“What’s this?” I asked that afternoon, trailing the tips of my fingers across a tattoo on Dare’s bicep.
It was four horizontal lines, just like the ones on his back. But the rest of the symbol was missing.
He pushed up so he was hovering over me and glanced down at it for a few seconds. “It’s who I am,” he finally said.
Something flashed in his eyes, like the tattoo held a physical weight over him, before he was able to push it away.
“It bothers you?”
He cocked his head to the side, a smile tugging at his mouth as he looked down at me. “A little. But it’s something I have to do for now.”
“If only we could just do what we actually wanted to . . .” I leaned up to brush my lips across the tattoo and whispered, “I would take this weight off you.”
“I would keep you with me,” he countered.
“You say that, but you might get bored if I actually stayed.”
He lifted a brow. “I doubt that.”
Leaning back so he was on his knees, his hungry eyes fell to where I was already bare from the last time. His thumbs went to my wet skin, spreading my lips and teasing my clit as he slid down to my entrance.
“If this is boring, I can stop . . .”
“Oh God.” The words were said under my breath when he slid two fingers inside, his thumb moving back up to my clit.
Pumping his fingers slowly, he pulled them out and trailed them down the line of my bottom. A carnal grin crossed his face when I twisted against the bed, whimpering at the touch.
I reached back, my hands fumbling with the nightstand drawer, searching for the protection he’d bought as he made that same pass again and again.
Each time I wanted to shy away from it.
Each time I wanted to ask for more.
Each time I nearly came undone.
As soon as I had one of the foil packets in hand, I struggled to open it when all my body wanted to do was succumb to his touch.
One hand tortured my clit with teasing touches, the other sought my entrance again, his fingers pushing in roughly a few times before they were trailing back again.
Heat swirled deep in my belly. My body ached with the need for him to keep going, for him to put me out of my misery.
I reached for him, savoring the husky groan that sounded in his chest when I had his long, thick length in my grasp, my head dropping back when he teased me with the faintest pressure once again.
“Please.”
“Fuck, where’d you come from?” he asked, his voice a gruff rumble.
He released me long enough to roll the condom on, only seconds passing from when his hands left me to when he was pushing into me, a cry tumbling from my lips as he pushed me over the edge.
Wrapping his arms around my back, he lifted me so I was seated on his lap—facing him—then brought me down on his thick length again and again . . . then harder still until I was biting down on his shoulder to silence my screams.
One of his hands lowered, his fingers sliding along the crease of my bottom in silent reminder of the torture he’d just been putting me through. And when he pressed one of his fingers there, pushing in slightly, I fell apart in his hands, sending him into his own release.
My world spiraled into nothing but darkness broken up by the light we created together as waves of pleasure ripped through me unlike anything I’ve ever known.
Beautiful and sensual. Passionate and heartbreaking.
That’s what it had been.
That’s what we were.
I pressed a kiss to where I’d bitten down on his shoulder, trying to cling to this moment as long as possible.
I jerked against him when loud pounding sounded on his door.
“Dare,” Johnny called out, his voice laced with frustration.
“I’m gonna kill him.”
“It’s the third time he’s tried to get you to leave. I think you should go before he comes charging in here,” I murmured, squeezing him tighter before reluctantly sliding off him. I tried to smile, but the possibility of Johnny doing exactly that was too real. “I need to go anyway.”
“We need to check in with someone, but it’ll only take ten minutes. Fifteen tops. Be here when I get back.”
I squinted my eyes at him, but kept my tone teasing. “That sounds sketchy and very mob-like.”
Dare’s chest moved with the force of his laugh, his eyes bright with amusement. “Check in with a business partner. Johnny’s only coming with me because I don’t trust him anywhere but by my side.”
I didn’t trust Johnny at all.
His fingers trailed over my waist and down my thigh, his touch and stare begging. “Stay,” he breathed, the plea enough to make my heart race and my will crumble.
I bit at my lip, trying to remember why I needed to go. “Okay.”
“Yeah?” Surprise lit his eyes, that carefree smile spreading across his face.
“Yeah.” A laugh bubbled free when he wrapped me in his arms, pulling me close to kiss me. “But only for a few more hours. If I don’t go soon, I don’t know when I’ll ever be able to get back to you.”
Even with Kieran gone, it felt like tempting fate.
That smile of his froze. Worry and something like anger swirled in his eyes. “Then I’m not going. I’m not wasting the time I have with you.”
“Go.” When his jaw hardened, I laughed and pushed against his chest. “Go. We’ve already spent hours locked in here. My body needs to rest. I need to shower.”
One of his dark brows rose, a mischievous grin suddenly playing on his lips. “Oh, then I really think I should stay.”
“No, you need to go. You have to check in with that business partner.”
His only response was a slow shake of his head as he shifted us to lay me on the bed.
I tilted my head back, my laugh pouring free as he dipped his head to place teasing kisses on my neck.
“Dare, my body is so worn out,” I whined, my protest weak and forgotten by the time his lips reached the swell of my breasts.
I arched, silently begging—and immediately sagged back against the bed, bursting into laughter when my stomach’s growl filled the room.
Dare’s shoulders shook with his silent laugh. His dark eyes were dancing when he lifted his head to look at me. “Jesus.” Bending to press his lips to my stomach, he mumbled, “Point taken. I’ll bring back food.”
I watched as he stood from the bed and went to his bathroom to clean up, my smile still uncontained by the time he was walking toward me again, jeans on and pulling a shirt over his head.
He slowed, his expression unreadable as he searched my face. “That smile,” he whispered as he bent to kiss me. “Been waiting my entire life for something to make me feel the way that smile does.”
My heart ached, crying out in pain from being torn in two over this man.
Because I knew he was sincere. And I knew one day those words, the raw emotion in them, they would all be gone. Replaced by hatred.
“Don’t go,” he pled, an edge of worry to his voice.
“I’ll be here,” I promised.
Until the very end.