Dare
By Kacey Hammell
Blurb:
Legal
secretary, Olivia Warner enjoys being single and, aside from her closest gal
pals, usually keeps to herself. But the night of her thirty-fourth birthday,
she and her friends spend a fun-filled evening at a local bar where her friends dare her
to approach a man, and spend the night with him. Olivia's not one to turn down
a dare, especially from her old college pals. She only hopes the
man in question is in for some good conversation, because that's all she'll
give him.
Darren
“Dare” Shalvis has given up on women. He's tired of being chased for his money,
good looks, and prowess in bed. He prefers to meet a woman who, for once, wants
nothing more from him than mere conversation. If only the woman asking him to
spend the night with her wasn’t his favorite legal secretary.
Accepting
a dare has never been so tempting…
Available from:
~ * ~
Excerpt:
She
gave a small laugh and lifted the glass for a drink.
Dare
watched her lips as she drank. He wondered what they’d taste like. It was
something he’d considered many times lately.
He
was drawn to her, but unsure he’d ever act on it.
Her
whole demeanor said ‘hands off.’ And he wasn’t sure he was ready for the
challenge.
“Tell
me about it.”
“I’ll
cut right to the chase.” As he turned on the stool, their knees brushed.
Neither moved.
He
thought he saw her eyes lit up. Perhaps Ms. Warner wasn’t as immune as he
thought.
“My
friends brought me here tonight for my birthday.”
“Happy
birthday.”
She
smiled. “Thank you. The jury’s still out whether it’s happy or not. My friends
decided that as a present they’d get me a man.”
She blushed and reached for her drink.
“Go
on.” Intriguing.
She
set down her glass and continued, “They dared me. Dared me to find myself a man
and spend the night with him.”
Women…who
understood them? He’d only ever participated in dares when he was younger. He
didn’t think anyone took them seriously anymore.
“And
you need my help, how?” Dare’s heart rate accelerated. She wasn’t asking him
to…
She
stared up at him, her gaze steady. “I need you to spend the night with me.”
If
he hadn’t heard it with his own ears, he wouldn’t have believed it. This night
was the strangest he’d had in a long time. It was as if he’d been offered a
million dollars on a silver platter.
Of
course, he wanted to spend the night with her. He’d fantasized about it many
times. He just wasn’t clear on what exactly she was asking. He didn’t
want any misunderstandings. “Are you asking me to spend the night with you to…”
Dare cleared his throat. “…be with you?”
“Oh!
No, yes, I mean no. Dammit, I’ve screwed this up.”
“Relax.”
He put a hand on her knee. “It’s okay. Let’s try this—do you want me to have
sex with you?”
Olivia
groaned. Dare love that sound, and heat filled his groin.
“No.
Not to have sex. God, this is mortifying.” Olivia placed her hand over his
where it still rested on her knee. “Just to spend the night together—a movie,
hang out, whatever—until eight a.m., when the dare is over.”
Dare
laughed. She talked so fast he could hardly keep up. He’d never seen her so
animated before. He liked her flustered and breathless…a lot. He wondered if
she looked and sounded like that during sex.
He
couldn’t go that route. Not now.
“Okay,
so let me get this straight. You want us to spend the night together—with no
sex—until morning? All because of a dare? Why didn’t you just say no?”
“I
can’t. In college, the five of us made a pact—in blood, for God’s sake—that
we’d always be friends and never back down from a dare. Trust me, right now, I
wish I’d never made it.”
He
chuckled. “Yes, I can imagine how you feel.”
“I’m
so tired after the day we had. This was the last thing I needed tonight.”
“Yeah,
when I stopped by the office today you seemed a bit irritated.”
She
sighed and ran her fingers over his hand. Dare was surprised how comfortable it
felt to have their knees and hands touch. He didn’t think Olivia was even aware
she caressed his hands…or wreaked havoc on his libido. If her innocent touches
could send him into overdrive, he wondered what would happen if she put all she
had into it.
“It
was the day from hell. I just wanted to meet the girls for a few drinks, then
head home to soak the day away.”
Dare
grit his teeth and tried not to think of Olivia in a bathtub—water floating
around her body, relaxed, languid. The image could send him over the edge.
“Well,
you’re in luck. I’m your man for the night.”
Olivia
smiled and her eyes danced. “Thank you.
I really appreciate it. The last thing I wanted to do was have to pick up some
random guy. I’m so glad you were here.”
Pleased
he could help her, Dare grinned. He realized he wanted to anything to put that
carefree smile on her face.
“So.”
He took a sip of his beer. “What do you want to do?”
She
scowled. “Well, we could go back to my place. I have a spare room that you can
crash in if you want.”
Surprised,
Dare took in her flushed face. “Are you sure?”
She
nodded. “Yeah. We don’t exactly have to stay up all night. It’s still spending
the night together, right?”
He
chuckled. “Yeah, in a manner of speaking. Your friends weren’t specific.”
A
smug smile crossed Olivia’s face. “No they weren’t. Which is a testament to how
much they thought this through. I would have made a list of do’s and don’ts.”
They
both laughed. Olivia had a naughty streak and he liked it. Liked it—and
her—very much. A night with Olivia Warner wasn’t what he’d expected.
Sure,
he’d thought of her in his bed often, writhing and moaning with passion, but he
never thought fantasy would become a reality. He couldn’t let the opportunity
go.
His
buddies didn’t call him Dare for no reason. He could never resist a challenge.
He
placed both hands on her shoulders, drew her gaze from her glass, and put his
cards on the table.
“What
if we have an agreement?”
She
frowned. “What do you mean?”
“For
us to spend the night together, we should have some ground rules.”
“Ground
rules?”
“I
will spend the night with you. More than eager to do so, except one thing.”
He
wanted to taste them, desperately.
“I
don’t want to sleep in any spare room.”
“You
don’t?” She gawked at him.
Her
expression was comical but Dare didn’t feel like laughing.
“No.
I want to spend the night in your room.” Dare had her full attention. She
stared at him, eyes wide. “In your bed.”
~ * ~
The writer: Kacey is a multi-published erotic romance author who was encouraged to write by her beloved husband and quickly found herself writing fast and furiously. Not that she’ll ever tell him those three dreadful words that he longs to hear…”You were right.” Kacey is a true romantic at heart.
The Wife and Mom: Born,
raised and still living in her hometown in Ontario, Canada, Kacey found true
love with her husband. As a Mom of three, Kacey has made certain that each of her
children know the value of the written word and the adventures they could
escape on by becoming book-a-holics in their own right.
Readers
can learn more about Kacey's books and contact her via …
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