A Little Dare. BRENDA JACKSON
desire tore through him, and he was glad that his position, standing behind his desk, blocked a view of his body from the waist down. Otherwise both women would have seen the arousal pressing against the zipper of his pants.
His gaze moved to her dark-brown hair, and he noted that it was shorter and cut in one of those trendy styles that accented the creamy chocolate coloring of her face as well as the warm brandy shade of her eyes.
The casual outfit she wore, a printed skirt and a matching blouse, made her look stylish, comfortable and ultrafeminine. Then there were the legs he still considered the most gorgeous pair he’d ever seen. Legs he knew could wrap around his waist while their bodies meshed in pleasure.
A deep sigh escaped his closed lips as he concluded that at thirty-three she was even more beautiful than he remembered and still epitomized everything feminine. They’d first met when she was sixteen and a sophomore in high school. He’d been nineteen, a few weeks shy of twenty and a sophomore in college, and had come home for a visit to find her working on a school project with his brother Stone. He had walked into the house at the exact moment she’d been leaning over Stone, explaining some scientific formula and wearing the sexiest pair of shorts he had ever seen on a female. He had thought she had a pair of legs that were simply a complete turn-on. When she had glanced up, noticed him staring and smiled, he’d been a goner. Never before had he been so aware of a woman. An immediate attraction had flared between them, holding him hostage to desires he’d never felt before.
After making sure Stone didn’t have designs on her himself, he had made his move. And it was a move he’d never regretted making. They began seriously dating a few months later and had continued to do so for six long years, until he had made the mistake of ending things between them. Now it seemed the day of reckoning had arrived.
“Shelly.”
“Dare.”
It was as if the years had not passed between them, Dare suddenly thought. That same electrical charge the two of them always generated ignited full force, sending a high voltage searing through the room.
He cleared his throat. “Holly, you can leave me and Ms. Brockman alone now, “he thought it best to say.
His secretary looked at Shelly then back at him. “Sure, Sheriff,” she murmured, and walked out of the office, pulling the door shut behind her.
Once the door closed, Dare turned his full attention back to Shelly. His gaze went immediately to her lips; lips he used to enjoy tasting time and time again; lips that were hot, sweet and ultra-responsive. One night he had thrust her into an orgasm just from gnawing on her lips and caressing them with the tip of his tongue.
He swallowed to get his bearings when he felt his body began responding to just being in the same room with her. He then admitted what he’d known for years. Shelly Brockman would always be the beginning and the end of his most blatant desires and a part of him could not believe she was back in College Park after being gone for so long.
Shelly felt the intensity of Dare’s gaze and struggled to keep her emotions in check, but he was so disturbingly gorgeous that she found it hard to do so. Wearing his blue uniform, he still had that look that left a woman’s mind whirling and her body overheated.
He had changed a lot from the young man she had fallen in love with years ago. He was taller, bigger and more muscular. The few lines he had developed in the corners of his eyes, and the firmness of his jaw made his face more angular, his coffee-colored features stark and disturbingly handsome and still a pleasure to look at.
She noted there were certain things about him that had remained the same. The shape of his mouth was still a total turn-on, and he still had those sexy dimples he used to flash at her so often. Then there were those dark eyes—deep, penetrating—that at one time had had the ability to read her mind by just looking at her. How else had he known when she’d wanted him to make love to her without her having to utter a single word?
Suddenly Shelly felt nervous, panicky when she remembered the reason she had moved back to town. But there was no way she could tell Dare that he was AJ’s father—at least not today. She needed time to pull herself together. Seeing him again had derailed her senses, making it impossible for her to think straight. The only thing she wanted was to get AJ and leave.
“I came for my son, Dare,” she finally found her voice to say, and even to her own ears it sounded wispy.
Dare let out a deep breath. It seemed she wanted to get right down to business and not dwell on the past. He had no intention of letting her do that, mainly because of what they had once meant to each other. “It’s been a long time, Shelly. How have you been?” he asked raspily, failing to keep his own voice casual. He found the scent of her perfume just as sexy and enticing as the rest of her.
“I’ve been fine, Dare. How about you?”
“Same here.”
She nodded. “Now may I see my son?”
Her insistence on keeping things non-personal was beginning to annoy the hell out of him. His eyes narrowed and his gaze zeroed in on her mouth; bad timing on his part. She nervously swiped her bottom lip with her tongue, causing his body to react immediately. He remembered that tongue and some of the things he had taught her to do with it. He dragged air into his lungs when he felt his muscles tense. “Aren’t you going to ask why he’s here?” he asked, his voice sounding tight, just as tight as his entire body felt.
She shrugged. “I assumed that since the school called and said he didn’t show up today, one of your officers had picked him up for playing hooky.”
“No, that’s not it,” he said, thinking that was a reasonable assumption to make. “I’m the one who picked him up, but he was doing something a bit more serious than playing hooky.”
Shelly’s eyes widened in alarm. “What?”
“I caught him throwing rocks at passing motorists on Old National Highway. Do you know what could have happened had a driver swerved to avoid getting hit?”
Shelly swallowed as she nodded. “Yes.” The first thought that came to her mind was that AJ was in need of serious punishment, but she’d tried punishing him in the past and it hadn’t seemed to work.
“I’m sorry about this, Dare,” she apologized, not knowing what else to say. “We moved to town a few weeks ago and it hasn’t been easy for him. He needs time to adjust.”
Dare snorted. “From the way he acted in my office earlier today, I think what he needs is an attitude adjustment as well as a lesson in respect and manners. Whose kid is he anyway?”
Shelly straightened her spine. The mother in her took offense at his words. She admitted she had spoiled AJ somewhat, but still, considering the fact that she was a single parent doing the best she could, she didn’t need Dare of all people being so critical. “He’s my child.”
Dare stared at her wondering if she really expected him to believe that. There was no way the kid could be hers, since in his estimation of the kid’s age, she was a student in college and his steady girl about the same time the boy was born. “I mean who does he really belong to since I know you didn’t have a baby twelve or thirteen years ago, Shelly.”
Her gaze turned glacial. “He is mine, Dare. I gave birth to him ten years ago. He just looks older than he really is because of his height.” Shelly watched Dare’s gaze sharpen and darken, then his brows pulled together in a deep, furious frown.
“What the hell do you mean you gave birth to him?” he asked, a shocked look on his face and a tone of voice that bordered on anger and total disbelief.
She met his glare with one of her own. “I meant just what I said. Now may I see him?” She made a move to leave Dare’s office but he caught her arm.
“Are you saying that he was born after you left here?”
“Yes.”
Dare released her. His features had suddenly turned to stone, and the gaze that focused