If You Dare (17 page)

She shrugged. “You made the rules.”

“So I did. Okay, cars. I grew up around cars. Rebuilt the first three I owned with my dad’s help. The first a La Baron with bench seats I never got to use the proper way because I sold it before I was old enough to drive. The second a Mustang I planned on racing, but never got around to, and the last a La Mans convertible. I used its seats the right way lots of times.”

Man he’d loved that car. “I raced when I was a kid, but decided I wasn’t ever going to make the big bucks doing that. Plus it scared my momma after a few wrecks, so I quit.”

The last wreck had left him in the hospital for a couple days, but he didn’t want to talk about that. “I still can pretty much fix most cars, and I change my own oil just because I like to.”

And his two minutes might not be up, but he wanted to end with this. “And the first time I thought about making love to you, you were sitting in my SUV, flirting with me, wearing that red dress I’ll never forget. I might not have bench seats anymore, but if you want, I bet I can take you out and show you why making love in a car is one of the sexiest past times known to man.”

She waved her hands in front of her face and laughed. “You still have that ice, I think I might need it.”

Good.

“Darlin’, I promise, before this night’s over, you’ll be seeing that ice again.”

Her eyes flashed pure heat at his words and he had to force himself to stay seated. “Okay. Question number one. And remember the stakes are high here. What was my second car?”

He watched as she closed her eyes, remembering his words. “I remember the last one because Taylor told me about that. And I know why you got rid of the second car, but I can’t quite remember…”

As she tried to recall he thought about what he’d do if she got the answer wrong. Something sexy as hell. Maybe…

“A mustang!”

Okay, so that would have to wait.

She laughed when he nodded and then he watched as her mood shifted. When she bit her bottom lip he wanted to reach out and smother her lips with his own. But she’d won the first chance.

“I can’t get out of the chair, right?”

He nodded and she took her time looking him up and down, biting her lip the entire time.

Finally she leaned forward and one at a time undid the buttons on his shirt before pushing it back and letting it fall to the floor.

When she was done she sat back and smiled and it was his turn to laugh. His turn to pick a topic.

“Okay. My turn to pick a topic. How about, sisters.”

Cordelia scrunched up her nose when she heard his topic. Could he have picked anything worse? Ugh!

“Okay, sisters. You already know Irene, so this will be interesting. Irene was always the most outrageous person in town. I know she became a show girl just to make my mother crazy.”

She knew because at one time, Irene had told her just that.

“But she’s still the same kind of sister now that she was when we were little. She gives me fashion advice, man advice, travel advice. She gets me out of comfort zone.”

All true, even though he didn’t know the half of it.

“She’s always encouraged my imagination. But sometimes the results aren’t so great. Once when we were little our Barbies went on a campout with a friend’s G.I. Joe. G.I. Joe built a campfire while we took the Barbies skinny dipping and when we came back the fire was completely out of control because G.I. Joe boy was watching us skinny dip. We got in so much trouble.”

She’d never forget her father’s stern face as he told her that following in Irene’s footsteps was a big mistake for a sweet girl like her.

“Later, in college after a night out, she and I danced on the pool tables at a local bar. We both almost got arrested when she started stripping her shirt off. In the end, we settled for matching tattoos instead.”

That first dare seemed so long ago.

“And I bet she knew just what she was doing when she had you pick me up from the airport. If not for Irene, I wouldn’t know you like to get me all hot and bothered simply by saying a few sexy words. That a single touch from you leaves me feeling like jelly. That multiple orgasms are possible even in the bath tub.”

She enjoyed the look on his face as she finished her two minutes. Yep, she’d shocked him. Yes, yes, yes!

“And now for my first question.” She stopped and tried to think of a good one. But did she even want him to get it wrong?
 

“Why did the Barbie campfire end up out of control?”

Joe sat back in the chair, lifting the front legs off the floor as he crossed his arms over his now bare, ultra sexy chest and smiled that slow smile that made her toes curl. Oh man.

“That’s an easy one. Your G.I. Joe buddy decided to get an eyeful and watch you and your sister skinny-dipping. Smart man. Now it’s my turn.”
 

He lowered the chair to the floor with a thud and Cordelia made herself breathe as he decided just how to spend his chance.

When he snagged another strawberry from the bowl of fruit, she wondered what he hand in mind.
 

And then he pulled her leg into his lap, letting the silky material of her nightgown part on either side and she didn’t wonder anything more.

She just watched and felt as he slowly unrolled the thigh high from that leg and tossed it across the room before slowly drawing the strawberry over every exposed inch of skin.

The way down was exquisite, sensuous as the smell of the fruit permeated the air, as she felt every tiny bump, the tickle of the stem.

The way up was tortuous as he slowly slid the berry over her inside calf, knee, thigh. She closed her eyes when he lifted her leg to his shoulder and continued the silent, upward trek, slowly, slowly until she felt the berry drip against the wetness of the thong panties that covered her.

“I want to taste you, right now.” His words were whispered on a ragged breath and she fought to keep from begging him to do just that.

“It’s still your turn.”

That was all the permission he needed.

Slowly he scooted her forward, lifted her leg a little more, as he lowered his mouth inch by inch over the skin the strawberry had covered. Until finally, finally she felt his hot breath there, just where the juice had dropped.

She felt the flick of his tongue against the material and pressed up from the chair, her own need exploding. She whimpered as she felt yet another flick of his tongue and she wished, hoped, silently begged him to whisk away the material that covered her from him, but he didn’t.

Instead she felt as his tongue brushed the outside edges of her panties, the silky, now drenched, material that covered her.

Oh God she wanted to feel…

She heard his moan coupled with her whimper as she pressed up again, and then the cool air as he lifted his mouth away. As he lowered her leg back to the floor.

She opened her eyes, not sure what was next. Hoping…

But then she saw his smile. And even though fire filled his eyes, she could tell he was ready to continue the game.

Slow and easy.
 

Damn, but that was difficult. Joe watched her thinking about what to ask next and knew he’d done the right thing by stopping. When they finally did make love tonight, she’d never forget this moment.

He didn’t know why that mattered so much, but it did.

Cordelia didn’t back her chair away. Instead she left it right where it was, her one bare leg a reminder of where his mouth had just been.

He didn’t know how in the hell was he going to make his mind work with his raging hard-on.

She took a deep breath and he noticed her nipples were still rock hard, her pupils still dilated, her lips still swollen.

Damn.

“Okay. Your turn. Sisters.”

He shook his head. “Hey Miss Imagination. Get your own topic.”

She shook her head. “No way. I choose sisters.”

He closed his eyes and wondered what she’d do to get back at him this time.

“Okay. Sisters. Taylor’s my only sister. She’s the baby of the family, so she’s used to getting her way, and that made for some interesting stories when we were younger. When I was ten and she was five, I let her play beautician on my hair. Before it was over, I was covered in makeup and in my mother’s heals and pearls.”

His mother still had pictures from that day and she threatened to blackmail him with them often.

“She always wanted to follow me everywhere, even when I was just doing guy stuff. She could’ve followed any of the other boys, but she wanted to follow me. Well, she and J.D. wanted to follow me. I swear they were joined at the hip from birth.”

He shook his head remembering how it had always been a given that Taylor and J.D. would live happily ever after.

“Once we had a club house set up out in the middle of this field. No girls allowed. Taylor hated that clubhouse more than anything. I think more because we let J.D. come in and not her. I was twelve by then and really didn’t care too much about the club, but the others did.”

He’d never forget the time and energy he and his brothers had put into that old hut.

“Anyway, one day Taylor went riding by on her pony and dropped a match on the hut. In a matter of minutes, the whole field was on fire. My brother Michael and I had to ride out and save her from her own damn fire. She’s always been kind of ferocious, but she’s never been malicious again. I’d say she learned her lesson about playing with fire. Until now that is.”

Moving to Vegas was likely to get her burned a whole lot worse than a stupid little field fire.

“My sister decided she likes you. Calls you Vegas, which is odd since you’re a Texan. But she said you thought I wouldn’t notice about your trip today. And for the record, I definitely noticed your wax job. And I can’t wait to see more of it.”

He stopped and waited to see her response but she just slid her legs open a little wider, letting him catch barely a glimpse of soft flesh.

“So now the question. Okay, it’s an easy one. Who was attached to my sister’s hip practically from birth?”

Cordelia didn’t think before she answered. She’d planned on sabotaging this answer with a quick I don’t know just to see what he’d do next, but she couldn’t let this slip by. She owed it to his sister.

“J.D. has always been attached to your sister’s hip, and hel-lo, that’s a big part of the reason your sister’s here. She wants to live a little. Have some fun. Experience life outside of Dayton, Oklahoma. You need to be supportive.”

She watched as he took in her words, as he climbed out of the game and jumped back in real life with a bigger thud than the chair had made earlier.

“Experiencing life here could leave some mighty bad marks on a girl like Taylor.”

Good grief. She rolled her eyes. “You don’t even know your sister, Joe. She’s not some little kid…”

He stopped her with a raised hand. “Hell, I know that. But she’s not like you.”

“She’s exactly like me.”

He didn’t hear her, or he didn’t listen. Cordelia didn’t know which.
 

“She belongs with J.D.”

Cordelia scooted her chair back even further. “Who put you in charge of that decision?”

“Obviously I’m not in charge of that decision. Why does this even matter to you?”

Cordelia didn’t know why his question hurt, but it did. “I just listened to your sister today, and I know she wants a break from her normal life. She wants to at least try and make it out here, and if you don’t support that decision it could be costly, that’s all.”

His raised eyebrow said plenty. “That’s all, hm? Well, sounds like that was some kind of talk you had with my sister.”

The way he said it made it sound like he blamed her. “She needed someone to talk to. Someone who would listen and not tell her she belongs back home. Can you honestly see her going back there right now?”

She watched as Joe shook his head as he ran his hands through his hair and took a deep, frustrated breath. “What I see is you sitting way over there, me sitting way over here, and it sounds like we’re almost having a fight over my baby sister, which is nuts. You were seconds away from coming against my mouth a minute ago and now we’re arguing over something neither of us has control over.”

Just like that Cordelia quit caring about anything other than him, this minute, and the fact that she’d just won the last question.

“Is that your way of saying get back over here and hand out my punishment?”

He laughed. “Punishment?”

She nodded. “Oh yeah. Punishment. At least I think it’s my turn to do whatever I want as long as I stay in the chair. Isn’t it?”

“I guess it is. So get on over here and dole out my punishment. I’m sure you’re ready to get me good.”

She scooted the chair back to where it had been earlier and thought about what to do. It was hard to think straight when he was looking at her like he wanted to strip her naked and carry her back to the bedroom right now after all.

What to do. What to do.

And then she heard the melting ice shift in her tea glass and she knew.

Tipping the cup over, she settled a cube of ice in her hand and let it drip over his shoulder. She watched as the droplets raced down his bare arm, nipple, ribs, leaving a cascade of goose bumps in their wake.

Slowly, she slid the ice from one side of his chest to the other and then down lower over his pectoral muscles. She watched his stomach muscles jump as she rubbed the ice there before lifting it to her mouth.

With deliberate slowness, she crushed the ice with her teeth and then bent forward and surrounded his hardened nipple with her lips.

His gasp fed her rising desire and she fought the need to stand, to settle on his lap as she used her tongue to press the ice chips around his nipple.

Moving to the other side of his chest, she pressed into the chair, trying to find some relief against the pressure that was building.

And then the ice was gone and her turn ended.

How had he left her on the brink again when he’d done nothing but sit in his chair and take her icy onslaught?

Damn. Joe wanted nothing more than to pick her up, rip her barely there panties away and bury himself inside her. He’d felt her knees against his, watched as she kissed him and pressed herself against the chair and he wanted so much to relieve that pressure.