Karma (7 page)

“That’s better,” Faith said, oblivious to Liza’s runaway hormones. “Now just in case not everyone knows names, Liza, this is Dr. Alexa Collins.” Faith pointed to the auburn-haired woman. “And these are Officers Sam Marsden, Cara Hartley, and Dare Barron. Who also happens to be my brother-in-law. Everyone meet Liza.”

“Nice to meet you all,” she said politely.

“Likewise,” Cara said, watching Liza intently over the rim of her drink.

“Happy to have another woman among these Neanderthals,” Alexa added with a welcoming smile.

Thankfully neither Sam nor Dare mentioned how they knew her. And nobody mentioned Brian.

“Now that that’s over with, what were we talking about?” Faith asked.

The topic turned from one subject to another and Dare leaned in close to Liza, but he didn’t say a word, as if waiting for her to talk first.

“We really have to stop meeting like this,” she blurted out.

Dare, his head close to hers, merely grinned. “Really? Why is that? I kind of like seeing you outside of the station.” His warm breath fanned her ear, and Liza’s stomach churned with unsettling emotion.

“Dare, did you hear Tess has been asking for a puppy?” Kelly asked, obviously unaware she was interrupting a moment.

“I’m glad it’s their problem,” Dare said, and soon they’d launched into a discussion of a rambunctious destructive puppy in the huge mansion.

Liza didn’t know how Dare held on to the thread of conversation. For her, time passed in a haze because he sat so close his hard thigh kept brushing hers. If she shifted away, somehow he’d move and end up touching her again.

Not that he seemed affected by her closeness in the least. He carried on conversation with his friends and family, never losing his train of thought, never uncomfortable or at a loss for words.

They all seemed happy enough to have Liza there, but she wasn’t really a part of their world and she envied their easy banter and closeness. And though she appreciated the fact that they’d included her, she knew she’d never really belong.

She never had.

Since she’d already bought everyone a round of drinks and fund-raising discussion wasn’t going to happen, Liza reached for her purse on the floor and rose.

“Where are you going?” Faith asked, sounding upset she was ready to leave.

“I need to get home. I have work,” Liza lied.

Dare immediately stood. “I’ll walk you out.”

She shook her head. “You don’t need to do that. Stay with your friends.”

He grasped her elbow. “I know I don’t need to. I want to.”

All the breath left her body in a rush of air.

Good-byes were said. Plans were made to meet up next week for the fund-raiser, but if they’d chosen a day, Liza wouldn’t remember it.

At that moment, Dare’s hand on her arm as he escorted her outside was the only thing that mattered.

Liza rushed through the crowd, her exit faster than her entrance had been. Dare was right behind her, his hand on her arm, but she didn’t stop. She needed the open space and fresh air where she could think more clearly without his body heat so close it suffocated her. And not in a bad way.

No sooner had they reached the sidewalk, the noise and buzz from inside the bar receding, than she turned to face him. “I don’t understand you.” She looked into his handsome face.

His expression told her he was clearly confused. “What? That I wanted to walk you out?”

She shook her head. “Since when do you want anything to do with me at all? Before I nearly ran you over yesterday by the park, every conversation we’ve ever had bordered on contentious and mean.” She braced her hands on her hips, knowing the little bit of alcohol she’d had—which she usually stayed away from because of both her own past and her brother’s tendency to overindulge—was responsible for her bold outburst now.

He frowned, obviously not pleased with her at all. “You
are so wrong I don’t know where to begin,” he muttered and did the last thing she’d expected. He extended his hand. “Come with me.”

“Where?” she asked warily.

He again thrust his hand toward her. “Trust me?”

“I don’t trust anyone.” Now why had she said that? She bit the inside of her cheek at the spontaneous admission.

He groaned. “Fine. Surprises are out then. We’re going for ice cream and then we’re going to talk.”

Startled, she blinked. He wanted something as simple and easy as ice cream? “Really?”

“Yeah. Now will you go with me?” he asked, sounding as if he really wanted her company.

She knew she wanted his and that scared her. Spending time talking led to a closeness she normally avoided, especially with men.

But she wanted to try and figure out why he got to her so badly. Maybe she’d get answers. At the very least she’d get fed and she was starving.

So she placed her palm in his.

He stared at their connected hands and shook his head in disbelief.

She knew the feeling, but she couldn’t bring herself to walk away.

“You could’ve told me ice cream was the key,” he muttered as he wrapped his fingers around her hand and led them down the street toward the shop that had been in town longer than she could remember.

They reached the store and bells jingled as they walked inside. “Know what you want?” Dare asked.

She didn’t hesitate. “Mint chocolate chip in a sugar cone.”

“I like a woman who knows her mind.” He winked at her and a flood of warmth washed over her.

He turned to the high school kid who worked behind the counter. “One mint chocolate chip in a sugar cone and one vanilla. Same kind of cone.”

“That’s it? Plain vanilla?” Liza asked.

He shrugged. “What can I say? I’m a simple guy.”

If only that were true, she thought. He might be easier to resist.

He took their cones from the teenager. “Can you hold mine a second?”

Liza nodded and grabbed the desserts.

Dare paid and she decided not to argue about it, and when he was finished, she handed him back his cone. “Thank you,” she said.

“You’re welcome.” His grin was hot enough to melt the ice cream in her hand.

They walked back outside. “Do you want to sit here?” He pointed to a wooden bench on the sidewalk outside.

“Sure.” A hot summer night in Serendipity—they were lucky the bench hadn’t been taken.

For a few minutes, they ate in silence. Liza savored the cool mint in her mouth and snuck glimpses of Dare as he licked and ate the ice cream, unable to control thoughts of him using that mouth and that tongue on her.

She stifled a groan and looked away.

He finished his cone much faster than she had and suddenly he turned toward her, stretching his arm on the bench behind her, his knees touching her thighs. “I never meant for you to think I don’t like you.”

His words took her by surprise. He obviously didn’t believe in easing into a conversation.

Liza swallowed hard. “I never said—”

“You called our past conversations contentious and mean. And you were right.” He glanced down as if embarrassed by the admission. “But when you said you didn’t think I’d want to spend time with you? You’re wrong about that.”

His voice dropped a deep, husky octave and her stomach twisted with pleasure she shouldn’t be feeling. “I understand why we wouldn’t get along. What I don’t get is why…” She trailed off, unwilling to say what she was feeling.

“You don’t get why we’re drawn to each other?” Dare asked, voicing her very thoughts.

She frowned. “That’s creepy. You shouldn’t read people’s minds,” she said, laughing.

He laughed too. “Normally I don’t. I just happen to know exactly what you’re feeling. I don’t get this thing between us either. I just know it exists.” He reached out and twisted the end of her hair between his thumb and forefinger before meeting her gaze. “And until just now, I thought it was one-sided.”

She shook her head, wishing she could deny the truth of his words. “It’s not,” she whispered. It was very mutual.

But, oh, how she wished it wasn’t. Liza kept people at a distance for a reason. Those closest tended to disappoint her or hurt her. Her parents, her brother, and the man who’d taught her how dangerous it was to let people in. Since then, relationships didn’t exist in her life. She didn’t have boyfriends and she didn’t do long term.

She did occasionally have sex. No woman could live without sex. Well, Liza couldn’t. Her life was barren enough with her college pals in the city and nobody here she trusted not to turn her away if Brian got embarrassing enough. Sometimes she needed companionship. Human contact. She hated the term
friends with benefits
, but she had a guy who fit that description who lived in New York City. If it happened, it happened, and neither of them had any expectations beyond that. It helped that Steve had been a friend first and she trusted him as much as she did her girl pals, and that was good enough for her.

But Dare Barron was different.

He stared at her now with those seductive eyes and the pull was strong. Attraction she understood. Attraction was easy, but there was more to this thing between them. She thought about him more often than she should, but that wasn’t all. He slipped past her defenses without even trying. He made her
feel
and very few people in her life managed that feat.

Take tonight. In the short time she’d been at Joe’s Bar, she’d fought a host of feelings that had begun to suffocate her so badly she’d needed to escape. She’d felt alone and out of place, but like simple attraction, those were things she understood. The longing to be a part of the obviously close relationship Dare had with his sisters-in-law and his friends?

That yearning didn’t make sense and it frightened her. Because if she wanted, she became vulnerable. Something she wouldn’t let herself be ever again.

“Watch it,” Dare said, intruding on her thoughts.

“What?”

He reached out with his finger, catching the green ice cream dripping over her cone.

She’d been so lost in thought she’d forgotten all about her dessert. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.” He grinned and licked the minty flavor off his finger.

She knew he didn’t intend the gesture to be sexy, yet she couldn’t tear her gaze from his mouth. A day’s growth of beard shadowed his face, and his lips were just full and firm enough to tease her with possibilities. Arousal suddenly burned inside her.

“You need to stop,” Dare said.

She barely recognized his deep, husky voice, but that didn’t prevent her from asking, “Stop what?”

“Stop looking at me like you want to devour me like you did to that ice cream or…” The glint in his eyes told her what would happen next.

The tone in his voice should have scared her away. Instead, it tempted her beyond reason.

“Or…?” she asked, deliberately tempting him.

“This.” He slipped his hand behind her head. He cupped the back of her neck in his firm hand and captured her mouth in a kiss.

Her eyelids closed and sensation took over. His lips were cool from the ice cream and of course he tasted like mint.
Unable to help herself, she darted her tongue out for a more thorough taste. “Mmm.” She heard the sound, shocked it had come from her.

He tightened his grip around the back of her neck and with a groan, parted his lips and their tongues tangled. No longer cool, his mouth burned with heat. So did her body as she savored the sensations flowing through her, growing in intensity as his tongue swirled back and forth inside her with lazy, seductive strokes.

When was the last time she’d experienced such a powerful kiss? One that took her over and rocked her soul?

Never, she realized, and the thought should have sent her running. Instead, she let out another soft sigh and he responded, swirling his tongue from side to side, learning her, tasting her, making her feel as if he couldn’t get enough. Heaven knew she couldn’t.

But when the sound of voices penetrated her foggy mind, she remembered where they were. Apparently so did he because he broke the kiss, but he didn’t immediately pull away. Instead, he rested his forehead against hers.

The intimate gesture made her breath catch in her throat.

“That answer your question?” he asked, sounding out of breath.

That kiss had scrambled her brains but not so much that she didn’t remember she’d asked him what would happen if she didn’t stop staring.

She shook her head and managed a laugh. “Excellent answer, Officer.”

He sat up straighter and grinned.

Cocky male,
she thought, enjoying him far too much. She glanced down and realized her cone had begun to melt, the sticky ice cream now all over her hand. “I need to throw this out and go inside to wash up.”

He nodded. “I’ll wait here.”

“Okay, I’ll be right back.”

Liza headed inside and Dare used the time to get himself
under control. No way could he stand until he’d talked himself down. Literally.

Ten minutes later, he’d escorted Liza to her car, a sporty convertible that suited her. He intended to go right on upstairs to his apartment until he realized Faith would be wondering what happened.

Better to see her now than to have her come looking for him later. He reached the table and discovered his brothers had joined their wives and the alcohol still flowed. He groaned, wondering if he’d get out of here at a decent hour.

“Dare!” Faith jumped up from her seat and came up beside him. She hooked her arm through his and led him a few steps away from the table.

Ethan shot him an
I pity you
look and Dare wondered how he could get retribution.

“So? How’d it go? Did you two connect?” she asked.

“Do you really think I’d tell you my personal business?” he asked his sister-in-law.

“Of course I do,” she said, not the least bit offended. “And I’ll tell you why. I have Liza’s ear. We’re not just working on the fund-raiser together, we go way back. Which means I know her. I have insight you’re going to need. So instead of waiting until you have to come begging me for information, you share with me and I’ll do the same.” She batted her eyelashes at him in a very unpracticed move.

Faith, for all her teasing now, wasn’t manipulative nor was she nosy. The woman cared about everyone in her life—those she let in anyway. Now that Dare was one of those people, no way would he get off telling her to mind her own business.