Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 94512 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 473(@200wpm)___ 378(@250wpm)___ 315(@300wpm)
* * *
Twenty minutes later, Liza had showered and dressed. Her head didn’t hurt nearly as much as it had the day before. Dare Barron was more potent than any medication a doctor could prescribe. She’d enjoyed last night and was unwilling to let any stray thoughts get in the way this morning. She met him in the kitchen, where he was finishing a bowl of cereal.
He wore his jeans, unbuttoned and slung low on his hips, and no shirt, revealing the ripple and pull of muscle. Liza swallowed hard. She was suddenly hungry, and it wasn’t for food.
She looked him over, her gaze settling on the tattoo on his left arm. She’d been too busy focusing on his other body parts to pay much attention to it last night. Curious, she walked over and placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Hey.” She settled in the seat next to him where he’d laid out a similar breakfast for her.
He looked her over, his hot gaze devouring her, and he whistled. “Nice outfit.”
She couldn’t withhold a smile. She’d chosen her favorite sexy beige suit and killer pumps just for him, not that she’d admit it. The man’s ego was big enough.
“I thought you said you were making breakfast,” she asked, glancing at the cold cereal on the table.
She did like teasing him.
“This is as good as it gets,” he said with an easy shrug. “Might as well get used to it.”
She wasn’t about to touch the last part of that statement, she thought. “At least you make a mean toast and jelly.”
“Glad you think so.” He tilted his head in acknowledgment. “How’s the head?” he asked.
“Much better, actually.”
“Great.” He smiled, obviously pleased she was feeling better.
She had no doubt he’d helped her speedy recovery. She glanced at him, and once again, her gaze found his tattoo. “Dare?”
“Yeah?”
She pulled her chair closer to him and lightly traced the tattooed band around his arm. He stiffened at her touch but didn’t stop her from studying or touching the intricate design. At a glance, it appeared to be a basic tribal band, but there was also what looked like a symbol woven into it that she couldn’t see well, let alone decipher.
The one thing she did know was that she found the inking extremely sexy. “What does the tattoo mean?” she asked, genuinely curious.
“It’s nothing,” he said in a sharp voice that took her by surprise.
She jerked her hand back, hurt by his cold tone. She narrowed her gaze and studied his suddenly closed expression.
In an instant, the relaxed man she’d come to know over the past couple of days had vanished. The happy, easy-to-laugh, easier-to-smile guy had disappeared.
Shut her out was more like it, and that hurt more than it should.
“It was just a question.” She rubbed her arms, annoyed with herself for being bothered by the sudden chill.
He didn’t reply.
This was why she didn’t do relationships. Relationships involved emotion, and emotion led to disappointment. She looked at the cereal in front of her and decided she was no longer hungry.
She reached for the bowl, intending to put it in the sink, when Dare placed a hand on her arm. “Wait,” he said.
She paused but remained silent.
“The tattoo has meaning. Deep, dark, personal meaning,” he said, his stare on the table and not on her.
“So sorry I pried,” she said, not hiding her sarcasm.
It wasn’t okay for him to get into her head and her feelings about family, only to decide later that there were some things he wouldn’t reveal and that he would freeze her out for asking a simple question.
“Look, it’s not something I usually talk about. People don’t usually ask.”
She hadn’t realized she was just anyone. She stiffened, her pride and her hurt getting stronger with every word he spoke. “If that’s supposed to help, it doesn’t.”
He exhaled hard, and though she could see this was difficult for him, she needed more than a surface explanation. But she wouldn’t beg for him to let her in.
“Would it help if I said that if I was going to talk to anyone, it would be you?”
She blinked at the unexpected, softer admission. “Whenever you’re ready,” she heard herself saying.
“How about now?” he asked, surprising her in an equally soft tone.
She curled her fingers into a tight ball, angry with him for drawing out her feelings when she wanted to stay distant, to remain in a place where Dare and his emotions couldn’t touch her.
But they did. “I’m listening,” she said begrudgingly because she still wasn’t sure he wanted to share this with her.
He raised his head and met her gaze. “I thought you had to get on the road?”
She had an early appointment in Mystic, Connecticut, to discuss the first phase of renovations with a client. “I was supposed to head over, but I got a text from my accountant. He needs me to stop by this morning before I leave.”