Chosen Prey (14 page)

Dare drew her into his embrace and held her. "It's all right, honey," he murmured against her hair. "Everything will be all right."

Hot tears leaked from her eyes and dampened his shirt. Her entire body trembled. "It's not," she said against his chest. "It will never be over."

She pushed him away, looked around the room, and trembled all over. "I've got to get out of here. Got to get out of here."

Lyra didn't know how she made it back up the stairs and out of the high-tech room. All she remembered was Dare taking her to her bedroom and helping her out of her shoes and jeans so that she had just her T-shirt and underwear on, and then he tucked her under the sheets and quilt.

Dare scooted onto the bed behind her, on top of the quilt, all but his boots on. He molded his body against hers and wrapped his arm around her waist. She trembled even as he held her tight and whispered soft words. "I'll never let them get their hands on you, Lyra. Never."

Her voice shook. "You can't stop them. No one can."

"I can, and I will." He squeezed her tighter. "Now rest."

Lyra didn't think she would be able to relax, but eventually she slipped into dreams filled with images of being taken back to the compound and Dare coming to rescue her on a great black horse.

Anger seared Dare's veins and he could barely contain himself as he held Lyra. He wanted to go after Neal Barker so badly that his body ached with it. He'd slam his fist in the bastard's face for what he'd done to Lyra, and he'd feel the satisfaction of Barker going down as he hit him again and again.

For a long time Lyra remained tense in his embrace, her breathing short and choppy.

But eventually her body relaxed and her breathing slowed and became deep and even.

Every now and then she would jerk as if she was dreaming or having a nightmare. He nuzzled her hair and breathed in her sunshine-and-roses scent.

It was only early evening, but the room was dark thanks to the closed wooden shutters and the fact that he'd turned off the lights. Lyra had been through so much in the past three days that she needed to rest.

For a long time he held her as she slept. Finally, when he was fairly certain she wouldn't wake, he slipped from the bed, careful not to disturb her. He settled into a chair in the room. He braced one elbow on an arm of the chair and stroked his jaw as he studied Lyra.

Her features looked relaxed, and he hoped her dreams would be peaceful.

How could they stop this Neal bastard from going after Lyra anymore? What could possibly stop him and keep her from being on the run?

Dare ground his teeth. With the information Lyra had given him, they had enough info to get Neal Barker in deep with the law if they could prove it.

How could they get the law into the main compound to expose any of this? And if Barker was put away, how long before he was out and after Lyra again?

Nick had headed out on his run by the time Dare left Lyra's bedroom. He made his way back to Nick's surveillance room to take a look at the satellite map of the Oregon compound again. When he was in, he moved to the table in the center of the room and switched on the light beneath the maps. He studied the main compound intently, frustrated that everything on the map wasn't better defined. They couldn't formulate a plan without knowing every bit of the layout of the compound and the position of the guards.

They'd have to figure a way to get him. Too bad the S.O.B. wasn't in Arizona.

He clenched his jaw, tempted to crumple the map into a ball and toss it across the room. Better yet, put his fist through a wall. What the cult leader had done to Lyra…

Goddamn. Everything she'd gone through, Dare had no idea. Different scenarios churned through his mind and every one of them made him want to knock the shit out of Neal Barker. Repeatedly.

A plan. He had to come up with a plan. Other than storming the main compound with a small army, he was clutching at straws.

He flipped the light off so that the table no longer lit the map, then turned to the stairs.

His boots rang against the metal as he made his way up. When he was in the closet he found the hidden button and closed the surveillance room. He strode up the series of stairs and hallways to Lyra's room. Her door was open, and when he slipped into the near darkness he saw that she was no longer in bed.

Damn
. He shouldn't have left her alone.

Dare made his way upstairs to the great room and found Lyra sitting on one of the couches in the dim lighting. She was clutching a pillow and curled up in just her T-shirt.

She looked so beautiful with her tousled hair and her sleepy expression.

Soft country music played in the background. A slow song started up and Lyra startled when he said, "Dance with me."

As Dare approached her, Lyra felt a thrill deep in her belly. There was something in his eyes, something in the low timbre of his voice when he'd asked her to dance.

She'd never danced before—at least not since junior high school. She started to tell him so, but before she could say anything he was already at her side. He took her hand in his and helped her to rise.

The moment she was up, he wrapped her in his embrace and she sighed. He smelled so masculine and felt so good, his body warming her through her T-shirt. The soft country song surrounded them as he held her close and they began slowly moving to the music.

There was magic in the music, magic that wove through her thoughts and around their bodies.

She slipped her arms up his neck and into his thick hair and felt his erection against her.

Sensations sizzled from her belly to that place between her thighs, and she melted more fully against him. Through the thin material of her bra and T-shirt, her hard nipples rasped against his shirt, adding to the complete feeling it gave her to be in his arms.

"Honey, what you do to me," Dare murmured against her hair. "Every time I see you, I want to touch you. I want to hold you. I want to make love to you."

Lyra let out a soft sound of surprise and looked up into his eyes. For a long moment he held her gaze as they swayed to the music. Then he lowered his head and softly brushed his lips across hers. She closed her eyes and sighed into his mouth. He nipped her bottom lip, causing her sigh to turn into a moan.

Dare slipped his tongue through her lips and explored her, teasing her by tangling with her tongue, then running his along the edges of her teeth. She wanted to taste him fully, and she matched his kiss. What started out as slow and gentle became more intense, more needy. He slid his hands from her waist down to cup her ass and press her even tighter to him.

Lyra's heart pounded harder and faster. He tucked her head beneath his chin and held her. She'd never felt such a sense of safety, security, like nothing could ever hurt her. With Dare it would be easy to let herself go. To let herself believe that everything would be okay.

She tilted her head up, bumping his chin. He moved his head back and their gazes locked. They continued to move slowly to the beat of the song as they looked at each other.

"Do you get this close to all the women you help?" she asked, a little tremor to her voice.

Dare stilled and they no longer moved with the music. His eyes grew dark, almost like a storm shadowing the sky, and his expression no longer relaxed. "Don't even begin to think like that. You are special."

Lyra tried to look away, but he took her face in his hands and brought her around to look at him again, and she said, "There's nothing special about me."

"Everything about you is special." He pressed his lips to her forehead. "Honey, I've never met a woman like you. You're strong, smart, beautiful."

She tried to shake her head, but his hands kept her still.

"Look at what you've done, what you've been through," he said. "You lost your father.

You ended up in a dangerous cult, and the bastard subjected you to shit no one should have to go through."

Tears burned her eyes and she opened her mouth, but Dare wouldn't let her say anything.

"You escaped. You were homeless but brought yourself out of poverty. Despite everything you've been through, you've made friends, you've made a good life for yourself." He moved his hands from her face and stroked her hair. "You are special, Lyra Collins. And don't you ever think you're not."

She buried her face against his chest and clung to him. He was so solid, so real. She barely knew him, yet her heart was opening up to him. How could she let that happen?

Dare held her tight. He asked nothing from her, just gave.

She tilted her head to look up at him again. "Thank you," she whispered.

"I shouldn't be touching you like this," he said as he drew back.

"Why?" She kissed the curve of his neck and felt his warmth against her lips. He smelled so good.

"With everything that's happened to you," he said with a low groan. "You need time to rest, time to sort your thoughts."

Her lips met his again, then she pulled away and smiled. "Right now my thoughts are perfectly sorted, Dare Lancaster."

He pressed his mouth to her hair and she felt the rise and fall of his chest as he inhaled deeply. "You'd better think long and hard about what you're saying. What you're doing to me."

"And what you're doing to me," she said softly. "I can't help it. I don't
want
to help it.

What I want is you. That's not going to change no matter what happens. No matter how much you tell me I need time." She raised herself up on her toes and brushed her lips against his in a whisper-soft movement. He groaned against her mouth. "What I want, what I need, is you," she said.

Dare pressed his lips to hers and the intensity of his kiss took her breath away. He wasn't gentle. His kiss was hard, dominating. The stubble on his jaw was rough against her face as he moved his mouth back and forth against hers.

His big hands squeezed her ass cheeks. He began to move his palms a fraction at a time over the flare of her hips, to the indentation of her waist, and farther up until his fingers rested just below her breasts.

Lyra tightened her hold on his hair as he kissed her, held her. She prayed for him to touch her nipples, and when he brushed his thumbs over them she thought she was going to lose her mind. She arched into him and he rubbed her nipples harder.

She couldn't stop kissing him, didn't want to stop kissing him. They were so close she felt the pounding of his heart against her chest, the throb of his pulse where her arm rested on the curve of his neck.

Dare raised his head and dragged in a deep breath. Her lips were moist, and her face felt warm from where his stubble had chafed her. Her breathing had quickened and her heart was pounding.

He rubbed his mouth over her lips again. "Are you sure?"

Lyra smiled and brought her hands from his hair to cup his stubbled cheeks. She reached up and gave him a light kiss. "Nothing could change my mind. I want you, Dare."

The expression on his face was almost tortured, like he couldn't wait any longer. It made her want to smile inside, to know that he wanted her so badly he could barely control himself.

"Let's get downstairs." He parted from her, took her hand in his, and drew her to the stairs. "I'd rather not have any interruptions."

She couldn't help a small laugh. "Nick said he didn't think we'd be needing two rooms tonight."

Dare grinned and kissed the top of her head. "When it comes to you, I think I'm an open book."

They started down the stairs and she squeezed his fingers as she looked up at him.

"Me, too."

When they were in his room he firmly shut the door and locked it behind him. "Nothing short of an explosion is going to interrupt us," he said with a sexy grin that made her melt.

He led her to the bed and guided her so that she sat on the edge, looking up at him. The quilt felt soft beneath her thighs, and the floor was cool under her bare feet. For a guest room it was large, with big, bold furnishings and a bed that was perfect for lovemaking.

The lighting wasn't too bright, but he turned on the bedside lamps and then flipped off the switch for the overhead lights and it was far more romantic.

Lyra swallowed down a burst of nerves that caused her to tremble. She wanted him to come to her, to touch her, to taste her. Yet at the same time something tight gripped her belly. This would be it. This would be the man she'd lose her virginity to.

She trusted him enough to give it to him.

Dare was incredibly slow and deliberate in his movements. He went to his leather duffle, where it perched on one of the cushioned chairs. The sound of the zipper was loud in the quiet room. He reached in, felt around, and pulled out a box. For some reason her cheeks heated when she saw that it was a box of condoms.

"Prepared?" she said.

"For you." He moved to the nightstand, opened the box, and let the packets spill onto its surface.

"Um, wow." Her gaze met his as he came back to stand over her. "You have that much stamina?"

He grinned that sexy grin again and placed his hands to either side of her hips, bringing his face close to hers. "For you," he repeated.

"Then be with me," she whispered against his lips, and he kissed her softly, gently. He brought his hands to the hem of her T-shirt and tugged it upward, exposing her sturdy plain white bra.
One day silk and satin
, she promised herself.

Same as last time, he didn't seem to care what she was wearing when he pulled her T-shirt over her head and tossed it on the floor. She took a deep breath as he kneeled and lowered his mouth, and licked her through the cotton of her bra. Lyra moaned as he sucked each nipple so that the material was wet and cool when he removed his mouth. He moved his hands smoothly beneath her arms to her back, where he easily unfastened her bra. He slipped it off her, and when he tossed it aside the bra landed on one of the lampshades.

"Nick wouldn't approve of you throwing things around the room," she said with a grin.

He gave a low laugh. "That makes it even more fun."

Lyra didn't have time and definitely didn't have the presence of mind to respond, because he began licking one of her nipples with his warm tongue, then sucked her nipple into his mouth. She slipped her hands into his hair and tilted her head back. Soft moans came from her throat with every suck and nip of his teeth.

He moved to her other nipple, and the one he'd just licked and sucked felt cool without his mouth on it. She sighed with pleasure as he brought one of his hands up and began rolling the nipple between his fingers.

When he moved his mouth from her breast to her belly, she sighed with disappointment at him leaving her nipples, yet excitement that his mouth was traveling toward her mound.

He rubbed his nose against her cloth-covered sex and she heard his deep inhale.

"I love your scent," he said as he raised his head and gripped the elastic waistband of her cotton panties. "And I already know how good you taste."

A rush of heat whooshed over Lyra. He drew back so that he could ease her panties down, over her hips and legs to her feet. When he reached her feet he lightly massaged them before pulling the panties over her toes and flinging them so that they hooked over the bedpost.

She couldn't help a small giggle, but it quickly turned into a gasp as he scooted her up the bed so that she was lying on her back with her head on the pillows. Dare had his denim-clad knees to either side of her thighs and his hands braced beside her head. He brought his mouth to hers and kissed her, and his shirt felt rough and erotic against her nipples.

Lyra had to touch him. She reached down and cupped his cock through his jeans. He felt so hard and long beneath her hand. Was it only yesterday that he'd given her the most incredible orgasm she'd ever had? So much had happened in the last three days that her head spun with it. But she knew this was right. Everything about Dare was right.

"Get naked." She pulled away from his kiss, and she was so turned on she could barely speak. "I want to see you with nothing on."

Dare didn't stop looking at her as he eased off the bed. He unsnapped his Western shirt and flung it onto the floor, and she sighed. His smooth chest was marred only by the large scar on the front of his right shoulder, and she wondered how he'd gotten it.

His biceps flexed with every movement he made as he unhooked his belt and whipped it out of the belt loops. He held both ends together and snapped the belt on his hand. He had a wicked look in his dark eyes. "You do know that if you're a bad girl I'll have to punish you?"

Lyra raised her brows. "Do I get to spank you if you're a bad boy?"

He laughed and tossed the belt aside. "Guess that puts us at a stalemate."

She smiled and watched him toe off his boots, then take his socks off. "You know you're taking too long."

The look in his eyes darkened. She bit her lower lip as he shimmied out of his jeans.

His erection was a hard outline against his white briefs. The moment he pulled his briefs down, his cock sprang out, long and hard. Big enough that she worried if he would fit inside her.

When he was completely naked she took a moment to study him. He was so large and powerful she actually felt small in comparison, and she'd never felt small before.

His movements were smooth as he eased onto the bed beside her so that they were facing each other. "You're beautiful," he said as he trailed his fingertips along her waist to her hip. "The moment I saw you walking up your stairs carrying those groceries, something twisted in my gut."

She couldn't help but tease him. "Then you got a faceful of pepper spray."

Dare grinned, but it vanished as he clamped his hand on her ass and pressed himself so tightly against her that his erection dug into her belly, and her breasts were smashed against his chest. A frisson of fear mixed with excitement caused her to shiver. How bad would it hurt?