Dare To Love Series: Daring to Chance It (Kindle Worlds Novella) (6 page)

Again, his face hardened, and a cold look came into his eyes. “Out of the picture. Completely.”

And don’t ask about it,
was the signal. Oo-kay. Twice she’d asked, and both times, he’d shut her down. To say her curiosity was piqued was an understatement. Tonight, however, wasn’t the time to push it. And if they never saw each other again, it wouldn’t matter diddly squat to her.

Time for a safer topic, so she switched to football.

“Tell me how you came to be with the Thunder,” she urged. “I knew you were a free agent, but I got busy with my new job and lost track after that.”

“Wow.” He drained the rest of his beer. “I would think being part of the Miami Thunder now you’d have picked up on the chatter about it.”

She laughed. “You’d think, right? From Day One, I was running faster than I ever have to catch up. The last in-house counsel got a cherry job and left with very little notice, right at the busiest part of the year.”

As they chatted, she could see the tension easing from his body, and she found herself relaxing. The sound of Beau’s deep, raspy voice still woke up every one of her nerve endings and vibrated deep inside her, the walls of her pussy trembling in response. As if he was unable to stop himself from touching her, he idly rubbed a fingertip across the back of her hand. Actual goose bumps broke out on her arms. A tiny shiver skated the length of her spine.

Damn it! The man still had the ability to push up her thermostat and keep it there.

“So, who
is
in the picture?”

“No one.” His eyes were like twin lasers boring into hers. “Except you.”

She shook her head. This was not how she’d planned for this to go. “Beau, please understand—”

“I do understand,” he broke in. “What I know is that I’ve dreamed about you every single night since I walked out of that hotel room.” His lips curved in a wry grin. “Some days I could hardly walk, I was so busy kicking myself in the ass. Even getting married didn’t get you out of my head. Lacey was a very poor substitute, on so many levels.”

“But—”

He held up a hand. “I’ve been such a fucking fool, Sarah. I don’t know what else to do except throw myself at your feet, but I’m begging you for another chance. Please.”

“Oh, Beau.” She scraped at the label on her beer bottle with a fingernail. “I don’t think—”

“Right,” he broke in. “Don’t think. We have some incredible chemistry here. You have to admit that, right? I screwed it up before, but I promise I won’t do it again if you give me another chance.”

She cocked her head. Damn it, he was chipping away at her long-held anger and resentment. “Is that a fact?”

“It is.” His gaze locked with hers, his look so intent she couldn’t make herself glance away. “Tell you what. Try something with me. Let’s pretend we’re meeting here for the first time and take it from there.” He held out his hand. “Hi. I’m Beau Perini.”

Sarah stared at him for a long moment, wondering if he’d lost his mind. Then, apparently, her brain must have disconnected from her body because she took his hand and shook it.

“Sarah York. Nice to meet you.”

She realized with a shock at that moment it was. No lie. This was not the immature man she’d met six years ago. This man radiated strength and substance, along with a sexual aura that singed her nerve endings. The throb in her pussy had ramped up its steady beat, and her nipples ached for his fingers or his mouth. Unbidden, a memory flashed into her brain of them naked, his cock firmly embedded inside her, pulsing in her hot, slick channel.

And speaking of heat, her entire body suddenly felt as if she’d been dropped into a furnace. This was the same reaction she’d had to this man six years ago. Apparently, his effect on her hadn’t diminished with time. Okay, then. What if all they had between them was hot, sweaty sex? Maybe she should go for it and get it out of her system once and for all.

Maybe you should wait until you’re asked. But didn’t he practically do that?

But the drinks had relaxed her, and Beau was obviously on a campaign. Could she let down her guard and give herself over to the pleasure she knew was waiting for her? At least, this time, she’d have her eyes wide open.

“That’s some mighty heavy thinking.” His husky voice broke into her reverie. “Care to tell me about it? I’d love to think it’s about me.”

“And if it is?” she teased.

“Then I say let’s discuss it further over dinner.”

“Dinner?” Sarah looked at her watch. Lordy. It was eight o’clock. Where had the hour slipped away to?

“You know. The meal people usually eat at the end of the day.”

She used to know about it. For the past three weeks, hers had consisted of takeout picked up late on her way home.

“Oh, um. Yes. Well.” Don’t beat around the bush, she told herself. Go into this with your eyes wide open and enjoy the best sex of your life. When it’s over, it’s over. Nothing to worry about but good memories. “Okay, dinner. That sounds good.”

The grin he flashed her showed his white, even teeth, and his eyes sparkled with humor. “I was beginning to think my charm had deserted me.”

“Oh, trust me. It’s all there. In spades.” She hadn’t meant to say that, not quite so bluntly.

Beau winked. “Good to know.” He signaled for the waiter. “Let me settle our tab here and we can move into the dining room.” He paused. “This place okay with you?”

“It’s fine. I’ve heard good things about it from the people at the office.”

“Okay. I’ll get us set up.”

As he walked away to get to the hostess, she couldn’t take her eyes off his most excellent ass, the tightening of muscles as he moved. She remembered what it was like to dig her fingernails into them and make him scream as he pumped into her pussy.

Hell!

Sarah squirmed in the seat. She hoped there wouldn’t be a wet spot on the cushion when she moved out of the booth. She was doubly glad she’d worn dark slacks so any moisture wouldn’t show because she could already feel it soaking her panties. She drained the last of her beer before rolling the cold glass against her heated face. How had this happened? She’d come here to settle things once and for all so she could move on with her life, and now she couldn’t wait to climb into bed with him again.

But it will be so worthwhile.

And this time she had no expectations.

*****

When they were seated in the dining room, Beau noted Sarah switched her drink to iced tea, so he did the same.

“You don’t have to change because I did,” she pointed out.

He shrugged. “Two beers were plenty for me. I’m good.”

And he was, in more ways than one. He’d just spent more than an hour in a dark corner booth with the woman of his dreams. What could be better than that except to take her to bed, something he hoped to accomplish before too long, but not tonight. No, this time he was going to do it right. He had a sense she was doing this to get him out of her system. Well, there was no getting
her
out of
his
system, so it was up to him to make sure this thing stayed on track.

He deliberately pushed any obstacles from his mind. Tomorrow, he planned to call his attorney and have him contact Lacey’s attorney. The message? Stay out of my life, or I’ll go to court and renegotiate the financial agreement. He was iffy about introducing Sarah to Toby until he saw where this thing was going. Because, no matter how horny he was, his son came first.

Still, he hoped that maybe with Sarah—

Cart before horse, much?

He hadn’t expected dinner to be an erotic experience, but then he’d never eaten a meal with Sarah, either. He couldn’t seem to stop staring at her. The gorgeous auburn hair he remembered running his fingers through, remembered the feel of it brushing against his chest, was deeper and darker than it had been, the highlights glinting in the soft light of the restaurant. It was a little longer than he remembered, and now she wore it swept back from her face.

Her eyes were an even more brilliant green, if possible, deep emerald pools that he found himself getting lost in. Her face was a little thinner, and he wondered if it was nothing more than the refining and honing as time passed or if the six years in Chicago had been more stressful than she’d admit. He had to confess he liked the look, though, the sharper cheekbones and a tiny dimple at the corner of her mouth he didn’t remember from before.

The silk of her blouse lay softly against the full roundness of her breasts. Beau had to fist his hands beneath the table to keep from reaching across and touching them. That would put a smackdown on this reunion for sure.

Jesus, Perini. You’ve got it bad.

He certainly did, and always had. He couldn’t get away from it any longer. Tonight suddenly became even more important.

His gaze focused intently on her as he watched her use her knife and fork with her very graceful fingers. He was fascinated by the play of muscles in her face and throat as she delicately chewed and swallowed each bite of food, or took a dainty sip of her iced tea. His attention was so riveted on her he almost forget to eat. When she closed her lips over the tines of her fork, he had an instant memory of those same plump, luscious lips closing around his cock. Painful need shot straight to his groin.

“Do I have food on my face?” Sarah’s question interrupted his sensuous reverie.

He blinked his eyes and realized she was staring at him with an expression of curiosity.

“Uh, no. Your face looks fine.”
Very lame, Perini.
“Actually, you have a very beautiful face. I could spend hours looking at it.”

Sarah set her fork down on her plate, leaned back in her chair, and laughed.

Something tightly coiled inside him slowly unwound. Could he get credit for the effort he was making?

She gave another soft laugh. “I’ll say this for you, Perini. You get credit for trying.”

Credit for trying?
He heard his inner thoughts repeated back to him.

Holy crap! Did she just read my mind?

He grinned at her. “How much credit do I get? Enough so you can forgive me for being such an asshole?”

“Maybe.” She shrugged, a nonchalant gesture even as a smile teased at the corners of her mouth.

Again, she studied him. He wished he knew exactly what she saw with all these piercing, deep looks she was giving him.

“I’ll think about it,” she finally said. “But if you want to earn extra points, you’ll order the Double Triple Chocolate Cake for dessert.” She gave him a mischievous grin. “To share.”

He wouldn’t have been so eager to please her if he’d known what torture it would be eating that cake with her. Each time she broke off a piece with her fork and carried it to her mouth, he got lost in watching her delicate mouth open to receive the morsel. In seeing those very kissable lips as they closed over the smooth tines of the fork, pulling the tasty morsel into her hot, wet mouth. His cock swelled, threatening to burst through his fly as he remembered again the feel of those lips closing around his hungry cock. When she licked the frosting from the fork, swirling her tongue around it, he could only think about how it felt when that same tongue swirled around his shaft.

He noticed a tiny spot of chocolate clinging to her bottom lip. He could have dabbed it with his napkin, but instead he chose to swipe it with his thumb. God, her lips were so soft. He wanted to pull her across the table and plant one on her that took her breath away.

Instead, he slowly licked the smear of chocolate from his thumb, never taking his eyes from her. That’s how he caught the flicker of heat in her eyes and the fluttering of her pulse at the hollow of her throat.

Jesus!

He caught the eye of the waiter and signaled him for a refill on his iced tea. Then he picked up the glass and drank the whole thing down without stopping, hoping it would lower his body temperature and cool his cock enough to allow him to walk out of here without embarrassing himself.

When he glanced over at Sarah again, she was doing her best not to break out in a grin. She knew exactly what was happening to him. The witch! But better that than the hostility she’d walked in with. Getting her to this point had not been easy, but he’d do it ten times over if she’d be willing to give them a fresh start.

By the time he paid the bill, he was in better shape to get up from the table, thank the lord. He laid his hand on the small of Sarah’s back as they walked out, the bottom edge of it resting lightly at the top curve of her very, very excellent ass. Did she sway a little more than usual, or was he imagining things?

Minx!

“Well, this is it.” She stopped beside a cherry-red convertible with the top down.

“Whoa!” He stared at the gleaming funmobile. “Acquired for Florida?”

“Certainly not for Illinois winters.” She leaned against the door. “Like it?”

“Like doesn’t even begin to describe how I feel.” He ran his hand along the paneling. “How does she ride?”

“
He
rides like a dream.” She shook her head. “Why do men always assume their cars are female?” Then she waved a hand back and forth. “Never mind. I don’t think I want to know.” She tossed her purse into the car. “Thanks so much for dinner, Beau. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it.”