Dare Me, Part Two Dare Duet Sawyer and Billie
Unchained Attraction Series
K.L. Shandwick
K.L. Shandwick ©2019
1st Edition
The author has asserted their moral right under the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
All Rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, copied, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written consent of the copyright holder, nor be otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.
Disclaimer: This book has mature content and explicit reference to sexual situations it is intended for adult readers aged 18+.
This book is a work of fiction, Names, places, characters, band names and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or names are used within the fictitious setting. Any resemblance to actual person’s living or dead. Band names or locales are entirely coincidental unless quoted as artists.
This book is dedicated to Clare Beale Cook
Contents
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Chapter 36
Chapter 37
Chapter 38
The End
Also by K.L. Shandwick
About the Author
Acknowledgments
Prologue
Running into a wine bar, to hide from a hookup stalker, wasn’t my idea of a fun end to a good night out. Drenched from a sudden downpour that had looked relentless, I’d hurriedly shoved open the door and stepped inside. The smell of damp clothing and wine hit my nostrils.
Scanning the tables for a spare one, my eyes dropped on the only vacant chair left in the room, and I glanced at the beautiful petite woman who sat opposite it.
She, like me, was wet, but a little less so. The empty glass of wine and a second in her hand told me she’d arrived there a short while before. I sensed her discomfort at my sudden presence and figured she wasn’t used to sitting in a wine bar alone. I briefly considered whether she was waiting for someone.
I wasn’t prepared for how startled she’d looked and for the following few seconds that passed she had made me forget why I was there. Then, three adjectives sprang to mind when my eyes met her spectacular blue ones. Gorgeous—haunted—uncomfortable. Don’t ask me how, but the instant vibe I had told me something was wrong. Before I’d thought better of imposing, I dropped myself into the spare seat across from her.
In that few seconds I stared intensely before I pulled myself from my reverie, jumped up, and peered out of the unfrosted part of the window, to make sure my hookup had gone. I explained I was being stalked as I did so and when I felt sure I had lost her I flashed my table companion what I’d hoped was a reassuring smile.
The last thing I wanted to do was make her feel awkward, after all it had been me who had made the intrusion. When I smiled reassuringly, she nervously smiled back, and in that moment I felt a connection toward her.
"Stalking?" she repeated, her tone sweet, quiet— melodic. I shrugged, helplessly, because I knew it had sounded like a lame excuse and I felt a little self conscious to have said something as outlandish, but it was true. So there we were, stuck in a wine bar, thrown together by the rain. I introduced myself and fortunately she responded, and our conversation flowed naturally from there.
When she told me her name was Billie, I had thought it unusual and it suited her perfectly. She was classy, if a little on the reserved side. Although she looked a few years older than me I’d assessed from the way she quickly averted her gaze she was the shy, unassuming type of lady.
Taking a closer look at her while she spoke, I noted her mid length dark brown hair; almost black when wet, framed her flawless rain-washed skin. It had made her look pure, radiant even, and the olive glow she had enhanced her full red lips on her delicate features. She was lovely.
When I became aware of how fast she had drunk her wine my heart squeezed to think I’d contributed to her unease.
As time passed, little by little, I watched her guard drop and she seemed more relaxed, but that was hardly true either. I thought her slightly more liberal conversation may have been due to the two large glasses of wine she drank, mostly before I’d arrived, and I’d guessed the drink may have loosened her tongue.
The longer we spent together the more I wanted to know her, but my biggest mistake was when I forgot myself and flirted. Fortunately, although she blushed she took this in good part, and there was one point when I thought she’d flirted back. Surprisingly, I saw she felt flattered by my compliments, by the way heat rose to her cheeks and a soft smile curved her lips now and then. She’s fucking adorable.
When my initial attraction warmed to more, my eyes roamed curiously over her wet blouse, which had almost turned transparent from the droplets of rain that had dripped from her hair. This piqued my interest farther. With a buzz from the connection I felt we had, I naturally looked for a ring.
My heart sank when I noticed she wore one. Nodding toward it, I casually joked about what kind of husband would let his beautiful woman frequent bars on their own, and her reaction crushed me.
Her voice was flat when she told me he’d cheated, and I immediately made the connection with the way that she’d looked when I had first entered the bar. Her appearance had been an external reminder of how sad I had felt inside after being betrayed myself.
Hearing her husband was sitting only feet away at the time, and was most likely watching her, I immediately understood the humiliation she must have been feeling. After knowing this, it hadn’t mattered I’d only met her minutes before, the confession she’d made gave me an overwhelming urge to protect her.
When I empathized with her, she flashed me the saddest smile. It crushed me and I knew I had to do something to give Billie back some self-worth. Then and there I resolved not to leave the wine bar until after he’d gone or to leave the establishment with her.
But even that hadn’t been enough to settle my thoughts, so I reached out and touched her. Initially, it had been my intention to make her husband see what he’d lost.
Unfortunately, my plan never got far before I saw fresh pain flit through her eyes. Sadness radiated from her beautiful face, and this unexpectedly filled me with anger. She looked close to tears and when her gaze became intense and began to track movement over my shoulder, I Instinctively knew her husband was approaching us. Wanting her to seek retribution for what he’d done, I crossed the line, and although it was totally out of character for me,
I asked her to dare me to kiss her.
I’d like to have said my desire to help her came only from a need to help her regain her respect, and for payback for what he had done. But in truth, I was eager to know how she tasted as well.
As I’d assessed her as being reserved, I knew there was only a slim chance she’d go for it, but with revenge burning in her eyes, it had given me cause to hope. I held my breath as I watched for some small sign as by then my need to kiss her was almost as strong as her obvious desperation to save face.
“Dare you,” she said, and a thrill of forbidden yearning mingled with the privilege of her trust to deliver a swift dose of justice to her cheating husband. The responsibility and the potential danger the circumstance could have provoked only made the act of kissing her in front of him infinitely more potent.
My intention had been to deliver a small tender kiss. A kiss without tongues, nothing more, and for the first few seconds we’d achieved that. At that point I had expected Billie to pull away but when she didn’t, I felt we had both needed more.
Taking her lead, I slid my tongue along the seam of her lips and I felt delighted and surprised when she let me in. For the following few seconds all thoughts of revenge and her soon to be ex, Logan vanished from my mind as I took what I’d wanted from her. From that moment the situation changed from me kissing her to us sharing something far more explosive and intimate.
A small “Oh,” she breathed. The breathy sound entered my mouth and sunk straight to my cock. She tasted of white wine and warmth, and desire flowed through my veins like warm honey as the sexual chemistry grew between us. Surprisingly for a shy woman, she never held back.
When she grabbed hold of my tie I immediately deepened the kiss. For another few seconds we were almost lost in each other. Remembering where we were, who she was and why I’d kissed her in the first place, I tore my lips away; even when I knew what we had done had felt different from any other kiss I’d experienced before.
From the breathless, stary-eyed way she looked at me I had figured she may have felt something similar, but I couldn’t be sure. The circumstances hadn’t allowed for time to reflect.
Afterward her husband had ranted; tried to belittle her even and I took over the conversation, because she was no match for his overbearing arrogance, to suggest the beautiful woman he’d left for another couldn’t attract someone like me. I should be so lucky.
Remembering everything she had told me and being a creative type, I spun him a line about how Billie and I had met. To say he was furious with her was an understatement, but I saw we’d made him think even if he hadn’t believed us.
After he’d gone, I apologized for all I had done, but all I saw in her eyes in return was forgiveness and a tinge of regret. My first thought had been to ask her to meet me again, but I knew I could never do that. Her estranged husband had only left the premises moments before. Hard as it was, given the circumstances, I knew I had to walk away.
As I made to leave, I remembered I had one final ray of hope left to salvage something of our meeting. It was a business card which had been made as a joke, and the wording was far from accurate, as to my profession, but the number displayed upon it was real. I knew it was a long shot that she’d ever call, but I gave it to her anyway. In that situation it was the only card I felt I had left to play.
Chapter One
“Do you know how proud I am of you?” I glanced sideways from the road to her face and frowned. Billie, my gorgeous financée smiled at me from the passenger seat. A second later I’d had to drag my eyes back toward the road and away from her perfect mouth; the mouth I couldn’t stop kissing … never wanted to stop kissing. The downside of her praise was her topic of conversation, which was about my brother, James.
“Don’t get too excited, I said I’d listen,” I warned. “That doesn’t mean we’re going to break bread and be best buddies. We’ve never been close in the first place.” Concentrating more on the traffic, I changed lanes and prepared to leave the intersection to head west on the I-495, which would lead to the I-95 south.
Billie sat quietly for a minute but when she took a deep breath, I knew talking with her about my brother James was far from over.
“I know and I’m sure he’s very grateful for having the opportunity to state his case,” she argued. Shifting in her seat, Billie turned her body to face me as much as she could with her seat belt on. “I also know he can’t change what he did, but doesn’t everyone deserve a second chance?”
I shrugged and gripped the steering wheel of her Lexus SUV as tension tightened my chest. Billie’s persistence to find a resolution for the ongoing feud between my brother and I had felt wearing. The only thing preventing me from losing my temper, had been me making allowances for her lack of understanding of how it felt to be betrayed by my own flesh and blood. Being an only child, Billie didn’t understand sibling rivalry or the closeness of having a special bond with a brother or sister.
“This drives like a dream,” I stated in reference to her car, trying to change the subject. When she didn’t respond, I eyed her with a small degree of suspicion and shook my head, annoyed that she wouldn’t let the topic slide. It made me wonder how in a few short five-minute conversations with my brother, he had somehow gained her trust, when I had spent all the time since I’d known her working hard to earn it.
The thought that James had made a positive impression on her made me feel anxious because, I more than anyone, knew how persuasive my brother could be with the ladies. I had to believe Charlotte was right and it had been his persuasion which had cost us our relationship; otherwise, I had lived with someone I never knew at all.
“Would you give Logan a second chance? Do you think you could trust him again after what he did to you?”
“Not to be my husband, no, but in time I hope we can be amicable toward one another for Colby’s sake.”
“Is that the expectation? That my brother and I become friends? Because if this is what everyone thinks, then they are going to be sadly mistaken. We weren’t on good terms before he stole my girl, what makes you think I’d want that now?”
“I just think, at some point, you will have to make peace with what happened.”
“Like you have with Logan?” I threw back, and immediately regretted my outburst. “My situation isn’t like yours.”
“You’re right it isn’t, Sawyer. Logan is Colby’s father and we have to put him above our own feelings.”
“Then your circumstance is better than mine, because you have a valid reason to work it out.”
“You have plenty of reasons to resolve the rift between you. Did you see your parents faces last night, the hope in your mother’s eyes? Caitlin, Lorna? What about Tammy … your nieces and nephews?”
“Are you saying I should behave as if nothing has happened to please everyone else? That’s in contrast to the blasting you gave me about being honest before.”
She sighed in frustration and her brow knitted. “Look, you told me nothing else matters but us, right?”
For a moment I mulled over her question. “Yes.” I heaved in a breath and blew it out. “Why are you defending him, anyway? Why has he turned your head?”
“That’s not what he did at all, Sawyer. When he spoke to me, I never forgot for a moment all the things you had told me about him, about Charlotte either, or how they had hurt you. However, I wasn’t only listening to what James said, I listened to how he said it as well.”
I scoffed. “And in a few minutes, he managed to convince you he was a good guy?”
“Not at all. I’ll admit my first impression of him wasn’t positive, and I didn’t like how he voiced his opinion about the women in your life, or whatever it was he said, but mainly it was his attitude toward you. If I am honest, I had prepared myself to hate him, but I don’t,” she shrugged. “People change, Sawyer, both ways. Just like Logan and Charlotte broke us for a while, we came back stronger, and look at what we have now because of them. James? Well, maybe he
does deeply regret what happened.”
My fingers flexed on the steering wheel and I stared straight ahead at the road because I hated the jealous feeling that brewed inside of me, just talking about my brother.
“Now I’ve upset you,” she said, leaning across and placing a hand on my forearm. When I didn’t respond she drew in a breath and swallowed, knowing I’d always been honest when it came to telling her how I felt. For a moment an irrational fear coursed through my veins and I felt threatened by the fact Billie liked James. They were the same age and I was sure they’d have a lot in common.
“What?” Billie asked, looking toward me, her beautiful big blue eyes full of concern when I’d stolen a glance at her again. I’d been distracted by my thoughts.
“Forget it, I was just having an irrational thought for a moment,” I confessed.
“About?”
“You and James…” The disbelief on her face told me everything I needed to know. She was mine.
“Jeez, if you really think for one moment I’d prefer James over you, you’re not the man I thought you were,” she snapped, repositioning herself in her seat like the thought made her feel uncomfortable.
“Okay, I know, but is it so ridiculous? I mean you’re the same age.”
“Sawyer Wild, are you really going to throw that back at me after all the shit you put me through when I was struggling about our age difference?”
Dare Me, Part Two Dare Duet Sawyer and Billie: Unchained Attraction Series Page 1