Devlin's Dare (13 page)

Unbidden, her
attention drifted down to his pants, to the pocket in which he’d stuffed her panties. A soft little bulge.

And right next to it…a hard one.

As he escorted Tara back to the table, Devlin was a little wobbly. His knees were weak, his pulse was thrumming and—inconceivably—he was hard again. Hard for her.

After that. After the most amazing, mind-blowing, incredible closet sex he’d ever had. Technically, it was the only closet sex he’d ever had, but still. By all laws of nature, he should be limp as a
wet noodle for a week. But he wasn’t.

He wanted her again.

Thankfully, the bar was murky and crowded and no one seemed to notice his hard on. He scanned the room to make sure no one was staring at them, but the other patrons in the bar were all oblivious.

Charlie and Tina were oblivious as well. To everything but each other. As
he and Tara approached the table, the two had their heads together in deep conversation, not even emerging when he and Tara took their seats.

He glanced at her. Was he the only one who could see the sheen of dew on her cheeks? The glint in her eye? The slight upward tilt of her lips? Was he the only one who could see how freshly-fucked she looked?

God, he hoped so.

He had no idea how much noise they’d made and was thankful no one had come to investigate. That would have been awkward.

But even if they’d been caught, he would probably do it again. And again. Any chance he got.

Half of his exhilaration
came from the residual effects of that mind-bending fuck. The other half stemmed from the fact that he’d had her again. He’d so missed her touch, her scent. Her presence.

He wasn’t crazy about their fuck
buddies agreement, but at least it was something. And like Charlie said, at least something was something. It was a place to
start
.

He took her hand and she allowed it, though she drew their laced fingers beneath the table to rest on his thigh. He liked that, holding hands with her under the table…until her thumb reached out
to skim over his slacks.

Hell
. Was she teasing him? Again? He sent her a glower, but there was little heat in it. How could there be? He had little heat left to give. She’d taken it all.

She smiled in return and offered a saucy wink.

And something inside him tipped to the side. It might have been the universe.

It was a strange place and time to realize something so potent
—with the fiddlers playing in the background and the glasses clinking at the bar and Charlie and Tina nattering on—but maybe it simply happened when it did. But all of a sudden, Devlin realized why he had ached for her so bad. Why he had missed her so much. Why being with her again had flooded him with elation. Why he was willing to do anything, offer everything, to be with her.

Yeah. He loved her. Loved her with a capital L.

Loved her smile, loved her laugh. Loved her frown and her growls. Loved her face. Her hair, her body, her scent. Loved her heart and mind and soul.

The realization scared him to death…and excited him beyond belief.

The buzzing noise in the back of his head turned out to be Charlie and Tina discussing ideas for an outing. Since Tina was leaving soon, Charlie wanted to show her around the area tomorrow.

He glanced across the table.
“You two are welcome to come along,” he said, clearly as an afterthought.

“Oh, you must.” Tina turned to her sister. “We don’t have much time together as it is. I don’t want to miss a whole day.

“What do you have planned?” Tara asked, munching on a peanut from the bowl.

Charlie beamed.
“First we’re going hiking.” Devlin grimaced. He was not much of a hiker. “And then we’re going to Snoqualmie Falls.”

“How can we…
I mean…” He tried very hard not to look at Charlie’s chair. “Hiking?”

“Both the Burke-Gilman Trail
 and the Sammamish River Trail are wheelchair accessible,” Charlie said, shooting Devlin a teasing scowl. Or maybe not so teasing. “This is the twenty-first century, after all.” 

“
Mmm.” Tara murmured. “The Locks to Lakes Corridor.”

“Ex
actly. It’ll be fun.” Charlie gored Devlin with a gimlet gaze. “Are you in?”

Devlin tried to hide his pout. He wanted to spend time with Tara, but walking for fun was, well, not fun. He’d never quite understood his brother’s passion for the outdoors.

But he’d attended a BDSM party for her—with the sole purpose of being near her once again. And that had paid off. Maybe he should give it a try.

“Well? Are you?”

“I suppose,” he grumbled, shifting in his seat. Tara’s grin caught his attention.

It was an exceedingly evil grin.

To his surprise, he
thoroughly enjoyed the day. For one thing, Tara was there, and in a playful mood. For another, he got a glimpse of the other side of his brother. One he’d never seen before.

A man who was capable and determined—stubborn, even. A man who could overcome any obstacle.

The difference for Charlie was that the obstacles were more plentiful. A raised curb, for example. Devlin stepped over it without a thought. For Charlie, it required a little maneuvering. But he could do it. He could do anything.

With a wash of mortification, Devlin realized how wrong he’d been to underestimate his brother. He’d known Charlie his whole life. He should have known better.

Maybe it was time for Devlin to reevaluate his thinking. Maybe Charlie wasn’t a helpless cripple after all. Maybe the ability to stand on your own two feet wasn’t what defined a person after all.

Life tossed all kinds of IEDs into a man’s path. The measure of
his mettle was how he dealt with them.

Charlie, it appeared, embraced the adventure, despite the difficulties. When they came to the first slight
slope, he not only released his hold on his wheels, he pushed harder, flying down the grade with Tina jogging by his side. They both laughed. In those trills, Devlin heard it. The sheer joy of being alive.

And he realized, he’d missed it. The big picture.

In Charlie’s mind he wasn’t
disabled
. He was
blessed
. He was a survivor. With everything he’d seen and done, with everything he’d been through, being alive was a gift. A treasure. No matter the circumstances.

It was humbling.
And heartening.

Tara sidled up to him and hooked her arm in his as they strolled along the paved path, passed by runners and bicyclists and dog walkers. Devlin had had no idea so many people liked to be
outside
. It was kind of surprising.

“What are you thinking?” she asked.

“Hmm?”

“You look pensive. Are you composing a
n amusing review of last night’s dinner?”

He blinked in surprise. Hell. He hadn’t even thought about last night’s dinner. The service had been
a trifle sycophantic, but not execrable. The food—well, he couldn’t even remember the food. All of his attention had been on her. “No. I need to write it though. What did you think?”

“Me?” A squeak.

“Yeah.” He smiled down at her, loving the lines of her face. He wanted to trace her cheek, but thought better of it. She’d probably think that too loverly. “What were your impressions of the meal?”

She scrunched up her
nose—adorable—and nibbled her lip. He tried not to fixate on that. If he swept her in his arms and planted one on her right here in the middle of the trail, that would definitely be too loverly. But God Almighty in Heaven Above. He wanted to.

“The salmon was fishy.”

He barked a laugh. “Salmon
is
fishy.”

“You know what I mean.
Fishy
fishy. It was probably Atlantic, though it said Coho on the menu.”

Wow. He gaped at her.
The woman knew her salmon. Come to think of it, there had been an oily aftertaste more prominent in Atlantic salmon. Yeah. That dish had not been Coho. “And the broccolini?”

“Pretentious.”

He untangled their arms and slipped his around her, pulling her close to his side. Where she belonged. He kissed her forehead. “You, my darling, should have been a food critic.”

“And I think I broke a tooth on a dinner roll. Oh. Oh. Oh. And the wine was a little vinegary.”

“What?” That wine had cost a fortune.

“There was a spot on my spoon, the risotto was soupy and what was with the cologne on the waiter?”

Devlin chuckled. He’d created a monster. Ah well. No matter. He needed the material. “May I quote you?”

She growled a little in her throat. “Don’t you dare.
I don’t want my name on your icky blog.”

“It’s not an icky blog. It’s a very popular blog.”

“Still, I don’t want that wild-eyed Maitre ‘D coming after me because I mentioned he has a duck walk.”

“A duck walk?”

“Didn’t you notice?”

“Um, no.” The Maitre ‘D had been the last thing on his mind, once he’d
seen her.

She pulled away and demonstrated, tottering from side to side
with her knees locked. She glanced back at him and quacked three times in quick succession—purely for illustrative purposes. And, now that she’d mentioned it, the Maitre ‘D had waddled. A tad.

But he hadn’t quacked.

“Did you like anything about the meal?”

She sobered. “You were there.”

Ah. God.
His heart swelled. His pulse thrummed. He cast about, looking for a somewhat private spot to steal a kiss. There was nothing but trees and bushes sprinkled along the ribbon of trail. No place at all for a furtive clinch.

Which was p
robably why he hated the out of doors.

Her lips curled in a soft smile and he decided he
didn’t care if she thought him too loverly. He didn’t care if anyone saw. He didn’t care if the world saw.

He swooped her into his arms and kissed her, but good. He kissed her until a speed-walking mommy shuttled past with her speed-walking children and snarled, “Get a room.”

And they both laughed. Because it wasn’t the first time they’d heard that.

At their next stop, Devlin discovered a definite benefit to outings with Charlie. With a blue placard hung on the rearview mirror, he didn’t have to park in the boondocks and walk, as Devlin had so many times before when he’d visited this popular destination. There were plenty of handicap parking spaces right next to the Snoqualmie Falls observation deck.

T
hey had to meander up the switchback of ramps leading to the covered platform overlooking the falls, but it was a fair trade. And though Devlin offered, Tina insisted on pushing Charlie up the steeper slopes. Judging from the wink Charlie sent him, he enjoyed her enthusiasm.

They could hear the thundering
rush of the water before they crested the rise, feel the sudden dampness of the air on their skin. They reached the top of the slope and stopped at the chain link fence running along the cliff’s edge, and stared.

It was magnificent.

Even if he hadn’t seen it before, he would have been stunned to silence.

The sheer power of nature, the rushing tumult of
the drop, the rainbows dancing in the mist shrouding the base of the falls. Breathtaking.

“
Glorious,” Tara whispered at his side. He hooked his arm around her and pulled her close.

“You should see
them when all the snowmelt floods the river. The falls cover the entire cliff face and pound into the water below.” The last time he’d come here during the melt, the power of the falls had shaken the earth beneath his feet. And the spray had risen to engulf the entire gorge.

“I thought you weren’t an outdoorsy guy.”

He shrugged. “I’m not. But this is a great place to bring a date for dinner.”

He probably imagined the flicker of
displeasure. Then again, maybe not.

She pushed away and shoved her hands into her pockets.
Her brow puckered. “Bring a lot of dates here?”

A lot.
“A few. There’s a great restaurant in the lodge.”

“And a hotel.” This, she
muttered.

Devlin couldn’t help but bite back a grin. Dare he hope she was jealous? “True. It’s a very nice hotel.” He turned his attention back to the water, but was really focused on her, from the corner of his eye. “It’s quite romantic. Especially at night.”

She snorted.

“They light the falls.”

“Do they?”

He stepped closer. “Would you like to see
it…sometime?”

Her gla
nce was wary. “Maybe.”

“Maybe?”

She nibbled on her lip, again, distracting his attention from the conversation. “How many women have you brought here?”