slid her off his lap and laid her down on the sleeping bag on the ground next to the fire.
He leaned up on one elbow and looked down at her, his eyes roaming over her face then locking on hers. Kara felt a shock of pleasure wash over her when their eyes met and sucked in a deep breath before his mouth found hers again.
With one hand, he traced feather-light caresses over her skin. First up and down her ribs, then across her stomach until he found her breasts. His mouth left hers as he kissed his way down her chest to the breast he’d been massaging with his hand.
Her nipples were stiff and sensitive, making pleasure radiate from somewhere deep inside, anticipation making her arch her back. When his mouth came down over one of her hard peaks, she moaned as pleasure took her breath away and Danny growled deep in his throat.
Desperate to feel his naked skin against hers, she reached for his pants, fumbling with the buttons because of the sleeping bag between them. Danny quickly removed his clothes, and when he was naked, she pulled back the sleeping bag to let him slide in with her.
The moment their heated skin touched, Kara felt a new wave of desire wash over her and she reached out to take him in her hands. He was hard and throbbing, and the sigh that escaped his lips when she touched him only made that desire stronger.
Danny slid his hand down between her legs and gently pushed them apart. When he discovered her hot and wet for him, he groaned and slid one finger over her swollen nub. Almost instantly, Kara was overcome with pleasure; she moaned and spread her legs further for him.
He stroked her with his finger until she was writhing beneath him; the pleasure so intense she was panting and desperate for release. When it came, she called out his name as wave after wave of pleasure washed over her, her body trembling, her nails digging into his shoulders.
As the last wave of pleasure rippled through her, she began to feel a new kind of need, an emptiness that only Danny could fill. Pulling him between her legs, she spread them farther and looked into his eyes, silently pleading for what she couldn’t ask for.
With his eyes locked on hers, Danny slowly slid inside her, filling her inch by inch until he was deep inside her. Then he began to rock his hips, filling her over and over, each time forming a connection unlike anything Kara had ever experienced before.
The pleasure began to build deep inside her, a tight knot that grew as Danny made love to her, his body so perfect for hers, she felt complete for the first time in her life. When the world exploded in colors this time, Danny was with her, his body exploding inside hers, the throbbing only intensifying her pleasure.
Danny collapsed on top of her, his breathing as ragged as hers, then slid off to the side and gathered her up in his arms. The fire had burned low, but neither felt the chill in the air, their bodies pressed together all the warmth they needed.
Snuggled together, they watched it rain through the opening of the cave, neither able to express what they were feeling in that moment. But it began to grow colder in the cave, so Danny shifted Kara and fed the fire, then settled her back in his arms.
As they lay together, Kara began to feel the weight of the lies she’d told and knew that she was going to have to tell Danny the truth. But she didn’t want to spoil what they’d just shared, wanted to hang on to the feeling for just a little while longer.
She had no idea how he was going to react when she told him the truth; although she was pretty sure that he was going to be mad, the question was how mad. Now she could see that it had been a huge mistake to lie in the first place; all it had done was make a difficult situation even worse and possibly spoiled the best thing that had ever happened to her.
But she’d done what she’d thought was best at the time, and there was no changing that. She’d just have to tell Danny the truth and hope that he understood, hope that he’d see her side of things. The only problem with telling him the truth was that she’d have to tell Jessie the truth too.
That thought frightened her just as much as losing Danny did. At least the way things were, he’d never had a chance to reject her; once he knew that truth, she’d be open for rejection and she wasn’t sure she could handle that.
Danny’s even breathing told her that he’d fallen asleep, making the decision for her. Tomorrow morning would be soon enough to confess her lies; tonight she’d let him sleep and enjoy the feeling of his arms around her. If she was lucky and he understood, it wouldn’t be the last time. If not, she wanted to make this night last as long as she could.
Chapter Fifteen
***Danny***
Danny woke with Kara still in his arms and realized that he’d never been happier. He’d never really believed that it was possible that she’d care about him as much as he cared about her. His attraction to her had started as a purely physical thing, but that had quickly passed and grown into something far deeper.
Until last night, he’d never understood what love really felt like. He’d always thought that it would be something different than what he felt for Kara, but he knew without a doubt that he loved her. That his feelings of protecti
veness and tenderness were exactly that: love.
He and Jessie had never talked about things like this, but he’d watched Jessie and Sophie fall in love, had seen it change them. Now he saw those same changes in himself, and it scared him a bit, especially since Kara hadn’t agreed to stay yet. But he was sure that he could talk her into staying, could convince her that together, they would be far better than alone.
Her stepfather was still a problem, but there had to be a way to protect her from him, to get him to leave her alone. He still wasn’t sure why the man was after her, why he’d invest so much time and energy in finding her, and it was time for Kara to share that information.
He’d let it go before since Kara only wanted their help leaving, but everything had changed last night. What they’d shared had created something between them and Danny would never be able to watch her walk away knowing that her stepfather was out there looking for her.
He felt his anger beginning to rise, but Kara stirred in his arms and opened her eyes. She smiled up at him, then closed her eyes again and snuggled a little deeper into the sleeping bag. “Do we have to get up?” she asked, her voice muffled.
“I’m afraid so. The rain stopped early this morning, so we can get back on the trail,” he said, rubbing her back.
“I suppose everyone will be worried about you,” she said, sticking her head back out.
“Jessie will figure out what we’re doing when they find the car,” he said, “But we should get home as soon as we can; they will be worrying.”
Kara nodded. “Okay, I guess we’d better get up then,” she said, then he saw a look of worry cross her face.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be that worried,” he said, then kissed her. “We might have a few minutes to stay in bed.”
It took them nearly an hour to break camp and get back on the trail. They’d been walking for a little while when Danny noticed that Kara had gotten quiet, that the playful banter they’d started out with had disappeared.
A little part of him wondered if she was sorry about what happened in the cave, but then she said, “Danny, I have to talk to you about something. I should have done this sooner, but I was scared.”
He stopped walking and pulled her to a stop. “What’s wrong?”
Then to his surprise, he saw tears forming in her eyes. “I’ve been lying to you,” she said, then turned and started walking again.
Danny stared after her for a second, then ran to catch up with her. He grabbed her by the arm and made her stop. “Oh, no you don’t. Stop running away from me, Kara. What do you mean you’ve been lying to me?”
She looked down at her feet. “I’ve been lying to all of you about who I am,” she said, then took a deep breath. “My mother wasn’t friends with Jessie’s mother; she was his mother.”
Danny could only stare at her while his mind tried to untangle what she’d just said. “What... Wait... you mean Jessie is your brother?”
Kara nodded. “I thought it was better if he didn’t know at first. I mean, I was going to tell him, at least that was my plan at first,” she said, then fell silent.
Danny didn’t know what to think. “You were leaving, Kara, you weren’t going to tell anyone the truth. Don’t you think Jessie might have wanted to know that he had a sister? You could have told me the truth,” he said, hurt radiating through him. “I thought we trusted each other.”
“We do, I mean, I do trust you, Danny, but this was before. I didn’t know what Jessie would think; I didn’t want him to reject me. But I’m telling you the truth now,” Kara pleaded.
Danny turned to face her. “What about your stepfather? Is that really who’s chasing you or is that a lie too? Maybe last night was just a lie,” he said, the anger and hurt making him lose control.
Kara gasped. “That’s not fair, Danny. Last night was special,” she said fighting back tears.
Danny knew that he’d gone too far but couldn’t quite stop himself from making things worse. “I wish I could believe that.”
It only took a few seconds for his words to sink in and Kara’s face to fall. “Okay then, I guess that tells me all I need to know,” she said. “We’d better get moving again; the sooner we get to Jessie’s and I can leave, the better.”
***Kara***
Kara couldn’t believe that things had gone so wrong so fast, but Danny had reacted so much stronger to her lies than she’d expected. He’d hurt her, and although she could understand why, that didn’t make it okay.
She’d been wrong about him, let her lust get in the way of seeing him for what he really was—an immature little boy, who didn’t know how to handle his emotions. Thinking about how hard she’d fallen for him made her stomach hurt, and an embarrassed blush spread across her cheeks.
She’d been so sure she was in love with him, but now she realized that it was just the situation, not the man. The worst part was that she was stuck with him; it just the two of them until they got back to Jessie’s. How she was going to make it through the next few days, she wasn’t sure.
Thanks to the storm, it was going to be at least one more night before they got to Jessie’s. Just thinking about it made her want to strike out on her own, leave Danny behind and fend for herself. But she knew that would be a mistake, that on her own she’d probably get lost or worse.
She’d just have to do her best to ignore him and hope that he’d behave like an adult. When they stopped for lunch, they didn’t speak, just sat down and ate in silence and she wanted to scream. But she could be just as stubborn as he could, so she ignored him and studied the forest around her as if she’d never seen one before.
By the time they stopped for the night, she was so exhausted, all she wanted to do was climb into her sleeping bag, cover up her head, and go to sleep. But Danny insisted that he’d catch them some dinner and took off, leaving her to set up the rest of camp and build a fire.
They hadn’t been lucky enough to find a cave or a rock overhang for shelter that night, so they’d be sleeping out in the open. Knowing that it would be a cold night and that she wouldn’t have Danny’s warm body pressed up against hers, she gathered a big pile of firewood.
Feeling the acute pain of loss, she set up their sleeping bags on opposite sides of the fire pit, then dug through the bags for something to add to dinner. When Danny came back an hour later with a fat rabbit, already skinned and cleaned, she skewered it on a sharp stick and cooked it over the fire.
She could feel Danny’s eyes on her as she sat there but refused to look up, afraid of what she’d see in their green depths. It wasn’t so much what she’d see that scared her, she realized as she sat there staring into the fire: it was what she wouldn’t see that bothered her.
He was angry and hurt, and she knew that would be clear in his eyes, but what wouldn’t be there were the desire and passion she’d come so accustomed to seeing. The love that was just beginning to blossom between them wouldn’t be there either; she’d snuffed that out as easily as a candle in the wind.
When the rabbit was finished, she handed it to him to cut up. He split it in half and tried to hand her the bigger half, but she waved it away. “I’m not very hungry; I think I’ll just eat some rice tonight.”
Danny shook his head. “You need to eat this, Kara,” he said, making her take it. “Drink some water first; you might be dehydrated.”
Kara knew that wasn’t the problem but took the rabbit from him and then took a big drink of water. The silence between them was killing her; she wanted to explain to him again why she’d lied but didn’t want to remind him that she had.
Finally, the silence became too much and they both began to speak at once. They laughed, some of the tension between them broken, “You first,” Kara said, hoping that Danny was starting to forgive her.
“I’ve been thinking a lot about why you lied, and I guess I can understand, but I wish you’d told me the truth sooner,” he said.
Kara set her food down next to her. “I see now that it was a mistake,
and I’m not going to make any excuses to you or to Jessie. I should have told the truth from the beginning, and I can understand if you can’t forgive me.”
Danny sighed. “I’m having a hard time staying mad at you,” he said, grinning at her.
Kara was so relieved; her heart began to pound in her chest. “Oh, Danny, I’m so glad to hear that.”
But Danny held up his hand, and her heart sank, “Not so fast; you have to tell me the truth, all of it, and don’t leave anything out.”
Kara took a deep breath. “I guess that’s fair. I never meant to hurt anyone, Danny; it took me two years to get up the courage to come up here and find Jessie. Honestly, if it wasn’t for Sebastian, I’m not sure I would have ever come up here, but I was out of places to hide.”
Danny nodded. “Well, then I guess I owe this Sebastian a thank you for bringing you into my life.”
Kara breathed a sigh of relief; Danny was going to forgive her, now all she had to do was tell the truth. It wasn’t hard once she got started. Danny was a good listener, only interrupting when he needed clarification.
As she talked, she discovered that a burden she’d been carrying was lifted off her shoulders. She hadn’t even gotten to explaining about Sebastian, but it was the first time she’d talked about her mother’s illness, shared it with anyone.
By the time she was done, there were tears running down her cheeks, the memory of her mother’s last days making it difficult to talk. She could remember so clearly the sound of her mother’s scratchy voice as she’d talked, sharing everything she’d been hiding from her for her entire life.
“She made me promise that I’d find Jessie and tell him all this, but I just couldn’t,” she said when she’d finished. “I’m afraid it would have hurt him even more, and I can understand that. I was so angry when she first told me, so sure that all of our lives would have been different if she’d never done it.”
“But you’re here now,” Danny said.
Triumph (Wolves 0f Gypsum Creek Book 2) Page 9
