prove to you that I knew the difference between having sex and making love. And I had the feeling that you were
beginning to think I didn’t know the difference, and that all those times we spent in your backyard on that blanket were about sex and had nothing to do with emotions. But
emotions were what it was all about, Shelly, each and every time I took you into my arms those nights. I have never just had sex with you in my life. There has never been a time
that I didn’t make love to you. For us there will always be a difference.”
Tears misted Shelly’s eyes. He was so absolutely right. For them there would always be a difference. She had tried
convincing herself that there wasn’t a difference and that
each time they made love it was about satisfying hormones and nothing more. But she’d only been fooling herself. She loved Dare. She had always loved him and would always
love him.
“AJ made me realize what you might have been thinking when we spent time at the cabin together,” Dare said, interrupting Shelly’s thoughts.
“He told me what you had said about the possibility of me getting married one day, and I knew then what you must have been thinking to assume that you and AJ and I would never be a family.”
Shelly nodded. “But we will be a family?” she asked quietly, wanting to reach out and touch Dare, just to make sure this entire episode was real and that she wasn’t dreaming any of it.
“Yes, we will be a family, Shelly. I made a mistake ten years ago by letting you go, but I won’t make the same mistake
twice. I love you and I intend to spend the remainder of my days proving just how much.” Sitting forward, his smile was tender and filled with warmth and love when he added.
“That is, if you trust me enough to give me another chance.”
Shelly reached out and cupped his jaw with her hands. She met the gaze of the man she had always loved and who
would forever have her heart. “Are you sure that is what you want, Dare?”
“Yes, I haven’t been more sure of anything in my life, Shelly, so make me the happiest man in the world. I love you. I
always have and always will, and more than anything, I want you for my wife. Will you marry me?”
“Oh, Dare, I love you, too, and yes, I will marry you.” She
automatically went into his arms when he leaned forward
and kissed her. His kiss started off gentle, but soon it
began stoking a gnawing hunger that was seeping through both of their bodies and became hard and demanding. And then suddenly Dare broke the kiss as he stood and Shelly found herself lifted off the sofa and cradled close to his
body.
While she slowly ran her lips along his jaw, the corners of his mouth and his neck, he took the stairs two at a time, his breath ragged, as he carried her to his bedroom. Once
there, he placed her in the middle of his bed and began
removing his shirt. Her mouth began watering as he
exposed a hard-muscled chest. All the other times since
she’d been back they had made love in the dark, and
although she had felt his chest she hadn’t actually seen it. At least not like this. It was daylight and she was seeing it all, the thatch of hair that covered his chest then tapered
down into a thin line as it trailed lower to his…
She swallowed and realized that his hand had moved to the snap on his jeans. He slowly began taking them off. She
swallowed again. Seeing him like this, in the light, a more mature and older Dare, made her see just how much his
body had changed, just how much more physical,
masculine and totally male he was.
And just how much she appreciated being the woman he wanted.
She watched as he reached into the nightstand next to the bed to retrieve a condom packet, and how he took the time to prepare himself to keep her safe. With that task done, he lifted his gaze and met hers. “I’d like other children, Shelly.”
She smiled and said, “So would I, and I know for a fact that AJ doesn’t like being an only child, so he would welcome a sister or brother as well.”
Dare nodded, remembering the question AJ had asked
about whether he wanted other children. He was glad to
hear AJ would welcome the idea. Dare walked the few
steps back over to the bed and, leaning down, he began
removing every stitch of clothing from Shelly’s body, almost unable to handle the rush of desire when he saw her
exposed skin.
“You’re beautiful, Shelly,” he whispered breathless, smiling down at her when he had finished undressing her and she lay before him completely naked.
She returned his smile, glowing with his compliment. As he joined her in bed and took her into his arms, she knew that this was where she had always been meant to be.
Shelly felt the heat of desire warm her throat the moment Dare joined his mouth to hers, and all the love she had for him seeped through every part of her body as his kiss
issued a promise she knew he would fulfill.
They hadn’t made love in over a month so she wasn’t
surprised or shocked by the powerful emotions surging
through her that only intensified with Dare’s kiss. He wasn’t just kissing her, he was using his tongue to stroke a need, deliver a promise and strip away any doubt that it was
meant for them to be together.
Dare dragged his mouth from hers, his breath hard, shaky and harsh. “I need you now, baby,” he said, reaching down and checking her readiness and finding her hot and wet. He settled his body over hers as fire licked through his veins, love flowed from his heart and a need to be joined with her drove everything within him.
He inhaled sharply as the tip of his erection pressed her
wet and swollen flesh and it seemed that every part of his being was focussed there, and when she opened legs
wider for him, arched her back, pushed her hips up and
sank her nails deep in his shoulder blades, he couldn’t help but groan and surge forward. The sensation of him filling
her to the hilt only made him that much more hungrier,
greedy. And she was there with him all the way.
He thrust into her again and again, each stroke more hard
and determined than the one before; the need to mate life staining, elemental, a necessity. And when he felt her thighs begin to quiver with the impact of her release, he followed her, right over the edge into oblivion. This woman who had given him a little Dare, who gave him more love than he
rightly deserved would have his heart forever.
A shiver of awareness course down the length of Shelly’s spine when Dare placed several kisses there. She opened her eyes and met his warm gaze.
“Do you know this is the first time we’ve made love in a bed since you’ve been back,” he said huskily, as an amused
smile touched his lips.
She tipped her head to the side and smiled. “Is that good or bad?”
His long fingers reached out and begin skimming a path
from her waist toward the center of her legs. “It’s better.” He leaned down and placed a kiss on her lips. “Stay with me tonight.”
The heat shimmering in his eyes made her body feverish. With AJ spending the weekend away there was no problem with her staying with him. “Umm, what do I get if I stay?” She closed her eyes and sighed when his fingers touched her, caressed her, intent on a mission to drive her insane.
“Do you have to ask?” he rasped, his voice low and teasing against her lips.
“No, I don’t,” she replied in breathless anticipation.
She trembled as Dare began inflaming her body the same way he had inflamed her heart. They had endured a lot, but through it all their love had survived and for the first time
since returning to College Park, she felt she had finally
come home.
Epilogue
A month later
S helly couldn’t help but notice the frown on the Dare’s face. It was a frown directed at Storm, who had just kissed her on the lips.
“I thought I warned you about doing that, Storm,” Dare said in a very irritated tone of voice.
“But I can get away with it today because she’s the bride and any well-wisher can kiss a bride on her wedding day.”
Dare raised a brow. “Are you also willing to kiss the groom?”
Now it was Storm who frowned. “Kiss you? Hell no!”
Dare smiled. “Then I suggest you keep your lips off the
bride,” he said, bringing Shelly closer to his side. “And
there’s enough single women here for you to kiss so go try your lips on someone else.”
Storm chuckled. “The only other woman I’d want to kiss is Tara and I’m not crazy enough to try it. You’re all talk, but Thorn really would kill me.”
Shelly chuckled at Storm’s comment as her gaze went to
the woman the brothers had labeled Thorn’s challenge,
Tara Matthews. She was standing across the room talking to Delaney. Shelly thought that Tara was strikingly beautiful in an awe-inspiring, simply breathtaking way, and she
couldn’t help noticing that most of the men at the reception, both young and old, were finding it hard to keep their eyes off her. Every man except for Thorn. He was merely
standing alone on the other side of the room looking bored.
“How can the two of you think that Thorn is interested in Tara when he hasn’t said anything to her at all, other than giving her a courtesy nod? And he’s not paying her any attention.”
Dare chuckled. “Oh, don’t let that nonchalant look fool you. He’s paying her plenty of attention, right down to her