Chapter Fourteen

The elevator seemed to take an extraordinarily long time to reach the second floor.

“How will we know where to go?” Dare wasn’t sure why she was whispering, other than it seemed the right thing to do.

“You’re kidding, right?” Jesse’s lips twisted. “Babies show up, we stop in. It’s not just family, either. All my schoolmates that got hitched already have started having kids in the last while. I could walk you to maternity with my eyes shut.”

I don’t even know where to park at the Black Diamond Hospital.

The thought nudged her hard, and she ordered herself to stop obsessing over details, or she’d end up running the halls screaming in terror.

He squeezed her hand as the doors opened, and she instinctively stepped closer.

Here be monsters…

White walls with ribbons of colour splashed against them. Lines of bright lights, doors with Private, Staff Only. Wheelchairs, IV poles, laughing nurses—

It all flashed by so quickly, but she swore if anyone had asked she could have recited it down to the last detail. As if a super awareness had come over her, Dare let Jesse guide her as she stumbled down the hall, overwhelmed by the realization she’d be in a place like this eventually.

Not eventually…soon.

Sounds echoed off the pristine walls, and she tugged at the collar of her shirt, her mouth suddenly dry.

It wasn’t memories making her heart pound. Her family hadn’t made it to a hospital. There’d been no sorrow-filled treks to say goodbye. But goose bumps were rising on her skin, and a sense of foreboding made her cling harder to Jesse’s fingers.

It didn’t help that the next door was their destination. With no time to dig for courage, she was confronted with a sea of Coleman faces, a bevy of them gathered around a recliner.

A slightly older version of Jesse sat in the chair with a bundle of blue resting on his chest—that had to be Blake.

Marion caught sight of her before there was time to feel too awkward at invading a private moment. “He’s falling asleep. You need to come and say hello.”

Jesse’s mom took her by the hand and before she knew what was going on, Dare ended up next to the chair, having been pulled past the gathered crowd to Blake’s side.

She was torn between stealing glances at the baby and meeting the steady grey gaze of the man holding the child.

“Who’s going to sleep, the baby or the daddy?” The words snuck out before she could stop them.

Blake smiled gently, curling up to a sitting position. “I’m too excited to sleep, so Ma has to be talking about Justin.” He was on his feet, standing over her, the baby cradled comfortably in one arm as he offered his hand. “I take it you’re Darilyn?”

She shook his fingers briefly, panic sneaking in. “I am. Don’t you need two hands right now?”

Someone in the room chuckled, but Dare didn’t know who because she was watching the baby so she could catch him if Blake’s grip accidentally slipped. She’d been around Sasha and Emma as babies, but frankly had never been comfortable until they hit the sturdy-enough-to-crawl stage.

“I think we’re okay,” Blake assured her.

The baby opened his eyes, and all Dare’s panicked warnings vanished. “Oh my God, he’s so perfect.”

Blake laughed. “You have good taste in babies. Yes, he’s a particularly fine model.”

Then he shocked her to pieces, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her close so he could press a kiss to her forehead. “Welcome, Darilyn.”

Dare was too surprised to say anything, then the scent of new baby hit her, and whatever operating brain cells she had vanished into thin air.

She tilted her head down and fell into out-of-focus big blue eyes. Justin couldn’t be watching her—she knew that—but it seemed as if he were peering into her soul, and even farther. Maybe communing on some cosmic level with Buckaroo.

Whoa. Unexpected and mind blowing.

So much so she finally realized she hadn’t responded to Blake’s sweet greeting. She peeled her gaze off the baby’s face and offered a hesitant smile. “Thank you.”

Blake adjusted the baby expertly, offering the bundle toward her. “Go on, you can hold him.”

She quickly took a half step back before Blake could transfer the baby to her arms. “I’ll just wait until later.”

No way was she about to explain that she had limited experience with newborns, and while she wanted to…

Hell, no.

Fortunately, there were other eager arms to take her place.

Blake was still smiling. “Sorry we weren’t there to greet you.”

“Babies don’t run on a schedule. It’s no problem.”

Blake had kind eyes. Not identical to Jesse’s, but the family resemblance was there, through and through. Blake was thicker through the torso than Jesse’s lean muscles, but like their father, they both had the look of men built by hard labour and endless chores.

Dare glanced over her shoulder to find Jesse standing in the doorway, gazing into the room as if he wasn’t sure he should take that final step. Then she couldn’t see him because a tall, blonde woman stepped out of what had to be a bathroom and enveloped Jesse in an enormous hug.

Jesse hugged the woman back, patting her shoulder gently. His gaze met Dare’s, and the first real smile she’d seen since they’d arrived in Rocky lit his face. He mouthed the word Jaxi, but Dare had assumed as much.

“What a surprise to find you here.” Jesse pulled back from the woman in his arms before glancing down at her briefly. “I thought you’d be out wrangling cattle already.”

“Tomorrow morning,” Jaxi joked. “Now, where is she? I’m so pissed I messed up our meeting.”

The woman whirled far quicker than Dare imagined someone who’d recently pushed out a kid the size of a watermelon should move.

“Incoming, Dare,” Jesse warned. “My sister-in-law, otherwise known as Jaxi the iron-grip.”

“Oh, hush,” Jaxi tossed over her shoulder as she narrowed in on Dare, but instead of hugging her tight she stopped and looked Dare over from top to bottom, a smile blooming quickly. “I’m so glad to finally meet you.”

Then she opened her arms and offered Dare the opportunity for a hug. It seemed deliberate, and a bit of a knot formed in Dare’s throat.

Blake’s welcome had been wonderful, but this seemed even more intimate. It wasn’t just an offering of a momentary embrace, it was a gesture that let Dare decide if she wanted to step into the family circle, or not. Her own choice.

Or…maybe she was reading too much into it, which was entirely possible.

Don’t fall in love with them, she warned herself again.

She stepped forward and let firm arms tug her in tight. Jaxi was no older than her, but she’d had so many different experiences that lent her an aura of confidence.

Or maybe it was that other bit of information that Jesse had shared. About how Jaxi had grown up with the Coleman family and basically bossed them all around—because there was a bit of that going on during the next moments as some people left and Jaxi offered plans for the next few days.

She probably would’ve gone out to the car with a group of them to continue giving instructions, but Blake closed in and scooped her off her feet.

“You need to take a rest,” he told her sternly, carrying her to the bed and settling her on the surface.

Jaxi sighed heavily, but she wiggled until she was leaning against the lifted back support. “I feel great.”

“I know you do, but you deserve to be off your feet for a little while.” He pulled the blanket over her before pressing a kiss to her lips. Then he turned his gaze around the room in search of their son. “I’d like to claim him if you don’t mind.”

A dark-haired woman brought Justin forward and passed him back to Jaxi who did that one arm thing as well—far too confident for Dare’s peace of mind.

Dare found an arm slipping around her waist as Jesse stepped beside her.

“He’s one fine-looking kid,” Jesse said.

Jaxi beamed. “Thanks.” She glanced at Dare with a smile. “You just wait. Colemans make pretty babies.”

Dare’s face heated to supernova. Everybody had to have heard about the baby, but it seemed unreal to have it accepted like this.

For her to be accepted like this.

Jesse cleared his throat and turned to his brother. “Congrats.”

“Thanks.” Politely said, but without the warmth that had been in Blake’s earlier words for her.

“Hey, we’re going to be around for a few days, so let me know if you’d like me to help out,” Jesse suggested. “I don’t mind taking your shifts, especially for the early hours.”

It seemed a generous offer to Dare, and she thought for sure it would be accepted.

But Blake simply shook his head and responded quietly, “No need. You enjoy your visit and show Dare around.”

Between one breath and the next, tension in the room thickened. Jaxi was tossing disapproving glances at Blake as if trying to get him to read her mind and say something different. Marion fussed with the flowers by the window as she spoke rapidly in a low tone with Mike, also throwing telling glances at their oldest son.

The other visitors in the room exchanged looks then focused on offering final congratulations before leaving the room.

While their visit ended shortly after that as Justin began to fuss for his supper, and Dare was ready to make her escape, something seemed extraordinarily wrong.

Jesse? The happy, cocky, never-at-a-loss-for-words guy she’d been getting to know—and if she was brutally honest, beginning to care about—sat in icy silence as they got back in his truck and headed who knew where.

Suddenly it wasn’t discomfort at being out of her home territory that was making Dare uneasy. She wasn’t tied up in knots because she was wondering if there was something for her and Buckaroo in Rocky Mountain House.

Jesse’s offer to help his family had been bluntly turned down, and maybe she needed to blame it on pregnancy hormones, but Dare was feeling supremely feisty on his behalf.

Screw this. It was bullshit—pure and utter bullshit. On top of the rest of the day, every nerve in her body vibrated with tension.

There seemed only one solution to both their problems, at least in the short term, and the moment they were out of the confines of the truck, Dare intended to make it happen.

 

 

Silence filled the cab, the pounding in his temples drowning out the road noise and the music on the stereo. Jesse felt entombed behind a thick wall.

He’d known coming home was going to hurt, but he’d underestimated the extent of the pain. The warm-up with his brothers, especially the discussion with Joel, made the reunion with his parents feel as if he were punching a bruise. Putting on a smile and making himself cheery instead of clinging to them as if he was a toddler had left him raw.

And then Blake—

Fuck.

Angry words swirled in his head, and with every one the salt that had been poured over the cut rubbed in deeper.

He knew damn well it was his own fault. He’d walked away last winter and left them all in the lurch, but he’d made the offer today in good faith. To have that tossed back so pointedly…

Jesse pulled into the parking space outside Joel’s place and turned off the engine. Staring straight ahead without seeing a thing.

How the hell was he going to fix this?

Was it fixable?

The passenger door slammed, jerking him from his moody contemplation as Dare stomped away from the truck, her back rigid.

Jesus Christ, he’d screwed up. Again.

Jesse shoved his door open and raced after her. “Dare.”

She was fast enough she’d nearly made it to the trees before he caught her by the shoulder, whirling her to face him.

“Wait. What’s—?”

She fisted the front of his shirt and jerked them together, her lighter frame driving toward his. She wrapped a hand around the back of his neck and pulled hard until he bent toward her. Then her mouth was on his and all he could taste was her fiery passion.

Like a trigger had been pulled, lust shot sky high. He wasn’t sure what had brought this on, but he couldn’t deny her a thing when she was moving against him as if they were caught in a maelstrom.

Jesse wrapped his arms around her and picked her up, bringing her with him down the path that led to the fire pit. Out of sight of the trailer and anyone pulling into the yard.

It had been a long time since he’d been here, sitting with family and casually shooting the breeze after a long day’s work. He noted the changes through a haze as he settled onto a wide concrete bench. Dare’s thighs draped over his as he worked to get a little distance between their lips so they could talk.

They needed to talk, right?

She didn’t want to back away, and he wasn’t keen on the idea either, but somehow he tore them apart.

Dare’s eyes were huge as she stared intently, cupping his face in her hands as she took a deep breath then spoke, clear and resolute. “Despite this being a day from hell— No, because it’s been a hell of a day, I need you to do something for me.”

“Anything,” he promised, rash as it was to offer without more information.

Did she want to go home?

Her fingers fell to the bottom of his shirt and she jerked hard, ripping the cotton free from his jeans. “Fuck me. I need to not think for a while.”

Jesse swore softly as she worked the buttons on his shirt. Mindless sex sounded just about perfect to him as well. He considered the logistics, though. Taking her into Joel and Vicki’s house—what if they came home? The last thing he wanted was…

The absurdity of the situation struck, along with an inkling of understanding. He and Joel used to fuck around with the same woman all the time, and now the thought of anyone overhearing Dare, delicious noises slipping from her lips as she came, was enough to set Jesse’s teeth on edge.

Maybe that was the way Joel had felt when he’d started seeing Vicki.

Dare sank her teeth into the muscle of Jesse’s shoulder, fingernails scraping down his back as she growled. “Pay attention.”

His brainpower was fading rapidly. “Dammit, Dare. I’m not fucking you here.”

“No?” She shifted position, rising on her knees so her sex rubbed the ridge of his solid cock. “Then I’ll fuck you.”

Goddammit.

Joel’s bitter comments, Blake’s all-too-understandable rejection of his offer, his parents’ obvious pain—with those sins on his tally, it was the anger pouring off her that rocked him the hardest.

“I was a shit—” he began.

“Don’t talk, fuck,” she ordered. She pressed their lips together, nearly consuming him. That edge of lust he always felt around her, the one that kept him on a hair-trigger, flipped the sexual energy between them past high to extreme.

She wanted him, here and now?

Hell, yeah. No way was he turning that down.

She had his shirt undone, shoving the material off so frantically somewhere a seam ripped, and he was glad. The destructive action suited his mood, and with total disregard for everything except getting her naked as fast as possible, he caught hold of the front of her blouse and jerked his hands apart. He reached around to unclip her bra so he could slip the straps off her shoulders and abandon it to the ground with her now button-less blouse, leaving her naked from the waist up as she sat in his lap.

He caught her by the hips and lifted her skyward, breasts to his mouth, using his teeth on her nipple briefly before sucking it into his mouth. Dare tightened in his grip, butt cheeks clenching, body arched to meet him, and he soaked it in. Gloated even, in the way she fisted his hair between her fingers, pain jolting against his nerve endings.

Loud gasps of pleasure escaped her lips as he rocked her over his erection until she started undulating with him.

Enough.

No—it wasn’t nearly enough, and that was the fucking problem. Jesse stumbled to his feet with her in his arms, frantically glancing around. He staggered the five feet it took to get to the gazebo, a small white archway covered with thick tangled vines. Little white lights had been woven around the entire thing. When he pressed her against the solid wood, one arm between her back and the rough surface, he hit a switch, and the lights twinkled around them as if they were a bloody Christmas tree decked out in full glory.

He didn’t care. She caught him by the ears, damn near using them like reins to drag his mouth back to hers.

Jesse growled then took control of the kiss, suspending her in place with his hips pinning her tight. She squeezed her thighs around him, holding on as if he were a wild stallion she was about to ride.

Once more, hell, yeah.

He pulled back far enough to press their foreheads together. “If we do this here, I’m liable to fuck you through the damn wall.”

A warning? Or a promise?

Dare dug her fingers into his shoulders. “God, yes,” she begged.

He shook her loose. Her feet hit the ground for the moment it took to rip her jeans open and shove them past her hips far enough to free one leg. That was all he could wait before lifting her again, hand under her naked ass, her sex open to him. He slid his fingers through her curls, pressing his thumb over her clit. Satisfaction struck as another of those addictive moans escaped her lips.

He rubbed until her head fell back, the lights glowing against her auburn hair like a halo.

An angel and a demon, fucking in the Garden of Eden.

He knew which one he was, because there wasn’t a single thing about what he had planned to do next that would get him past the pearly gates.

Jesse opened his jeans, his erection leaping upright to freedom. He aimed directly into her warmth. She sucked in a quick breath as he slipped the head of his cock between her folds, then he drove the air from her lungs, thrusting forward as he buried himself deep.

He should’ve slowed down. He should’ve stopped taking like an inconsiderate ass and gentle his actions, but when he glanced into her face, all he saw was encouragement.

Jesse let the raw emotions inside him take over. He pulled back and thrust again, the warmth of her wrapped around him and the tight pressure of her hands on his shoulders anchoring him in place. He repeated the motion, and again, aching need dragged up his spine as he clutched her close and tilted his hips at the end of each drive.

Dare cursed softly, egging him on. Tightening her legs around him and grinding her clit against his groin every time they connected. Her breasts bounced as they rubbed him, and while he wished his undershirt wasn’t in the way so he could fully enjoy the sensation, there was no way he was slowing down. No fucking way was he stopping, not even to get naked.

“Jesse.” Dare arched, her face tightening as her body clenched around him, the gazebo arch creaking in protest as he fucked her wildly.

Her orgasm took him by surprise, and took him over the edge. He rocked into her one final time before losing it, pleasure rushing in, pressure exploding like the cap off a bottle of well-shaken soda.

He leaned into her, gasping as he clutched the wood of the gazebo to keep from falling over. The arm behind her back—he swore he had slivers from rubbing against the rough-hewn wood.

Dare released her death grip on his shoulders, stroking down the muscles of his back and returning to drag her fingers through his hair as she pressed kisses to his lips and along his neck.

They were both sucking for air as if they’d finished a marathon.

One perfect moment before reality kicked back in, and Jesse held on tight and enjoyed the sensation.