Dare to Love by user (read dune TXT) 📗

inevitable self doubt that had plagued her for years. Torn between duty to family and

dreams of a life of her own, she never managed to win the battle for herself, no matter

how many different ways she played out the scenario in her mind.

She was doing the right thing. She was.

“That’s one of the things I admire most about you,” she said, turning the tables on him.

He tilted his head. “What’s that?”

“You’re the proverbial self-made man. Everything you have you worked for. You set

a goal, and spent years pounding away at it until you reached it. You went from a homeless teenage runaway to a successful business owner. I admire you for that, Jake.”

He didn’t respond, instead stared at her as if struggling for a response.

“Nobody’s ever said that to me before. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome.”

Her gaze caught a shooting star whisking across the clear night sky, and for a brief second she closed her eyes and wished. Silly, she knew, but still, she made that never-to-be-granted wish.

After all, the night was for fantasy and dreams anyway. Why not wish on a dream just for fun?

“What did you wish for?” Jake whispered.

She turned to him and met his smile. “How do you know I made a wish?”

“It’s written all over your face. Besides, I saw the star and when I looked at you right

afterward, your eyes were closed but your lips were moving.”

“I see. And did you wish on the same star?”

“I asked you first.” He grinned and swept her hair away from her face, his palm warm. Instead of pulling away, he left it resting on her neck. She felt her pulse pound

rapidly against his hand.

“If I tell you my wish it won’t come true.”

He laughed. “That’s what everyone says. I don’t believe it.”

“Do you want to risk telling me your wish?”

“Hmm, interesting dilemma.”

“Why?”

“Because my wish was about you.”

Her body quaked, but not from chill. His words were spoken in a low voice, husky with a sensual promise. She was almost afraid to ask him to reveal his wish, and too

curious not to.

“Tell me.”

“I wished that I could hold you in my arms and kiss you under the stars.” His words cut through her defenses and went straight to her heart. That he would wish for a kiss from her was unexpected, not to mention thrilling.

“That means I hold your destiny in my hands,” she said, reveling in the heady feel of

knowing Jake desired her.

“Yeah, you do. So?”

“So, what?” she teased.

“Does my wish come true or not?”

Without hesitation, she said, “Most definitely. Your wish is granted.” His expression turned dark as he loomed over her, not waiting more than a whispered

breath to pull her against him and lower his mouth to hers.

Warm lips covered hers, coaxing a response that sounded more like a gasp than a pleasured sigh. And yet it was both. Jake held such barely leashed passion within that

when he let it out it was near overwhelming, but not unwelcome. She eagerly pressed

against him, sliding her arms around his shoulders and pulling him toward her.

She

wanted his body to cover hers, the same way his mouth had taken her lips.

“I waited all damn day for this,” he said through clenched teeth. His hand slid up underneath the sweatshirt, under her tank top, fluttering along her rib cage on a relentless

search. She knew he wouldn’t be satisfied until he grasped what he sought.

His thumb found her nipple and flicked it gently. She gasped and arched into his hand as his palm covered her breast, gently squeezing and kneading the instantly aroused

flesh.

Clouds had blown in and covered the moonlit sky, rendering them in the darkness.

Wind had blown out the candles he’d set, forcing them to rely on touch and sound rather

than sight.

Lucy longed to see his face, and yet his voice, his breathing, his every touch told her

all she needed to know. He was like a man on a mission, and his mission was her.

No part of her remained untouched. His hands wandered everywhere, from her breasts to her ribcage and over her hips. With a swift tug he pulled her shorts down and

off, the now cool breeze biting against her bare legs before he threw the blankets over

them again.

“Dammit, it’s dark and I want to see you,” he rasped in her ear. Heat burned through,

his very words like a scorching fire that she knew she shouldn’t touch but couldn’t stay

away from.

Somewhere in the back of her mind she considered suggesting they move into the house, where she could see him. She’d thought about him, about his body, from the first

moment she’d laid eyes on him, her imagination conjuring up vivid images of a bronzed,

god-like statue. Her most fervent wish was to see that statue unclothed before her, so she

could admire and touch every angle and curve of his hardened body.

But her mind wouldn’t cooperate. She didn’t want to break the spell he’d woven over

her, didn’t want to take a chance that he would stop like he’d done before. This time she

was stone cold sober and didn’t want to stop. This time she wanted it all.

His lips against the pulse point on her throat set her on fire. He licked and nibbled her neck until she cried out a gasp that he covered with his mouth.

She could barely take the overwhelming sensations he evoked, and yet he was relentless. He simply would not stop. Not that she’d ask him to. But she refrained from

begging for more.

His work-roughened hand slid over her hipbone and down her thigh, alternately clenching and unclenching as it squeezed her tender flesh.

She felt his erection pulsing hard against her hip as he leaned into her, and longed to

wrap her fingers around that part of him. But he seemed to be eluding her questing hands.

“Jake, please. I want to touch you.”

“Plenty of time for that later,” he said in a rough voice, then