A Little Dare - Brenda Jackson [71]
Nine D are walked into Coleman’s Florist knowing that within ten minutes of the time he walked out, everyone in College Park would know he had sent flowers to Shelly. Luanne Coleman was one of the town’s biggest gossips, but then he couldn’t worry about that, especially since for once her penchant to gab would work in his favor. Before nightfall he wanted everyone to know that he was in hot pursuit of Shelly Brockman. Due to the escape of a convict in another county, he had spent the last day and a half helping the sheriff of Stone Mountain track down the man. Now, thirty-six hours after the man had been recaptured, Dare was bone tired and regretted he had missed the opportunity to see Shelly two nights ago as he’d planned. The best he could do was go home and get some sleep to be ready for the martial arts training he had promised the boys in the morning. He also regretted that he had not been there when AJ had arrived after school yesterday. It had officially been the last time he wa
Ten S helly felt a moment of panic. One part of her mind tried telling her that she didn’t want this, but another part, the one ruled by her body, quickly convinced her that she did. Her mind was swamped with the belief that it didn’t matter that it hadn’t been a full week since she laid eyes on Dare again after ten years. Nor did it matter that there were issues yet unresolved between them. The only thing that mattered was that this was the man she had once loved to distraction, the man she had given her virginity to at seventeen; the man who had taught her all the pleasures a man and woman could share, and the man who had given her a son. And, she inwardly told herself, this has nothing to do with love but with gratifying our needs. Realizing that and accepting it, her body trembled as she lifted her face to meet his, and at that moment everything, including the ten years that had separated them, evaporated and was replaced by hunger, intense, sexual hunger that was waiting to explod
Eleven S helly stretched out in her bed with a sensuous sigh. Almost two weeks had passed since she and Dare had spent the night together on a blanket in her backyard. Since then, nightly meetings in the backyard on a blanket had become almost a ritual. He had become almost a fixture in her home, dropping by for dinner, and inviting her and AJ to a movie or some other function in town. AJ was beginning to let his guard down around Dare, but as yet he had not acknowledged him as his father. Shelly knew Dare’s patience was wearing thin; he was eager to claim his son, but as she had explained to Dare weeks ago, AJ had to believe in his heart that his father wanted him for a son before he could give Dare his complete love and trust. She then thought about her own feelings for Dare. She had to fight hard to keep from falling in love with Dare all over again. She had to remember they were playacting for AJ’s sake. To anyone observing them, it seemed that he was wooing her. He was giving the
Twelve S helly smiled as she looked at the young woman sitting in the chair across from her on the patio at Dare’s parents