by Lynn Carmer
“What?” She finally looked at him – really looked – and frowned.
Say no, say no, say no. “You. In a relationship? Yes or no.” He couldn’t make it any simpler than that.
“No, Tarzan. I’m not. Do you think I’d be having this conversation with you if I were?”
His muscles eased, and he was able to breathe again. “Good, because I don’t poach. Ever. You need to know that about me right off the bat. Ever. So I will only ask you one more time: Are you involved with anybody?”
Drink in hand, she studied the amber liquid swirling in a small eddy in her cup. “Look, Dare, life is complicated.” Her voice broke on the last word. “I’m complicated, but I can tell you I’m not with anyone.”
He was just about to heave out a sigh of relief when she continued.
“But that doesn’t mean my head—Let’s just say that relationships can cause damage, and I may be what you’d call the ‘walking wounded’ right now.”
He opened his mouth to ask one of about a thousand questions, when she held up a hand.
“I will not talk about it with you. Nonnegotiable. So I will only ask you one time, can you do this, with no questions and no strings attached for the next few days? Because that’s all I’m offering.”
His mind whirled, starting with a slow thrum that threatened to spin out of control. That happened to him sometimes. His mind worked too fast, and he couldn’t latch on to one idea. Everything became a blur. His brain was in overdrive. Usually, he went for a long jog or a flat-out sprint when it became too much, but he couldn’t afford to delay this conversation. She wanted answers now. Damn. He hated the idea that some guy had done a mind-job on her. “Okay. For now. But I need more details.”
“About me or the school?”
“School.” He took a deep breath and continued. “So each sister has to teach a special technique?” He gulped, trying to prepare himself for her next words. “So, uh, was I right when I heard you were teaching—?” She needed his dick. Her prior words ran in a loop in his mind. It’s yours, he wanted to shout. God! The anticipation.
She leaned forward and her voice sounded a little breathy. “Blowjobs.”
Thank you, God! Thank you, thank you. He couldn’t respond. The reality of the situation hit him like a hard jab to the solar plexus. She wasn’t actually going to sit there and ask him to let her give him blowjobs. Was she?
He was struck dumb, but somehow, on the outside, he was holding it together.
She frowned. Why? From his lack of response? Speak, dummy.
She continued, probably because his mouth and tongue refused to work. “There were a bunch of techniques but that was the first one scheduled, and since I want to run the school, I get to go first. Anyway, does that sound, uh—Could you, um… Can you do it or not?”
Thank God it was dark, though he swore his crotch had risen several inches after her simple, sexy as hell words. “You have to learn about every single one of those?”
“Well, yes, eventually, but as of right now I just have to worry about the blowjobs.” She said the last word on a whisper, glancing around to make sure no one had heard.
His dick just about exploded at the idea. Blowjobs. He wondered what the other categories were, and damn, why couldn’t she be in charge of all of them? He’d be her willing slave if she’d let him.
He stretched, took his time in answering. He even glanced down at his watch. Not because he was nonchalant, but because he still couldn’t believe his luck and was having trouble answering. But he’d keep his feelings close to the vest with this one. The primal urge to howl and launch at her was sitting just under his skin. “When is the first class?”
“Friday.”
“That gives you four days.”
She nodded, her expression intense but uncertain. Damn, he wanted her off balance, but he didn’t want her doubting the attraction between them.
He wished his voice sounded less gruff as he said. “Well, today is your lucky day Betty. I happen to, unexpectedly, have a few days off.” No need to go into the suspension with Caelen. The idea of it would piss him off all over again, and he wanted his full attention on her. “That gives us over ninety hours to do every single, dirty, lowdown, and depraved ‘job’ you can think of.”
“De-depraved? What?”
Time to get her as turned on as he was. “I’m open for it all. I can’t wait for the feel of your tight little mouth caressing my…”
Her booted foot kicked up a tuft of sand and sprayed him in the chest. “We. Are. In. Public. Well, sort of.” Caelen fanned herself, and took another gulp of beer. “You can’t just talk to me like that.”
“Why not?”
“It’s private. I—”
“Betty, you better get used to it. If we’re doing this, you’ll be hearing a lot of that. And more.”
Eyes dilated, she asked, “I will?”
“Oh yeah.” He leaned in. “I’m going to talk about how good you feel, how your touch makes me hot, how hard I’m going to come imagining you naked.”
She leaned forward and licked her lips. Her lids looked heavy and a faint blush stained her cheeks. “I suppose feedback is important in the process, right?”
Got her! Too bad his dick was so damn hard he might come right in front of her. Shit, why weren’t they having this discussion in his apartment? Her hot, little hand would be down his pants right now, if they were. He knew it. “Baby, it’s going to be…”
“Hey, uh, Caelen? Can I talk to you for a minute?”
Caelen and Dare both jumped, not realizing how far in they’d leaned toward each other. Frank stood in front of them, kicking at the sand, a full on “Aw, shucks” thing going on. Dare had been so engrossed in Caelen, he hadn’t even heard the man coming.
Brynn was directly behind them, a shit-eating grin splitting her face. “We’re not interrupting anything, are we?”
“Of course not.” Caelen pushed back on the swing, covering her heated cheeks with her hands.
“Anyway, uh, I wanted to apologize to you, Caelen. I shouldn’t have—I just didn’t think. Brynn explained to me what an ass I was being. To tell the truth, I hadn’t really known what the nickname meant.”
Caelen’s face went cloudy at the reminder of the Punching Bag comment. Looked like she wasn’t buying Frank’s bullshit and neither was Dare. She just arched an eyebrow at him, not letting him off the hook, and the awkward silence hung between all of them.
“She doesn’t want to talk about it. Get lost.” Dare shot him a look no man would misunderstand. The ‘I’m about to take your head off and kick it down the street’ look that instantly had the idiot stuttering further.
“C-come on, man. I’m super sorry. I didn’t really know what the nickname meant, but I did know it embarrassed her. You guys were such a tight knit group. I could never break in but … It was mean. And stupid. I’m really sorry.”
Caelen blew out a breath and pasted the familiar and vacant smile on her face. The one she’d used when he’d first seen her at the school. Dare was growing to hate that smile; although, he couldn’t fault her for using it with Frank. “That’s funny. I don’t remember high school the same way you do. But whatever.”
If she needed to pretend the nickname hadn’t mattered, Dare would be right there to back her up. “You heard her. It’s a non-issue. But Frank,” his voice went deadly, soft. “I better not ever, for any reason, hear that name come from your lips again. We clear?”
“Yeah, yeah, of course. We cool? Caelen? Dare? We’re cool, right? ’Cuz if not, I’m gonna feel really bad.”
“Put the poor boy out of his misery.” Brynn sat next to Caelen on the swing, and she nudged her sister with her foot. “He’s going through a hard time right now.” Brynn turned down her lips in an exaggerated sad face.
“She left me!” Frank blurted out. “My girlfriend. She said I was a jerk, too. I don’t know what’s wrong with me!”
Caelen and Dare’s mouths dropped open. This was
too much. The poor guy was an ass, but he seemed to be going through something. Damn, Frank was ruining all of his plans. Before he could react, Caelen was up and hugging the guy, soothing him with little pats on the back and murmuring soft words he couldn’t make out.
Was Frank crying?
Dare just rolled his eyes, all plans for seduction on hold. Caelen motioned for him to say something. “Uh, that sucks, man.” He probably could’ve done better, but he was still frustrated. “Don’t worry. I got the best cure for a broken heart.”
“You do?” Frank sniffled.
Dare sighed, resigned to babysitting. For now. “Yup. Another round. Works every time.”
Chapter 12
‡
CAELEN COULDN’T REMEMBER what round they were on, but magically, the beer didn’t taste as harsh and acidy in her mouth anymore. In fact, it tasted really, really good. Unfortunately, Dare had been wrong about Frank. The last few rounds had helped at first, but now he was just a blubbering mess, who couldn’t stop talking about his girl.
Poor guy.
He was an ass, but he did seem genuinely distraught. They had safely deposited him in one cab and Brynn in another, to get them home safely. Somehow, Dare and Caelen were back in the bar, tucked in toward the back of the room, another pitcher deposited with a clunk on the table.
Her eyes narrowed, and she focused on the wicked man across the table. Who knew he could be so charming? The entire night his complete attention had been riveted on her. And he was always touching her. Not long enough where she could yell at him, but just enough to get her blood pumping.
At the moment, she was trying, and failing, to remind herself that she might need his body, but it didn’t change the fact that she couldn’t stand him. Right? So why did she want him so bad she was ready to crawl across the table and straddle him in front of the whole restaurant?
Time to take back control. If this experiment was going to work, they needed serious ground rules. “All righty, then. Back to the business discussion that was so rudely interrupted by your friend.”
“Betty, this is the furthest thing you can get from business, or else the two of us would be arrested,” he added with his signature smirk. “Good thing I’m here, or you’d be making a mess of this.” And just like that, the arrogance was back.
“That’s not what I meant, and you know it.” Yeah, keep talking buddy. Keep reminding me of all the reasons why I hate you. Instinctively she rubbed her chest, uncomfortable with the last thought. She didn’t hate him, could never do half the things she’d imagined if she hated him. Could she? “Are you going to talk to me about this or… not?” Darn it, she had absolutely no leverage. She couldn’t threaten to walk, because she needed him more than he needed her.
“What more is there to say? You trying to back out?” He leaned forward in his chair.
“No! No. But we have one last thing to go over.”
“What?”
“The rules. The terms of our agreement. We have to make sure we’re on the same page.”
His eyes scanned her face, taking her measure. He didn’t look as intense as he did when he asked her whether she was seeing anybody, but it was close. He looked like a hawk eyeing a fidgety squirrel. “I’m ready for your terms.”
She took a deep breath and realized with a start that she was picking at her split ends. She hadn’t even realized she’d picked up a braid. Immediately, she dropped her hair, mortified that she was starting back up with the old habit. She must be really nervous.
She knew this was the most important part of their discussion, but the idea of it was making her skin crawl. The umpteen beers she’d consumed were only slightly lessening her feeling of embarrassment. She wanted to just get this over with. “No sex. No touching for you.”
His eyes bulged for a minute, but he didn’t interrupt.
“No happily ever after, no commitment, no relationship. It’s really important you understand this is temporary.”
He snorted at that one as he took another chug of his drink.
“I will choose the place. You will be discreet. We will never speak of it again.”
Now Dare crossed his strong arms and the small grin was gone. He was starting to look a little pissed. But he still hadn’t butted in.
“Um, what else?” Truthfully, she hadn’t expected to get this far. “No guilt, no muss, no fuss. Oh yeah, and you must be willing to give feedback, which shouldn’t be a problem for you.” She shot him a look, but he didn’t respond by laughing as she’d hoped. In fact, he was starting to look far too intense about the whole thing. He was taking it really seriously. Which was good, she thought, but the plan had been that he would be so grateful to be getting blowjobs that he would agree to anything she said.
Hmm, maybe it was time to change the equation. Caelen paid special attention as she made her next request. “No eye contact.”
“What?” He half coughed, half spewed his beer on that one. “What the hell are you talking about? We can’t look at each other? That’s insane. I would feel like you were my slave or something! I—”
She let him blather on for a few more minutes. The last term had been ridiculous, and she’d purposely thrown it in to appear like she would be conceding to his demands, showing that she was flexible. With a deep sigh, she said, “Well, I guess you’re right. I’ll give you that one.”
“Damn straight.”
She took another deep breath and prepared herself for the rules she felt were the most important. “You must give me total control. Oh, and no kissing. See that wasn’t so bad, was it?” This was crucial to her whole negotiations. Even back when Dare was a pimply teen, she’d loved his lips. It was why, after they’d been shoved into that closet in seventh grade, she’d made a deal with him. She’d informed him she would kiss him for their time in Seven Minutes in Heaven if he swore he’d never tell a soul. Ever. Not even her sisters.
And he never did. Maybe that was why she was trusting him with so much now. Even though it had been fifteen years since their kiss, she still remembered his warm taste. If she allowed him to kiss her now, she’d be lost. The panties would drop so fast and so hard that she’d never get to any of Ms. Belle’s techniques.
“No.”
“Yes. That is nonnegotiable, Dare!”
He ran a large hand through his hair, his frown burrowed deep between his eyebrows. Finally, he leaned back in the chair and stated through tight lips, “Everything is negotiable, sweetheart. Now, I have a few of my own terms.”
Damn. Why hadn’t she softened the beginning of this conversation with a description of some of the techniques she’d be working on, so he’d be thinking with his dick and not his overactive brain?
“There will be a commitment.”
“What?”
He held up a hand to silence her. “For the next four days, we will be committed because if you’re with me, I don’t care how temporary it is, you’re with me. And I’m with you. Understand?”
She threw up her hands in the air. “Did you think I meant I would be with other people while I was experimenting on you? You know that’s not what I meant.”
“I don’t care what you meant. This is nonnegotiable for me. I want to hear you say it. When we’re together, it’s only us. Only you and me in this relationship.”
Goosebumps raced over her skin at the feeling in his words. What would it be like to be in a relationship with Dare? At the thought, panic set in, and she started to feel claustrophobic. She was such a mess; she couldn’t even make a commitment to her hairdresser, let alone Dare. But she understood what he meant. “Yes, of course. I don’t plan on having my mouth near anyone else’s dick but yours.”
For an instant, the burnished gold of his eyes flared, but he didn’t appear to take the bait. “I pick the place.”
“What? No.”
“At least once.”
“In the whole four days, just once?”
He nodded slowly.
She opened her mouth to prote
st, but realized there wasn’t much harm in conceding this small request. So far he hadn’t challenged any of the really important stuff. Except kissing. “Okay.”
The small frown was starting to disappear, but he wasn’t smiling yet. He thought for a moment longer. “I will give you total control, but I want something in return.
“Like what?”
“Just keep in mind all of the other things I’ve conceded. Lots of feedback, you pick the place—mostly, you get control mostly, so I want a kiss. Each time we are together, I can have one kiss, anytime, anywhere, I want it.”
“No!”
“Yes.”
Panic felt like a bus sitting in her chest. “Absolutely not.”
“What’s the big deal? My kisses affect you that much?”
Yes. “As if. It’s not that. It’s just too personal and messy.”
“I’m starting to get offended, Betty. Nothing messy about my kisses. So problem solved. Kisses are in.”
Maybe she should try and throw him off track. “But I will be kissing you. The whole time we’re together.”
He frowned until he saw her gaze trail down to the front of his pants. He gulped.
“Aren’t those kisses enough?”
He groaned and ran a hand through his hair. “I—No. I will agree to every single other rule, but you need to give me this.”
“Why?”
“I need it, Caelen.”
Temptation licked at her like flames to accelerant. Could she agree? Could she resist if Dare put his luscious lips on hers? If she wanted the school then she would have to find a way. Maybe she could keep him so distracted he wouldn’t even remember the kiss. Yes! Suddenly, she felt much more confident. “All right.”
He looked dumbstruck. “Really?”
“Unless you’ve changed your mind?”
“Nope. Terms set and accepted.”
“So, we’re good?”
“Pretty much. Except one tiny, last thing.”
“I just gave you the kiss.”
“I know, I know. This isn’t about a specific rule, really. Just an overall, in general, sort of thing. I don’t want to be penalized if I break the rules.”