A Little Dare - Brenda Jackson [65]
Dare nodded again, thinking there had to be more to her visit than to tell him that. “And?”
She hesitated again. “And she mentioned something that I found unbelievable, but I was concerned since it seems that a lot of the older women in this town think it’s true.”
He searched her features and detected more nervousness than before. “What do they think is true?”
Dare became concerned when seconds passed and Shelly didn’t answer. Instead, she moved her gaze away from his to focus on some object on his coffee table. He frowned slightly. There had never been a time that Shelly had felt the need to be shy in his presence, so why was she now?
Standing, he crossed the room to sit next to her on the sofa. “All right, Shelly, what’s this about? What do Ms. Mamie and her senior citizens’ club think is true?”
Shelly swallowed deeply and took note of how close Dare was sitting next to her. Every time she took a breath she inhaled his hot male scent, a scent she had grown used to and one she would never tire of.
She breathed in and decided to come clean. Making light of the situation would probably make it easier, she thought, especially if he decided to laugh at something so absurd. She smiled slightly. “For some reason they think you’re trying to woo me.”
His gaze didn’t flicker, but remained steadily on her face when he asked. “Woo you?”
She nodded. “Yes, you know—pursue me, court me.”
Sitting so close to her, Dare could feel her tension. He also felt her uncertainty. “In other words,” he said softly, “they think I’m trying to win you over, find favor in your eyes, in your heart and in your mind and break down your resistance.”
Shelly nodded, although she didn’t think Dare needed to break down her resistance since he had successfully done that a month or so ago. “Yes, that’s it. That’s what they believe. Isn’t that silly?”
Dare shifted his position and draped his arms across the back of the sofa. He met Shelly’s gaze, suddenly feeling hungry and greedy with an appetite that only she could appease. He studied her face for a little while longer, then calmly replied. “No, I don’t think there’s anything silly about it, Shelly. In fact, their assumptions are right on target.”
She blinked once, twice, as the meaning of his words sank in. He watched as her eyebrows raised about as high as they could go, and then she said, “But why?”
Keeping his gaze fixed on hers, he asked. “Why what?”
“Why would you waste your time doing something like that?”
Dare drew in a deep breath. “Mainly because I don’t consider it a waste of my time, Shelly. Other than winning my son’s love and respect, winning your heart back is the most important thing I’ve ever had to do.”
Shelly swallowed, and for the first time in weeks she felt a bubble of hope grow inside her. Her heart began beating rapidly against her ribs. Was Dare saying what she thought he was saying? There was only one way to find out. “Tell me why, Dare.”
He leaned farther back against the sofa and smiled. His smile was so sexy, so enticing, and so downright seductive that it almost took her breath away. “Because I wanted to 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