Out of Control (Untamed #2) (15 page)

And then she laughed—this tinkling, high-pitched giggle she only used when she was kissing up to donors and politicians. If this wasn’t a sign that she’d lost her freaking mind…

“Oh, Reagan! I miss your sparkling sense of humor.”

Yeah, right. She hated my sense of humor with a passion. Had often referred to my sarcasm as “sickeningly inappropriate.”

I clenched my fingers around the phone. “Is there something you need?”

“Why would you think that?” My mother had a gift for sounding wounded. “I was simply calling to see how you were doing—as I have been
for weeks
—and ask if you had anything to tell me.”

“What exactly do you want to hear about? How my gallery work is going? It’s great, actually. Thanks for asking.”

“Oh, Reagan. You cannot still be serious about that, can you? You know, you can still go to Harvard in the fall. Your father contacted them right away to hold your spot.”

“
What?!
I told them I wasn’t coming.”

“I know. And that was awfully rash of you. We should all get together—you, Archer, your father, and I—to talk about it. Your future is too important.”

What the fuck did Archer have to do with my future?

She wasn’t making any sense. “Mother, what do you REALLY want?”

“Look at the time! I have got to run. Your father and I are hosting a dinner tonight and I must get to my stylist.
Au revoir
.” She hung up before I could say anything else.

I stared at my phone for a moment, my mouth hanging open as I tried to make sense of the bizarre call. My mother was mixing meds, no doubt about it.

“Everything okay?” Archer asked.

I frowned at him. “My mother didn’t ask about Paris or try to talk me into coming home. Instead, she wanted to talk about you and the dinner reservations you made. Why is that, Arch?”

His eyes widened for just a moment, but then he simply shrugged. “Sounds like someone took too many happy pills.”

“You’ve been talking to her behind my back. She sent you here, didn’t she.” It wasn’t a question—I already knew the answer.

“Just to ensure you’re all right,” he said as he reached for my hands. I pulled them off the table and placed them in my lap. “Your parents have been worried, Reagan.”

I scoffed. “Not about me! They’re worried for themselves. And how my little escape from the McKinley clutches could mess with
their
plans.”

“Yeah, but—”

“Forget it.” I shook my head. “I’m in Paris. I officially don’t want to think about my mother anymore. Just don’t be her spy, okay? Don’t do that to me. You’re my friend, don’t be my Benedict fucking Arnold. I don’t care if I suddenly find myself in the middle of a freaking
Taken
plot. Don’t talk to my parents about me. That’s not a request.”

“Okay, I won’t. Scout’s Honor.” He saluted me and laughed, but when he stood up and came over to pull my chair out, he looked…off.

I glanced up at him. “You all right?”

His mask slipped back into place and he aimed a dazzling smile at me. “Perfect as always.”

I was about to retort that
perfect
was not the word I’d choose to describe this moment, but something in his expression stopped me. So I said nothing.

As we walked out to the lobby of the hotel, he tried to talk me into going up to his suite, but I begged off.

Dinner was over, I’d fulfilled my friendly obligation, and I could feel Dare waiting for me on the other side of the Seine.

Hopefully.

sixteen

T
he streets of Paris sparkled with lights, but I took no notice as I hurried back to Dare’s apartment, my heart hammering more from nervousness than exertion. I didn’t even bother going back to my place first to change; I just knocked on his door as soon as I reached the top of the steps.

The door flew open and Dare stood before me, shirtless, towel in hand, his jeans hanging low. I drank him in, tan skin stretched over the muscular terrain of his torso, all jagged mountains and smooth valleys. He was so fucking beautiful. Archer may have been picture perfect, but Dare was living and breathing art. Sensual. Powerful. Erotic.

He glared at me for a moment, his eyes narrowed as he took in my wild hair and slinky dress. Then he opened the door wider to let me in, and I stepped past him. When he shut it, I turned to tell him how sorry I was about this evening, but he was suddenly right there, inches away, rendering me speechless.

We stared at each other in silence for a moment, the air between us so charged it was practically crackling. The pull of Dare was so strong it was a wonder I was able to stand on my own.

“Are you and he…?” His eyes were dark, fathomless.

“NO,” I said, shaking my head. “
No
.”

“Because it seemed like—”

“It’s not.”

His gaze slid to my lips and I held my breath.

“He’s from
your
world,” he said.

“It’s not my world anymore. I’m out. TOTALLY out.”

“It didn’t look like it.”

“I am. I sw—”

Before I even finished speaking he descended on me, his hands grasping my face, his mouth crashing into mine as he pushed me back, pressing me hard against the door.

His hands slid down the sides of my body until he reached the hem of my dress and tugged the slippery fabric up over my hips. Then he grabbed the waist of my lace thong in both hands, tearing it completely off of me.

I had never been more turned on by the sound of ripping fabric.

He threw the ruined panties behind him as I wrapped my legs around his waist. He cupped my bare ass in his hands, lifting me higher, pushing me harder against the door, opening me wider. I rubbed myself against him, begging for him to take me.

Roughly pulling my dress over my head, Dare broke our kiss only to free the fabric and toss it aside. His hands sought my breasts, his fingers teasing my nipples to hard, tingling buds. I raked my nails over his back, digging into his hard muscles as he took one nipple into his mouth and sucked on it until I was a moaning, writhing puddle of pure desire.

He kissed me again, hooking his hands behind my knees and carried me, naked and wrapped around him, to the couch. As he laid me down on the cushions, covering my body with his much larger one, he blazed a trail of kisses up my jawline and down my neck to my chest.

One hand wove into my hair while his other slid down to my thigh, pulling it up and to the side, completely exposing me to him. Liquid heat blazed in his eyes, and he let out a low moan as his fingers delved between my folds. His thumb massaged my clit, two fingers caressing my opening with expert strokes.

“Jesus, Ree.” His hot, minty breath caressed my neck. “You’re so fucking wet.” I bucked my hips, urging him inside, whimpering for him to have his way with me. “And so very impatient.” His lips curved into a satisfied smirk as he drove his fingers into me, quenching my thirst for him while setting fire to my entire body with quick, deep thrusts.

All for you
, I wanted to say, but my words were reduced to moans as he increased the speed and intensity of his touch. As he unraveled me from the inside, he bit down on my bottom lip, sucking it to the same rhythm of his fingers.

I wrapped my arms around his neck and crashed his mouth to mine in a bruising kiss, melding us together. No matter how much he gave me, it wasn’t enough. I wanted more of him, needed him closer.

Just when I thought I had him, he stilled his fingers inside me and pulled back. “What do you want?” His voice seductively low and husky, his dark eyes piercing my soul.

“You,” I said. “You, Dare.”

“Good answer.” He rewarded me with a storm of kisses down my stomach and paused right above the one place I wanted his mouth the most right now. It throbbed in rhythm with my hammering heart, aching for him to lick it, suck it. I lifted my hips. Offering. Begging.

“Please,” I whispered.

“Tell me what you want me to do to you.” His words were rough, demanding.

“Lick me.”

A wicked grin filled his face as he lowered his head and ran his tongue along my folds, swirling it around my swollen clit, pressing his smile into me. My body detonated, little explosions going off everywhere as my core tightened in anticipation. Dare licked me again, his warm tongue flicking lightly across my clit.

“I want to hear you say you want me again. Louder this time.”

“I want you.” I moaned as he licked me again.

“Tell me you want
only
me.” His teeth grazed me, nipping at the sensitive flesh.

“I do.” Oh, god. His fucking
mouth
. “I want you, Dare. Only you. Always you.”

His warm breath on my ache drove me wild. Moaning, I lifted my hips and sought out his mouth, sighing with relief and elation when he licked me again.

“What else do you want, Ree?” His voice was deep and carnal, dripping with sex. The sound alone made me throb harder, pulse faster, writhe more.

“Suck,” I said. “Please.”

He grinned and lowered his head, parted my thighs even wider, then took my clit between his lips and ever so gently sucked. Stars exploded behind my eyes. The more he sucked, nibbled, and licked, the stronger the current flowing through me grew. My hips rocked against his mouth to the rhythm he set. My moans rose higher and higher, until I was certain the entire freaking building could hear me.

Fuck if I cared.

My whole world was Dare—there was nothing else in this moment or the next but him. Just him. He’d been the only person in my life who could make me feel this way, who could make me forget everything else.

“Say my name, Ree,” he said, his voice strumming my insides. “I want you to scream it when you come.”

He licked me again—hard and fast—and I was suddenly coming undone. I cried out his name over and over again as the tingling inside me built to a fevered pitch, exploding in an intense wave that crashed through my body and made me lose feeling in my fingers and toes.

Dare watched me carefully as the wave subsided, his eyes hooded, a soft, satisfied smile sprawled across his face.

And, in that moment, I knew.

He was mine.

I was his.

We were back.

I reached for his jeans and freed him. He stood before me magnificently naked, all solid muscle and unadulterated arousal. I nearly cried out when he walked away and out of the room, but he was back in seconds, a condom in his hand.

I seized it from him, more than ready to finally have him inside me. But before I put it on, I first took him in my hands, kissed him with my lips. He moaned as I ran my hands up and down his length, indulging in a taste of him. He was rock-hard, so ready for me. So perfect. I loved that I did this to him.

“Ree,” he said, and I thrilled at my name on his lips, at his worshipping plea.

I ripped open the package, pulled the condom out, and smoothed it over his erection. He leaned me back, claiming my lips again with his own as he placed himself between my legs.

I could feel him at my opening, pressing lightly—just enough to make me crazy with want—and I reached down to guide him in. He filled me completely, causing me to cry out in pleasure as he pushed all the way in.

God. He felt so fucking good.

Dare kissed me hard, possessing me with his whole body, with the rhythm of his movements, and I met him kiss for kiss, thrust for thrust. In this moment, it was as if we had the power to erase years of cold, empty distance. Our combined passion took us higher and higher until he was moaning my name and I was crying out his as we rocked together in exquisite release.

He collapsed on me, our skin slightly sweaty, our bodies depleted, our breathing slowing in sync. I wrapped my arms and legs around him, refusing to let go, trying to hold myself together as much as hold onto him.

But when he gently nuzzled into my shoulder, kissing my collar bone just like he used to—a little thing that no one else had ever done, that felt so sweet, so intimate, so…caring—I lost it. Tears spilled down my face, dripping into his hair, and my body was racked with silent sobs. I’d missed him so much. The past three years had felt as if I was missing half of my heart, half of my soul. Having him back in my life was overwhelming in the best possible way.

“Shh,” he said as he held me in a soothing, tight embrace. “It’s okay, Ree. I’m here.”

And that just made me cry harder. He
was
there. We were finally together and I finally felt like my life was falling into place.

seventeen