But is he being honest?
She trailed her finger along the curve of his lips, then dared to touch his jaw and trace the strong line to his sideburn and back down to his shoulder. He was just so much larger than her.
Everywhere
. Her face heated at that, but she couldn’t stop the thrill she experienced from the hard thickness of his erection pressed along her hip.
That’s pretty honest, Ky.
She smiled against his shoulder. He smelled good too. Clean, warm, male.
Does he have a woman in his life? A lover? Girlfriend or even a wife?
He wore no ring, but that meant nothing. He was old enough, but she didn’t think he did have a person in his life. She nibbled her lip.
Maybe you’re wishful thinking, Ky
.
He shifted her closer and settled his leg firmly over her, pressing her into a very large part of him that intrigued her so much. What would he look like?
“Caught you Kyle,” he murmured.
She almost screamed but held her breath, waiting for him to say more. When he didn’t speak, but he nudged his ridged penis against her, she dared to look over her shoulder at him. His eyes were closed, and after holding her breath for too long, she let it out, amazed to discover he was still sound asleep.
Thinking of her, too. His breathing deepened as he began moving his hips again, then again.
She bit her lip to keep in a sound, afraid to wake him when he was so obviously asleep.
Now what do I do?
He let out a deep groan and cut right into her thoughts. Especially when he thrust his erection firmly against her. Neither of her two past relationships had been with big men. Of the two, she’d only made love to one of them, and with the other they’d only petted and kissed. She had no idea how to deal with this situation.
One thing was clear, Dare would do things to her she’d only fantasized about. He groaned in his sleep and her body grew wet and achy. She fought the urge to rub up against him to see what that would do to him, and only managed to stem the desire when he eased off a tiny bit from driving her nuts
After another minute of him relaxing further into sleep, she let out a breath and pressed her face into his shirt, caressing the solid muscle of his shoulder in relief.
God, how would she ever survive the night?
Already her body was burning and she almost, almost wished she’d not drugged him. If she hadn’t, right now, in this bed, they might have…done what? Made love?
The thought thrilled her, but also frightened her. Could she do such a thing with him?
She stared at his face, slowly relaxing against his body heat. Yes, she realized, she could. She could if it meant something to him—if it meant more than the way some men simply used sex to feed their desires. If it meant he cared, she could. She thought he did, in a way, maybe.
Giving him the drug the first time had made her feel odd. This second time she’d fought more with herself, but what kind of daughter was she that she cared more for a man she’d just met than her own father? Cared what he thought of her.
His warmth and the long, eventful day settled over her and without meaning to, she eased closer until she rested more fully in his arms.
Tomorrow she would figure out why the thought of not seeing this man again made her heart hurt.
Tomorrow she would also give him a piece of her mind for putting her in such a situation, but for now, she’d fall asleep for the first time in her life in a man’s arms.
Her smile grew.
And to think, all it took was handcuffs, Ky.
Chapter Nine
Kylie sighed in her sleep. The soft breath hit Daren right in the chest. Tazz had asked him if he’d ever slept with a woman, ever held one through the night without the goal being sex. Before now, he would have been lying if he’d said yeah.
Even now, he wanted sex with Kylie. He doubted there would ever be a moment he wouldn’t drop everything to satisfy her. But right now, with her sleeping so peacefully against him, he couldn’t imagine a more perfect moment. If no one was after her, and her dad wasn’t in danger, and his buddy wasn’t in some kind of shit he couldn’t imagine, that is.
But this, her, in his arms, even if it took handcuffs to get her there, was better than anything he could imagine. She fit him. She was small and fragile, but she stood only a head shorter than him. In his arms lying down, every lush inch of her was perfectly placed against his body.
She moved again, brushing her hand along his chest where she’d settled it. Had she tried to get away again? If she had, she’d not found the key to the cuffs. Which was a good thing, he thought with a strong sense of possessiveness. He couldn’t imagine waking up without her.
A rap on the door followed closely by Tazz sticking his head in made him tighten his hold on Kylie. Tazz gave them one hard look and narrowed his eyes. Dare lifted their cuffed hands.
Tazz’s eyebrow shot up, but he didn’t comment on the cuffs. “We should push out soon.”
“Did you contact Carson?” Dare asked.
Tazz nodded. “Yeah. He’s not happy, but he wants us to go with the plan as outlined. You can play the boyfriend, I’ll shadow.” His gaze dipped to Kylie then snapped back on him. “You’re going to have a hard time keeping her close, though. She’s tricky.”
“She’s a scientist. Don’t pretend with me that she is some kind of international agent out to do something more than save her dad.”
She stiffened, but didn’t move, and he let her think he believed she still slept. Soon enough he’d have to get the truth out of Kylie Chung, but right now wasn’t that time.
“It’s more. She’s more. In case you’ve forgotten, I’ll remind you that she wants to take the blueprint to making the ultimate fighting machines to—”
“Even with all the science, we’re still talking about men. And men bleed, Tazz. They die. No set of lab reports is worth more than Kylie. I’m not giving her up and I’m not allowing her to be harmed. That’s the mission now, keeping her safe. Someone’s let the cat out of the bag, and her dad’s secret isn’t so secret any longer. You just keep them back so we don’t have to hand over Superman powers to the highest bidder.”
Tazz narrowed his eyes, but finally nodded. “Of course. It’s what I do best isn’t it?”
The sarcasm in Tazz’s voice bothered him, but before he could say anything, if he would have with Kylie listening silently in his arms, Tazz shut the door and was gone.
No doubt Tazz remained close though, waiting on them. Now to tell Kylie of the plan, and try to keep his hands off her. His erection shot even harder just thinking about touching her. He’d have to wait on that, possibly go lame as a result, but he’d have to keep his pants buttoned and his head on straight if he wanted a chance with Ms Kylie Chung.
“All right, sweet cheeks, I know you’re awake, so unless you’re willing to do more in this bed than sleep, I suggest we get out of it.”
Kylie stiffened, but didn’t give the arrogant man any other indication she was startled by his proposal. Her life had shown her many things, and one of them was that when someone talked one way but acted another, it was the actions that counted. Dare was hard, fully erect and steaming hot against her. He’d been that way all night, at least when she’d woken from the subtle pressing of his body to hers.
The drugs might have knocked him out for part of the night, but not all of it. Some of that erection was because of her—her in the bed with him to be exact.
He could try to pass his hard-on off as a morning reaction to a woman in his arms, but he’d been hard all night. Plus, he’d saved her life. He’d hunted her down and found her twice. He’d stood beside her when his friend had obviously hated all she stood for. And now, when his friend had tried to get him to move out, he’d informed him that she was now his main concern. Keeping her safe, he’d said.
Those things spoke louder than his words now.
The realization left her feeling oddly unsure, but confident at the same time. So far with him her confidence had worked, in fact he seemed to like it. Taking a deep breath, she took a chance and settled more firmly against him with a slow stretch of her body against his.
In response, Daren sucked in a heavy breath. Heat flooded her and not from his body resting along hers. She’d never felt more alive. More in tune with herself too. Shivers raced from her core all the way to her scalp. For the first time that she could remember, she was warm, inside and out.
Taking another chance, she lazily snuggled up against him like she’d wanted to last night. His free arm stiffened along her back and he groaned when their lower bodies meshed perfectly. The hardness of his erection along her thigh and hip thrilled her and feeling even bolder she opened her eyes and met his surprised frown.
Slowly, so he had time to pull away if he wanted to, she lifted her lips to his and when she was close enough to kiss him, she smiled.
“You should outline what your plan is, otherwise I want to stick to mine,” she whispered.
His eyes flared wider in surprise, then he shocked her into laughing when he growled and flipped her to her back. He landed on top of her, and she rubbed up into him like a cat. The flare of intensity in his eyes shot out another wave of lust down her body.
She eased her leg up his side and traced the line of his muscle along his back with her free hand. His T-shirt had ridden up and the inside of her knee brushed the warm, silky muscles lining his ribs. The way they lay, she could feel the thickness of his erection against the cradle of her inner thighs and luxuriated in the heavy feel, but wanted so much more.
All of him
, she suddenly thought.
“You’re testing me,” he said in a deep, soft voice right against the sensitive skin near her ear.
“Really? I thought I wanted choices. It feels to me like you’re testing me,” she said, twisting her head to indicate where he’d stretched out her hand linked to his, above her head. “Open this,” she said, wiggling her wrist.
Instead, he brushed hot kisses along her throat. The caresses made her moan and shift under his weight to urge him right where she needed it. His amazing body thrilled her. Hard, hot, and the bulge he’d been teasing her with all night proved he’d be much more than a handful. Or mouthful. The thought sent a shot of pure excitement through her.
Not willing to let him have all the fun, she wrapped her legs around his waist and arched her hips upward, grinding into him while she gripped his head to keep his lips on her flesh.
In response, he swore harshly and every inch of him turned to tense muscles. “Jesus, Kylie.”
He lifted his head and she lifted hers, too, capturing his soft mouth that easily with hers. The first taste of him wasn’t enough. She feared it may never be, but she still dove deeper, unwilling to lose this chance to experience as much as she could He let her control the kiss until with a growl, he shifted a hand under her butt and dragged her firmly into his arms, taking her mouth with such passion and heat, her heart stuttered then raced to make up for lost time.
The world disappeared. All that remained was Dare. His warm, heavy body and his devastating kiss eclipsed everything else for her. Within seconds her body was awash with such need, she moaned loudly when he caressed his hand up her spine and back down to grip her butt again.
He broke the kiss at the sound, and breathlessly stared at her with eyes that glowed they were so intense. “Shit, Kylie, you’re killing me, here.”
“I won’t, I promise.”
He slowly grinned then laughed softly. “Oh, you just might, but not now, not here. I want days with no interruptions, not something quick and back into action.”
She frowned at him and tightened her leg around his hips. Didn’t he realize what a step this was for her? How daring she was being? And how hot and achy and, more importantly, empty her pussy was?
He groaned again and sank his head down next to hers.
“I won’t mind quick now, slow later.”
He shook his head and tightened that hot hand on her bare butt. “Ah, fuck, you’re so hot.”
It was her turn to laugh. She was? She kinda liked that. She brushed encouraging kisses along his salty neck and arched into him again, rocking there because she had to, and because he let out a husky groan and thrust his hips perfectly. It was so good, all she wanted was to experience the hard press of him inside her. He would go so deep and spread her so well, she knew she’d never forget it—or him.
Her one and only time having sex had been quick, and she’d barely realized he’d slipped inside before he’d been done. He’d been sweaty, and he’d groaned a lot, but he’d finished so fast she’d been left resenting him, and all the hoopla.
With Dare she knew she’d never feel that way.
He turned his head and kissed along the column of her throat. Her toes curled on their own and she shivered from the hot-cold flush tightening along her body and making her nipples hard. When she whispered his name, he seemed encouraged to push his hips against her and angle his erection to her core at the same time. She froze, fearing if she moved he might stop. But he didn’t. He kept on with the rough sounds and the hard shoves against her pussy. Her breasts grew heavy, her nipples tightened and tingled, needing something, anything—him, she knew with a rush of wetness that soaked her panties. She didn’t care. She wanted more. His mouth on her breasts, between her thighs, everywhere he was willing to go, she wanted to try.
He reached the spot behind her ear and paused there, simply breathing into her neck while he molded his hands to her body. She moaned when he bit the spot. A rush of anticipation shivered down her spine, centering on her aching clit.
“Oh, that, that—”
“You like that, huh, baby? Tell me, Ky, tell me and I’ll give it to you,” he murmured.
She dug her nails in his shoulder when he bucked again, this time hitting a spot that made her sob his name.
“There, oh, Daren, there,” she begged. She rocked into the firmness, rubbing her clit along his jeans. Heat rushed her from all sides, making it impossible for her to catch her breath. She wanted to touch him, caress down his thick flesh and fit that big erection to her pussy so he could fill her. “More, more,” she whispered. “I want to touch you.”