Chapter Eighteen
The depth of emotion in Tasha’s voice touched Daniel like nothing ever had. “You’re so beautiful,” he told her.
“You’re the beautiful one.”
“Tasha.” He needed her to know, “I won’t hurt you.”
She sat up and stared into his eyes, and he swore he could see all the way into her soul. “But what if I’m the one who hurts you?”
“You won’t,” he promised, wanting nothing more than to lean in to kiss her. But it had to be her choice—if it wasn’t, nothing would ever truly change for them.
Their first kiss had been a sudden, shocking burst of glorious heat. Their second had been a mash-up of emotions—relief, longing, desire. Daniel knew their third, and all the others that came after, could be so much more.
But only if Tasha allowed herself to want him, to open up to him, to truly be with him.
For long, excruciating moments, he waited. While she weighed the pros and cons, measured the good and the bad, fought yet another battle with herself over what she believed to be right and what she was absolutely certain was wrong.
He wanted to sway her, to show her that the two of them were all pros and goods and rights. But she wasn’t a building that could be put together by taking careful measurements and using the right tools.
Tasha was a flesh-and-blood woman whose heart and soul had been crushed by the people she trusted most. No matter how badly he wanted to lead her toward happiness, she needed to rebuild at her own pace, in her own way.
Letting her breath go, she made her decision. His heart hammered inside his chest, and he feared she might pull away, turn from him, and close up again.
Instead, her lips brushed over his, like dragonfly wings. Soft and gentle, barely there. Teasing him with everything he wanted from her.
“More,” he whispered, relief—and desperate desire—drenching every letter of the word.
With a hand cupping his cheek, she angled deeper, taking him exactly where he wanted to go. He couldn’t breathe without breathing her in. He couldn’t swallow without tasting her. He couldn’t move without the delicious feel of her against him.
She pushed him back on the rock, leaning over him, her scent enthralling his senses, her ponytail falling over her shoulder to caress his cheek as she kissed him. Wrapping his arms around her, he held her tight. Her heat surrounded him, turning him as hard as the rock beneath them.
But her mouth was the delicacy he couldn’t get enough of—and she seemed to feel the same urgency as she took him with long, delicious sweeps of her tongue, toying with him, tangling with him, consuming him with desire.
He pulled her hair free, letting it fall over them like strands of silk. He filled his hands with her, from the round firmness of her hips, pressing her hard against him, to her magical hair that had a life all its own, binding him to her.
“You’re so sweet,” he whispered between deep kisses that satisfied his need to taste, yet drove him to crave everything from her. “You make me lose my mind.”
He’d lost it the instant he’d seen her hanging from the roof, his fear choking him, yet sensing even then how strong she was. From the moment he’d pulled her against him on that ladder and felt her lush curves, he’d wanted her.
She lit up something inside him that had never experienced such a bright and beautiful glow.
“Don’t stop,” she murmured, her lips on his.
He was as alive as the mountains around them, as full of joy as the squirrels chattering in the trees, as wild as the hawk flying over them.
A voice broke through. “Mommy, can I go swimming?”
Daniel expected Tasha to jump away, just as she’d pulled from his embrace with each of their two heart-melting kisses. But this time, she slid her fingers through his hair to hold him still as her lips took another sip from his. Then she laughed softly, sweetly, and moved to sit with her feet in the water just as the family appeared around the bend.
* * *
Tasha had tried yet again to do the right thing, to stop them both from taking a step that might hurt Daniel. But then he’d made her a promise that changed everything—he’d vowed he wouldn’t let her hurt him.
Absolutely certain that Daniel Spencer never made a promise he couldn’t keep, she finally gave in to the heat, the need, the desperate longing—and kissed him.
She’d known from their first two delicious kisses that it would be good. But she’d honestly had no idea how amazing good could be.
For the first time in a very long while, Tasha felt wildly free, with the sun on her head, the fish nibbling at her toes, and Daniel’s taste on her lips.
“You’re a naughty man,” she said as he brushed his fingertips lightly over the sensitive skin of her collarbone, even as the family of four sat on the rocks only a hundred feet away.
Putting his free hand to his chest, he teased her with a wide-eyed look. “Who, me?”
When they were like this—laughing together in the sunshine—he almost made her feel like the last bad months had never happened. Like she was the lighthearted woman she’d been before she’d learned the truth about her family.
A woman who couldn’t stop smiling as she said, “My brother and I were always outside as kids. Splashing in ice-cold streams. Climbing any tree we could get into.” She waited for the pain to come from talking about her brother, but felt only the joy of their childhood instead.
Daniel’s kiss—and his promise—were even more powerful than she’d realized.
“What else did the two of you do?” Daniel asked.
“We played lots of games. Our favorite was Stratego, that strategy game where you have military battles. He got used to winning, until one day he didn’t win so easily anymore.” She laughed at the memory of how stunned her brother had been once she became old enough to turn the tables. “One time we had a day out by ourselves with ice cream and hot dogs. It was wonderful. I saw this little china horse in a shop. I wanted it so bad, but I’d spent all my allowance already. Drew bought it for me.” The memory was so poignant, she could remember the exact curve of her brother’s smile. “I had it for years and years.”
“What happened to it?”
It was so nice to finally talk freely about her brother, that when the pain hit, it was a sucker punch she didn’t see coming. “It broke when I was packing up my stuff for storage before I came here.”
Daniel curled his fingers around her hand. “How did it break?”
“I broke it.” Just as the truth about her brother had broken her. Tears ached behind her eyes. But Daniel just kept holding her hand, a soft, soothing stroke of his thumb across the back. “I want so badly to believe in him. But how can I, after what he did? And for how long he did it? How can I forgive myself for being so blind all these years?”
Daniel didn’t answer right away, until he began to speak with a pain she felt inside her own body. “You’ve probably figured out from talking with the guys this weekend that Evan’s ex-wife was in no way worthy of him. None of us liked Whitney. She did a lot of really bad things.” He stopped, staring out over the lake, then finally brought his gaze back to her. “She told unforgivable lies that almost destroyed Evan.”
Tasha tried to swallow past the lump in her throat. “And here I thought you were going to tell me she actually turned out to be a nice person when you all got to know her.”
He laughed without a hint of humor. “The more we knew, the more we hated her. But Evan was blind. And you know who else was blind? My mom. She defended Whitney up one side and down the other. She always found reasons for why Whitney did this or why she did that. She was our voice of acceptance. Until one day even Mom couldn’t remain blind anymore.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“I’m not. Especially now that Evan’s finally with the woman of his dreams. But my mom doesn’t blame herself for not seeing through Whitney. She hasn’t stopped believing in people. That’s one of the things I love best about my mother—she refuses to let her faith be shaken by one truly rotten person. She still believes you have to look for the best in people until they prove you wrong.” He gave Tasha’s hand a tight squeeze. “Here’s another miracle. Just when Evan was splitting up with his wife, his long-lost mother, who abandoned him when he was a kid, showed up, along with a brother and sister Evan never knew he had.”
The trials Evan’s family had been through were staggering. No wonder he was so intent on protecting Daniel. “How on earth did he deal with all that?”
“Paige. She was a rock for him, even when he stupidly tried to push her away.”
Was Daniel trying to reveal something with that statement—did he think Tasha was foolish for trying to keep her distance after he’d offered her so much support?
“The other guys and I hated his birth mother for walking out on Evan when he was a kid and leaving him with his monster of a father. But Mom gave Evan’s mother a chance to apologize, to make amends, and to love Evan the way she’d always loved him from afar. And I’ve got to say, over the last six months, having his birth mother and siblings around him has been really good for him.”
“You’ve also forgiven his birth mom, haven’t you?” Tasha asked.
Daniel held her with his gorgeous brown eyes. “You know what? I think I have. She made some really big mistakes, but she truly does love Evan.” He caressed Tasha’s cheek so sweetly a pang circled her heart. “Thank you for helping me see that.”
“Maybe one day, I’ll be able to forgive my family too,” she said, her voice barely loud enough to be heard over the shrieks of laughter from the children several rocks over.
If she did find her brother and father through the feelers she’d put out, and if she was able to confront them, was there any chance their reckoning could lead to forgiveness?
Or would she only end up feeling more broken inside?
“I know how badly you want that,” Daniel said. “Especially your brother. But if you ask me, the far more important question is—can you forgive yourself?”
She’d been staring at the water, watching the ripples, the sparkles of sunlight across the surface, when she had to bring her gaze back to his. “Like your mother forgave herself for being wrong about Evan’s wife?”
“Looking for the best in people is one of the most admirable things about my mother,” Daniel said, “even if she hasn’t always gotten it right.”
“I’d love to be like her.” Admirable. “And like you—able to forgive. I’m just not sure I have it in me.”
“I know you have it in you, Tasha.” Daniel’s gaze, and his touch, were as gentle and sweet as only a strong man’s could be.
Then he kissed her until she wanted to believe him.