Seven
It was their sixth date since his ultimatum, and Keely had yet to see Dare naked again. But she was damned if she was going to ask him when and where they would have sex. She wasn’t that desperate.
Okay, she was more than desperate, but she refused to let him in on her little secret. A girl had her pride. Then why, if she wasn’t getting great sex as he’d promised, had she agreed to join him for a casual meal at his favorite bar? Because she—dammit and damn him—really enjoyed his company. Dare was smart, witty and occasionally deep and Keely loved talking to him. And she liked the feeling of being wooed, charmed, flirted with and thought about. She liked the flowers and the text messages, the way he phoned just before eleven to say good-night.
She liked him.
But she had to get them back on track, back to all they could be, all they could have. The truth was, she was enjoying dating Dare a bit too much. And that was unacceptable. She was not going to fall in love with Wilfred Seymour. Not, not, not.
Tonight, because she needed to protect herself, and her tender heart, she was going to give him an ultimatum. It was either back to the bedroom or break up...
Keely slid into the booth and sighed when Dare sat on the same side of the table as her, shoulder to shoulder, his thigh pressed against hers. A waitress approached them and Keely couldn’t blame her for not being able to pull her eyes off her date...off Dare, she corrected.
Dare ordered her a glass of chardonnay and himself a beer and when the waitress finally left, he gently jammed his elbow into her side. “You’re quiet. Everything okay?”
Keely shifted on the bench to sit in the corner of the booth, putting a healthy amount of distance between her and the man who kept her awake at night and, when she did manage to fall asleep, was the star of her fairly dirty dreams.
She could do this; she had to do this. And this bar—down to earth and unpretentious—was the perfect place to have this conversation. “We need to talk.”
Dare nodded. “I’ve been expecting you to say this and the answer is no. We’re not going back to the way we were.” He had the balls to tack a smile onto the end of his statement and Keely felt her temper spark.
“You’re not the only person in this relationship,” Keely shot back.
“I’m the only one with some sense,” Dare retorted, leaning back. He closed his eyes and shook his head. “I’m tired, Keels. I’ve had a hell of a day. And I’m horny. Let’s not do this tonight, okay?”
She’d noticed the blue smudges under his eyes, the deeper grooves around his mouth. She wanted to know why he looked shattered, what had caused his stress, why he looked unhappy. But she couldn’t allow herself to go there; it was too dangerous.
“I can take care of the horny,” Keely told him, using her most seductive voice and putting her hand on his thigh. She could do sex. It was emotion that scared her stupid.
Dare looked disappointed and then anger flashed in his eyes. “Such a predictable response, Killer. And boring.”
Boring? Okay, that stung. Keely jerked her hand off his leg and narrowed her eyes at him. “I’m boring?”
Dare rolled his eyes. “I didn’t say you are boring, I said your response was.”
“What do you want me to say, Wilfred?”
The waitress strolled across the room with their drinks and when she got to the table, she darted a glance to Keely and then Dare, obviously sensing the tension between them. Dare ignored her curiosity and reached up to pinch the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb. “Do you have any aspirin?” he quietly asked.
Keely, caught on the back foot, nodded and pulled her bag onto her lap. She shoved her hand inside, looking for the small tin in which she kept a few tablets. Finding it, she opened it and shook the contents into her hand.
“How many do you need?” she quietly.
Dare picked three pills off her hand, threw them into his mouth and chased them down with a few gulps of beer. Placing his beer back onto the table, he half turned to face her.
“I’ve had a shitty day. I lost a court case and one of my oldest clients was arrested for fraud, which pisses me off because I warned him. My favorite paralegal quit to join another firm and I have the headache from hell,” Dare quietly told her. “And instead of asking me what’s wrong, the person I couldn’t wait to see, the one person who always brightens my mood, immediately reduces what we have to sex.”
Okay, he was seriously pissed. And judging by the pain in his midnight blue eyes, hurt. She hadn’t meant to hurt him; she was just scared.
But scared or not, she should’ve asked him about his day, tried to sound like she cared. Because she did, so much. Keely took a sip of her wine and wondered what would happen if she stopped creating distance between her and Dare, if she allowed herself to enjoy his company, to enjoy this flirty, wonderful, exciting time.
But what if she fell in love with him? What then?
Maybe he’d catch her. Maybe she wouldn’t fall and smack her head. Maybe she wouldn’t feel like every bone in her body was broken. Maybe she’d be okay.
Maybe...
“You know what, you might be right.”