NOCTE (Nocte Trilogy #1)(63)

Because he made that hidden part of me ache, the maternal place, the place that wants to protect him from everything, even if that means from me.

“What did your step-father do?”

My question is quiet in its simplicity and Dare sighs again.

“You’re really burning through your questions today.”

I nod, but I don’t back down.

“My stepfather was unfortunately, very much like his mother. A very calculating, controlling person. He had to have everything his way exactly and those people who didn’t comply were punished severely.”

I swallow hard at the closed look on Dare’s beautiful face.

“How severely?”

He turns to look at me, his black eyes staring into my soul.

“Severely.”

My heart twinges at the vulnerable pain in Dare’s eyes. He thinks he’s concealing it, but he’s not. “And being the rogue that you are, I’m guessing you were punished a lot.”

He nods and looks out at the sea and I pick up his hand, spinning his ring round and round.

“And no one interfered? Not your mother or your grandmother?”

He looks at me now, stricken. “She’s my step-grandmother. And of course she wouldn’t interfere. She never approved of me. She thinks I deserved everything I got and then some. My mother… she couldn’t stop it. She couldn’t stand against the two of them. They were an unstoppable force.”

“Why didn’t your mom leave him? If he was so bad, I mean?” I ask hesitantly.

“It’s not always that easy,” he answers tiredly. “Where would she have gone? She didn’t have anywhere to go.”

The feel of this conversation is dark and ominous and scary. I examine his face, the planes and angles, and grip his hand harder. “Well, now that your mom is gone, you’re done with your step-father’s family. Thank goodness. You’re here in America and they can’t hurt you anymore.”

He sighs, a ragged sound, his slender fingers weaving around my own. “Can’t they?”

I start to answer and he interrupts. “You’ve burned through most of your questions, Cal. It seems to me like you’ve only got a couple left.”

I nod, because he’s right. “I’ve only got one more to ask today, and then I’ll save my last one for later.”

Nerves cause my heart to pound, adrenaline to rush, rush, rush through my veins as I look at him, the Adonis sitting next to me. Do it. Do it. Everything about him touches me… his voice, his story, his vulnerability that he tries so hard to hide. All of it. I want him. All of him.

“You’ve been such a gentleman,” I start, before I lose my nerve. “And it’s sexy as hell, I’ll admit. You’re sexy. And beautiful. And I want to be close to you, Dare. I want it more than I’ve ever wanted anything.”

Dare swallows. I see his throat move, I see him grip his leg with long fingers.

“And?” he asks hesitantly. “What is your question?”

He swallows again.

“Be with me,” I urge him. “Today. Right now. Out here where it’s only the two of us. Please.”

Dare closes his eyes, and his face is bathed by the sun.

“That’s not a question,” he states softly. But his hands are gripping his legs so tightly his knuckles are turning white.

I move over, close, close, closer. Until my thigh is pressed against his, and I unclasp his fingers from his thighs. Leaning over our intertwined hands, I kiss his neck, beginning at the base, slowly and softly working my way up to his ear.

“Will you be with me? Today?” I whisper in his ear. With my last raspy word, I release his hand and slide mine along his inner thigh. I feel him harden beneath my fingers, pulsing through his jeans.

He closes his eyes and I tighten my fingers, increasing my grip.

“Don’t,” he whispers. His voice husky and so sexy.

“That’s not an answer,” I tell him, stroking him through the denim. A surge of feminine power shoots through me, lifting me up, propelling me onward, until my own hormones explode and cloud my thoughts.

“I want you, Dare,” I tell him hotly, all logic and reason abandoning me. And then I kiss him, pressing my body into his, plunging my tongue into his hot mouth. His hands come up and lift me until I’m straddling him and I feel his hardness, his rigidity, pressing between my legs.

He’s hard for me.

I swallow hard, absorbing his moan, sucking it down.

“You don’t know what you want,” he rasps into my neck.

“I do,” I insist quietly, rocking in his lap, grinding my hips into his, creating an exquisite, amazing friction. “I’ve wanted you all along.”

Dare pulls away, his dark eyes heavy-lidded with want for me. Warmth floods me, wetting my panties and I cling to him.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.” My answer is simple.

With a growl, Dare scoops me up, and carries me down the peninsula, to a place where the ground is soft. He lays me down, on his knees above me, gloriously back-lit.

“I shouldn’t,” he wavers.

“You have to,” I tell him, grabbing him and pulling him down on top of me.

His weight is delicious and perfect and he molds into me, making it seem like we’re one person as we writhe together, trying desperately to get closer.