He shrugged. “The sheriff?”
“One and the same.” She glanced back over at the flowers. “Aren’t they beautiful?”
AJ came to stand next to her. It was obvious they couldn’t see the arrangement through the same eyes when he said. “Looks like a bunch of flowers to me.”
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Well, I think they’re special, and it was thoughtful for him to send them to let me know I was in his thoughts.”
AJ shrugged again. “He’s looking for a girlfriend, but I told him you weren’t interested in a boyfriend.”
Shelly arched a brow. “AJ, you had no right to say that.”
His chin jutted out. “Why not? You’ve never had a boyfriend before, so why would you care about one now? It’s just
been me and you, Mom. Isn’t that enough?”
Shelly shook her head. Her son had years to learn about
human sexuality and how it worked. She was just finding out herself what ten years of abstinence could do to a person. “AJ, don’t you think I can get lonely sometimes?” she asked him softly.
He didn’t say anything for a little while. Then he said. “But you never got lonely before.”
“Yes, and I worked a lot before. That’s how you got into all that trouble. I was putting in extra hours at the hospital when the cost of living got high. I needed additional money so the two of us could afford to live in the better part of town. I
didn’t have time to get lonely. Now with my new job, I can
basically make my own hours so I can spend more time
with you. But you’re away in school a lot during the days,
and pretty soon you’ll have friends you’ll want to spend time with, won’t you?”
AJ thought of Morris and Cornelius and the fun they’d had on the playground that day at school. “Yes.”
“Well, don’t you think I need friends, too?”
“Yes, but what’s wrong with having girlfriends?”
“There’s nothing wrong with it, but most of the girls I went to school with have moved away, and although I’m sure I’ll
meet others, right now I feel comfortable associating with people I already know, like Dare and his brothers.”
“But it’s the sheriff who wants you as his girlfriend. He likes you.”
She smiled. Dare must have laid it on rather thick. “You think so?”
“Yes. He said you used to be his special girl. His brothers and parents said so, too. And I’ve got a feeling he wants you to be his special girl again. But if you let him, he’ll find out about me.”
“And you still see that as a bad thing, AJ?”
He remained silent for a long time, then he hunched his shoulders. “I’m still not sure he would want me.”
Shelly felt a knot forming in her stomach. She wondered if he was using his supposed dislike of Dare as an excuse to shield himself from getting hurt. “And why wouldn’t he want you?”
“I told you that he didn’t like me.”
And you also said you didn’t like him, she wanted to remind him, but decided to keep quiet about that. “Well, I know
Dare, and I know that he likes you. He wouldn’t have invited you to dinner with him and his family if he didn’t. He would
have taken you straight to Ms. Kate’s house knowing she would have fed you.”
She watched AJ’s shoulders relax. “You think so?”
If you only knew, she thought. “Yes, I think so. I believe you remind Dare of himself when he was your age. I heard he was a handful for his parents. All the brothers were.”
AJ nodded. “Yes, he said that once. He has a nice family.”
She smiled. “Yes, he has.”
AJ stuck his hands inside his pockets. “So, he’s back now?”
“Who?”
“The sheriff. He left town to help another sheriff catch a guy who escaped from jail. Deputy McKade said so.”
“Oh.” Shelly had wondered why she hadn’t heard from him since the luncheon on Thursday. Not that she had been
looking for him, mind you. “Well, in that case, yes, I would say that he’s back, since he ordered these flowers.”
“Then our lessons for tomorrow morning are still on.”
“Your lessons?”
“Yeah, remember, I told you he had said he would teach me, Morris and Cornelius how to protect ourselves at the police station in the morning.”
“Oh, I’d almost forgotten about that.” She wanted to meet her son’s new playmates and ask Dare about them. “Will they need a ride or will their parents bring them?”
“Their parents will be bringing them. They have to go to the barbershop in the morning.”
Shelly nodded, looking at the long hair on her son’s head. She’d allowed him to wear it in twists, as long as they were neat-looking. Maybe in time she would suggest that he pay a visit to the barbershop as well.
“And after our class they have to go to church for choir practice.”
AJ’s words recaptured Shelly’s attention. Morris and
Cornelius were active in church? The two were sounding better and better every minute. “All right then. Go get
cleaned up for dinner.”
He nodded. “Do you think the sheriff will call tonight or come by?” AJ asked as he trotted up the stairs.
I wish. “I’m not sure. If he just got back into town he’s probably, tired so I doubt it.”
“Oh.”
Although she was sure he hadn’t wanted her to, she had
heard the disappointment in his voice anyway. He sounded just how she felt.
Dare couldn’t sleep. He felt restless. Agitated. Horny.
He threw back the covers and got out of bed, yanked a T- shirt over his head and pulled on his jeans. His body was a nagging ache, it was throbbing relentlessly and his arousal strained painfully against his jeans. He knew what his
problems was, and he knew just how he could fix it.
He sighed deeply, thinking he definitely had a problem, and wondered if at two in the morning, Shelly was willing to help him solve it.
Shelly couldn’t sleep and heard the sound of a pebble the moment it hit her window. At first she’d thought she was
hearing things, but when a second pebble hit the window she knew she wasn’t. She also knew who was sending her the signals to come to the backyard.
That had always been Dare’s secret sign to let her know he was back in town. She would then sneak past her parents’
bedroom and slip down the stairs and through the back door to race outside to his arms.
She immediately got out of bed, tugged on her robe and slipped her feet into her slippers. Not even thinking about why he would be outside her window this time of night, she quickly tiptoed down the stairs. Without turning on a light, she entered the kitchen and opened the back door, and, although it was too dark for her to see, she knew he was there. Her nostrils immediately picked up his scent.
“Dare?” she whispered, squinting her eyes to see him.
“I’m here.”
And he was, suddenly looming over her, gazing down at her with a look in his eyes that couldn’t be disguised. It was
desperate, hot, intense, and it made her own eyes sizzle at the same time the area between her legs began to throb. “I heard the pebbles,” she said, swallowing deeply.
He nodded as he continued to hold her gaze. “I was hoping you would remember what it meant.”
Oh, she remembered all right. Her body remembered, too. “Why are you here?” she asked softly, feeling her insides heat up and an incredible sensation flow between her legs. Desire was surging through every part of her body and she was barely able to stand it. “What do you want, Dare?”
He reached out and placed both hands at her waist,
intentionally pulling her closer so she could feel his large,
hard erection straining against his jeans. “I think that’s a big indication of what I want, Shelly,” he murmured huskily,
leaning down as his mouth drew closer to hers.
Ten
S helly felt a moment of panic. One part of her mind tried
telling her that she didn’t want this, but another part, the one ruled by her body, quickly convinced her that she did. Her
mind was swamped with the belief that it didn’t matter that it hadn’t been a full week since she laid eyes on Dare again after ten years. Nor did it matter that there were issues yet unresolved between them. The only thing that mattered was that this was the man she had once loved to distraction, the man she had given her virginity to at seventeen; the man
who had taught her all the pleasures a man and woman
could share, and the man who had given her a son. And,
she inwardly told herself, this has nothing to do with love but with gratifying our needs.
Realizing that and accepting it, her body trembled as she lifted her face to meet his, and at that moment everything, including the ten years that had separated them,
evaporated and was replaced by hunger, intense, sexual hunger that was waiting to explode within her. He felt it too, and his body reacted, drawing her closer and making a
groan escape from her lips.
He covered her mouth with his, zapping her senses in a
way that only he could do. Fueled by the greed they both
felt, his kiss wasn’t gentle. It displayed all the insatiability he was feeling.
And then some.
Dare didn’t think he could get enough. He wanted to get inside her, reacquaint her body with his and give her the satisfaction she had denied herself for ten years. He