Dare to Touch (Dare to Love 3)

“Don’t worry,” Olivia said. “I promise you I’m fine. It was a freak thing. It won’t ever happen again.”

He couldn’t hear the other side of the conversation, but the sound of her voice soothed him.

“Av?” Olivia paused then asked, “Did anyone call Dad?”

Dylan stiffened at the obvious tension in her voice as she asked that question.

“Yeah. I know he and Savannah are in L.A.” Another wait. “No, don’t call and tell him. It’s fine.”

But it wasn’t, Dylan thought. For her sake, he wanted to believe her father hadn’t yet been told, but he knew from his own parents’ lack of caring, anything was possible. And she’d already admitted to him how much her father’s betrayal had hurt. It was obvious to him that much of Olivia’s insecurity stemmed from her unstable relationship with her father. Dylan understood parent issues all too well considering he didn’t have a relationship with either one of his. But his situation had always been the same. One parent had left early in his life, the other later on. And while his mother had been present, she might as well not have been. So all in all, no rug had been pulled out from under Dylan’s feet the way it had been for Olivia when she’d found out about her father’s other family.

At times like these, he had to wonder if Olivia’s issues could be overcome at all … but he refused to think that way. He was too invested in her to believe she wouldn’t conquer her past.

With a groan, he stretched and closed his eyes. It was late, and it’d been a long day.

Once she hung up with Avery, she moved on to her various other family members, and he enjoyed the different relationship she shared with each. Listening gave him a unique insight into her character, seeing how she spoke to each sibling, full and half, in her life. Did it bother him that he didn’t have the same? No, because he had Callie and her husband and daughter. Not as big and boisterous as Olivia’s family, but just as overprotective.

“Finally!” Olivia proclaimed and tossed the phone on the bed beside her. “Last call and I am so sorry.”

He smiled. “I don’t mind. They obviously love you.”

And so do I. He met her gaze, wondering if she could read his unspoken thoughts.

“They do,” she whispered, her voice catching. “And if it were any one of them who’d gone through what I did today, I’d want to hear their voices too.”

She laid her head in the crook of his shoulder, and he curled his arm around her tightly. “I could have lost you today.”

He’d never tasted fear before. Never understood what the phrase meant. Not until she’d had a gun in her gut and a crazy man holding her hostage.

“You weren’t exactly safe yourself.” Her fingers tightened, biting into his stomach.

He hadn’t been worried about himself, only about her. He inhaled her fresh-from-the-shower scent, and his cock hardened. He wanted to press his hand against himself to alleviate the ache, but she’d notice. And he didn’t want to pressure her after the day she’d had. But he needed to feel her slick and hot around him and know they were both alive and together.

She ran her fingers back and forth over his abdomen. “I’m not tired,” she said in a husky voice. “In fact, I think my adrenaline is still running high.”

He blew out a relieved breath. “Thank God.”

Without warning, she levered herself up and straddled his waist, a wicked gleam in her eyes. “Glad to see we’re on the same page.”

“I like you in my clothes.” He slid his hand beneath the hem of the oversize shirt he’d lent her only to discover she wasn’t wearing panties beneath. He blew out a rough breath. “Jesus, Liv.”

She grinned. “Surprised?”

He laughed, but the sound was as strained as his already aching erection. He pushed himself up against the pillows, giving him more leverage to play.

“You know I’m tempted to start here.” He slid a finger through her damp folds, and she trembled above him. “But I think I’ll tease you instead.”

He inched the shirt up over her stomach, sliding the hem higher until he uncovered her breasts. She yanked the tee over her head and tossed it to the floor, leaving her completely nude and his for the taking.

He loved her body, the slender curve of her waist and the small rose-tipped breasts he could hold in one hand. He leaned forward, capturing one rigid nipple between his teeth, pulling on the bud until she threw her head back and groaned.

“And here I thought I was taking control,” she said.

He chuckled but kept teasing one nipple with his tongue and teeth, using his fingers on the other breast, pulling and plucking at the sensitive tip until her hips were gyrating in circles over his straining erection. The soft cotton of his boxers provided too much of a barrier to her wet heat. He wanted to feel her sex directly over his cock. Needed her to s

lide down his shaft so her inner walls pulsed around him.

“Get my boxers off,” he said through clenched teeth.