Dare You To Read online

  “Can’t. God.” Her breath hitched. “Shouldn’t feel. This good.”

  He licked back into her mouth and tangled his tongue with hers while increasing the pressure and speed of his fingers between her legs. Driving deep, Coop curled his fingers and searched for that elusive spot inside her. He knew the second he found it.

  She jolted as though he’d zapped her with a volt of electricity. Her cunt clamped around his fingers and held him tight for a split second before she burst into motion. Coop had to press her harder against his truck to keep her writhing body within his grasp. He couldn’t remember a woman ever falling apart in his arms so completely.

  Her hips rocked on his hands, her tongue spearing into his mouth as if she wanted to crawl inside him. And the fingers she’d tangled in his hair fisted, the resulting yank on his scalp slamming through him like a punch to the gut. A growl tore up his throat and he bucked his hips in time with hers, coming closer than he ever had to spilling in his pants like a horny teenager getting his first touch of cunt.

  Coop swallowed her cries of release and tried to keep from coming as he rode the wave of her climax. As the last ripples rolled through her body and into his, Shaye slumped against him. Their mouths separated and he held her close, tucking her face into his neck while they tried to regain reality—sanity.

  At least that’s what he was doing.

  Gut instinct had told him they’d be explosive, but that seemed too tame a word for what had just happened. And he hadn’t even fucked her yet.

  He slipped his hands from between her legs, the walls of her cunt sucking at his fingers and drawing a moan from both of them. Cupping her arse in one hand, he smoothed the other up her back and curled it around her neck.

  He still hadn’t caught his breath, but Shaye was trembling and breathing hard like she’d run a marathon and was on the verge of collapsing. “You okay?”

  Okay?

  Shit. Shaye wasn’t sure she was still alive. She’d just experienced the most explosive orgasm of her life. Her whole body was numb. The tingling, good kind of numb. And only one thought swirled in her head.

  More.

  She was pretty sure she’d never be okay again. The other thing she was sure of was that she was in trouble.

  Big trouble.

  If Coop could do that with only his hands, while fully clothed, in a goddamn fucking parking lot, she’d never survive the next month with her heart intact. Not when that traitorous organ had been hooked on him before he’d ever touched her. And it could only get better—or worse depending how you looked at it—with their clothes off, without the chance of getting caught, with time to explore…

  She’d made a tactical error. A huge one. She’d underestimated their chemistry, her attraction, his skill. The unrelenting burn that filled her veins, scorched her bones and drove her to such desperation for his touch that she’d let him have her against his truck in a public parking lot.

  “Shaye?” Coop’s lips brushed her temple. “You okay?”

  Unable to put words together yet, she nodded.

  His arms tightened around her. “Let’s get you in the truck.”

  She didn’t protest when he moved them back to the passenger door and opened it without letting her go. He placed her on the seat but didn’t step away. Instead, he tipped her head back with two fingers beneath her chin so he could meet her gaze.

  “You sure you’re okay?”

  Shaye could see his concern. Wished she could get herself together enough to be her usual carefree self, but he’d shattered her with that orgasm, and she was still trying to pull the pieces back together.

  Coop trailed his fingers along her jaw, beneath her ear and down the slope of her neck to her shoulder. “It’s not often Shaye Adams is speechless.”

  His grin was a little smug, his eyes sparkling with masculine power, and Shaye suddenly had the perfect reason to find some of her usual bravado and her voice. “Well, I’m just trying to find the right words to say. I’d hate to crush your delicate male ego by using the wrong ones.”

  Coop’s eyes narrowed. “The right words?”

  “Hmm…” Shaye wiggled back in the seat to put some space between them.

  Big mistake.

  He leaned in as he shoved his hand up her skirt and cupped her pussy. “No chance of crushing my ego, Shaye. The evidence is coating your cunt and thighs. Not to mention my hands.”

  She gasped when he drove two fingers inside her, pumped them twice then pulled them free and bought his hand up between their faces. There was no way to evade him when he gripped the back of her neck with his free hand and used those wet fingers to paint her lips.

  “Lick them,” he growled.

  Her lips parted on a rush of air and Cooper took advantage, pushing his fingers into her mouth. The taste and scent was unmistakably hers. She knew what he was trying to do, except now the fog from her orgasm had begun to clear and she wasn’t about to let him keep her off balance a moment longer. She’d put him on equally shaky ground.

  Shaye curled her tongue around his fingers as she closed her lips and sucked them deep. His eyelids lowered, thick, dark lashes shielding his gaze as he watched her take what he offered. She sucked harder. Used her teeth to scrape over his rough skin. Then she turned it up. With a small moan, she closed her eyes and treated his fingers like she would his cock.

  In and out.

  Suck and release.

  Teeth and tongue.

  The rumble of sound he made in his throat was unlike anything she’d ever heard before. It vibrated over her skin, down her spin and through her core, tightening and heating tissue still swollen and sensitive.

  “Fuck.” Coop yanked his hand away, but before she could protest the sudden change, he replaced his fingers with his tongue.

  He ate at her mouth. Teeth, tongues and lips smashed together. Sucking, licking, biting. It was out of control and desperate. She’d never been kissed with such hunger. Such savage urgency.

  Gasping for breath, Shaye tore her mouth from his. But Coop didn’t let that stop him. He nipped at her chin. Licked under her jaw. Sucked on her neck.

  “Need to taste you.”

  The words had barely left Coop’s mouth when he dropped to his knees, shoved her legs wider and buried his face in her pussy.

  “Oh God.” Her head dropped back, her hands going to his shoulders, her fingers grappling for purchase in a world that shook her from the inside out.

  He growled against her, the sound beating against her clit and sending pulses of pleasure through her core. With the same desperate, out-of-control savagery he’d used on her mouth, Cooper drove her to the peak and over in seconds.

  Shaye’s thighs clamped closed around his ears as the first vicious convulsion seized her. She bucked, her hips undulating with each hard wave of release pushing her pussy harder against Coop’s marauding mouth.

  Coop couldn’t get enough. Not of her taste, her heat, her smell. Or the petal softness of the sweetest cunt he’d ever eaten. Shaye lived up to and beyond every carnal fantasy he’d conjured up in the last few months.

  As she came down, he continued to lick and suck the throbbing flesh beneath his mouth. She was hot and wet and he wanted to drown in her.

  The blast of a car horn acted like a slap to the face.

  “Oh my God.” Shaye’s legs released their vice-like grip on his head and her hands pressed against his scalp as she tried to scramble away from him. “Cooper. Stop.”

  He lifted his head but didn’t move from between her legs. “Easy, Shaye.” Gliding his hands up and down her thighs, he said, “No one can see.”

  She tugged her skirt down to cover her, but his hands were in the way. “Move!”

  Surging to his feet, Coop leaned into her—over her—his mouth a breath from hers. “No one can see.”

  “Only if they’re blind.”

  “We’re at the back of the lot and the truck door is between us and the world. They’d have to come right up and look over
the damn thing or through the fucking windshield to see.” He held her gaze with his. “And I’m not about to share you with anyone, so you can bet your sweet arse I’m not going to expose you.”

  “But—”

  “No. Think about it, Shaye. At any point in the last few minutes have I not shielded your body with mine? Sure, it was obvious what we were doing, but at no time could anyone have seen any part of you that they wouldn’t see if they’d been standing next to you inside the bar.”

  Coop watched her digest his words until he was satisfied she understood he’d never put her in such a vulnerable position.

  “C’mon. Let’s get out of here.” He gripped her knees and swung her legs into the truck. Grabbing the seatbelt, Coop leaned in and clicked it into place.

  He slammed the door with a little more force than necessary and made his way around to the driver’s side. He knew he didn’t have any real reason for his anger, but dammit, Shaye should know he’d never take a risk with her safety. Still fuming and not ready to say a word until he got his emotions under control, Coop jumped into the seat and jammed the key in the ignition.

  Neither of them said a word as he drove away. He couldn’t think of anything to defuse the tension, and the scent of sex and hot woman filling the cab didn’t help him pull it together. He wasn’t even going to think about the hard-on pressing against the zipper of his jeans.

  “Where are we going?”

  Coop took his eyes off the road for a second. “My place.”

  “What? No.”

  What the fuck was wrong with his place? “Ah, okay. Your place then.”

  “No.”

  “What the fuck?” He changed lanes and took the first side street they came to. Pulling over, he slammed the truck in park and turned to look at Shaye. “Care to enlighten me?”

  “No hooking up at either of our houses.”

  “Hooking up?”

  “Yeah. This.” She waved a hand between them. “What we’re doing. We need rules.”

  “Rules?” Coop’s eyebrows rose. “You’re fucking kidding, right?”

  Shaye shook her head.

  Jesus Christ, she was serious. He took a breath and tried to calm the riot of emotions going on inside him. He’d finally gotten his hands on her and she was still giving him the runaround. Something was up. Coop wasn’t sure what, but he knew to his bones that there was a reason she was attempting to put parameters on what they were doing.

  He’d get to the bottom of the problem one way or another, but for now, he’d let her have her way.

  “Fine. What are your rules?”

  Chapter Three

  Shaye knew laying out boundaries might mean Coop would walk away, but if she didn’t protect herself, she’d be going back to Perth with a broken heart. Taking a deep breath, she gave him her list.

  “No hooking up at our places. No strings. No dating. And this is over in a month.”

  Coop eyed her for several long seconds. It took effort to keep breathing, to not hold her breath while she waited for him to say yes or no. She didn’t count on him arguing.

  “First, I want you in a bed. Preferably tied to it.”

  She shivered. Licked her lips. “Well, it won’t be mine. Or yours.”

  “We’ll see. Second, we’re definitely not putting a time limit on this.”

  “But—”

  “Nope. A month is not going to be enough time to get my fill of you.” He leaned towards her. “And as for those strings, we’re already so tangled in them neither of us are getting out any time soon.”

  “Coop—”

  “No.” He placed his finger against her lips. “You have your rules, I have mine. We’re exclusive. While I’m fucking you, no one else is unless I invite them to share, and I have to tell you, Shaye, I’m so greedy for you that ain’t ever gonna happen.”

  Air rushed through her parted lips. She wasn’t sure if it was the idea of him sharing her or the fact he had no intention of it happening that had the flood of heat and moisture filling her pussy.

  His eyes dilated, his nostrils flared. “Well, well. Seems that’s a hot button. I’ll have to see what I can do about that without bringing anyone into the bed we’ll definitely find ourselves in.”

  “We’re not—”

  Coop laughed. “Yes, we are. And I know just where to find one.” He closed the distance between them and slammed his mouth on hers.

  Shaye had no time to react—no time to enjoy. Coop pulled his mouth from hers, a huge grin on his lips and put the truck in gear. He made a U-turn and had them back on the main road in seconds.

  “Where are we going?” She seemed to be asking that question repeatedly, and it didn’t escape her that she wasn’t only referring to the physical direction they were taking.

  “Bed.” Coop glanced at her. “But don’t worry. It’s not mine or yours.”

  Was he taking her to a hotel? Did he want her that badly? Lord knows, she was desperate enough for him she’d pay hundreds of dollars for a few hours in a bed together. She just couldn’t afford to let him into hers. And crawling into his would be far worse.

  When Coop pulled into the driveway of a familiar two-story house, fear lodged in her throat. “This is—”

  “Not anymore.” He cut the engine. “I moved out six weeks ago. It sold yesterday but I haven’t removed any of the furniture yet.”

  “Oh.”

  “You coming?” Coop opened his door and got out. Turning back, he said, “Dare you to.”

  She thought he’d come around to her side and get her. But he didn’t. Instead, he walked toward the front door without looking back. Damn the man. Now she had to make the decision to take this where he obviously wanted it to go. Not that she didn’t want it to go there too. She did. The quiver in her belly couldn’t be ignored. Neither could the remembered pleasure or the slick heat throbbing in her pussy.

  With every cell, she wanted more of what she’d had in the parking lot. So much more. And even with the threat to her heart, Shaye knew she wasn’t going to turn him down. She couldn’t walk away without knowing what it was like to have Cooper Moreland buried deep inside her.

  Coop wasn’t a gambler. He didn’t leave things to chance. If he wanted something, he went after it, but sometimes you had to take a step away and let the cards fall where they would. Of course, he never did that without calculating all the outcomes—all the ways he could end up a loser. And he’d bet the 150 grand profit he’d made on flipping this house that Shaye would follow him inside.

  There was no way she’d let him walk away. Still, he’d only give her five minutes, then he’d throw in the towel and go get her anyway. He was doing the right thing and giving her the choice. For now.

  He left the door open behind him and headed for the second floor and the master bedroom with the king-size bed he’d brought in when he’d put the house up for sale. The bed not being his was a technicality, and he knew he was splitting hairs, but he hadn’t slept in it even though he owned it.

  The click of the front door closing echoed up the stairwell, and Coop resisted the urge to pump his fist in the air and yell yes. He used no restraint when it came to the smile on his lips though. That he let go until he figured he looked like the Cheshire cat.

  Mentally running through what was in the house, he quickly worked out he didn’t have anything on hand to tie her to the bed, so he’d have to improvise. He’d use his T-shirt to secure her hands to the headboard this first time.

  Next time, he’d bind her spread-eagle.

  He wasn’t sure why he had such a strong desire to tie Shaye up. He’d tied women down before, but that had been a why-not impulse. Where the urge to have Shaye at his mercy was more a craving—a have-to-have-or-die need that scraped his bones and left him aching from head to toe.

  Coop shook his head. She had him riding a razor edge in so many ways. He wanted her physically, there was no denying that, but he wanted more. He couldn’t define what that more was except to say he wanted he
r to want him the same way. Needed her to.

  “Cooper?” Shaye’s voice echoing up from the ground floor snapped him out of his thoughts and reminded him of why he was there.

  To have her on a bed.

  “Up here.” He threw the doors to the master suite open and headed straight for the bed. Toeing off his shoes as he whipped his T-shirt over his head, he contemplated stripping the bedcovers back or taking her on top. He’d leave them. The quicker he got naked, the quicker he could get Shaye naked and under him.

  He tossed the shirt on the bed and reached for the button on his jeans. Coop had his pants undone and shoved past his knees when Shaye entered the room. She stopped short when her gaze landed on him. He didn’t show any outward reaction, but the heat in her eyes, the rapid rise and fall of her chest and that tantalizing tongue of hers darting out to stroke over her bottom lip had his insides coiling tight.

  Her eyes were wide, trained straight on the erection his boxer briefs couldn’t hide. Stepping out of his jeans, he barely stopped himself from racing across the room and grabbing her. “You’ve got about thirty seconds to get out of those clothes or I’m ripping them off you.”

  Shaye jumped, her gaze darting up to his. “I…um…”

  “Twenty-five.”

  She swept her tongue across her bottom lip again, and Coop couldn’t hold back the moan.

  “Ten.”

  “What?”

  “Zero.” He lunged for her.

  “Cooper!”

  He laughed at her indignant cry. “I warned you,” he said as he pulled her into his arms.

  “You either can’t count, or you’re a cheat.”

  “Let’s get one thing straight right now. When it comes to you and getting you naked under me, all bets are off.”

  With that said, Coop gripped two handfuls of her skirt and yanked it down her legs. Next, he went after her top. She made a token effort to stop him, except all it took was one look in her eyes to know she was more than happy to let him strip her.

  He stepped back to get a good look at her in nothing but her heels and red lace bra. Her underwear was still stuffed in his jeans pocket. He’d think about returning those later. Or not.