Dare to Hold (Dare to Love 4)

She shook her head. “You mean you’d rather make them? Who would have thunk it!” she teased.

Before she could blink, he flipped her onto her back and straddled her with his large body. “Are you making fun of me, Ms. Thompson?”

She wanted to laugh, but the stern look in his gaze had that giggle catching in the back of her throat. “No, I would never do that.” She bit the inside of her cheek and tried not to let any sound escape. He looked like he was just itching for a chance to torment her if she did. She wasn’t sure she could handle any of his sensual teasing.

He skimmed his fingers up the sides of her body, pausing as he came to the swells of her breasts and tracing beneath the sensitive mounds.

She stifled a long moan.

“As I was saying,” he continued, “my brother offered me a job. Actually he wants me to buy into his company and partner with him,” Scott said, sounding surprised. But as he spoke to her, he kept touching her, skimming her breasts with his knuckles, tracing a circle around her areolas with his fingers.

“Ooh.” She let out a moan.

He narrowed his gaze. “We’re talking,” he reminded her.

She wanted to pout but knew better. For some reason, he wanted to mix up conversation and foreplay. Bad man. Somehow she had to focus, because she sensed this was an important topic to him. Very important, and he was choosing her to confide in.

She drew a deep breath to steady herself. “Why do you sound shocked that he’d ask you to be his partner?” she asked.

He paused, his hands stilling. “I’m impressed you picked up on that,” he said. “Tyler’s just two years older than me, but I always looked up to him. Especially after he joined the Army. He’s successful now that he’s home too. That he’d want me to join him means a lot.”

She reached up and traced his jaw with her fingertips, the stubble prickling her skin in a delightful way. “You’re smart and successful. Why wouldn’t he want you?”

He shrugged. “It’s just not something I ever thought was on his radar.”

“Are you considering leaving the force?” she asked.

“Yes.” He appeared startled at his admission. “I was considering it after he asked, and then I came here… You’d been traumatized and I realized, hell yes, this is what I would rather do. Protect people on my own terms.”

She smiled up at him, pleased she’d

been able to help him decide things, even if she hated what was going on in her own life at the moment. “I think you’ll be fantastic at whatever you put your mind to.”

He stared down at her, mouth parted as he studied her.

“That means a lot.”

Her heart fluttered at his words, but before she could start dissecting his meaning, Scott grasped her wrists in his hands and pinned them back against the mattress.

“I need to fuck you,” he said. “We can finish talking later.”

She blinked up at him, her gaze settling on his darkening eyes, the razor stubble marking his jaw and his messed hair. Need and want poured through her at the sight of him poised over her. Wanting her.

“Umm … okay?” Who was she to argue?

He tipped his head back and chuckled. “I can’t remember the last time I laughed during sex. You’re the whole package,” he said as he settled his cock at her entrance, then swore. “Shit. Condom.”

She bit her lip, wondering if she should do this. “Pregnancy isn’t an issue, obviously.” The words escaped, deciding for her. “And after my asshole ex got me pregnant and bailed, I got tested … just in case. So unless you—”

“I’m clean. Tested for work. And I really want to feel you bare, baby.” He raised his hips and drove forward, impaling her in one smooth thrust.

“Oh God.” She felt him everywhere. So hard and thick, smooth yet not, it was an exquisite difference, and she reveled in the increased friction and sensation.

“I hear you.” He slid out and back, his eyes a hazy dark blue, filled with desire as he picked up rhythm. No slow and easy this time, and she was grateful for it. She didn’t want time to think or, even worse, feel.

He tightened his grip on her wrists and took her with unrelenting drives that had her coming without buildup or warning.

“Scott!” She screamed his name. Fought to free her hands, to grab on to him as she shattered, but he held on tight. The firm binding merely heightened the experience, intensified her orgasm, and she might even have blacked out for a second. She barely remembered him coming too.