Dare Me Once

by Shelly Alexander

  “I’m not going anywhere.” She watched the flex and flow of his toned body as he bent to find his pants, pulled a foil square out of his wallet, and covered himself. With slow, stealthy movements, he walked back to her, letting her enjoy the view. His impressive erection made the tide of sexual heat rush through her again, even before the first orgasm had completely receded.

  Her body pulsed and hummed and cried for him as he covered her with more than six feet of pure male hardness. He delivered a punishing kiss, then hooked one arm behind her knee. He inched his steel shaft into her center, hesitating long enough to let her adjust to his thickness.

  His gaze locked onto hers as he pressed farther in.

  Her lips parted in a hushed plea for more, and she arched up to meet him.

  He got her message loud and clear and sank into her to his root with one long, scorching thrust.

  She moaned.

  He groaned.

  And he rested his forehead against hers, their breaths mingling and mixing from the excruciating pleasure where their bodies joined.

  “Christ, you’re so tight,” he breathed out. “Our fit is so perfect.”

  Like they were made for each other. She nodded. “Better than I thought possible.”

  He dipped his head and pulled her bottom lip between his teeth to nibble. With a shift of his hips, he withdrew and plunged into her again. They found that perfect rhythm, and he reached deeper inside her with each stroke.

  Every part of Lily’s body tightened. Her nipples, her throat. When her muscles clenched and clamped around his shaft, his eyes closed, and he stopped breathing. “Jesus, that’s so good.”

  “Pure perfection.” She lifted her hips to match his movements.

  With his arm still hooked behind her knee, he lifted her leg higher. Spread her wider. His strokes quickened, deepened, until Lily was on the edge and ready to jump into the abyss. He drove into her over and over, then without warning, he rotated his hips in the opposite direction, and—bingo.

  She fell, a white-hot orgasm spiraling through her so powerfully that her world went hazy for a few seconds. When she opened her eyes, he stared down at her with a self-satisfied smile. Her muscles convulsed around his stiff cock, but he still hadn’t come yet. Obviously, he enjoyed the fact that he’d just rocked her world. Her heart filled because she’d never had anyone care about her pleasure so much. So openly.

  And she wanted to return it.

  When she flattened her palms against his chest and pushed, his eyes widened.

  “Sit up.” She guided him into a sitting position. “Let me do the rest.” She straddled him.

  When he realized what she was doing, a wicked gleam showed in his eyes. “You’re so bossy,” he teased and sank his teeth into her earlobe.

  She shivered. “You pretend not to like it, but you do.”

  He chuckled and feathered kisses across her jaw. “I just let you think you’re in charge.” He molded both hands around her waist and guided her onto his throbbing hard-on, filling her completely.

  Her head fell back, and she moaned again.

  “You’re so damn beautiful like this, Lily.” He rested his head on the back of the sofa. “I could watch you like this every day.” His jaw twitched, and his eyes widened with realization. “Or every night in my bed.”

  A chill skated over her. She’d love to explore that possibility. See where their relationship might go. But when she told Trace the whole truth, any hope they had of a future together might be destroyed just as they were getting started.

  She lifted to his tip and sank down on him again.

  “Damn, woman,” he said in a gritty voice.

  The here and the now was her focus until Trace was just as sexually satisfied as she was. “Let’s concentrate on the present.” She lifted again, her strokes picking up speed. Their thrusts came faster, harder. She circled her hips and adjusted her angle. Another storm started to brew at her core, and she rode him hard . . . until she tightened and twitched around him, another orgasm overtaking her.

  Her shout of approval pulled him over the edge with her, and his generous flesh pulsed inside her. She wrapped both arms around his head and buried her face in his neck. Their hearts beat in a steady cadence where their chests molded together.

  With a finger and thumb, she toyed with his hair, enjoying the feel of his body against hers, both of them dewy and slick.

  When she’d moved to the island, she’d been ready to give up on men altogether. Ready to settle for a little harmless flirtation via text, because in her experience, sexting had been better than the real thing.

  Lucky for her, she was wrong.

  The three orgasms Trace had just given her were incredible, and she doubted she’d ever experience anything so powerful again.

  As she caressed his ear with the tip of her nose, he went hard inside of her again.

  Yep, she hadn’t just been wrong. She’d been dead wrong. Because he reached for his wallet again, and they made the most of the old felt on the pool table.

  Since it was getting re-covered and all.

  Heart thundering, she clamped her legs to his firm, fine ass. Every inch of him was hard, muscular male. Her body hummed with so much sexual energy that within minutes they were pulled into the vortex of another powerful orgasm.

  She cried out, but he swallowed it with the most incredible mind-melting kiss.

  As their breathing slowed, her palms slid up his back, the muscles dancing under her fingertips. She traced the contours, the hard angles and planes of his firm yet smooth skin.

  He suckled her nipple, circling it, teasing it with his tongue, and she buried her hands in his hair. Dipping his head, he gently bit at the underside of her breast, then placed a tender kiss in the same spot. Then he did the same to the other breast. She arched, filling his mouth as much as she could with the trembling flesh of her breast. And he obliged with long, thorough flicks of his tongue until she moaned.

  Lily’s heart squeezed, and she pulled his mouth to hers. After a long, languid kiss, she said, “Hold me. Just hold me.” It had been a long time since she’d felt so safe, so secure. She wanted to enjoy the moment, because it likely wouldn’t last forever.

  Chapter Seventeen

  LILY’S LIFE LESSON #17

  Anything you say can and will be held against you.

  The weather was getting warmer and the ducks were getting louder, so Trace and Ben got dressed earlier than usual to stop at Lily’s every morning and move the growing ducks to their outside pen. It was Trace’s day to take the kids to school, so he dropped them off, then raced home, practically fishtailing into the resort so he could get to Lily’s.

  Since he and Lily had taken their relationship to the next level a little over a week ago, it had become their routine to steal whatever time alone they could. Going several rounds in the game room had been just the beginning, and they continued their inventive streak every morning after Ben was at school. Not surprisingly, she tackled sex with the same incredible creative mind as she did her job.

  Fine by him.

  The dining room table, the kitchen counter, against the wall, in the shower, or in bed, it was all good. The best, actually. She was the bright spot in his life, even with everything else turning to shit.

  Trace turned onto the lane that led to the cottages.

  Megan still hadn’t shown up on the island, and if he couldn’t get her to drop the custody suit, he’d have to hire an attorney. He’d spare no expense when it came to protecting his son, so a lawyer would cost a hell of a lot of money. Money he’d intended to use for a cargo plane.

  He parked in front of Lily’s cottage and cantered up the steps, whistling. He stopped with his fist raised to knock on the door.

  The bounce in his step and the glee-club tune flowing through his puckered lips was proof that Lily made him happy. Even with so much to worry about, he felt as though he could face anything because of her.

  He knocked.

  Her vo
ice was distant as she hollered “Come in” from somewhere deep inside the cottage.

  He cracked the door. “Lily?”

  “In here,” she said from the bathroom.

  Awesome. Maybe she was just getting out of the shower and he could towel off her sexy wet body.

  As he headed to the bathroom, her phone dinged from the kitchen counter. He stopped and picked it up. Lily seemed to manage the entire resort from her phone and iPad, so it might be important. He glanced at the screen as he turned into the hallway, and it made him stumble.

  With a hand, he reached out and steadied himself against the wall. And reread the text from Mom.

  I’ve been trying to reach you. Why aren’t you returning my calls?

  A tiny sliver of guilt pricked at his heart for invading Lily’s privacy. A big bolt of worry caused his heart to stutter because the text made something prickle at the back of his skull. Lily never talked about her parents. He’d asked her about them once, thinking they weren’t living because she’d used the past tense to refer to them.

  “Trace?” she said from the bathroom.

  He swallowed down the cotton in his mouth. “Yeah. Are you decent?” Stupid question, because he and Lily hadn’t been decent when they were alone together for more than a week.

  Lily’s upper body appeared through a crack in the bathroom door. “You’ve seen me without a stich on.” Her smile was mischievous. “Several times. Up close.” She was wrapped in a towel, secured by a corner tucked between her mouthwatering breasts. Tastefully applied makeup accentuated the perfect bone structure of her beautiful face. Upswept hair drew his attention to her slender shoulders and neck.

  He followed her into the bathroom, where she swiped on mascara. He placed a hand on her hip. “Yes, I’ve seen every inch of you, and I gotta say . . . you’ve got some prime real estate under that towel.”

  She laughed and kept working the brush across her lashes.

  He traced a finger up her arm all the way to her neck, staring over her shoulder into the mirror. “Your phone dinged.” He slid Lily’s phone onto the counter. “I thought it might be important.”

  She stopped brushing the wand over her lashes. “Thanks,” she said slowly. “I’ll check it in a sec. I’m in a hurry.” She pumped the tube of mascara and went to work on the other eye, stealing glances at him in the mirror.

  He eased closer until his chest molded to her back. With a flattened palm against the side of her thigh, he smoothed it upward until his hand disappeared under the towel.

  Her skin pebbled. “I’ve got work to do in my office before I ride into town with Charley.”

  “The only word I heard was ride.” He made sure his breath was at her ear.

  She shivered. “We’re finalizing the menu and swinging by the school during the kids’ lunch break. Ben’s teacher agreed to brainstorm with me on our children’s summer program.”

  He nuzzled the nape of her neck, and another shiver raced over her.

  “I thought we could spend time together before going to work. Maybe talk.” With the cuff of Lily’s ear between his teeth, he glanced into the mirror to find one of her silky brows arched high.

  “Talk?” She leaned back against him, and his hard-on pressed into her lush ass. She hissed in a breath.

  “Yes, talk.” His fingers moved around to her front, and he stroked the soft skin just below her belly button. “And other stuff.” But talking was definitely on his agenda. They got along great at work now that he trusted her to make sound decisions for the resort. They got along beautifully when Ben was around because she was better with him than anyone he knew besides his immediate family. They got along spectacularly when they were bare-assed naked.

  But he still didn’t know much about Lily, and she never talked about her life before moving to the island.

  He figured her past must be painful.

  He understood painful because of the tragic way his mother had passed. Hell, it’d been almost twenty years, and the Remingtons rarely spoke of it.

  So maybe it was time he and Lily both opened up about the unpleasantness of their pasts. As great as the sex was between them, he wanted more than just a superficial relationship. Been there, done that, and no thank you. If he and Lily were in, then he wanted them to be all in. The great sex was a bonus.

  He traced a finger from her belly button down to the soft center he was looking for.

  Correction. Their incredible sex wasn’t just a bonus. It was like they’d hit the Powerball.

  Her knee angled to the side to give him access, and one of her hands found its way up his neck and into his hair. “’Bout what?” Her voice went low and raspy.

  “About you.”

  She tensed, and her fingers stopped their playful romp through his hair. “I’m pretty boring and ordinary, really. Are you going to hold that against me?”

  He nipped her earlobe. “You’re a lot of things, Lily Barns, but boring and ordinary aren’t on the list,” he breathed against her ear. “The only thing I plan to hold against you is this.” He pressed his hard-on against her firm ass, and she moaned.

  When she opened her eyes again, she stared back at him in the mirror, worrying her bottom lip. The muscles in her slender neck moved as she swallowed, put the mascara down, and slowly turned in his arms so they were face-to-face.

  “We do need to talk.” She chewed her lip and stared at a button on his shirt. “Since I’m in a hurry to get to my office, can we talk tonight? Alone?”

  Trace could swear her eyes grew moist.

  “Hey.” He molded a palm to her cheek and rubbed the soft skin under her bottom lashes. “Whatever it is, it’ll be fine.”

  “I—” Her voice cracked, and she cleared her throat. “See, I work for this guy who is very special.”

  Unable to resist her lush mouth, he bent and nipped at the corner. “And really great in bed?”

  She angled her head to the side. “He’s okay.”

  Trace sank his teeth into the notch where her neck met her shoulder.

  “Okay, I see stars when we’re in bed,” she said.

  He released her flesh.

  She fiddled with the same button on his shirt she’d been staring at. “He’s a great guy and a great boss, and I don’t want to disappoint him.”

  “I have it on good authority your boss will be much more disappointed if you leave for the office now.” He buried his face in the hair just above her ear and breathed in the faint scent of flowery shampoo. “He might even fire you.”

  She stiffened into a plank of wood. He leaned back, and for a second something that looked like fear flashed in her eyes.

  “Hey.” He put a finger under her chin and turned her gaze to meet his. “Poor choice of words. I’m sorry.” He pulled her into his arms, and her towel came loose, slipping to the floor.

  “Fuck.” He devoured her mouth in a hungry kiss.

  “Yes, let’s.” Her voice was breathy with need, and she cupped his throbbing crotch.

  He growled. “I thought you were in a hurry?”

  “I guess I can spare a few minutes for the boss.” Her eyes held a sultry glint that said he was about to get lucky.

  God, he loved that glint.

  She opened a drawer and pulled out a purple box that said SECOND SKIN in bold white letters. “They warm to the touch.”

  “I love that gifted mind of yours, always thinking ahead.” He carried her to the bedroom and gave her a playful toss onto the bed.

  She squealed, all fear and moisture gone from her eyes. He liked this look on her much better.

  His prick strained against the rough fabric of his jeans. “I can’t start my day anymore until I hear you moan.”

  “Lose the clothes and you will.” She sat up and reached for his zipper.

  When she slipped her hand inside to grasp his length, he groaned.

  “Who’s moaning now?” She ran her hand along his length again, and he had to agree that his moans were just as intense as hers. />
  Suddenly he felt very overdressed and shucked his clothes like it was a race. When he was naked, he climbed up her lush body and braced his hands on either side of her head.

  “Just be still for a sec and let me enjoy the view.” She ran both dainty hands up his flexed arms, over his shoulders, and down his chest, lifting to place a kiss in the valley between his pecs. She explored him with her hands, softly running a fingernail along the muscles of his abs. Her lips and her fingertips were velvety soft against his taut skin, skin that hummed with desire.

  He reached for a condom.

  “Uh-uh.” She encircled his wrist with her slender fingers. And before he knew it, she flipped him onto his back and straddled him.

  Nice.

  “Remember your naughty text?” Wickedness gleamed in her eyes.

  “Every dirty word.” He cupped both of her breasts in the palms of his hands.

  “Well, you’ve fulfilled your promise.” Her fiery gaze dropped to his mouth like she was remembering how he’d pleasured her with it. Several times. She bent, kissing a smoldering trail down his neck to his chest. Then lower. “I want to return the favor,” she whispered against his stomach, then moved farther down to close those perfect pouty lips around his throbbing flesh.

  He forgot his fucking name.

  Her clever hands moved over his skin, and that mouth . . . Christ. That mouth was a gift from heaven.

  He buried both sets of fingers in her silky hair.

  His entire body tightened, and he grasped her shoulders, drawing her up to roll her onto her back. He had himself covered before she could protest, not that she would, and filled her in one swift stroke.

  Her body arched toward him. “Trace!”

  It was the most beautiful sound he could remember.

  Another deep stroke and her hot flesh undulated around his prick. The first glimmer of an orgasm sprouted deep inside him.

  They rode the wave of ecstasy fast and hard until they were both spent and well satisfied.