Lone Calder Star (Calder Saga 9)

“Was that your mom on the phone just now?” The question had all the earmarks of an idle one, but there was an interested lilt to her voice that seemed to genuinely seek verification of the assumption.

“It was,” he confirmed, wondering why it mattered to Dallas.

“I thought so.”

“I noticed you out here on the porch. You looked a little blue.”

“Really?” She turned at right angles to the railing and leaned her back against a wooden post, a smile curving her lips. “Is that why you came out? To cheer me up?”

The movement created more space between them, which was the last thing Quint wanted. Unhurried, he swung toward her, simultaneously shortening the distance between them and reaching up to brace a hand against the post a few inches above her head.

“Does that mean you think I can?” he asked with a slight grin.

“I suppose it would depend on how you went about it.” Again there was a trace of uncertainty, a kind of drawing back that seemed to push him away, but her gaze slid almost unwillingly to his mouth and that pushed him closer.

“I was always taught that a kiss makes everything better.” He followed his words with a downward dip of his head and claimed her lips.

The night air had chilled their surface, making his first taste of them cool. He warmed every inch of them with a nuzzling heat that soon coaxed the responsive pressure he sought. The quickening ardor of her lips burned through the restraint he had placed on himself. And the kiss became something that was no longer warm and persuasive, but one that was hot with need, demanding contact with her body.

But the minute his hand gripped her waist to draw her against him, Dallas ripped herself away from his lips and turned into the railing, all in one twisting motion.

“Is that how you usually go about cheering someone up?” The disturbed breathiness in her voice took much of its stiff demand away from it, and offered its own kind of reassurance to Quint.

“I saved it for you.” Standing behind her, he wound his arms around her, drawing her back against him and bending his head to nuzzle the side of her neck. “I admit I got a bit carried away,” he murmured against her skin. “It’s been a little too long since I held you in my arms, and the desire just builds up.”

“I could tell.”

“Obvious, wasn’t it?” He smiled, but he could feel the tension in her body that kept her from relaxing against him.

“Quint,” she began, a wealth of hesitation and reluctance in her voice. “I think we should slow it down.”

Quint sensed again this figurative pulling away from him, and it was totally at odds with the passion that had been in her kiss a moment ago. Puzzled by her conflicting signals, Quint turned her around, needing to see her face.

“Are you saying I’ve been rushing things?” he asked.

Her glance bounced off his face and centered on his shirt collar. “We both have,” she replied somewhat stiffly.

“And that’s bad,” he guessed; yet he was oddly reassured by her comment.

“Not necessarily. I just think it would be too easy to let ourselves get carried by the heat of the moment and find ourselves in a situation that we might have cause to regret.”

Quint smiled at her tactful choice of phrases. “I might as well be honest, Dallas. An affair isn’t what I want at all.”

“Good. I don’t think it would be wise either,” she agreed quickly.

“You misunderstand.” He tucked a finger under her chin, lifting it to force her to look at him. “I’m hoping for something more permanent.”

Something else was mixed in with the shock and disbelief in her, but the dim light made it impossible for Quint to identify it.

“We hardly know each other,” Dallas said in confused protest.

He smoothed the hair back from her face. “I wouldn’t be surprised that, even after a lifetime together, there would still be things we don’t know about each other.”

There wasn’t an ounce of doubt in his mind that it was a lifetime he wanted to spend with her. The certainty of it filled him. But it was the expressions chasing across her face—surprise, joy, doubt, and something akin to panic—that made Quint laugh softly. “There goes that mind of yours again, processing all the data and searching out potential problem areas.”

“How can you ignore them?” Dallas countered, her gaze clinging to him in uncertainty. “You don’t know me at all.”

Unconcerned, Quint smiled. “You’d be surprised at what I know about you.”