“Why are you just stand—?” The girl’s voice cut off abruptly when she rounded us, her eyes widening with unabashed disbelief as she took me in, standing where I didn’t belong.
The girl from Brooks Street on Monday.
As I had so often this week, I wondered if she was his girlfriend, fiancée, wife, his anything . . . but there wasn’t an ounce of jealousy or anger dripping from her.
My familiar stranger released his hold on me, his body disappearing from behind my own just before two guys came up behind the girl, carrying plates of fried foods and desserts.
Another girl followed behind them as she tapped away on a phone, a third guy trailing close to her side.
“Well, well, well. Who do we have here?” one of the first guys asked, a wicked smirk and gleam in his eye as he sauntered closer and hooked an arm around my neck.
I was too stunned from the loss of that tormenting energy that kissed my skin whenever he was near to try to prevent this new man from getting too close.
“Who are you?” the girl who was still staring at me asked.
“No one,” I answered immediately. “I was leaving—”
I tried to maneuver out of the new guy’s hold, my gaze darting around, looking for the man who had just shifted my entire world with a kiss.
“Einstein!” the guy holding on to me called out, turning us so we were facing the rest of his group as they pushed two tables together. “Pull up an extra chair. This one’s staying.”
My eyes widened in horror as I found the stranger I’d been looking for. Those dark eyes were locked on mine as he stood behind a chair, his hands gripping the back of it tightly. Too tight. As if he was forcing himself not to move from that spot.
“I’m not,” I whispered, then glanced back at the girl now standing directly in front of me again. Her curious stare bounced over me like she was trying to figure me out. “I’m not,” I assured her.
The man holding me laughed as he tightened his arm, giving my neck a gentle squeeze. “It’s just food, darlin’,” he said as he led us toward the tables. “It won’t bite you. Doesn’t mean I won’t.”
I glanced at the tables, my gaze searching out his again. The look in his eyes as he locked onto the man touching me was one I knew so well.
Because I had fallen in love with that look when others would have run.
That darkness—that had nothing to do with the color of his eyes—pulsed just beneath the surface, begging to be freed. Teasing that the man standing in front of me was dangerous.
I’d grown up surrounded by powerful and dangerous men, hating the monsters those traits turned them into. I’d wanted to put an end to every horrible thing they were involved with before I escaped them completely. And yet the danger that lay barely concealed in this man was just as enticing as the rest of him. As if the dangerous side within him called to me, begging me to touch.
“How do you know Dare?” the girl in front of me suddenly asked.
I blinked quickly as I focused on her, noting that she never once looked behind her as she took confident steps backward.
“Excuse me?”
“Dare.” She pointed behind her, directly at the guy in question. “How do you know him?”
“I don’t.”
“Uh-huh. So you were just standing there in his arms for no reason?”
The guy with his arm around me tensed. “Wai—you—I might’ve missed, uh . . .” As we came upon the tables now littered with food and people I didn’t know, he looked toward Dare for the first time and quickly released me as he murmured a low “Shit” and walked to the other end of the table.
“He ju—”
I jerked, my attention darting to see Dare’s hard glare set on the girl in front of me when he said a name—a name I would have sworn was my own.
“Libby,” he snapped again. “Leave her alone.”
Relief surged through my veins, the feeling so great my body wanted to sag now that the moment’s fear was gone. But with so many eyes on me, I stood still, expressionless.
I didn’t watch her turn to go sit down.
I couldn’t stop looking at Dare.
He was still leaning against the chair, gripping it as though it was a lifeline. And he was waiting to see what I would do.
I wanted to stay. I wanted the steady hum in my veins to turn into that addictive spark when he touched me.
Despite whatever was happening between Kieran and me, every time my head cleared enough to remember that I needed to get home, I felt sick for letting another man touch me at all.
I needed to go.
From the way Dare’s expression hardened and brows pulled together, he knew I’d made my decision.
I rocked back to leave but was suddenly pulled down.
I tripped over my feet as I tried to land in the chair instead of on the ground, and found myself less than an inch from the girl who’d had her face buried in her phone.
“Einstein!” Dare barked from behind me.
Like Libby, she looked to be maybe thirty, give or take a couple years. But she could’ve passed for barely legal with her doe-eyed look and small stature.
But those eyes locked on and studying me gave her away. Calculating, wild, and a little crazy. There was nothing innocent about her.
“Do I know you?” she asked once she was done studying me.
I was so thrown off by her and the way Dare tensed beside me that I didn’t have the chance to be worried about why she would ask. “No.”
“Your mouth.”
My eyebrows shot up. “Excuse me?”
“Your mouth looks familiar.”
I stared at her, dumbfounded, as I tried to think of what to say to her, but she’d already released me and was tapping furiously on her phone again—as if the odd exchange had never happened.
A laugh that was rich and full of frustration burst from Dare as he sat next to me, filling me and making me want to beg to hear it again and again.
“Jesus Christ, Einstein,” he mumbled, then reached into his pocket. Pulling out a phone, he tossed it onto the table. “Phones.”
Four phones quickly followed with dull thuds, and all eyes went to the girl sitting next to me, who still had her face buried in her screen.
“Einstein.” Dare’s tone was a mixture of annoyance and humor as he scrubbed his hands over his face. “Phone.”
“I’ve almost got it,” she said on a rush. Eyes wide with excitement. “Just a little bit more.”
“Whatever it is, you could’ve had it if you hadn’t wasted time trying to rip peoples’ arms off. Phone.” When he said her name again, all traces of humor were gone from his voice. “Einstein.”
She blew out a frustrated sigh as she tossed her phone on the table. “This close, Dare,” she said, pressing her index finger and thumb close together. “This close.”
“You know the rules.”
The guy who had led me to the tables jerked his chin in my direction and asked, “What about the nerd?”
“She’s a—”
“I don’t have a phone,” I said, interrupting Dare.
A short laugh left Libby but died quickly when she took in my blank expression.
“Doesn’t matter anyway. She’s a guest.” Dare gestured toward the plates of food littering the tables, and mumbled, “Eat.”
I watched in confusion as Libby passed around a stack of paper plates—one short since they hadn’t been expecting me—and everyone started serving themselves as though it was a family dinner.
Because that’s what it felt like—from what I remembered of family dinners—but that wasn’t what was confusing.
While everyone at the table looked to be around thirty, I was sure Dare was the youngest, and he was clearly the one they all looked to. The one they all listened to and respected.
Something about it felt weird. Wrong in the sense that it felt all too familiar.
Or maybe it was the nagging voice inside telling me I needed to get back to the house
—that I’d already spent far too long gone.
I quickly scanned the area, looking for any familiar faces, but found none.
“Here,” Dare mumbled, and I looked back as he pushed a plate between us.
I glanced at the plate for only a second before looking away. “I’m not really hungry.”
Dare caught my chin between his fingers, his dark stare holding mine for a few seconds. “I’m sure you’re not,” he said with a smirk as he released me, then pushed the plate closer in my direction.
“You met my sister, Libby,” he said suddenly as he took some food off the plate and popped it into his mouth, nodding toward the girl I’d spoken to earlier. “She has a thing for playing twenty questions without letting the other person ask anything.”
Sister.
I tried to ignore the relief pulsing through my veins, but it was nearly impossible. She was his sister.
But I didn’t know if I felt better or worse that she wasn’t only that intense with me, because now I knew the intensity wasn’t over—and neither were the questions. Questions I couldn’t answer.
“The twins. Diggs,” Dare continued, pointing to the guy who had brought me to the tables, and then another on the opposite side of Einstein, who I hadn’t noticed. “And Maverick.”
Now I wasn’t sure which one had had his arm around me. They were identical.
“You’re next to Einstein, and this is Johnny,” he finished, gesturing to the guy seated directly across from me.
A guy that I’d seen with Dare at Brooks Street plenty of times . . . and a guy that made me regret allowing one of the twins to lead me toward the tables.
The way he was looking at me sent a chill up my spine, and set off every warning inside me to run.
He hadn’t touched any of the food on the table, his plate was clean, and his cold, calculating stare was unyielding as he glared at me from across the table.
That look? It was nothing compared to the eyes of the assassin I’d shared a bed with for years. But I knew Kieran and knew his heart . . . and I knew I would never have to fear those piercing eyes.
This man? It was as if he was taking every ounce of his hatred and anger and pushing it onto me with one look.
And I was trapped in his stare.
I needed to get away, now more than ever.
Johnny jerked suddenly. His gaze dipped to the table then over to Dare, releasing me.
I let out a shuddering breath and shrank into the chair, trying to ward off the lingering bone-deep chill as I fought the urge to run, and tried to come up with a reason to leave.
After a few seconds, Johnny straightened and started grabbing food, his cold eyes only glossing over me when he asked, “What’d you say your name was?”
His voice matched the rest of him. Cold and hard and unforgiving. A shudder had started from deep within me, but stopped, and I froze when I realized he’d been talking to me.
I thought back over his words, and tried not to panic when my mind blanked. “I didn’t,” I finally said, my words soft but bold.
Everyone stopped moving.
Johnny’s cold glare was back, but the rest of the table had mixed expressions of surprise and amusement.
I didn’t look at Dare, but after a few tense seconds, a low, dark laugh left him. “This girl just might give you a run for your money, Johnny.” His eyes slid to mine, and a devastating smile pulled at his lips. “I’ve never met anyone who’s as untrusting as this guy right here. But you might have him beat.”
My head shook quickly. “I’m sorry, I just . . .” I trailed off, not knowing how to explain.
I have to go.
And like I was drawn, I looked behind me, then all around us.
Nothing. No one.
Dare was studying me when I finished, and leaned forward until his face was just a breath from mine.
I knew I needed to lean away, but I couldn’t move.
Those chocolate eyes held mine, and a hint of something warm and spicy that clung to him made me want to lean closer.
“Are you waiting for someone?” he asked low enough that his voice wouldn’t carry to the others, who had gone back to eating and talking.
“Excuse me?”
“You’ve been looking around ever since I first saw you backing away from Ethan. Are you waiting for someone?”
“I’m not. I—”
“Do I need to be worried about a boyfriend showing up?”
If only you knew that was exactly what you needed to be worried about.
I sat there with my lips parted for a few seconds before I repeated my earlier words, “I need to go.”
From the way his brows drew together and he leaned away a bit, he’d expected a different answer. “So I should take that as a yes?”
“Please—”
“No one’s keeping you here.” His once warm eyes were now as cold as Johnny’s. “If you really want to go, then go.”
Without another word, he went back to eating and effortlessly joined into the conversation Johnny was having with Einstein.
I studied his strong profile for only a moment, committing it—and the way he made me feel—to memory, before I slipped out of my seat and turned to go.
I hurried through the crowded street fair, but tried to force myself not to walk too fast . . . not to draw attention to myself. All the while my eyes never stopped moving—never stopped looking for anyone who might be looking for me.
My chest felt both tighter and looser as I got closer to the end of the blocked-off streets that held the fair, and closer to home.
I needed to get there—to get back to the safety it provided.
But all I wanted was to experience the way Dare had made me feel again. And again.
Those knowing eyes. That mouth that could make me feel free . . .
Guilt ripped through me as I thought of the way I’d betrayed the only man I’d ever loved tonight. But I knew that the betrayal wouldn’t end. Not when I wanted another man’s kiss and touch the way I wanted Dare’s.
Tears pricked at my eyes. I gripped at my churning stomach as I pushed through another group of people.
I’d almost made it to the end when a hand clamped down around my wrist. My blood ran cold as I was hauled back against a tall, hardened body.
Oh God.
I didn’t watch her go, but it was impossible to miss the shift in the air once she was gone.
Something in me called to go after her. To chase her down and beg for her name. To ask what she was doing to me with those wide eyes and those lips I’d wanted to claim again and again.
This was no longer about just revealing her truths.
This was so much more.
Everyone stopped eating to look at me as soon as she left, but I refused to meet their questioning stares.
“Well, I’ll go first,” Libby stated after a minute of silence. “What the hell?”
“Who the fuck was that?” Johnny growled in a low tone that earned him a glare.
“I think she’s pretty.” Einstein shrugged, then fixed me with a wild-eyed stare I’d come to recognize meant there was a code she wanted to crack.
She would be nearly impossible to be around until she had.
“But there’s something about her mouth, I’m tellin’ ya, Dare,” she went on, her words now rushed at the thought of having something new to work on. “I know her, and I’m going to figure out how.”
An addict looking for their next fix. That was Einstein when it came to codes.
I now knew the feeling.
Two years of keeping a distance. Then ten minutes and two kisses with the girl, and I’d been reduced to a restless junkie. Muscles twitching as I forced myself not to jump out of my chair so I could find her and get another taste.
I was ready to beg Einstein to help me figure out who the girl was when Diggs huffed. “I’ll tell her what she can do with that mouth . . .”
I launched the first phone I touched at his face, but he caught it in time.
>
“That was mine,” Einstein yelled and kicked me from under the table.
“I don’t know her,” Johnny muttered, his attention on Einstein before drifting toward the direction the girl had gone. “But there’s something not right about her.”
“Back to my question,” Libby interrupted. “What the hell, Dare? She was just suddenly there? And after what happened the other morning?”
“What happened the other morning?” Johnny demanded, but Libby continued on.
“And you were—you were . . .” Her shock and irritation with me were replaced by hurt and sadness. Her voice dropped when she said, “It’s been almost four years and you were—”
I shoved away from the table and took off after the girl before Libby could finish.
Because it had been almost four years.
Since my world had gone to hell. Since I’d wanted someone the way I wanted this girl. Since I’d struggled to keep myself from touching a girl—kissing her.
And I couldn’t let her walk away now.
I found her rushing through the crowd, and hurried to get to her before she could slip away.
I reached for her, grasping her wrist to stop her and turn her toward me. The jolt that went through her body felt as if it had gone through my own.
“I’m sorry,” she cried out, her next words falling from her lips on a rush. “I’m so sorry. I—” Her eyes widened in horror when she looked up and saw me there, her body still trembling violently.
From her outright panic when she first turned, I wondered if there was someone she’d been waiting for—someone she’d expected to show.
Someone she’d been afraid would.
“Dare.” She swayed toward me for a moment before blinking quickly and trying to pull away. “Please. I told you . . . I have to go.”
I looked away for only a second to see where we were, then pulled her down a little alley between two shops.
“No, no, no. I need to go. I need—”
I pressed my mouth to hers to stop her hurried plea, and because I couldn’t imagine going another minute without feeling the rush when I did.
Fucking ecstasy.
She gripped at my forearms to steady herself, a soft moan sounding in her throat and getting lost in the kiss as I pushed her gently up against the wall of one of the buildings.