Dare to Seduce

by Carly Phillips

  The cords of his neck protruded, tight and tense, and she wasn’t buying the attempt at nonchalance. “That’s a cocky statement.”

  He let out a low, rumbling laugh she felt everywhere. “He doesn’t appreciate you for who you are, princess.”

  “How would you know that?” she asked indignantly. Though a part of her knew he was right, Max was in no position to judge her or her choice in men.

  “Let’s begin with this.” He slid a finger down her silk shirt, causing her already tight nipples to make their presence known even more. “While the soft material suits you fine, you like your clothes brighter, tighter, and showing more of that beautiful body.”

  He undid her blouse, button by tiny button, until she could breathe more freely and her cleavage was exposed. Her breath hitched, and she couldn’t summon an argument, merely watched his big hands so close to her skin.

  “You prefer a big piece of statement jewelry around your neck or letting that sexy tanned skin show. Mr. Uptight probably has his own requirements, though damned if I understand why he’d want to hide your light,” he said as his roughened fingertips glided over her skin.

  Her knees buckled, but Max’s body weight supported her.

  Still, she held on to rational thought. “Don’t judge Lucas. He needs to project a certain image when he’s approaching people to give money to his films.”

  “Then let him find a woman just like him. Not someone he needs to change. I wouldn’t ask you to change for me.” He cupped her neck in his hands, and a soft, needy moan escaped her lips.

  “Max,” she whispered.

  “What?”

  Don’t do this. The words stuck in her throat because her body and a traitorous emotionally needy part of her wanted it. Wanted his mouth devouring hers, his talented hands gliding over her breasts, her nipples, and inside her sex. She desired him and had for years.

  “Why now?” she asked in a feeble attempt to halt the inevitable.

  “Because it’s long past time.” He brushed his thumb over her damp lips before covering her mouth with his.

  She met him with a moan of acceptance. His lips were firm, moving with determination and a grace she wouldn’t have expected, and his tongue glided back and forth, urging her to open and let him inside. One more swipe and she parted for him. He swept in, starting slow, learning his way, growing ever bolder.

  Every lick, taste, touch resonated inside her, her body alive and tingling in ways she’d never experienced before. His hands slid behind her neck and his fingers thrust into her hair, pulling out the bun she’d painstakingly created earlier. Her hair fell down her back, and he groaned, threaded his hands through and tugged the strands, causing a sudden, delicious throbbing between her legs. A needy moan escaped from the back of her throat.

  “You like that?” he asked, pulling harder on her hair.

  She rocked her hips into his, the equivalent of a nod or a yes.

  “Fuck.” He tilted her head for better, deeper access and kissed her long and hard, a low groan of appreciation rumbling from deep in his chest.

  He conquered her mouth, and she allowed him to take what he wanted, mutual desire flaring between them, the kiss now out of control. She’d given up the fight the minute his mouth had touched hers, and now she slid her hands through his silky hair and held on as he devoured her. Teeth clashed, tongues twined, and her breasts rubbed against his shirt, her aching nipples seeking what little relief she could find.

  Every fantasy Lucy had had over the years didn’t hold up to reality. This was so much better. No man had ever kissed her this way, as if he couldn’t live without her taste, without her.

  She was so lost in his taste and desire she wasn’t prepared when he broke the kiss, and she gasped for air. Somehow she’d been breathing through him, with him. He still held her up, more gently than before, his torso supporting her weight, his arms braced on either side of her head.

  His eyes gleamed bright with desire and, if she wasn’t mistaken, more than a hint of satisfaction… and that made her nervous.

  “Now tell me, has anyone else made you feel like this?” he asked.

  His words brought her back to reality, and horror set in. She’d succumbed to Max so easily, as if Lucas meant nothing to her at all. Which wasn’t true.

  She and Lucas had a comfortable relationship. He was someone to talk to, to have dinner with, and occasionally, when they were in the mood, sex was actually good. That was all she wanted. After all, if she didn’t become emotionally invested, she couldn’t be devastated when the relationship ended. And they all ended eventually.

  “Is that what this was about, Max? Proving a point? That we have chemistry? Bravo. You proved you could seduce me if you wanted to.” She braced her hands on his shoulders and shoved him away.

  “This wasn’t about some damned point. This was to show you what we could have. You weren’t about to listen to words. I had to act.”

  “Well, you put me in an awful situation.”

  “I just want you to think. If you’re honest, there’s only one conclusion you can come to—give us a real chance.”

  She stared at him as if he’d lost his mind. Maybe she’d lost her hearing. “Are you crazy? Where were you years ago?” she asked, horror setting in when she realized what she’d admitted to.

  Shaking, she turned away and ran for the house, adjusting her pants suit as she made her way there. She was a mess, her hair tangled around her face, her lips swollen and clothes undone. She’d have to sneak inside if she really wanted to fix herself and hide the evidence of her betrayal. Isabelle wouldn’t mind if Lucy used her things, so she’d head to the master bedroom and lock herself inside. Hopefully nobody would see her if she went in through the front and avoided the partygoers in the back.

  She slipped into the main entrance and darted for the stairs, then enclosed herself in the master bath. Alone, she sighed and gripped the marble countertop hard. Max Savage had just kissed her. Hell, he’d ravaged her in broad daylight, and she’d let him. And he’d been the one to break the kiss, not her.

  Lucy had never considered herself a cheater, so what had she been thinking? She shook her head, knowing the answer. She hadn’t been. There’d been a time when she would have been ready for Max. When she’d still held on to fantasies of older, sexy Max Savage turning those amber eyes on her and claiming her as his own. Then he’d fallen in love and gotten married, shattering any foolish dreams of Max protecting her from the harsh outside world of loss.

  Instead he’d handed her more.

  So she’d grown up and found safety in independence and distance. She’d graduated college, moved to California, helped decorate the family clubs her brother, Gabe ran. Living on the West Coast, she could keep up with, and care about, Gabe and Decklan from afar. Protect herself and her heart… should something tragic happen to them like it had to her parents. Being isolated had also prepared her for the day when her brothers found their own families… and they had. She could love from a distance. It was safer.

  Lucas was a safe choice. She knew her brothers didn’t like him, but they didn’t understand him either. He was busy and usually preoccupied with whatever film he was working on at any given time, which made him come off as abrupt and uncaring. But weren’t her brothers busy too? Gabe ran a nightclub empire, and Decklan had been promoted to police detective… but their women took priority. For Lucy, it had taken a lot of pleading to get Lucas to come to New York with her for her brother’s engagement, and he still hadn’t committed to joining her in Eden for the wedding. Still, he was here now.

  And he wouldn’t approve of this messy version of herself. In Hollywood, appearances were important, and she told herself she didn’t mind playing a role, dressing the way he preferred. Not the way her family was used to. As she smoothed her blouse with shaking hands, she realized how well Max knew what she liked, how he preferred the real Lucy Dare.

  She bit down on her lower lip, reminding herself it didn’t matter what Max l
iked. She and Lucas were compatible. And if she didn’t see fireworks when Lucas kissed her, so what? They clicked. Neither gave the other a hard time if they had to work late or couldn’t see each other for long stretches. Unlike her brothers, who barely let Amanda and Isabelle out of their sight whenever possible. And the way they looked at their women… Max had looked at her that way, she thought with a full-body shiver, right before his lips had descended on hers.

  She trembled, her entire body still singing from that nearly public, sizzling-hot, tongue-tangling, soul-touching kiss. She still hadn’t recovered from the emotional assault on her senses, nor had she begun to figure out how she felt about it. Well, she knew how her body felt—her blood ran hot, her skin still tingled, and the kiss kept replaying on an endless loop in her brain. She had to refrain from running her fingers over her still-sensitive lips.

  In the course of ten short minutes, Max Savage had ripped away any shred of safety and sanity she’d possessed, leaving her raw and fragile. If she ever were to get involved with Max, she’d fall hard, and if she lost him, she didn’t know if she’d find her way back from the pain.

  Somehow she refreshed her makeup, a swipe of blush on her cheeks and gloss on her well-kissed lips. She worked on her hair next, but each pass of the brush led to instant recall of Max’s fingers pulling at the long strands and the way her sex had pulsed in reaction. She didn’t understand the tug of desire that action had evoked, but she knew she’d never experienced such intense longing before. Even now, her panties were still damp, her body aching and needy. In the end, she didn’t put her hair back up, unable to replicate the up-do she’d had before.

  She made her way down the stairs and headed back outside, finding Lucas at their rental car, which he was using as his makeshift office. “Lucas.”

  He held up one finger, indicating she should wait, and continued his phone call.

  She glanced into the bright blue sky. Her brother and Amanda had lucked out with the weather, she thought as Lucas droned on. Finally, he disconnected the call.

  “Ready to leave?” he asked hopefully.

  She shook her head and groaned. He really wasn’t interested in her family, her life, or the things and people that mattered to her. But she wasn’t ready to give up on him yet.

  He sat in the backseat, car door open, facing outside into the sun, jotting down notes.

  “Lucas? What are we doing?”

  “Going back to the hotel, where I can work in comfort, I hope.”

  She bit the inside of her cheek. “I’m staying, Lucas. If you keep complaining about being here and sitting in the car doing work, I’d rather you just went back to L.A.” She folded her arms across her aching chest. “But if you care about me, you’ll stay here and try to get to know my family.” Her voice quivered along with her insides.

  No matter what, she hadn’t traveled out here planning to end her relationship. She hadn’t even considered the reasons she should. But now they were flittering around the edges of her mind… and she blamed Max. Max, who still might mess up everything she had in L.A. Because if Lucas chose to stay and try to make things work, she’d have to tell him about that kiss and face the consequences. If he didn’t choose to stick around, well, he was stating he didn’t care enough to bother. In which case, she had no reason to hurt him with the knowledge. If he even cared enough to be hurt.

  She met his gaze and waited.

  He narrowed his gaze. “I don’t understand. I thought we complemented each other. No muss, no fuss, no hassle.” He sounded genuinely confused about why she was suddenly questioning things.

  Though she’d thought about their relationship in much the same stark terms, hearing him phrase things so blandly hurt. Didn’t she want to mean more to someone than that? Damn Max for stirring up all these feelings and realizations.

  “I thought that was enough for me, but coming here and seeing my family again, realizing how happy my brothers are… I’m not sure it is.”

  He glanced at her through his dark sunglasses. “Wait one minute. What happened to your hair?” he asked, narrowing his gaze as he obviously really looked at her for the first time.

  She ran a hand down the long strands, no longer pinned back tight the way he preferred. “I—”

  “And your blouse is unbuttoned.” His jaw clenched. “You know I don’t like you looking like… like a tramp.”

  She flinched. “Something happened… with Max.” She swallowed hard and forced herself to continue despite the cruel sting of his words. “I was going to tell you. I didn’t initiate it, but he kissed me. I’m sorry, but—”

  Lucas rose and stood too close, anger vibrating off his body. “You didn’t suddenly look at your brothers’ relationships and decide that what we shared wasn’t enough for you. Jesus Christ. You fucking kissed that guy, and now you’re giving me an ultimatum you know damn well I won’t accept.”

  “Lucas—”

  She reached out for him, but he flung off her touch and attempt to calm him.

  “It didn’t mean anything,” she assured him, even as her pounding heart and memories of Max’s sexy mouth and hot body declared her words a lie. But she couldn’t let inconvenient feelings mess up her well-ordered life. She wanted the safe and easy relationship she and Lucas shared.

  “I took precious time off from work, traveled all the way out here, and you cheated on me like a common whore.” He slammed the back door hard.

  She jumped at the sound, shocked at his crude words. “It wasn’t like that.”

  “Don’t fucking talk to her like that.” Max stepped between them while Lucy stood stunned. His words had hit too close to home, and he’d never spoken to her like that before.

  Lucas glared at Max, clearly assessing his angry competition. Max boxed for sport and fitness. Lucas didn’t. From the tight clench of Max’s fists to the muscles bulging in his forearms, he was damned close to taking a swing.

  “I don’t have time for this bullshit or for you,” Lucas finally muttered. He stalked past her, brushing his shoulder against hers as he headed for the driver’s seat.

  “Touch her again and you’ll be picking your teeth off the floor one by one,” Max muttered.

  “Screw you.” Lucas closed himself inside the Lincoln Town Car, started the engine, floored the gas, and drove away without looking back.

  Lucy closed her eyes, hating how things had turned out between them. She’d rather have ended things the right way, but Max had forced the issue.

  And she hadn’t pushed him away.

  Chapter Two

  Max watched Lucy’s ex drive away, a combination of satisfaction and wariness eating at his gut. He’d charged in where he wasn’t invited and turned her life upside down. He felt bad. But he couldn’t say he was sorry.

  Years. He’d waited years for this woman, believing in his heart and soul he would never have her. He’d even married another in the vain hopes of putting Lucy out of his mind and destroyed Cindy in the process.

  The night his wife had died, they’d had a fight, just one of many. She’d wanted more from him than he was capable of giving her. She’d wanted him home more, devoting his nights to her instead of to his business. She’d grabbed her keys and run out crying. The cops said she probably never saw the truck until it swerved into her lane. She was gone in an instant.

  And he had to live with the knowledge that he’d never have been able to love her the way he should’ve. And she’d known it as well. It’d taken years of self-exploration, some of it through his friendships with people in the BDSM world, to really see himself and his issues… and put them behind him. He’d had to come to terms with the fact that he’d done to Cindy what his parents had done to him. Held out the promise of love, caring, and a wonderful life only to fail in the execution. He’d emulated what he’d known, and that had been a mistake.

  It helped that one guy in particular was a shrink who had no problem giving advice outside the office to people he cared about. Those long talks with Daniel Car
ver, who was still a close friend, and the ensuing years of learning to forgive himself had helped get Max ready for Lucy. Unfortunately she’d arrived with the asshole.

  Max turned his focus to the present. To Lucy. “You’re better off without him, you know. No guy should speak to you that way.” Lucas Kellan had been fortunate to get away with his pretty face intact.

  Lucy shook her head, her dark blue eyes full of anger and frustration. “Go away, Max.”

  “Can’t do that, princess.”

  She sighed. “Then do me the supreme favor of getting lost for a little while.”

  Now that the jerk was gone and there was nobody around but family and friends to worry about, Max could give her the space she needed. “I won’t be far. And when you’ve calmed down, we will have a long talk about us.”

  She shot him a withering glare, and without a word, she stormed back toward the house.

  He shoved his hands into his pants pockets and watched her go. Her long hair swung back and forth as she moved. The woman had a killer body, and her cream-colored pants suit accented her curves. He was an ass man, and Lucy’s did it for him. It was round and perfect enough to fit in his hands, and he couldn’t wait to grip her naked cheeks. But he was getting ahead of himself.

  Way ahead.

  Because he wanted a hell of a lot more from Lucy Dare than her body. That kiss had cemented her fate, just as it had shaken him to the very depths of his being. The minute his lips had hit hers, a jolt of awareness had struck him, more meaningful than lust. A sense of rightness had filled him, and every reason he shouldn’t have tried to build a life with a good woman who, in Max’s eyes, was nothing more than a pale imitation of the real thing had hit him hard.

  Their four-year age difference didn’t deter him either. Lucy had recently turned twenty-eight, but she was an old soul, forced to face life’s harsh realities too young, as Max had been around to witness.

  Max had been close to his parents when he was younger. They’d lived in a two-bedroom apartment, and his parents had worked hard at their restaurant business. When one of the restaurants had succeeded, they’d moved into the Dares’ upper-middle-class neighborhood. His father had no longer needed his mother at work, and she’d turned her attention to her original love, social work. She’d gone on to make them an oddity in town by bringing in troubled foster kids—on whom they lavished love and caring, because these children need it, Maximillian. You already have everything.