Dare To Love Series: Daring to Chance It (Kindle Worlds Novella) (7 page)

“I’ll bet it was a surprise. You were ready to roast my balls.” He held up a hand as she opened her mouth to say something. “And rightfully so. I have no defense except I was young and stupid.” He stroked his knuckles against one soft cheek. “Can we move past it? Please? New start, remember?”

The smile disappeared from her face. “But you know what will happen if you screw it up this time.”

“No worries,” he assured her. “I’ve more than learned my lesson.”

He cupped her cheeks and lowered his mouth to hers. Her lips were as soft and giving as he remembered. He gently rubbed his own back and forth against them before tracing the outline of her mouth with the tip of his tongue. She tasted of chocolate and beer and Sarah, a heady combination mixed with the light scent of peaches he remembered her wearing.

When she slid her hands beneath his arms and around to his back, resting her soft palms against his muscles, he prodded gently at her mouth until she opened for him and he could thrust his tongue inside. She tasted as good as he remembered. No, better. Much better. He licked the inner surface slowly, tasting, his cock sending him even more urgent messages.

Tentatively, he took the kiss even deeper, excitement racing through him as she responded without hesitation. Her soft breasts pressed into his chest, the nipples so hard he could feel them through both layers of their clothing. When he ground his hips lightly against her, pressing his shaft into the vee of her thighs and the heat of her sex, she dug her fingers into the muscles of his back and pushed against him.

They were both breathing hard when he lifted his mouth from hers. It killed him to break the kiss. He could have gone on this way all night. Well, maybe not quite all night because he had other things in mind.

He brushed a strand of hair from her forehead, tucking it behind her ear before kissing the tip of her nose.

“Tomorrow night?” he asked. “Please? I’ll get down and beg if you want.”

Sarah smiled at him. “I’ll think about that. Remember, though. No more chances after this.”

“Believe me, I don’t need reminding. How about a casual dinner? Maybe on the water? Gotta take advantage of the location.”

She nodded. “That sounds great.”

“Seven o’clock again? And can I pick you up this time?”

She frowned slightly, as if debating her answer. “Okay. I’ll text you my address, and you can pick me up in front.”

As he watched her drive off, he wanted to pump his fist in the air and shout,
Yes! Yes! Yes!

Don’t fuck it up, buddy.

Sarah closed out the contract she was reviewing and leaned back in her chair. An alert from her calendar flashed in the upper corner of her screen, and she smiled.

5:30 Dinner at Beau’s House

Dinner at Beau’s house. Wow! Had it only been one short week since the afternoon of the press conference and the incredible dinner at Jake’s After Dark? If someone had told her that morning the two of them would be together, riding high on their feelings for each other, she’d have smacked them down and called them stupid. Yet here she was, so deep into this relationship after only seven days that she couldn’t imagine being without him.

Slow down, she kept telling herself. Trust came very hard to her, and while she wanted to believe him when he told her this was it for him—that after six years he was where he was supposed to be all along—she still wondered if, or when, it would all fall apart. When he’d trade her in for the next woman.

“I’m going to make you believe in me no matter what I have to do,” he kept telling her.

And, oh, how she wanted to do that.

“Knock, knock.”

She looked up to see Ian Dare standing in her doorway. “Hey! Come on in.”

“I bypassed Jenny. I hope that’s okay.”

She laughed. “Ian, I work for you, Of course it’s okay. You can walk in anytime you want to.”

He flipped a hand at her. “Forget that noise. This is your office. You can kick anyone out, even me.”

“Oh, right. But how nice of you to say so.” She waved at a chair in front of her desk. “Have a seat. Tell me what I can do for you.”

“No, I’m not staying long. I wanted to tell you Riley is on her way to meet me. We’re going out for drinks and a casual dinner, and I wondered if you’d like to join us. We haven’t had much chance to talk informally since you got here, and she’s dying to get to know you.”

Oh, boy. Make friends with the boss’s wife? How cool was that?

“That’s a very nice invitation,” she told him. “Almost any other time, I’d accept with gratitude. But….” She paused. What to tell him?

“But you have plans,” he guessed. “No problem. We can do it another time.” He cocked his head and studied her. “Those plans wouldn’t have anything to do with our brand new running back, would they?”

Sarah’s cheeks heated with an uncharacteristic blush. “Well, as a matter of fact….”

“The Thunder is in fact a small family,” he told her with a grin. “Get used to it. So, where are you guys off to tonight? Someplace special?”

“Um, well….” Should she tell him?

Ian gave her a curious look. “Not special? Tell him I said he’s got enough money to take you wherever you want to go.”

“Oh, it’s not that. It’s….” She let out a slow breath. “I’m having dinner at his house.” She hoped Beau didn’t mind that she said something. She didn’t think it was any big secret, although she was flattered he was sharing his very private life with her.

Ian’s eyes widened. “With Toby? Damn, Sarah, that was fast.”

“Oh, um, well, Beau and I actually met six years ago.” She shook her head. “Long story, but here we are again.”

“You know, he’s very, very possessive about Toby,” Ian told her. “He keeps his private life totally separate from his professional one. Never introduces his dates or takes them to his house. With Toby, he’s Mr. Dad. ”

“Wow.” Sarah was stunned. “I was totally flattered that he invited me to his home, but I had no idea it was so out of character for him.”

“Well, good for you. I’d say he made a good choice where you’re concerned.”

“It’s nothing more than dinner, Ian,” she laughed.

“But dinner with Toby,” he reminded her. “I hope this will build into something good for the two of you. I could see the chemistry between you that first day.”

“Oh, come on.” She laughed. “You have other things to pay attention to than Beau and me, I’m sure.”

“But none of them as much fun. Well, have a good time. I hope this works out for you, Sarah, I like both of you a lot.”

“Thanks, Ian. Me, too.”

And she did, she wasn’t just saying that, although she tried not to get ahead of herself. The week since they’d reconnected had been nothing short of incredible. Beau would race home from practice to shower and change and spend time with his son then pick her up for a late meal.

Every night had been a different treat, someplace special for dinner, or something new and fun. Beau had been incredible, dancing attention on her. And in their long conversations, they had learned so much about each other, about their pasts and their dreams for the future.

He hadn’t pushed her for sex, for which she’d been grateful, even though she was having a hard time keeping herself in control. That same immediate chemistry enveloped them in a constant explosive cloud. But then two nights ago, when he’d driven her home, she had taken the step and invited him in.

And ohmigod! In six years, he had only gotten better, something she would not have thought possible. He knew exactly how to make her crazy with his mouth, how to arouse her with his fingers, where every single one of her erogenous zones were. Each touch was so electrifying that, even after the shattering orgasms he drew her into, she still crackled with need for him.

At first, she’d wanted to tell herself it was nothing but sex. Stupendous sex, but only sex just the same. But as they talked and learned each other’s secrets and hopes and the details of each other’s lives, as they played and laughed, she had finally begun to accept this was definitely something real.

If only I could stop worrying that it will all fall apart.

Okay, enough of that. Time to head for Beau’s and meet his adorable son.

The gated community he lived in was about half an hour from the Thunder headquarters and, fortunately, against the wave of traffic. She gave her name to the guard on duty who waved her through the gates. At the house, she punched in the code Beau had given her, waited while the ironwork gates slid smoothly open, and drove on up the curving drive, parking at the steps to the front door. She climbed out of the car and took her first good look at Beau Perini’s residence.

The architecture was slightly Mediterranean, as were a lot of the buildings in Florida. Exquisite landscaping surrounded the two-story home that soared up to a red-barrel tile roof. The elaborately carved front door opened, and Beau jogged out to meet her. She stopped a moment, the sight of him taking her breath away. He was dressed in khakis and a shirt almost the exact shade of chocolate as his eyes, and the sun caught the highlights in his blond hair. He could have stepped off the cover of a magazine about sexy-hot athletes. She felt the same thrill of excitement wiggle through her she got every time she saw him.

“First things first,” he said when he reached her, and pulled her into his arms. The kiss he planted on her was light but no less satisfactory because of it. Then he took her hand and tugged her toward the house. “Come on. Toby is beside himself waiting to meet you.”

“What exactly did you tell him?” She’d meant to ask him before this. “I mean, I don’t want him to get the wrong idea about us.”

Beau came to a stop so sudden she bumped into him. He turned her to face him, placing his hands on her shoulders.

“I’m very careful about who I introduce my son to.” His voice and face were serious. “I hope the idea he gets is the right one because I certainly have. Maybe it’s only been a week, Sarah, but I feel as if I’m in this neck deep.” He stroked her cheek. “And very glad about it.”

Her heart raced unsteadily. “You don’t think we’re rushing things?” Lordy, she did not want to make another mistake, especially with him.

“I knew the minute I laid eyes on you again that we had something very special.”

“You did?” She stared up at him. “That fast?”

“I’ve had six years to brood about it, honey. So yeah, that fast.” He ran the tip of one finger along the line of her jaw. “If this past week was any indication, you did, too.”

She nodded. “Yes. I just want us to be sure.”

“I wouldn’t be inviting you to meet my son if I felt otherwise. Now, come on. He’s probably expired from excitement.”

Sarah had a scant moment to admire the two-story foyer with its vaulted ceiling and the high arched windows that lit up the area with dazzling sunlight. Then Beau was hurrying her along through a large living room, out sliding doors, and onto a patio where a tiny cherub was clinging to someone’s hand and hopping up and down.

“Is it her, Daddy?” he asked in his little-boy voice.

“Sure is, buddy.” He scooped his son up in his arms. “Say hello to Sarah.”

She was sure he had to be the cutest child she’d ever seen. He had his Daddy’s blond hair and chocolate eyes, something Sarah was sure Beau was probably very grateful for. He was grinning broadly, causing the dimples in his chubby little cheeks to flash.

“Hi, Sarah.” He reached out a hand, opening and closing his fist as his way of saying hello.

“Well, hello, Toby.” She squeezed his little hand. “It’s so very nice to meet you.”

“He’s been beside himself waiting for you,” the woman who had been watching him said.

“I’ll bet.” Beau chuckled. “Sarah, meet the incomparable Babs. She runs everything around here, including me. We’d be lost without her.” He poked his son’s chest. “Right, kiddo?”

He bobbed his head up and down. “Lost.”

“They tend to exaggerate a little.” She held out her hand to Sarah. “Babs Littlefield. I’m so pleased to meet you.”

“Thank you.” Sarah liked the woman on sight. She guessed her age to be somewhere around fifty, but definitely a young fifty. Tall and athletically lean, her affection for Beau and his son was very obvious. “I’m—”

“Oh, we definitely know who you are.” Babs chuckled. “You’re all Beau’s talked about for a week.”

Sarah’s cheeks heated. “Um, we’re just—”

“We certainly are,” Beau broke in. “How about a cold drink?”

“Yes, that would be nice.” Her mouth was suddenly so dry she could hardly get the words out. Seeing Beau in his home environment gave her an entirely different view of this complex man. Here, he wasn’t Beau Perini the football star or even Beau Perini the ladies’ man. He was, simply, Daddy, and from the look on his face right now, that was his most important role. Watching him, she got a fluttery feelings in her stomach and, unbidden, an image of her, Beau, and Toby flashed in her brain.

“Iced tea or lemonade?” Beau asked, interrupting her thoughts. “I seldom drink hard liquor at home and only the occasional beer.” He ruffled Toby’s hair. “But no alcohol when I’m hanging out with my best bud.”

The entire scene was so unexpected to her. She had never been able to imagine Beau as a family man, even though she knew he’d been married very briefly.

“This is the first time he’s ever invited a woman to the house,” Babs told her quietly when they were gathering things in the kitchen. “That’s how I knew you were special.”

“You’re kidding!” Sarah was shocked.

Babs shook her head. “Not at all. He’s very protective of Toby and determined he have a life that’s as normal in every respect as he can make it. The last thing he wants is for the child to see hot and cold running females here.”

Sarah chewed on her lip for a moment before she asked, “What about Toby’s mother? Does she come here often?”

The other woman’s face turned into a hard mask, the way Beau’s did when the subject came up.

“She’s not permitted here at all. And Beau has sole custody of Toby. Period.”

One of these times, Sarah was going to get the full story of that marriage, but not tonight. Tonight was about relaxing with Toby and Beau, a situation that barely a week ago she’d never dreamed she’d find herself in.

They barbecued on the patio, hot dogs in deference to Toby.

“We mostly stick with kid fare for meals around here,” Beau explained.

“As a matter of fact, I happen to love hot dogs.” She crouched down to Toby who, suddenly shy, was clinging to Babs. “Do you know they are one of my favorite foods?”

He giggled, hugging Babs’ leg. “Mine, too.”

“Then maybe we can enjoy them together.”

Toby stuffed his fist into his mouth and stared at her for a moment then reached his hand out for her to take. No way was Sarah going to refuse that token of trust just because it was covered with spittle. She closed her fingers around the tiny fingers and gently squeezed them.

“Okay,” Toby said then looked at Beau. “Okay, Daddy?”

“I think that’s a fine idea, squirt.”

Dinner was relaxed and pleasant. Sarah enjoyed the interaction between Beau and his son, and was pleased when they included her in their byplay. Every so often, she caught Beau watching her with Toby as if assessing the situation. She was a little unnerved herself, not just at being here but at how much she was enjoying herself in this family situation. It hardly seemed possible that all this was happening after one short week. She could not believe how quickly the time passed, or how pleasant it had been.

“I think our little man’s about ready for bed,” Beau said, noticing how Toby was rubbing his eyes.