Ride Hard (Raven Riders 1)

CHAPTER 12

One minute Dare was standing on the beach, trying to keep himself from giving in to Haven’s innocent playfulness. The next he was wet from forehead to knees from Haven splashing him.

She actually splashed him.

His reaction was pure instinct. He took off like a shot, bolting toward her like a wild animal after its prey.

Haven’s beautiful face went from uncertain to startled to amused, and on a scream and a laugh she turned and ran, her feet kicking up water as she cut through the shallows.

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” she yelled between laughs.

Dare just ran faster, not even caring as his boots hit the water’s edge. She didn’t have a chance in hell of outrunning him, and he wasn’t giving up the chase until he had her in his arms—and made her pay.

A burst of laughter exploded out of her as she veered back and forth, pleading words spilling haltingly from her lips. And then Dare clasped his arms around her upper body, hauled her in against him, and took them both down to the sand right at the water’s edge. He turned his body so that he took the brunt of the fall, bringing Haven down on top of him. The chase and the challenge and the closeness had him rock hard in an instant. Not surprising, since he’d been sporting a semi since she’d straddled his bike, spread her legs around him, and taken him into her arms.

“You splashed me,” he said, eyebrow arched, hand fisted around the long braid in her hair.

Wearing a grin so open and carefree that it made his chest feel suddenly too small for his heart, Haven nodded. “Oops.”

“You think that’s funny?” he asking, growing harder as she shifted her weight, making her belly grind against his hard-on.

A small gasp of recognition, and she bit down on her lip as the cast of her eyes went from playful to aroused. “A little,” she said in a breathy voice. She licked her lips.

Dare couldn’t help but track the movement, and want to suck the trail of moisture she left there off the plump, pink skin.

What the fuck was he doing?

Haven’s hands gripped his shoulders, and she subtly shifted her weight again, pulling herself up his body—just a little, but enough that her lower belly now pressed and thrust against his cock. And Jesus if the need blazing out of those bright blue eyes wasn’t crystal clear.

For a split second, Dare thought of Haven’s list, her lie of omission, the expression she’d worn on her face when he’d made her come. And what he wanted to do ran roughshod over what he should do.

Startling a high-pitched gasp from her, Dare flipped their positions so that she lay in the soft sand and his body lay partially over hers. With his forehead against hers, he nailed her with a stare. “You sure you want to provoke me?” His left hand dragged down her body, over the small mounds of her breasts and the flat plane of her stomach. His fingers settled on the button to her jeans. “Because you realize now I have to exact my revenge.” He paused there, giving her the chance to tell him to back off.

She shivered beneath him. “I guess fair’s only fair,” she whispered.

That’s my girl, he thought, even though the sentiment was really problematic. On all kinds of levels. “You want me to stop, Haven, you just say the word.”

“Don’t stop,” she said, her lips parting, her breathing coming faster.

On a groan, Dare claimed her mouth with his. He tugged the button to her jeans free, yanked down the zipper, and pushed his hand beneath the snug material to find her hot and so damn slick.

Her tongue stroked against his, and he swallowed her moans as his fingers stroked her folds. She rocked her hips and parted her legs without him having to ask, pulling a growl of approval from low in his throat—and making him know that fingering her wasn’t going to be enough. Not for him.

Not this time. And not that it had really been last time, either.

Dare wanted more of Haven. He wanted to taste her, drink her down, wear her on his skin. On his mouth.

Kissing her long and hard and deep, he gently withdrew his hand from between her legs and pushed at the denim around her waist. Haven clued in to what he was doing and helped him push down the material until she was naked to her knees.

And then Dare shoved down her body, gripped her hips in his hands, and planted his face against the triangle of blond hair at the junction of her thighs. His tongue pushed between her slick lips, and she nearly bowed up off the sand beneath him. Jesus she was magnificent and honest and responsive in ways that made him want more, want everything.