Justice Inked (Cowboy Justice Association 7) (27 page)

“Maybe I should change. As I said, my behavior is really habit. I’m not that pissed off at the world every day but frowning feels more natural than smiling.”

Finished clearing up the cups, she came to perch on his knee, dropping a kiss on his forehead as if he were a good boy who had eaten his vegetables. “I’d rather you have an honest scowl than a fake smile. If you’re happy then you should smile all you want. But don’t try to be something you’re not just because you think that’s what I want you to be. You have a crappy job, Sheriff, so I can imagine there are days that aren’t puppies and rainbows, and that’s okay.”

He had one more thing to confess and his conscience would be clear. Gathering up his courage, he set aside his dignity. “I’ve talked to a therapist about this after I came back from the Middle East. I guess the government was worried about me.”

Instead of the look of disdain or disappointment he’d expected, Rayne actually looked happier. What the hell? She was happy he needed the shrink. That was a first.

“That’s wonderful that you did that. What did the therapist say?”

“That I wasn’t a danger to society or myself.”

Rayne blinked a few times. “That’s…good. I’d never think you were but I’m glad that the US government agrees. Did he or she say anything else?”

That pain in the ass talked all the time, asking him how he felt about everything. Some things he didn’t feel anything about and that wasn’t going to change for a shrink. Certain events and people in the world didn’t deserve to have others wasting energy on them.

“That I was angry at my father because he didn’t intervene.”

A major understatement if there ever was one.

“Did you and your father make peace before he died?”

“No,” Dare answered shortly. “He made a lot of excuses but never owned his part in all of this. He knuckled under to my witch of a mother because he wanted to keep the peace. Except our house was never peaceful. It was only after she died that there was any happiness. And then he married and started a new family because his first one was broken. So no, Rayne, we didn’t make peace.”

She wanted everything tied up with a bow like an after school special but that wasn’t how life worked. Not his, anyway. He’d tried to forgive his father, he truly had, but the old man had blamed Dare with his last breath.

“That’s too bad,” she said in a small, sad voice that clearly felt badly for him, which was a waste. He was damaged but not angry or bitter. Life happened and he’d played the cards he was dealt as best he could. “You don’t blame Sophie, do you?”

Just the thought of his cute little sister made his lips quirk up. “Of course not. I love her and she loves me. We’re family and that’s why I came back to Valley Station. It’s also why I don’t want her to leave, especially with that slime Tim Wallace. I’ve got a bad feeling about him that I can’t shake.”

Dare’s intuition was rarely wrong and it was only a matter of time before he figured out what the issue was with Wallace.

“I feel kind of guilty. My childhood was pretty uneventful compared to yours. My parents are kind of hippies, but other than that we were a normal family.”

Lifting an eyebrow, Dare ran a finger along her hip where he knew a tattoo lay under the layer of cotton. “Maybe too normal? You like to stand out, sweetheart.”

She leaned down and pressed her lips to his, running her tongue along his lower lip and making him shudder with need. As usual, his inked princess had him hard in less than ten seconds.

“I think you like it too. I think you want to shine and dance. You need to strut, my love. You have so much good in you but you’ve been hiding it for too long. Let it out and I promise you it will all be fine. You won’t get hurt.”

He wasn’t a child any longer where the world could easily pierce his armor. Few people in this world had that kind of power over him.

She was one of them.

“I’ll dance, but only with you, Rayne. Will you dance with me? Right now and right here?”

There was no music but it didn’t make any difference. He needed to hold her in his arms like he needed his next breath.

“I’d be honored, Sheriff Turner.”

The honor was all his.

Chapter Thirty

P
erhaps Rayne should have held onto her anger longer but that simply wasn’t her style. She didn’t like to hold a grudge or make someone pay for an action they regretted. If Dare was truly sorry, and he certainly seemed to be, it wouldn’t be right to not extend some forgiveness his way. From his story he’d been treated cruelly enough, although he seemed fairly healthy after what he’d been through.

He was smart and successful and had trouble letting go of his emotions. It wasn’t all that uncommon, especially in a man. If she could help him unwind even a little bit she’d think it a win over his past. He deserved far better than what he’d been given.

So now she was in his arms, dancing in her sister’s kitchen, her bare feet on the cold ceramic tile but the rest of her body warming up nicely as he pressed her closer, her cheek resting on his chest. She could hear the steady thump of his heart, and her own pulse sped up in response as her fingers tightened on the hard muscles of his back.

There was no music so Rayne found herself humming a favorite song from her teenage years and Dare didn’t seem to mind. His large hand was splayed on her hip while the other cupped the nape of her neck so that her chin was tipped up and their gazes locked. His normally icy blue eyes were dark with passion under the fluorescent lights of the kitchen and their bodies brushed each other softly with each movement, sending lightning sparks of pleasure through her veins.

A warm flush ran down her flesh from forehead to toes and her knees would have given out if he hadn’t been holding her so snugly against him, his hard cock pressing into the softness of her belly.

Strong arousal began to build and her mind whirled as she tried to think of a way to have him – right here and now – without waking up the entire neighborhood or at the very least the household. She was already fantasizing about his magic mouth and that devil penis along with those mad-skilled hands. It wasn’t fair that he could turn her into a puddle of goo, but then it was so incredibly damn good that it didn’t really matter. She was greedy and she didn’t care if he knew. She wanted him, all of him, deep inside of her as soon as possible.

Her gaze landed on the pantry door and suddenly she had Dare by the arm and was dragging him across the floor and shoving him into the smaller room off the kitchen, closing the door behind them. She wrapped her arms around his neck and leaped into his arms, her legs winding around his lean middle. Dare was laughing so hard he almost dropped her but caught her as her ass was about six inches from the hard tile.

“Shit, don’t drop me. I’m trying to be romantic here and initiate makeup sex.”

His face was tucked into the curve of her neck but she could feel his chuckle tickling her skin. “Romantic? You shove me into a closet to fuck and that’s romantic? Not that I’m much better. Hell, I’m starting to think we deserve each other.”

“So I’m romantically challenged,” she admitted as she began to work on the buttons of his shirt. “But you are getting laid out of this, Sheriff. Do you want me to stop so we can wait for a fancy hotel suite and champagne?”

“Fuck no. Do you?”

“Fuck no. I say we go for it. Quietly. My sister, brother-in-law, and niece are sleeping upstairs and if we wake up the baby Camy will murder us without a twinge of regret.”

His shirt fell to the floor and she let her palms run all over his warm skin, the muscles firm under her fingers. He closed his eyes and submitted to her exploration and she felt a surge of empowerment run through her. She wanted to touch and taste every inch of him and she wouldn’t be denied.

Starting at his hairline she pressed kisses across his forehead, down his jaw, and around to his ear where she nipped at the lobe. She must have been doing something right because he quickly took the two steps required to brace her against the closed door, molding his body to hers, his hard cock digging into her hip.

Her fingers lightly traced a path from his neck to his flat male nipples, and she ran her nails over them, delighting as he sucked in a breath and his head fell back against the hard wood with a thud. Bending her head, she lapped at one brown disc and then the other until his hold on her hips became almost painful and his breathing was ragged. Hot and hard, he was pressed against the seam of her cotton pajama pants, her robe having somehow fallen off in the last few minutes. She rubbed her pussy against him, drawing moans from both of them and sending a fresh burst of honey down her thighs.

Her legs sliding to the floor, she let her tongue wander down his abs, listening to the hiss of his breath as she dipped into his belly button before painting a wet line around the waistband of his jeans. He seemed to shudder under her ministrations so it was a shock when she was suddenly lifted off her feet and her mouth captured with his.

The kiss was hot, wet, and definitely from a man intent on reasserting his dominance. His tongue swept her mouth boldly and she trembled in his arms as he finally let her toes touch the ground.

“You’re not in charge here, baby girl.”

Rayne bit her lip and looked up at him from under her lashes. “Well, I was until just a minute ago. But I think you kind of liked it if you’re honest, big guy. Or is this—” she bumped her hip against his hard cock, “just a figment of my imagination? I have been known to hallucinate when I don’t eat regularly.”

His smile was pure sin and her heart lurched in her chest as his hands gently pressed down on her shoulders.

“Then we should put something in that sassy mouth of yours, shouldn’t we? Take every bit like a good girl and maybe I’ll give you a reward.”

Dropping to her knees, Rayne reached for the button-fly of Dare’s jeans. If this reward was anything like the last ones, she’d be very good indeed.

Chapter Thirty-One

D
are was floating on a cloud of pure pleasure, Rayne’s mouth wrapped snugly around his cock all warm and wet. Her fingers flexed on his hips as he thrust carefully, not wanting her to choke but needing desperately to feel her lips and tongue sending him straight to heaven. Pressure built at the base of his spine and he closed his eyes to savor the coming explosion.