When You Dare (31 page)

So Kathi had known she was missing? Dare said he’d talked to her father. Did that mean that Kathi hadn’t mentioned it to him? Maybe because she thought nothing of it, but maybe…her dad had already known.

Was he capable of doing this to her? She was sad to have to admit to the truth: her father was capable of just about anything. She wasn’t yet convinced that he’d done this, but neither would she rule out his involvement.

Molly sat back in the couch, thinking of all the odd angles. “So, since I was missing, you decided to just come to my apartment and pretend it was your own?”

Adrian had the good grace to show shame. “At first, I was only curious. It’s not like you to take off without telling your sister.” To Dare, he said, “They’re really close.”

Dare just bored holes in him with his dark stare.

Adrian looked away uneasily. “Anyway, I guess I pictured you making up the trip story for your sister, while you were here, wallowing in misery, maybe…missing me?” He tried a sickly, unsure smile. “I was sort of hoping that we might have a chance to get back together.”

Putting a hand on Dare to restrain him—just in case— Molly gritted out, “Are you out of your mind?” Before he could answer, she held up a hand, silencing him. “If you were the last man on earth, I would embrace celibacy with gusto.”

Adrian scowled at the insult.

And Dare emphasized, “Won’t ever happen, so don’t even think about it.”

He accepted that as the warning Dare meant it to be. “Fine, but I figured if you were here and just not up to visiting with your sister, it couldn’t hurt for me to try. When I came by, your landlord grabbed me because your mail had stacked up. I guess she didn’t know we’d split, and she wanted me to bring it in.”

“Other than telling Natalie, I didn’t advertise our breakup.” To Molly’s mind, her personal life wasn’t anyone’s business.

“Right.” Adrian continued to glance at Dare. “Anyway, she didn’t think anything of me being here.”

“Since you let yourself in, she must’ve assumed you still had a key.”

Adrian shrugged. “Probably.”

Dare spoke up. “Have you talked with Bishop?”

“Not since Molly and I split, no.”

“Good. Don’t.”

“Do you know him?” He looked from Dare to Molly again, as if he wasn’t sure who would answer him.

“I met him.” Dare couldn’t hide his distaste. “I told him exactly what I’m going to tell you.”

Cautious now, Adrian said, “And that is?”

“Keep your mouth shut.” Dare went to him and took him by the arm, pulled him to his feet and started him toward the door. “Don’t mention this little meet and greet to anyone. Far as you know, Molly is still missing. You got that?”

“Yeah, sure.” He looked back at Molly. “If there’s some way I can help—”

Molly followed Dare. “You can stay away from my apartment for starters.”

“Right.” When Dare released him, he started to turn toward Molly.

Dare didn’t give him the chance. He opened the door and shoved Adrian out to the hall.

“Wait! What do I tell her sister if she calls me again?”

“You have nothing to tell, right?”

The clear warning hit the mark. “Well…yeah, I know.” Still Adrian waffled. “But—”

“Molly will be in touch with her sister and anyone else she wants to update. It’s no concern of yours. Remember that.” Dare shut the door in his face and then locked it.

Molly bit back a smile. “That was almost mean.”

For long seconds, he stood there staring at her. This was a new look for him, one she hadn’t seen before. He had that same intensity as when enraged, but she knew he wasn’t truly angry over anything. The way he watched her made her feel…warm.

And aware. And…excited.

“Dare?”

“How do you feel, Molly?”

The gravelly tone to his low voice stroked along her nerve endings. The spark of heat in his blue eyes, and the slow rise and fall of his muscled chest, took the strength from her knees.

“I’m good.”

“Not just fine?”

God, was he teasing her? Like a patient predator waiting to pounce, he kept his distance by the door.

Molly licked her bottom lip. “I…” She looked around at her still messy apartment, knowing it didn’t matter. Everything else could wait. But she couldn’t.

She turned back to Dare’s probing gaze. After a deep breath, she said, “If you want the truth, I’m eaten up with wanting you.”

He straightened his posture against the door. His shoulders flexed.

Voice rough and raw, he asked, “Are you sure, Molly?” And then, more harshly, “Tell me you’re sure.”

Seeing him like this, recognizing the lust, affected her, and she couldn’t think of anything to say. Instead, she opened her arms to him.

A low curse, barely audible, left him. In the next instant he had his powerful arms around her. He pulled her up against his body, kissing her hard enough, hungrily enough, to tip her head back.

And Molly loved it.

D
ARE WAS NOT A MAN
to lose control, but the things she made him feel… He wasn’t used to being jealous, but, damn, he had been. Red-hot and enraged with jealousy, and for no other reason than that Molly had once cared for Adrian. Dare thought about taking the fool apart, and he would have, except that it hardly seemed fair. Her ex was pathetic.

What the hell had she ever seen in him?

And then seeing her so strong, so proud… It had damn near put him over the edge. Never before had he thought about the perfect female counterpart to him, but now he knew: Molly defined that woman.

He struggled to get it together, but she didn’t help much. The taste of her, the way her fingertips dug into his shoulders with insistence, and how she lifted into him, pressing into his erection, made rational thought a far-fetched thing.

But he knew what she’d been through, the marks that she still carried and the memories that continued to haunt her. Never would he add to that. He’d sooner die.

“Molly.” Dare opened his mouth on her throat, sucked on her soft, fragrant skin and lowered one hand to her ass. He loved the feel of that firm, plump flesh, kneading her, stroking. “We should slow down,” he said against her throat, “I should slow down.”

“No. Please don’t.” She grabbed his face and brought his mouth back to hers. “No more waiting, Dare.”

“No.” Hell, he couldn’t wait. The need to consume her pushed him.

But he had to know.

Holding her shoulders, he put enough space between them to talk. “The bedroom is okay?”

She nodded, but then paused and asked, “What do you mean?”

“No…” Fuck, he hated this. “Your asshole boyfriend was here, and we both know he intended to use your bed, so…”

Her expression softened. “Forget Adrian. I don’t think he did anything in there.” She took Dare’s hand and turned to lead him to the room.

He was so charmed by her urgency that he grinned. Lust and humor—who knew? He’d never experienced the combo before.

Molly’s long, fast steps did amazing things to that delectable backside that he’d just been pawing, and he had to say, with heartfelt sincerity, “You have an incredible ass, Molly.”

She smiled at him over her shoulder and tugged him into the room. “Thank you.”

He stood in front of her, the bed right there, her need obvious. Damn, but his hands shook with the wealth of everything he felt. He’d known extreme lust, but he hadn’t known this.

Smoothing her hair back, he bent to kiss her forehead, her cheek, her chin and finally her mouth. “I’ve thought of seeing you, all of you, a hundred times.” He dropped his fingers to the top button of her blouse.

She kept her head down, watching his hands as he opened the blouse little by little. When he reached the button between her breasts, she sucked in a shuddering breath.

“Dare?”

He kissed her temple, slipped the last button free and opened the blouse. “Hmm?” Damn, she was sexy.

“I still have…marks.”

“I know.” He stroked the back of one finger over a bruise visible on her ribs. “I’d like to kill them all over again. But they’re already gone, honey.”

“It’s not that. I just…they look awful.”

He slipped the blouse off her shoulders and let it drop to the floor. “Nothing about you is awful.” Bending, he kissed the angriest bruise left on her right shoulder. “And I won’t let anyone ever hurt you again.” To get her back where she needed to be, Dare kissed his way along her upper body, over her shoulders, her collarbone, her throat. Every so often, he gave her a gentle love bite and then soothed it with a soft openmouthed kiss and the stroke of his tongue.

Holding on to his forearms, Molly tipped her head back. His hands easily spanned the width of her narrow back. Holding her like that, he arched her up and closed his mouth over her left nipple through her bra.

Her vibrating groan tested his resolve, but he held on. Barely. While he teased her, he teased himself, too, by grinding his erection against her soft body.

She sucked in a breath. “Dare?” Her right hand left his forearm and went to his abdomen, then down along the fly of his jeans.

Through the denim she found and stroked him, making him nuts.

“That…” He went still, his stomach clenching. “That might not be a great idea.” But God, he didn’t stop her.

Calculating as only a woman could be, Molly whispered with pleasure, “You’re even bigger than I imagined.”

Fuck patience. “Tease.” Dare opened her bra and pushed the cups down to expose her. Her heavy breasts, now freed of restraint, swayed with her every movement. Her nipples were soft pink in color, pulled tight.

Growling with impatience, Dare pried her hand off his dick so that he could remove the bra completely, and he could have sworn that he heard her laugh.

It didn’t matter. She wouldn’t be amused for long.

Going to his knees, he opened the snap on her jeans, slid down the zipper and tugged both the jeans and her panties to her knees.

“Dare.” Sounding strangled, she braced her hands on his shoulders. “What are you—?”

Holding her backside in both hands, he pulled her close and pressed his face against her. He inhaled her scent and growled again. “I can’t wait.”

As he came back to his feet, she said something, but he wasn’t sure what. Lifting her up and onto the bed, Dare stripped the clothes from her body.

Even though his gaze wanted to linger on her breasts and puckered nipples, her smooth belly and that neat triangle of dark pubic hair, he still saw the bruises. In stark contrast to her pale, soft skin, they were impossible to miss. They just didn’t matter, not to how he felt about her, how much he wanted her.

As the marks healed, they turned muddied shades of yellow and green. But they
were
healing. Molly would be okay.

He didn’t find the injuries ugly, as she did. If anything, they only served to remind him that when he’d carried her out of that place, he’d taken responsibility for her. She relied on him now.

She was his.

With one hand he touched the sleek silky skin of her upper thigh, while with the other he opened his jeans and eased the zipper down over his hard-on. He had to step back to get his shoes and socks off, and then he stripped off his shirt and tossed it aside.

Knees together in a modest—and enticing—pose, Molly rose up to her elbows to watch him.

He shucked off the jeans and straightened in front of her. If she enjoyed looking at him half as much as he liked seeing her, he had no problem with that.

But the longer she looked, the more he wanted her. And she was taking her time, studying every inch of him.

“You’ve seen men before, Molly.”

Slowly shaking her head to deny that, she whispered, “I’ve never seen a man like you.”

What the hell did that mean? Given the way she held her bottom lip in her teeth, and how her gaze went all soft and heated, it wasn’t a complaint. “I don’t want to rush you, honey, but how long should I stand here?”

“It just occurred to me,” she said, her gaze still on his cock. “I don’t have anything. I mean, for protection.”

That was her holdup? He didn’t think so. “I’ll take care of it.”

Did she think, even for a second, that he wouldn’t do the responsible thing? Or was she hesitating out of nervousness?

He retrieved a lone condom from his wallet; for now, it would do. But after that, he’d get the box from his duffel bag. To be sure, he asked her, “Anything else?”

Her gaze lifted to his, and she licked her lips. “Just…hurry up.”

Smiling, Dare said, “Right.” He should have known that she wasn’t the type to hide her feelings. If she had second thoughts, she’d have told him so.

As he took precautions, she watched him with so much fascination that maintaining control wasn’t easy. He wanted no secrets between them, no modesty or shyness. The light on her desk was enough, and he was relieved that she didn’t ask him to turn it off.

Dare stretched out over her, and as her legs parted he settled against her with a feeling of rightness. He’d had sex; this was more.

While he again explored her lush breasts and taut nipples, he kissed her. She accepted his tongue, even sucked on it, making him nuts with lust. Her hands were all over him, from his back to his ass and thighs, and back up to his shoulders. She seemed every bit as urgent as him.

In minutes, they were both breathing hard and fast. Not moving proved impossible for him, especially with her so soft and giving beneath him, squirming each time he tugged on a nipple with his fingertips or nibbled on her earlobe.

When he first rolled his hips against her, she freed her mouth and moaned. Just as she had on the dock, she went hot and ready with blazing speed. Moving to the side of her, Dare slid his hand down along her body until it rested low on her belly.

“You are so small, and so sweet.” He rubbed his cheek against her breast. “But not small here. God almighty, woman, you have a killer body.”

Raising her hands over her head, her eyes closed, Molly clenched in anticipation. He loved looking at her, at the honest reactions on her face.

Watching her, he asked, “Are you wet, Molly?”

She nodded, then arched, trying to hurry him.