Ride Hard (Raven Riders #1)(37)

Fucking beautiful.

Shaking and breathing hard, several long moments passed before Haven’s muscles relaxed and her hold on his hair loosened. His scalp burned from the pull, but he loved every second of the way she’d both let go and held on tight. Held on tight to him.

That she’d let him expose her, that she’d trusted him to do right by her, that she’d given herself over so freely to him—it all blew his goddamned mind.

Haven pushed against Dare’s shoulders, and he let her force him up onto an elbow. Looking him in the eye, she scooted down and trailed her hand over his abdomen to his groin. With a shaky touch that said she wasn’t sure he’d like it, she palmed his cock through his jeans, rubbing and squeezing in a way that made him a little crazy.

He liked it, all right.

God, how he wanted to let her have her way, how he wanted to see exactly what she wanted to do, how he wanted her hands and her mouth and her body all over him.

Except there was that damn looming confrontation to consider, wasn’t there?

He stilled her hand. Pushed it away. Shook his head, hating the shadows of confusion and rejection that passed behind her eyes. But he couldn’t let her give him pleasure—well, any more than he’d already received from pleasuring her. Not when he was the one now withholding information.

What a f*cking epic mess. One he’d just made messier, no doubt.

Way to go, Kenyon.

So instead of doing what he wanted, he did what he had to. Rose to his feet, helped her up, and turned his back while she righted her clothes. He heard her hand rubbing over her skin, and peeked over his shoulder enough to see that she was trying to brush the sand off her legs and ass. Jesus, he really hadn’t given that much thought, had he? Which made him an even bigger prick.

“Sorry I got you all sandy,” he gritted out, regret at his thoughtlessness pushing its way to the fore.

“It’s just sand,” she said in a small voice. A voice that made him want to tell her how much he’d loved eating her to orgasm, that made him want to explain why he’d kept them from going further, that made him want to show her some tenderness instead of reinserting the distance between them he should’ve left there in the first place. “I’ll, uh, just get my shoes.”

Looking to his right, Dare watched her trail down the beach, feeling like he’d wrecked the beautiful thing that’d happened between them—and knowing that his lack of willpower where she was concerned posed a problem he couldn’t let go unaddressed for very much longer.

HAVEN’S HEAD WAS spinning, and not just from the most amazing orgasm she’d ever had—although that was certainly part of it. Even now, she couldn’t believe that Dare had shattered her to pieces with just his lips and his tongue. But he had, and it had been without question the most intimate moment of her life.

But then, somehow, it had all gone wrong. And Haven didn’t know what she felt most—embarrassment at what she’d let him do and how easily she’d given in to her desire to have him do it, hurt that he wouldn’t let her return the favor, or confusion about why his mood had changed so suddenly. Her heart rate had barely evened out before the shutters had come down over his eyes and face, hiding the hot, fierce desire he’d worn and taking him away from her.

And if all that wasn’t bad enough, she had sand in places you didn’t really want sand. It turned out that sex on a beach sounded more romantic than perhaps it was. Mark that one down as lesson learned.

Although Haven would’ve let herself be buried in sand from neck to toes if Dare would’ve let her explore him, please him, take him in her mouth. That was at least something she had a little experience with, as she’d done it with Zach a few times before her father had forced them apart.

She shook her head as she brushed the sand off her feet and slipped them back into her sneakers. Finished, she turned to find Dare standing behind her, a strange expression on his face.

“Is something the matter?” she asked.

For a split second, she saw the answer in his eyes, and then he glanced to the trail that led down to the parking lot. “We should head back.”

“Just tell me.” She crossed her arms, hugging herself against the feeling of dread settling over her body.

He stepped toward the trail, and she thought he wasn’t going to answer, but then he turned on his heel and stalked up to her. “You know what? Yeah. Something’s wrong. You lied to me.”

“What? When?” she asked, her mind racing, panic lancing through her veins.

“The f*cking reward, Haven. Did you really think I wouldn’t find out? Jesus.”

The words sucked all the oxygen out of the air. Instinctively, she stepped back, her chin down. “I was going to tell you,” she said, her response sounding as pathetic as it was.

“Oh, so you did know, then. How?” he asked, words clipped, tone full of disappointment.

Tears pricked at the backs of her eyes. But no way was she letting them fall. “We heard the guys who held us talk about it.”

“You mean the ones who held you in the storage facility, the Church Gang?” he asked, and then he chuffed out a humorless laugh. “And this didn’t seem like information that you should maybe share with the people trying to keep you safe? Like, say, when I specifically asked you to tell me everything I needed to know?”