Dare to Love (Pride Oregon Book 5)

by Jill Sanders

  He chuckled. “See.” He kissed her again. “I just can’t say no. Once I’ve had some, I want it all with you.”

  She glanced up at him through her eyelashes. “So, this isn’t just sex?”

  His smile fell away. “No,” he admitted, sending her heart soaring. “It was never about sex. If it had been, I would have never touched you.”

  She swallowed at the look he was giving her. As if he wanted to gobble her up whole.

  “I need a shower.” He stepped back, breaking the moment. Then he reached down and took her hand as they walked up the stairs to his door.

  She heated up a can of soup and made grilled cheese sandwiches while he disappeared upstairs. When he came back down, his hair was wet, and he had changed into a pair of sweat shorts and a fresh white T-shirt.

  They sat out in the sun on the back patio and ate their food while they talked again about what had happened.

  “Have you heard from your lawyer about your parents?” she asked once the food was gone.

  “Nothing new. Other than they had once again filed to contest the will. Of course, the time frame to do so on the general rule has long since passed, but that’s not stopping them from filing one on grounds of fraud. There is no time exception for that.”

  “Fraud?” She frowned. “What do they think? You and your brother forged your grandfather’s will?”

  “No, they’re claiming we coerced him into handing over everything.”

  “But you weren’t talking to your grandfather before his death.”

  “Correct.”

  “How could you then?”

  “We couldn’t, but it’s up to us and our lawyer to prove so, which is dragging this out even longer. Until we have proof, we can’t officially sell his business and his other assets, such as the jet and a few other land holdings he had.”

  “What?” She felt her anger grow. “That’s just BS.”

  He chuckled. “I agree. But it’s how things are done.” He shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. In the end, the truth will come out and this will all be cleared up.”

  “I thought you sold everything from your grandfather?” she asked.

  “We sold some of it. His home in Seattle, the cars, which was a shame.” He shook his head. “I really liked driving the Vette.” She remembered the car he’d had for a few months. “But it just wasn’t practical.”

  “What about his business?”

  “Pacific Coast Construction,” he supplied.

  “Yes.” She knew it was one of the largest construction companies on the West Coast. They built those large apartment buildings and business high-rises in the cities.

  “There’s a board of directors, which means the sale of our shares had to be approved by a vote. It was just about to pass, but then our father’s lawyer got a hold of some of the board members and everything halted. These things take time, or so our lawyer says. Besides, we’re not in any hurry. Already, we have more than we could have ever imagined. We’ve got the franchises opening soon.” He smiled. “Corey will be on his honeymoon when the first one opens in Edgeview.”

  “I’m looking forward to that.”

  His eyebrows shot up. “Actually, I was hoping you’d be able to take the day off and join me for the grand opening.”

  “Done.” She smiled. “That’s what’s nice about being your own boss.” She laughed. “Taking time off when you want. Besides, Suzie has promised she’d fill in for Lilly while she’s gone. I bet I could talk Carrie or Sara into filling in for me.”

  “Thanks.” He took her hand.

  “Any time.”

  “I really want to take you upstairs right now.” His voice had grown deeper, softer somehow.

  “I’d like that,” she answered. She started to pick up her dish.

  “No, leave them.” He pulled her up to her feet and wrapped his arms around her. “Dishes can wait, I can’t.”

  She felt her knees go weak and held onto him so she wouldn’t slide to the ground.

  She followed him up the stairs, back to the bed she’d spent the night in not too long ago, dreaming about being with him.

  When he shut the door behind them, she felt a burst of nerves rush through her. Then he turned and his eyes ran over her, sending a wave of desire flooding through her, replacing the nerves.

  “I want you,” she heard herself whisper.

  “I’ve wanted you for so long.” He took a step closer to her. “Too long.” His hand came up and brushed down her hair. “No matter what you think, I don’t deserve you.” She opened her mouth to argue, but he shook his head, stopping her. “I don’t. No one does, for that matter. I shouldn’t have dared to touch you, let alone love you.”

  She felt her eyes burn as her heart jumped in her chest. Did that mean…? Did he love her? She almost jumped into his arms when his lips covered hers. She wanted to tell him how she felt, everything she felt, but she bit her lip. She didn’t want to scare him away.

  “Carter,” she moaned when his hands slowly peeled off her clothes. Her body began to shake while his eyes took in everything about her.

  When she stood in the ray of sunshine streaming into his room from the window in nothing but her blue underwear and matching bra set, she felt like she was on the verge of exploding.

  She reached for him and slowly removed his T-shirt, stopping to appreciate the lean muscles underneath. When she reached for his jeans, he held very still as her fingers ran over his flat stomach.

  “You’re killing me,” he groaned when she took her time.

  “Good, then you know how I feel when you touch me.” She smiled as his hands moved to cup her breasts.

  “You feel so… perfect.” He kissed her as she nudged his jeans off his hips.

  When his hands moved to hoist her to the edge of the bed, she allowed him to draw her down until they were lying side by side in nothing but his boxer briefs and her underwear set.

  “We’ve got all day,” he said against her skin, “and I’m not going to waste this opportunity to take as much as I want.”

  “Me too.” She smiled at him. “And I want a lot.”

  She reached for him, but he rolled away and knelt over her. “Let me,” he said, then he started running his mouth over her.

  When he pushed a finger under her panties, she moaned and felt herself building. His touch followed along, pushing her panties further to the side, soaking the material and her. She arched and buried her fingers into his hair, holding him where she wanted him to be.

  “Carter, I’m going to…” She bit her lip.

  “Let go,” he told her. “I want to taste you.”

  When he nibbled on her clit, she couldn’t have held back if she wanted. Crying out his name, she felt her entire body respond to his touch.

  However, this time, when he moved up to lay beside her, she quickly moved to hover over him. With her eyes on his, she peeled his shorts down his muscular thighs as he watched her.

  “My turn.” She smiled down at him as she wrapped her fingers around his full length. He leaned back as his eyes closed.

  This time it was his hands that went into her hair as she bent over him. When she took him into her mouth, she heard him moan with appreciation. She’d never felt anything more wonderful than giving Carter pleasure as he’d just given her.

  She could tell he was on the verge of coming when he jerked up and twisted until he covered her with his body. He reached over and took a condom from his nightstand, then slid it on, all without moving from above her.

  “I don’t deserve you,” he said as he slowly slid into her.

  “Yes,” she said, digging her nails into his hips, “you do. We deserve each other.” She closed her eyes as he moved inside her. She’d never in her life felt this way—like she was right where she belonged.

  The night before Lilly and Corey’s wedding finally arrived.

  The wedding rehearsal and dinner were being held at the Golden Oar, her father’s first love, or so her mother always said.
The old restaurant had been her great-grandfather’s first business, binding him and his descendants to the town of Pride.

  When her grandfather inherited it, he’d already started his own successful business, Jordan Shipping, a business that far outdid his father’s legacy and continued to do so to this day.

  Her uncle Todd had run the business for years and had recently handed it down to his oldest son, Matthew. The venture was still a family owned business, with family members holding almost all of the stocks.

  Her father, the youngest of his siblings, had taken over the Golden Oar shortly after he’d lost his hearing that fateful day his father, her grandfather, had taken him out for a week-long sailing trip on her father’s eighteenth birthday. Their small sailboat had hit a storm and been struck, sending the two of them into the water.

  She’d heard the story so many times growing up, she knew it by heart. Her grandfather had given his life for her father. In the process, her dad had lost his hearing but had survived.

  Growing up, she had never really looked at her father as handicapped or disabled. Since the entire clan knew sign language, they all communicated easily enough. And now, everyone texted one another more often than they called, and you didn’t need your hearing for that.

  In the last few days, Robert had assured them that he had an all-points bulletin out for both Nick and Reece Walker. Even the military police were looking for him, since he’d walked off the base and was officially AWOL.

  Everyone doubted that they would be seeing the brother/sister duo anytime soon, since the heat was on and everyone in town was on guard.

  Standing at the front of the small crowd, which consisted of most of her family members and Carter, she listened to Father Phillip, the new priest who’d taken over for Father Michael after he’d retired. He was running through the rehearsal on the sandy beach just outside of the restaurant, even though the wedding tomorrow was going to be on a different stretch of beach. She continued to glance in Carter’s direction and smiled each time she noticed he was looking her way.

  In the past few days, she had spent a lot of time with him, whether it was at his place or hers.

  Still, they had yet to spend the night with one another. She didn’t want to leave her cats alone for the evening or he was worried that her family would see his car parked at her place overnight.

  Still, she had talked to her mother and told her everything. Her mother had been happy for her and had smoothed her worries about her father and brothers finding out about their relationship.

  “Your father and brothers love you,” she’d said. “And I happen to know that they like the Miller boys well enough. If it comes down to it, remember, when Corey marries Lilly, they’ll be family.”

  “I know.” She’d hugged her mother. “But that doesn’t stop me from worrying that they’ll mess with Carter.”

  Her mother had laughed. “They still will. After all, you are their immediate responsibility. Or so they think.”

  “The last time I brought a boyfriend home for dinner…” She groaned at the memory of her brothers and father giving the boy a hard time. They had teased and embarrassed the guy so much so that he’d quickly dumped her and started dating someone else.

  “They love you and I’m sure once they see how much you love Carter, and that he feels the same about you, they will accept it.”

  “You’re right.” She’d hugged her mother again.

  Now she glanced over at her father and brothers standing beside her mother as they watched Lilly and Corey walk through their movements. She knew they would never do anything to hurt her or Carter, but that didn’t mean they wouldn’t tease.

  Her eyes moved back to Carter, who was standing in place as his brother’s best man. He looked sexy tonight, wearing dress pants and a button-up shirt. Tomorrow he would be in the tuxedo that she’d helped Lilly pick out, and she and her other cousins would be in long flowing pink dresses. Even though they would be wearing sandals instead of heels, the dress material would hide that fact.

  Kara and Robin, the sisters that owned Sunset Weddings, which Lilly had hired to plan the wedding, rushed around making sure everyone knew where they were supposed to stand or sit, even though there weren’t any chairs tonight. They assured everyone that tomorrow there would be chairs as well as a small pergola where the bride and groom were to stand.

  As the rehearsal droned on, she thought about everything that had happened in the past few months, how her and Carter’s relationship had grown, even when they had been posing as just friends. She’d never felt this way about a man before. He made her laugh and she thoroughly enjoyed every minute she had with him. Her eyes returned to him again, and her smile brightened when she noticed him watching her.

  She couldn’t wait to sit with him during the dinner. She had convinced him to tell their family about them during dinner. He was nervous, but she wanted it to be official with the clan before the wedding.

  He’d tried to talk her out of it, but in the end, she’d gotten her way. She knew that he still believed that he wasn’t worthy of her. The way she figured it, she had all the time in the world to prove to him otherwise.

  Chapter Seventeen

  Carter was having a hard time keeping his gaze from Riley. She was wearing a soft flowing teal dress, like the one she’d worn for the surprise party at his house, which seemed like years ago.

  She’d removed her heels when she’d stepped onto the sand and followed the group out to the water’s edge while the wedding coordinators from Sunset Weddings walked the entire group through what was going to happen tomorrow.

  He could feel her family watching him, especially when Kara, the woman who was organizing the wedding, asked Corey if he had any family attending the wedding.

  “No.” He glanced at him sideways. “It’s just us.” He nodded in his direction.

  “No problem.” Kara had smiled at them. She was a tall short-haired brunette that looked all business as she directed people where to go. He would have, at one point, flirted with the pretty woman, but his mind was filled with a shorter blonde with big blueish-teal eyes.

  He was whipped just like his brother. Then why couldn’t he stop smiling? Even after he’d let her talk him into telling her family that they were an item during the dinner tonight, his mood hadn’t swayed.

  When the rehearsal was over, everyone started slowly making their way towards the back deck of the restaurant, where the entire area was sealed off for their dinner party.

  Riley found him and took his hand in hers as they crossed the sand.

  “I hope it doesn’t rain tomorrow,” she said, then she bit her bottom lip.

  “The reports show all clear,” he assured her.

  “It’s going to be such a wonderful wedding, no matter what.” She smiled up at him.

  “You look amazing tonight.” He almost whispered it.

  “Thank you, you look very handsome.” She ran her eyes over him. “I can’t wait to see you in a tux.” She wiggled her eyebrows and had him chuckling.

  When they stepped into the light of the restaurant, he dropped her hand and bent over to help her slide on her heels.

  “Sexy,” he said under his breath.

  The rest of her family was moving around them and since they hadn’t made it official, he tried to keep his voice down.

  Even though he knew every member of her family, and they all seemed to like him for the most part, he was nervous about telling them about their relationship.

  When his brother and Lilly had started seeing one another, they hadn’t had to make an official announcement because the news of them dating had spread through the town like wildfire. But he and Riley had been more secretive. Or so he thought, until they sat down together at the large table with her family.

  “Before we start…” Riley had gotten everyone’s attention. “Carter and I wanted to let everyone know…” She paused and took his hand so he could take over and finish. They had talked about what they were going t
o say. Still, he found it hard to find the right words.

  “We wanted your blessings to see one another,” he finished for her.

  They were met with silence, then her father jumped in.

  “It’s about time,” he said easily. Even though Carter had heard the deaf man speak a handful of times, he was shocked to hear his voice. Especially because neither of them had signed along with what they were saying.

  The entire table broke out in laughter.

  “It wasn’t a secret,” her twin brother Jacob broke in.

  “Yeah,” Conner, her older brother added. “The entire family has been talking about it for weeks.”

  Riley rolled her eyes as she squeezed his hand. “They’re teasing,” she said softly.

  “Are you sure?” He leaned in closer and whispered.

  “Yes.” She smiled. “It’s their way of saying they approve.”

  After that, he relaxed and enjoyed the dinner.

  Corey and he had never been part of anything like the Jordan clan. Hell, he’d never sat down to dinner with more than two dozen people who even liked one another, let alone loved each other.

  After dinner was finished, he was walking out through the restaurant when her father, Iian, pulled him aside.

  “My wife tells me,” the man started, speaking slowly but clear, “that I should talk to you.”

  “Yes sir?” he said, making sure he faced the man and spoke clearly himself. He knew that Iian Jordan could read lips pretty well. And since his sign language was rusty and he had plenty of holes in his knowledge, he decided not to even try to communicate that way.

  The man could have passed for someone in his mid-thirties, with the exception of a silver streak of hair just above his ears. Carter guessed that the older man was in as good of shape as he was, maybe even better shape, since the man had a few more pounds of muscle on him.

  “Son.” He laid a hand on his shoulder. “I just wanted to let you know that if you ever need anything, we’re here for you. I understand there’s a lot of… crazy people out there.” He shook his head. “But we don’t think you or your brother fall into that category. I wouldn’t have let you get close to my daughter if that was the case, let alone allow you to date her.”