And now you’re going to sit next to her all night long, watching her sleep. Fuck, man. You’re toast.
**
Olivia was curled up under the blankets in Dallas’ bed, warm and calm. Dallas sat next to the window, his long legs extended in front of him, the gun on his lap. Even in the semi-darkness she could see the outline of his body, his muscles curved and huge.
“Dallas?”
“Yeah, hon?”
She turned on her side to face him. “Can I ask about you?”
“Me?” He shrugged. “Sure. What do you want to know?”
“I don’t know. It’s just – you know every single thing about me, right? You know my Mom runs an apartment complex in New York that I bought her, and you know who I’ve dated, and you know my net worth, and you know what I eat for breakfast. And I feel kind of… weird about it.”
He was quiet for a few seconds. “Yeah, me too. We knew each other before, like as friends, so from the beginning, you weren’t a typical client for me. It’s been a bit… strange, I guess, to walk this line between personal and professional.”
“I know what you mean. So is it OK if I ask?”
“Shoot, darlin’.”
“OK.” She paused. “What’s your real name?”
He half-laughed and half-groaned. “Oh, man. You just go right for the jugular, huh, baby?”
She giggled and he was happy to hear it.
“Yeah, well,” she said. “Emma said that you told her you don’t like your real name, so you use your nickname only. So… why don’t you like your birth name?”
“Well, mostly because it’s a family name, and I’m not close to my family.” He ran a hand up and down his jeaned thigh. “I’m named after my father and grandfather.”
She waited.
“OK, you’re not to tell anyone, hon. You swear it?”
“I do.”
“OK. My name is Scott Foreman the Third.”
She blinked. “You mean – your family is that Foreman family? The oil family in Dallas?”
“Yep.”
“And you’re not close to them?”
“Nope.”
“How come?”
“Because I decided to not go in to the family business, and I enlisted instead. I think they could have lived with that if I’d just been a soldier as a kind of casual thing, you know, done some training, seen a bit of combat, got it out of my system. But then I became a sniper, and never came home again. They had a hard time with all of that.”
“You don’t talk at all?”
“Barely. Dad gave me an ultimatum a few years ago: stop playing GI Joe and came on back to Dallas, or else he’d write me out of the will.” He shrugged. “I told him to go ahead.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. I had money from my grandfather’s will – a few million – and I hadn’t touched a penny of it while in Iraq and Afghanistan. When I couldn’t stand shooting people through my scope any more, I came back to the States and tried to think what kind of business to set up. Personal security felt like a good fit for me and my skills.”
She nodded. “I think you were right.”
“When I was a kid, we used to come out here to go skiing and I’ve always loved Denver. So I bought these two houses – one for me, one as a rental – and started a whole new life. That was almost three years ago now, and things are going pretty great. More clients than I can handle, actually, and I think Dad’ll come around, eventually, but he’s a stubborn son-of-a-bitch. Mom’s working on him, though. I talk to her once a month, I guess, and she’s damn proud of me. Says that my younger brother Michael is more than able to handle the business: he’s got his MBA and he likes the intricacies and intrigues of the oil industry. He’s much better at the job than I’d ever be, to be honest, and everyone says so, except Dad. He’ll see sense one day, though.”
“I hope so,” Liv said. “It’s sad when families can’t get along.”
“Yeah, I know.” He paused. “So you really haven’t had any contact with your Dad since you were four?”
She shook her head. “None. Mom grabbed me and ran one day, and that was the last contact we ever had with him.”
Dallas knew the whole story, of course: he knew that Olivia’s mother, Grace, had suffered horrible physical abuse and had received no real help from the police. Her escape with her daughter had been nothing short of an astounding act of self-love and courage. She’d fled from Helena, Montana on an overnight bus and ended up in Denver. Grace had cleaned hotels and private homes for almost fifteen years before Olivia hit the big-time modelling. Dallas knew that she now supported her Mom generously, and that the two women were still very close, even though Grace had moved to New York five years ago with her boyfriend.
“I was thinking, though…” Her voice trailed off.
“What?”
“Any chance at all that my Dad is my stalker?” she asked hesitantly. “I mean – I always thought it was weird that he never tried to contact me after I became so visible in the public eye. I thought for sure he’d come and ask for money at some point.”
“Greg looked in to that, baby, and I double-checked. Your Dad’s still in Montana and he hasn’t been out-of-state even one day.”
“You’re sure?”
“Completely. I spoke to his boss and landlord personally, and I had the police check his phone records and bank account.”
“Oh. So no chance it’s him.”
“None.”
She nodded and shifted on the bed.
“Olivia?”
“Yeah?”
“That safe house that you set up for the women and kids… you did that to honor your mother?”
“Yeah. We didn’t have a place like that to go to back then, and I remember sleeping on bus station floors and in apartment building hallways until she got a steady job and managed to find a place for us to rent. It was a hell-hole, but it was heaven after the bus station, you know? And as soon as I had the money, all I wanted to do – after I took care of Mom – was set up a place for women and kids who had no fucking choice but to run from the men who were supposed to protect them.”
“Yeah,” he said quietly. “I think that’s great of you.”
She was startled. “You do?”
“Yes.”
“Well, thanks. But it’s not something that many people know about, so don’t tell anyone, OK?”
“My lips are sealed.”
“Can I ask you another question?” she said.
“Of course.”
“Why don’t you date anyone seriously?”
He almost fell off the chair. “How do you know that I don’t?”
“Well, do you?”
“Uh. No.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, Olivia….”
“What’s wrong?”
Dallas was having a very tough time with himself, suddenly. “Well, it’s just that… it’s a bit hard to talk about.”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t,” he assured her. “It’s just…” He fell silent.
“Just what?”
“Well, after my time overseas, I found it difficult to… to be with anyone seriously. I was – a mess in lots of ways.” He sighed. “Being a sniper is so fucking traumatic, you know. I mean, I had extensive training and psych evaluations and counselling all the way through, but still. There’s something about taking a human life that way that’s just so – impersonal. It can fuck with your head, big-time.”
She nodded.
“When you start to see the whole world from a distance, and you keep your emotions in check all the time, and you have this power over life and death… I mean, I can kill someone from seven hundred yards away through a window, and I have. All those things mak
e it fucking challenging to let anyone in. Dean and Chris and Jim were close and stayed close, because they were physically there, and they get it. But letting in anyone new? Outsiders and civilians? A girlfriend? It’s – it’s not easy to explain things to them.”
“I can see that.”
“So, I just didn’t date seriously. Or at all, really. I didn’t want to be close to anyone. Emotionally, I mean.”
“But now you do?”
He started. “What?”
“Well, you’re using the past tense, Dallas. You just said that you didn’t want to be close to anyone emotionally. So now you do?”
Oh, fuck, man. You just gave yourself away. Completely.
“Um. Well, maybe.”
Say it, say it, you fucking coward. Tell her.
“Maybe with one person.” He took a breath. “Maybe with you.”
She stared across at him, her heart in her throat. “With me?”
“Yeah.”
The silence stretched out between them. Dallas was paralyzed in the chair, feeling so unbelievably fucking stupid that he wished for a hole to open up right in front of him. He’d dive in head-first and never come out again.
She spoke now. “Come here, Dallas.”
Slowly, he got to his feet and walked over to the bed, set the gun on the bedside table. He sat on the edge of the mattress, studied her in the dim light. God, she was just so fucking gorgeous, and he fought with himself to not touch her.
Not until she touches you first. If she touches you.
Olivia sat up and crawled over to him. She climbed on to his lap and he closed his eyes in relief and disbelief as she settled herself there, her long legs wrapped around his waist, her hands resting lightly on his chest.
“Open your eyes, babe,” she said softly.
He did and she gazed up at him, those brown eyes warm and sweet.
“Kiss me,” she said.
With a groan, he cupped her face in his hands and lowered his lips to hers. She shuddered in response and he deepened the kiss, his tongue probing gently. She gasped, opening to him more, her fingers curled around his shirt, and he growled.
“You’re so sweet, baby,” he said. “You taste as good as I imagined…I just bet you’re that hot and sweet everywhere, aren’t you?”
At his words, her whole body went weak with desire. She couldn’t quite believe that she was kissing Dallas, after weeks of wanting to do just that. The man was huge and hard, and the tender way he touched her almost brought tears to her eyes. She moaned against his mouth and he kissed her again, harder and deeper, with more urgency.
Olivia pulled her lips away and he paused, wondering if she’d changed her mind. Then he saw her cross her arms in front of her body and pull his t-shirt up and over her head and he sucked in a breath. She was naked and gorgeous and all wrapped around him, and Dallas felt the heat of her even through his jeans.
“Olivia.” His voice was husky with want. “I’m going to make you feel so good, baby.”
She took his one hand in both of hers and pulled the index finger in to her mouth, gently sucking on it, then releasing it. Her eyes were bright with lust and his cock hardened as her tongue flicked the end of his finger, teasing him.
“I believe you,” she whispered. She moved his hand over her breasts now, down her flat stomach. His fingers found her hot, wet centre and they both groaned. “Touch me, Dallas.” Her arms wrapped around his neck and she shifted her hips to give him greater access. “Please…”
He lowered his forehead to her shoulder and watched his hand slide between her supple thighs. Her back arched and her head fell back as his thick finger stroked her slit, teasing her. Her breath came faster as he gently parted her lower lips with two fingers and lazily circled his thumb around her clit, around and around, not touching it. She shut her eyes, silently begging for him to press on that taut bundle of nerves.
Dallas took her nipple in his mouth, sucking on it, his tongue and fingers swirling at the same time. Olivia’s whole body was lifting to offer herself to him – her breasts, her hips – and he fought to stay in control. He wanted this first time to be good for her, and so that meant not just throwing her under him and taking her right away.
Slow, man. Take a breath.
He moved to kiss her other breast now, his hand still stroking her pussy, his fingers slick with her arousal. She gave a long moan, whispered his name. He gripped the back of her neck and pulled her mouth to his again. As their lips met, his middle finger slid inside her tight channel and her whole body stiffened against him. He pushed in farther, felt her pussy flutter around his finger and his cock pulsed.
“Dallas!” she cried out; he heard the pleading and vulnerability in her voice.
“Shhhh, baby,” he said. “I’ve got you… let it happen. Just let me do this for you, OK?”
She nodded and relaxed again. Her thighs fell open wider now, and he slipped a second finger inside her heat, moving in and out of her at a slow, steady pace. She moved her hips in time with his rhythm, rising and falling on his fingers, and he murmured encouragement against her hot mouth.
Dallas knew she was starting to ride the wave now; her pussy muscles were tensing up around his fingers, her breaths were closer to gasps. He waited until she was moving back and forth on him, her thrusts hard and smooth, then he pressed his thumb down on her clit, let up for a heartbeat, pushed down again.
At his second touch, Olivia’s orgasm hit her right away, taking them both by surprise. She gave a broken cry and shook against him, her pussy throbbing and releasing strong enough to clamp down and tug him farther in.
Dallas pulled her closer to him, felt her fingernails dig in to his upper arms even through his t-shirt. Her face was buried in his shoulder and she was calling his name over and over again as she came.
The flexing and relaxing on his fingers slowed down, stopped. Olivia collapsed on him, and he slowly moved his hands up her hips, up her back, clenched them in that glorious tumbled hair. She was sobbing now, trying to catch her breath, and Dallas smiled.
Holy fuck, she’s so passionate, so hot. I never thought she’d let herself go like that; not the first time.
Olivia couldn’t believe how easily she’d been able to climax with Dallas. She wasn’t anywhere close to frigid, but she’d only ever been able to come with full-on sex, and sometimes when a guy went down on her. But from just touching? Never. She clung to him, her head spinning, so close to crying from the release of stress and tension. He held her tightly, and she let herself feel safe and cared for.
Her body went soft and pliant on his, and he pulled back a bit to look at her. God, she was so stunning, with her cheeks pink, her lips swollen. He raised her chin and she looked up at him, her eyes hot and glowing. Slowly, holding her gaze, he raised his soaked fingers to his mouth and sucked on them.
“I was right,” he said, his voice dark and molten. “You do taste hot and sweet everywhere, baby.”
She gasped at his words, and her pussy lips throbbed and opened wider. He grinned, knowing full well what he’d just done to her.
He kissed her again, tender and gentle, and she just let herself sink down on him, trusting Dallas completely. She knew that here with him, she was in the safest, hottest, most exciting place on earth. She never wanted to leave his arms, and she pressed up against that chest, the way she’d wanted to for so long.
Dallas felt something shift inside her, felt her whole body just give over to him. He closed his eyes, amazed at the gift of her surrender. This was a woman who had no reason to believe in anyone or anything right now… and she believed in him. He was touched and humbled by her faith, and even more determined to continue to deserve it.
They stayed like that for a few minutes, listening to each other breathing, and then Olivia leaned back to see his gorgeous face. His blue eyes were softer than she’d ever seen t
hem, and she was astounded that she’d been able to make this hard, lethal man look like this. She stroked his full lips and he kissed her fingers.
“You doing OK, sweetheart?” he asked.
“Uh-huh,” she said. “But I’m not very happy about one thing.”
He raised an eyebrow. “Oh, yeah? What’s that?”
“You’re wearing way too many clothes.”
He grinned and her stomach flipped.
“Yeah, I guess I am. You want to help me with that?”
She nodded and moved her hands to the bottom of his t-shirt. He raised his arms and she lifted the shirt over his head. At the sight of that muscled chest, Olivia’s mouth went dry.
She’d wanted to touch him for so long, and suddenly, here he was, right in front of her. She knew that she could do whatever she wanted to him, and the lust just washed over her.
Dallas’ breath caught as her fingers ran over his collarbone, her touch somehow both innocent and knowing. He watched her face as he explored him, tracing every curve of every muscle, following the line of dark hair across his pecs and over his abs. She paused at the scar on his left shoulder.
“What’s this?” she asked.
“A few months ago, I was stabbed on the job.”
She raised startled eyes to his. “What?”
“Yeah.” He was about to tell her that it had been a client’s stalker, but then he reconsidered. He didn’t want her mind to go there, not with her own stalker scaring her so badly.
“Who stabbed you?” she said.
“A crazed football fan. It wasn’t bad. I saw him coming and had plenty of time to get myself out of the way. Mostly.”
She ran her fingers over the scar. “What you do is dangerous, Dallas.”
“Sometimes.” He kissed her, wanting to reassure her. “But I’m good at my job, baby. I’m careful.”
She nodded. “I know.”
“And there are perks to the job.” He ran his fingers down her back.
Olivia paused, then smiled. “Is that what I am? A perk?”
“I didn’t say that…” His tone was teasing.
Enemy Outside (Unseen Enemy Book 2) Page 9