Dare to Hold (7 page)

But he kept her company in the kitchen while she pulled out her frying pan, cover, and other ingredients, and eventually she calmed down while preparing dinner. She was surprised to find herself comfortable with Scott in her personal space. Although … comfortable might not be the right word considering how intently he watched her.

And how, beneath his heated gaze, her body buzzed in all the right places. Places she’d been reminding all week to get used to nonuse for the foreseeable future.

Soon the sandwiches began to sizzle. A quick check told her they were ready, and the delicious smell permeated the small kitchen. She served and was beyond pleased when he bit into the sandwich and moaned out loud, the sound too seductive to her ears considering where her thoughts had been.

“This is so good. Where’d you learn to cook? Because I gotta tell you, the most my sisters can manage is to slap cheese on bread in the toaster oven.”

She laughed at that. “Well, my mother was similar. I took over meals at a really young age.”

“Where was your father?”

She shrugged. “I don’t remember him. He left us when I was four. And then it was just me and my mom. She didn’t like being alone, and there was a revolving door of men after that.”

“That sucks.”

She nodded. “I couldn’t agree more.”

“I wonder what’s worse. Not having a father or having one who preferred his other family.” He paused, sandwich halfway to his mouth. “I didn’t mean to say that out loud.”

She reached out and touched his arm, too aware of the muscles beneath her fingers and his hair-roughened skin. “I’m glad you did. It’s easier to share if you’re not alone when you’re doing it.”

She’d come late to knowing the Dare family, having just met Olivia through Dylan a few months ago. But of course she’d heard of Robert Dare, hotel mogul, with two families… There’d been stories. Whispers around Miami. But she’d never thought about how that had affected his kids.

“What happened?” she asked.

“He wasn’t around, and I grew up thinking he was a father who worked really hard for his family. That’s what he’d tell us, that he had business trips and he had to visit his various hotels. He’d come home for short periods, spoil us with gifts, and take off again.”

Meg watched his face, noting the hard lines visible now. This wasn’t an easy subject, yet he was opening up to her. “That’s really rough,” she murmured.

“It was. And it wasn’t. My mom is amazing. You’d really like her—and she’d like you,” he said, as if thinking about it had been a revelation. He smiled. “And I had my brothers and sisters. We were cool. But then one day, Dad came home, and there was a big
discussion
.” He frowned at the word. “I heard Mom crying, and then they told us we had to go the hospital for tests. Christ.”

He wiped a hand over his eyes, and her heart clenched at his visible pain. “They said that Dad had another kid who was sick with cancer and needed bone marrow. He wanted all of us to get tested.”

“Oh my God.”

“Yeah, except that wasn’t the worst part. That came at the hospital when we met his
four
other kids. And that’s when the illusion of Dad working hard for his family blew up in all of our faces.” Scott rose and took his plate with him to the sink.

She followed, placing her dish on the counter. “What happened to his sick child?”

“My sister Avery was a match. She donated bone marrow, and Sienna’s healthy now. Thank God. But I hate him,” Scott said tightly, the raw anguish in his eyes as stark as his voice. “For what he did to my mother, to us. For the lies. I don’t hate them though. The others.”

“That’s because they didn’t do anything except be born, and you understood that.” Although it couldn’t have been easy, and she admired the man he’d become, one who was compassionate and understanding despite the curveball life had thrown at
him
.

“Ian took forever to come around and accept the others,” he said of his oldest brother.

“Not everyone handles things the same way.”

Scott stood at the sink, head dipped, shoulders tight, arms braced on the counter. It was obvious he didn’t repeat this story often and he hated the telling. Yet he’d opened up for her. She wanted to ease his pain. To take him in her arms and soothe him, the way he’d done for her.

On impulse, she stepped behind him and wrapped her arms around his waist, resting her head against his back. “I’m sorry.”

He accepted the gesture with a low groan. Then, taking her off guard, he spun around, and she found their positions reversed, her back against the counter, his arms bracketing her body, closing her in. He cornered her with his big frame, and her heart rate picked up speed, the serious conversation at odds with the heat passing back and forth between them.

“But you like your other … siblings?” she asked, managing to hang on to the thread of conversation although his heat and delicious scent were distracting her. Consuming her.

His lips turned up. “Yeah. They’re okay.”

She shook her head and laughed. “You’re a good guy, Scott Dare.”

His smile slipped, and that sexy mouth turned downward in a frown. “That presents a problem then.”

She wrinkled her nose, confused. “Why?”

“Because rumor has it you’re attracted to bad boys.” He braced his hands on her hips, lifted her up, and placed her on the counter, sliding his big body between her legs.

A low hum of anticipation took up residence in her belly—and other places.

“And I want you attracted to only me.”

“Not much of a problem there,” Meg said, her sex-starved gaze meeting his. “Even after promising myself I’m not going to get involved with any man, I can’t stop wanting you.”

Chapter Four

“W
ell, I want you too, baby.” Relief and blinding arousal assaulted Scott at the same time. The wanting was mutual.

Talking about his family always got him wired, and his discussion with Meg had been no different, except now he had a willing, gorgeous woman he could lose himself in. And she gazed up at him expectantly, waiting for his next move. She needed release from her own rioting emotions too, and he was only too happy to provide it.

“Wrap your legs around my waist,” he instructed her.

She did as told, and he lifted her into his arms and headed back to the bedroom. His pulse pounded hard, increasing with each step. Once inside, he placed her on the bed. From the minute he’d seen her wide-eyed and panicked earlier, he’d felt a primal need to protect. And when she’d turned to him for comfort, he’d wanted to own her and make sure nobody could hurt her again.

He kicked off his sneakers, removed his socks, then reached down and pulled his shirt over his head, tossing it aside. “I don’t know if I can take it slow,” he warned her.

Her darkened eyes followed his every movement. “And I don’t want you to. I told you once before, I’m not fragile.”

She lifted her shirt and threw it the way his had gone, leaving her bare on top, no bra, revealing plump breasts, pink nipples taut and ripe, begging for his lips, his mouth. His teeth.

He hissed out a slow breath, unbuttoning his jeans and shucking them quickly. When he glanced back, she was shimmying out of her sweats, pulling her panties off along with them. She added them to the pile on the floor.

Then he glanced down and took her in—beautiful woman, all glowing skin and flushed cheeks.

“Look what you do to me.” He took himself in hand and ran his palm up and down the painfully hard length.

“I am.” She pushed herself backward and leaned against the headboard. Her legs were parted, giving him a good look at her glistening pussy. He groaned and pumped his shaft harder.

With an intoxicating smile, she crooked a finger his way. “Come here and let me take care of you.”

He shook his head. Much as he wanted those gorgeous lips around his cock, he needed his mouth on her, needed to taste her.

“Not this time.” He wrapped his hands around her ankles and pulled her toward the edge of the mattress.

“Aaah!” She shrieked in shock. As she realized his plan, she glanced up at him with dark eyes full of desire and need.

He grasped her thighs and pushed her legs apart, kneeling between them.

“Oh my God.”

He chuckled, deliberately blowing warm breath on her soft, damp folds.

“Scott—”

He cut off her words with a long swipe of his tongue, and a shuddering moan escaped her throat, causing him to begin teasing her pussy in earnest. He licked her bare outer lips, working his way inward, sliding his tongue up and down, all over her sex, everywhere except the tight bud that needed his attention the most.

She bucked beneath him, writhing, groaning, cursing, and begging him to make her come. He enjoyed her like this, open to him, vocal, and willing to express what she needed. Because that was his mission, to satisfy her in every possible way.

But before he slid inside her tight, hot sex and found his own release—something that would happen way too fast once he felt her slick walls cushioning his cock—he wanted her mindless and crazy, so he kept up his sensual assault now.

He eased her down from the peak, turning his hard licks and nibbles to softer strokes, not wanting her to come just yet. He soothed her with soft flickers that didn’t do anything except arouse and tease. Only when he was sure she’d lost that edge did he begin again, nuzzling her with his nose, inhaling her feminine scent, and sliding his tongue into her hot, wet channel.

Her hips began to buck beneath him, and he fucked her this way, tormenting her and again bringing her higher and higher with his mouth.

“God, Scott, please, I need to come.” She arched and pushed herself up against his lips, her pleading voice so sweet to his ears, he was ready to give her what she needed.

He licked his way to her clit, easing up one side, then down the other. Her thighs trembled, and her entire body drew taut and poised. He flattened his tongue over the tiny bud at the same time he slid one long finger inside her.

“Yes, so close, so, so…” Her words were nearly incoherent, and he hooked his finger forward, gliding the pad along her inner walls, hoping to hit just the right spot.

She screamed and shattered around his finger, her pussy contracting in deep, damp spasms, as she ground herself against him to ride out the assault.

Damn, but the sound of her coming, the feel of her suctioning his finger had his balls drawn up painfully tight. When he was certain she’d finished, he rubbed his mouth along her thigh, and she collapsed against the mattress.

He opened her drawer, found a condom, and sheathed himself in record time. He stood over her, hands on her thighs.

Heavy-lidded eyes looked up at him, a satisfied expression on her face that made him damn proud.

“You still with me, baby?”

Was she still with him? Barely, Meg thought, her body still spasming with delicious aftershocks. She managed a small nod, then took a second to study his too-handsome face, the sexy mouth that had just taken her to heaven, and the hard set of his jaw, so at odds with the caring man who’d been here for her earlier. She didn’t know how she’d be up for anything, but she wanted to please him too.

He poised himself at her entrance. “You’re so fucking amazing,” he said, his words tugging at emotions she was having little success tamping down.

He slid into her slowly, letting her become accustomed to him, first the tip, then, inch by excruciatingly slow inch, the rest of his length. There was no need to take it easy. Her body opened for him, just as she feared her heart could do, easily and gladly, taking him inside. He aroused nerve endings she’d thought had passed out from his earlier onslaught.

Warmth spread through her veins, and a quickening began deep inside her, sending out delicious tingles to the rest of her system. He pulled out and thrust in on a slow, exquisite glide. She arched her back and tried to suck him in farther. He groaned and picked up rhythm, and so did her body, another orgasm shockingly not too far out of reach.

He leaned over and braced his arms on either side of her head, his gaze hot and steady on hers. “Feel me, baby?” he asked on a hard plunge that took him deep.

“Yes,” she moaned, and he began to pound into her in earnest.

She arched against him, which had the effect of rubbing her clit against his hair-roughened skin. She whimpered, shocked by the needy sound, but it felt so good she couldn’t breathe. She closed her eyes and focused on the sensations pummeling at her from inside and out. Lights and flashes sparkled behind her eyelids as another orgasm loomed closer.

“That’s it, let it build,” he said thickly. Every time their bodies crashed together, he ground his hips and pelvis harder against her sex.

Her entire body was on fire as he rocked into her, their joined bodies doing the work, taking her higher than she’d ever been before. The tremors didn’t start small; they washed over her in a tidal wave of bliss. Nothing had ever felt so perfect or right.

He thrust a few more times, coming inside her as he shouted her name. He collapsed on top of her, and she accepted his weight, wrapping her arms around his sweat-dampened skin.