Dare To Love Series: Icy Dare (Kindle Worlds Novella) (4 page)

She stared at him, still completely naked and holding a pair of handcuffs. Lord help her, this could be something so wonderful. She narrowed her eyes and began stripping. Her clothes may be already soaked, but they didn’t need another washing.

“Fine.”

He snapped the cuff around her left wrist, raking his gaze over her body with hunger as his cock began to rise.

“Let’s go get cleaned up.”

He drew her into the large shower and put her in the water. She moaned and relished the drumming of the heated water pellets on her skin. She’d forgotten how cold she’d actually been out in the rain.

Eventually, the warmth sank into her. He moved her to the side and got himself under the spray before reaching for the soap. She squeezed her eyes shut as he began washing himself. This wasn’t fair for her to see. Hell, all she longed to do was touch him, explore, and see whatever came up after.

Her eyes dropped to his groin. Up. That was exactly what his cock was doing. Pointing up.

Lord give me strength.

Someone needed to.

After ten of the longest minutes ever, they both stood in the main room, towels around them as their clothes dried. She kept her back to him as much as she could, determined to ignore the handsome and definitely sexy man beside her.

“Why won’t you let your brother help you out?”

“He’s my half-brother. And I don’t have any clue why he won’t trust that I can do this myself.”

“From what I am told, he’s very concerned. Enough so that he’s been benched for lack of concentration. His coach talked to him, and that conversation went a bit higher up. Then, I was brought in.”

“Higher up. As in who, the Dares? I hardly think my brother or I rate their radar.”

He sat her on the bed. “Look, I don’t know the Dares who own the Miami Thunder. I do know Tyler, who’s related to Ian—brothers. And, while I don’t know them, Tyler I trust with my life. He’s the one who called me. He’s the one who asked for my help.”

She readjusted the towel, which had begun to slip. “So, you don’t know these guys but since their brother asks, you drop everything and come out here? And trust that they aren’t the ones who are with the guy who is after me?”

“Tyler owns a protection company. He’s not a man who will be working for scum. I trust him, and if he comes to me, I’ll go.”

She lifted her head and tucked some hair behind her ear. “You two served together? Is that why you speak of him how you do?”

Shadows crossed over Dorian’s face. “He saved my life. I’m indebted to him. He asked, and I came.”

She glanced at the silver on her wrist. Maybe it was time to grow up and stop running. “If I promise to go back with you, can you take these off me?”

He turned his head, gray-blue eyes suspicious. “All of a sudden you’re willing to behave and come nicely?”

“Look, I’ve been running for near two years. I think you’re right; I should be able to face my issues. Or rather,
his
, issues. I’ve acted like a child. I can admit that. Always claiming the need to be on my own because my mother left me with my father to go be with Louis’ father.” She shook her head. “He’s only trying to help. As are you. Besides, who’s to say Clay is still after me?”

“Your voice said so just now. That’s the reason you keep moving around and haven’t had a place to live that doesn’t come with its own live-in bugs.”

“Don’t get snooty. I may have not lived in the lap of luxury, but I got to learn a lot about many different things. Cars. Guns. Medical. Animals. Drinks.”

“You are a unique woman. Tell me about Clay.” Dorian drew her closer to him as they lay back on the bed.

She ground her teeth and focused herself to relax. Dorian linked their fingers together on the hands they were cuffed to one another. This was odd for her. Simply touching another. Stretched out as they were, clad only by towels, and with the passion between them, one would think they would be burning up the sheets, yet she was content lying there. Holding his hand.

“He was at a practice when Louis had first signed with the Thunder. During a break, Louis came over to talk to me, and that’s when Clay first began talking to me. I was stupid and assumed it was because he actually liked me, not to get closer to my brother. However, it didn’t take me long to figure it all out, and I tried to break it off with him.”

“Tried?”

“Some guys don’t like the word no.” She shifted closer to Dorian’s heat as the windows shook from the force of the pounding rain. “He continued to show up at work and in my classes. Restraining orders were ignored, as were my accounts to the cops. I realized after a while that Clay had some friends on the force.”

“So, he’s a cop?”

“No, he didn’t amount to anything,”—condemnation lined her tone—“but some of his frat boys are. And it never failed on where I went; he always seemed to locate me. So, Sakharre died, and Carla came to life. I don’t use credit cards, and I never do anything to put myself on the radar.”

“So, what made you change your mind?”

His thumb rubbed along the back of her hand, and the simple action calmed her.

“Like I said. Time to grow up.” Her insides were a wreck, but she couldn’t very well continue to do things while her brother might be at risk of losing his job because he worried about her. Despite her attempts to keep him at bay, he’d done all he could to keep them close. “Let me call Louis and tell him I’m on the way.” She sat up and tugged on the cuff. “If you’ll let me go.”

Together, they went to where Dorian had left the key, and he separated them. “Let’s go, then.”

“Unlike you, I’m not about to go outside in my birthday suit. I want clothes, even if they are soaking wet.” She walked away to the bathroom and shrugged into her wet attire. Dorian had dressed by the time she left the room.

He sat on the edge of a dresser, ankles hooked as he crossed his arms, stretching the blue material of his shirt. Her heart skipped a few beats as she took him in. Even when she’d hung out with her brother at practice, she hadn’t seen men like this. Sure, a great many of the Miami Thunder players were handsome, but Dorian had this wild animal magnetism about him she couldn’t seem to resist.

Call it like a moth to a flame or whatever cliché came quickest to mind, but that was his effect on her. She rubbed her hands on her thighs before crossing the room to his side. “I need to get a burner to call Louis, so he can stop worrying and get back to doing what he’s getting an obscene amount of money for.”

“You don’t approve of what he’s doing.”

Dorian didn’t pose it as a question but made it a statement.

“I actually have no opinion on it one way or the other. I’m his sister, not his mother.”

He drew her between his thighs and slipped his hands around her waist. “First, you called him your half-brother, and now, you imply he’s a full sibling.”

She shrugged, tensing. “What difference does it make? We’re related.” Her response was nearly defensive.

“Just making an observation.”

“Well, stop. Unless I can do the same and ask you about what memory makes you so angry when you think about the time you had in the military. Or how you’re desperately trying to ignore the call of alcohol. Or limit what you take in.” He scowled. “Yeah, that’s right, big guy. I can make observations, as well. I watched you in the bar.”

His stare would have sent her cowering to a corner had she not seen it before on some of the vets she’d met working many of her odd jobs. Even so, it wasn’t anything to disregard. This man was more capable than she’d given him credit for, and it would behoove her to remember that bit of information.

“Ready?”

“Not like I had much,” she said. “Are we driving a hotwired car all the way back to—”

She clamped her lips together as, right before her eyes, he changed. Every fiber in his being went rigid, and he had his gun in hand. Hell, she’d not even known he had one on him. Much less saw him draw it.

He pointed to the floor, and she flattened herself on it immediately.

“Stay away from the windows and door.” His tone low and businesslike.

She slithered to the bed and wedged herself beneath it best she could while keeping her eyes on him. He had a weapon in each hand, and she shook her head. This was beginning to be too much like the movies where the hero got blown to hell defending the woman.

A strangled laugh slid free. She was far from the woman to be protected, and it’s not like he cared about her.
I’m a job to him.

She heard footsteps. They echoed on the steps, and she tensed. Glass shattered, and something thudded on the wood floor.

“Close your eyes,” Dorian cried.

She didn’t hesitate, just ducked her head and squeezed her eyes shut. A loud bang filled the air, followed by sharp, static bursts. Gunfire. Fear crept up her spine, anchoring her to the floor.

With objects splintering apart around her, she tried to slow her breathing. Tried being the operative word. It wasn’t working.

Her stint at the gun range had been extremely educational. She’d not only learned to identify different gunshot sounds but had witnessed the destruction such calibers could and did deliver to their targets.
This explains why I’m cowering on the floor, praying for my life.

“Move!”

Dorian damn near lifted her with one hand on the back of her sodden shirt as he propelled them toward the broken window and half-tossed her through. She scrambled the rest of the way, ignoring the glass stabbing her in the palms.

“Car. Start it,” he shouted over his return fire.

She glanced around to grab her bearings then hauled ass for the orange and white Monza, launching her bag in the passenger seat as she immediately began to hotwire the vehicle. The engine roared to life, and she sat up, shoving the car into gear and whipping a bunch of mud and dirt out behind her as she spun off in a different direction.

Dorian ran from the side of the cabin and slid across the hood in a move Bo Duke would have been envious of and climbed in the passenger seat. “Go. Go. Go!”

She went, the car shooting like a rocket between the larger, heavier SUVs and trucks. The backend fishtailed as she struggled to keep control as they reached the road. Once there, she accelerated and jetted away from the scene.

“You okay?” he asked.

Both hands on the wheel held it tight enough her knuckles were white. “Peachy.” The tires squealed as she took them around another corner. Checking the rearview, she held her breath against the fact she’d yet to see anyone following them. “Just fucking peachy.”

Chapter Four

Dorian stared at the woman reclining in the seat beside him. They’d switched vehicles—the orange Monza too much of a stand out—and, now, were in an older model Crown Vic. One she’s also hotwired.

“You keep looking over at me,” she muttered. “Am I snoring?”

“No,” he said. “Just trying to figure you out. What were you studying at the university?”

“Interactive Media. I was going for my Master of Fine Arts.”

“And that would mean?”

“I work with technology.” She shrugged, shifting slightly in the seat while she turned to face him more. “Mostly I work with new technology and work with data. Or rather, I used to. When Clay began bothering me, I lost my concentration on most everything. I was scared and ran.”

“Since then, you’ve done all kinds of work.”

She yawned. “Yep.”

Dorian wasn’t sure he quite believed she wouldn’t make another escape attempt, but apparently, those men at the cabin had scared her more than he’d thought, considering hours before that he’d rescued her from kidnappers. She’d not made a single attempt to escape him and worked with him. If he could just eliminate the fear she desperately tried to conceal from him in her big brown gaze.

“And the ones who took you from the bus station, it wasn’t him?”

“I thought so at first, but that really didn’t seem to be Clay’s style. However, people change. When they talked about selling me into slavery, I really didn’t think it was him. He wanted me for himself, not to sell to someone else.”

“What’s Clay’s last name?”

She rubbed her arms. Almost as if she was attempting to ward off the chill. The wipers on the car moved fast and, yet, still couldn’t keep up with the rain.
Are we in the middle of a monsoon?
He’d not seen rain like this in a while.

“Thomas. His last name is Thomas.” Sakharre tugged the blanket up around her shoulders and closed her eyes. Moments later, she was, once again, sound asleep.

He drove a few more hours before grabbing them a hotel room in Boise. He’d just hung up the phone from talking to Tyler when she stirred awake on the bed. He shoved his phone back in his pocket and walked toward her.

She yawned behind her hand as she pushed to a sitting position. “Where are we?”

“Boise.”

“Still raining?”

“Actually, it’s turned into snow. I decided to stop.” He cleared his throat and pointed to the chair by the bed. “I got you some more clothing. Thought you may want to change out of those.”

“And should I ask how you know my size?” She swung her legs to the floor.

It wasn’t difficult to pick up on her discomfort with the thought. He stood before her. “Really? After the night we shared? You want to ask me that?”

“You mean with the gunfire?”

He tipped up her chin. Merely touching her skin pumping lust through him. “No, babe. I said night. Not the day. The night. You know, the time when you were screaming my name as I licked you from head to toe. When your nails dug into my back, ripping skin and drawing blood. The way you reacted with my tongue or my fingers on your clit.” He leaned closer, loving the way her pupils dilated and her breathing hitched.

“When I had my dick so far inside you, I could feel your heartbeat. The times you orgasmed.” He tucked some hair behind her ear. “I remember four. But I think there may have been more.”

Her whimper couldn’t be contained, and he smiled, pressing her back until she lay beneath him. “Yes, that night. After all that time exploring your body, do you really think I won’t know the size? I held your breasts in my hands, and trust me when I say I know the size. I gripped your hips and your waist as I fucked you. Trust me, I know your measurements.”

The heat in her eyes faded. “So, it’s a trick you do with the women you fuck. Congratulations.” She dampened her lips before pushing on his chest. “I’d like to get up please.”

He let her go, watching her through narrowed eyes as she vanished into the bathroom with the clothes he’d gotten while she lay crashed on the bed. There was a shopping center not far from here.

His dick was so hard it threatened to punch free of his jeans. He didn’t understand her. Why would she want distance? They were good together. Amazingly hot. No, she wasn’t stick thin; she had curves. And he loved them. Her large breasts and how they overflowed his hands. How they moved when she rode him like a pro.

“Damn,” he swore as his pants threatened to cut off his cock. He readjusted himself and made his way to the bathroom, tugging his shirt off as he went.

He stood there for a moment in the bathroom and watched her, hands on the waist of his pants. Her naked body glistened from the water she stood beneath. She had her head tipped back, and as she wiped the water from her face, she jumped at the sight of him there.

“I’m showering,” she sputtered.

“I see that.” He undid the button on his jeans. Her gaze riveted to him as he lowered the zipper. “I’m joining you.”

She covered herself, and he shook his head while shoving down his jeans, dick springing free to stand proud and thick.

“I’ve seen it all,” he said, gripping the base of his painfully hard cock. “Stop hiding yourself from me.” He stroked himself and walked toward the door separating him from her.

The heat hit him as he opened it and stepped in. As did the scent of her body. The hotel had some nice aromatherapy bottles, and it was obvious she’d used one of them.

“Don’t you have some thin girl to go after?”

“Is that what this is about?” He shook his head. Dorian backed her to the wall and winced slightly as the water pelted him.
Damn, she liked it hot.

He dipped his head, claiming her mouth. Cupping her core, he pushed two fingers inside her heat. She gasped, opening enough so he could slide his tongue into her, even as she rose up on her toes. Pumping his wrist, he fucked her with his fingers. She came hard, coating him, but he didn’t stop.

“Make no mistake,” he growled against her plump lips, still deep inside her wetness. “I love every curve you have.” He slipped in another finger.

“Oh shit,” she cried, hand smacking him in the shoulder before she dug her nails in. She dropped and ground on him, taking him in as deep as she could.

“Tell me you understand that, and you won’t hide yourself from me, again.”

When she didn’t answer, he stopped pistioning his fingers. She grumbled and snapped her gaze to his.

“Tell me,” he reiterated.

“Right,” she said. “Whatever.”

“No, not whatever.” He moved his fingers again, loving how her body clenched his. With his free hand, he pinched her nipple, pleased when her back arched, pushing more of her breast into his palm. “You are a beautiful and sexy woman. Surely you see that.”

“I’m the one who’s introduced to potential dates as, well, she’s really nice or smart.” She bent her knees, bringing his fingers farther within her. “I don’t want to analyze this. I want to feel.”

“Feel? My fingers? My dick? What do you want to feel?”

He tweaked her nipple again, and she shuddered, her slick walls tightening around his fingers. He wanted that around his cock. Body used to the heated water now, he longed to fuck her until neither of them had the energy to stand. He thrust again with his digits and ate her moan.

“Fuck me,” she panted.

Yeah, he had the same idea. Replacing his fingers with his cock, he slammed deep inside her with one stroke. He lifted her so their mouths were even and began pumping his hips. She hooked her legs around his waist, taking what he gave. Her breasts jiggled, an erotic sight all their own, and her cries grew with each second.

He wasn’t sure how long he was going to last doing this, but damn it all, he wanted her to come on his cock. Wanted to feel her internal muscles clenching him as they rippled around him. Longed to have her cry out his name as that pinnacle was scaled.

Talk ceased as he pounded into her. Her body matching his for the passion and speed. They didn’t leave until the water had turned cool; even then, it was still a delayed reaction. She appeared soft and sleepy as he looked down at her while reaching out to shut off the water.

“You look like you could use a nap.”

“At least one.” She began to unhook her legs, but he shook his head at her.

“Stay there. I’m carrying you to bed where we’re going to begin, again. I want you on top, breasts in my face, so I can suckle on them while I’m buried in you.”

She tightened her hold and licked at his lower lip. “I really need to stay away from you.”

“And?”

She wrapped her arms around his neck. “Just an observation.”

“And a wrong one.” He cupped her ass and stepped from the shower, carrying her to the bed where he laid her back before rolling them over so she was on top. “Definitely a wrong one.”

Sakharre rose above him, breasts hanging over his mouth, and he took one, grazing the nipple with his teeth as he grew harder inside her. She ground on him even as she moved his hands up over his head and said, “Stay like that.”

He wanted to tie her up, not the other way around, but hell, this way worked for him. He was willing to be at her mercy, for a while. She rotated her hips, and he grunted. Oh yeah, this will work for a while.

When they stopped, she slumped over on his chest, hearts pounding at a high rate and bodies were again sweaty. He liked her weight on him. Hell, he liked her with him. Her arms lay stretched out along his, and her face was buried in the small of his neck.

With a gentle kiss to her temple, he sighed, allowing his lids to close, as a cloud of contentment swirled around him. A feeling in the past he would have run from without looking back.

αβ

“What did your brother say?”

Dorian leaned against the doorjamb to the bathroom, clad only in a worn pair of low-riding jeans.

“A bit of this and that.” Sakharre stared at her hands as she twisted them in the burgundy flowered bedding covering the foot of bed.

“Something interesting on the bedspread?”

She kept her gaze steadfast on the yellow flower. “He said Coach Carter spoke with him. Told him about Tyler.” She lifted her head and met his stare. “And you.”

“Let me guess. He hates the idea of us being together.”

Truthfully, Dorian didn’t look all put out with his statement. More amused than anything. Again, she diverted her attention to something other than his broad chest.

A chest she’d licked warm honey off while he’d been cuffed to the headboard. Her clit throbbed, and she bit back her whimper as she struggled not to shift on the bed. That had ended with her in silver, screaming his name to the ceiling as he showed her new ways to enjoy chocolate syrup.

“He’s trying to be protective.” She sighed, curling her toes in the socks on her feet. “Be the big brother he wasn’t.”

“It’s cute. If I had a sister, I’d be the same way.”

“Cute?” She met his gaze. “My brother is six-eight, well over three hundred pounds. Cute isn’t a word I would use to describe Louis.”

“Then, there’s no reason for him to be upset, right?”

“Exactly.” She cocked an eyebrow. “There’s nothing between us.” She cleared her throat when he tilted his head to the left. “I mean anything aside from passion. Nothing as in nothing permanent.” Lord, she was babbling. His expression didn’t put her at ease. Sakharre cleared her throat. “He didn’t mention the kidnapping. Am I to assume Mr. Dare didn’t mention it to him?”

Dorian scratched his chest as he walked across the room to her. “The point was to get your brother to forget what was bothering him. Not to add to it.” He sat on the mattress edge and fell back, his head by her thigh. “Tyler, on the other hand, was extremely interested in the kidnapping.”

Dorian readjusted, settling his head in her lap. Without much thought, she ran her fingers through his hair. Silky.

“Why?”

“Can’t say. He was also interested in Clay. Said he’d look into him and see what he could shake out.”

“And?” Her hand stilled, and he moved it to his lips where he kissed her palm.

“I’m going to get you back. When we’re in Miami, he’ll put a detail—”

“No.” Her body went rigid at the thought.

He gazed at her. “No? It won’t take long for them to round him up. Hell, it may even be done before we get back.”

“I’m not allowing more men to follow me around. I left for that reason to begin with.”

“You left because you were in danger. Now, you’ll be protected.”

“Then, you do it,” she snapped. “They can call me when he’s gone. I have no desire to expose myself to the shit storm that would trail Clay being arrested. Until then, I’ll fly below the radar. Well below.” Her body, racked with tremors, wouldn’t calm no matter how much she tried.

“Why do you say that?”

“Because he has cop friends, and they could easily make my life a worse hell than being on the run.”

He was silent for a moment before he switched their positions, so her head lay in his lap. She stared up at him, shocked at how fast he moved.