Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
As much as he wanted to question her and see what was going on both at work and with Brian, she was too shaken up for him to grill her tonight. Between her concussion, the accident, and everything with her brother, she was more fragile than he’d ever seen her.
Dare knew a good night’s sleep would do wonders, and by morning she’d be ready to handle whatever needed to be done. Liza was strong, and she was a fighter.
But for tonight, she needed some TLC, and Dare had no problem giving it to her.
* * *
Liza felt as if her brain had short-circuited. For a woman who’d always been in control of her life, her emotions, and her destiny, the past week had shredded any notions she had about being in charge. So when Dare offered to drive her home, she agreed without question. When he parked in her driveway and instructed her to sit tight, she listened too. He came around to the passenger’s side of the car and opened her door, helped her out, and walked beside her to the house. He held out his hand, and she gave him the keys.
Oh, she knew by tomorrow she’d pull herself together, but for tonight, if he wanted to order her around and take complete control, she decided she’d allow it. Her brain had already shut down, and it felt good not to fight the person who wanted to pamper her.
He locked the front door and checked the garage exit and windows, and for once, she was grateful Dare Barron was a cop. She put all thoughts of Brian, people he owed money to, and men who wanted to hurt her out of her mind. Or tried to. The lingering fear and anxiety hovered just below the surface.
Dare must have sensed her fragile emotions because he was steady and calm. He asked her no questions and demanded no answers. He was just there.
He guided her to the bathroom and turned on the shower. “Long day at the pool means we need to clean up.”
She merely nodded.
While waiting for the water to get hot, Dare stepped closer. He lifted the sheer top she’d put over her bathing suit and drew it over her head. The cool air-conditioning blew over her skin, and she shivered, her nipples hardening instantly beneath the bathing suit top.
He noticed but said nothing, merely reaching around to unhook the bikini top and let the material fall to the floor. Her breasts grew heavy under his insistent stare.
“Beautiful,” he said almost reverently and brushed the pad of his thumb over one distended peak.
She moaned and realized the sound had come from her throat. Realized too that, at his touch, her body came alive, and so did her mind. Her senses, which had been dead since the incident on the driveway at Ethan’s, fired up at his intimate caress.
He switched to the other breast, swiping his finger over her other nipple. “Just trying to give them equal treatment,” he said with a sexy grin.
She laughed for what felt like the first time in hours. She couldn’t resist him one bit. And for right now, she didn’t want to. She needed this, needed him too badly. The worry and the issues between them could wait.
She eased one finger inside his bathing suit trunks, and his stomach muscles jumped, stiffening beneath her touch. She could imagine other muscles stiffening as well and wanted to find out firsthand.
“Nuh-uh.” Dare grabbed her wrist. “Tonight is about you.”
At his words, moisture pooled between her thighs. “But touching you makes me happy,” she murmured.
His eyes glazed over. “I’ll make you even happier,” he promised. “Now keep your hands to yourself like a good girl.” He placed her hands back at her sides before hooking his fingers into her suit bottom and easing them down her legs.
He lowered along with them, slowly revealing her to his hungry gaze. She stepped out of one side, then the other, and he tossed the bottoms across the floor.
He stood and, with one swift yank, removed his trunks. Next thing she knew, he’d lifted her and placed her inside the shower, joining her in the enclosed steamy area. The space wasn’t tiny, and they fit just fine, with room to move and turn.
Dare settled her with her back to the wall. He lathered up his hands with her favorite coconut-scented soap and began to wash her body from her toes on up, massaging with his fingertips, easing his strong hands over her calves, up her knees, her thighs, and slowly inching his way to her feminine folds. All the while, his erection pulsed strong and hard, rigid and upright against his belly.
Her sex clenched with need, and she tried to touch him, wanting to slide her hand along the hard, rigid shaft, but he shook his head once more.