Seeing Spots (4 page)

"I didn’t say that."

"But you thought it." He laughed, a little
sourly. He’d never really learned how to approach women, because he
didn’t need to. Women approached him on a regular basis. But as a
result, he tended to fall into whatever relationship was easiest,
and rarely went for the women he really wanted. Like Katherine.
"I’ve thought it too. But the truth is, in high school the only
reason I dated cheerleaders was because… well, because you never
looked at me."

Behind the glasses, her eyes went enormous.
"What?"

"I mean it," he said, looking into those
eyes as deeply as he’d always wanted to. "And all the women I’ve
dated since then… honestly, if you’d ever even glanced in my
direction, I would have dropped them like a hot potato, all for
you. But I always figured I was just an ordinary guy, and you were
too smart for me. Too classy. Too…" He waved his own
hands in the air, trying to express the inexpressible. "Too damn
good for someone like me."

She was silent for a long moment. At last
she reached out and put her hand on his, very softly—almost
shyly.

"I’ve always wanted you, Darren," she
whispered. "Always. But I thought you weren’t into
geeks."

"I’m
into 
you
,"
he said with a shrug. "But you’re so smart—"

"Stop that." Her voice was sharp. "You’re
one of the smartest men I know."

"Yeah, right. You know I read at like a
sixth-grade level, right? It was a hell of a hard road to even
graduate from high school."

Her eyes regarded him. "Didn’t I hear back
in school that your parents had you checked, and that you had
dyslexia and ADHD?"

"Yeah," he admitted, "but that doesn’t
change the fact that I’m dumb. I can’t—"

"
Stop that
, I said." Her hand closed
over his, holding it so tightly it almost hurt. "Look, I know that
what with your dad being a doctor and all, and your mom being a
professor over at the university—"

"Not to mention the fact that my older
brother is brilliant," he said with a little sigh.

"Right." She nodded. "Your family
probably gave you a hard time about not going to college…"

"Actually, they were surprisingly cool about
it." His parents had watched his struggles in high school with too
much pain to try to force him into college. They’d allowed him to
make his own way after high school, which he appreciated. In a way,
he thought they were even proud of all he’d accomplished despite
the obstacles in his way.

"Okay. But you obviously somehow got the
idea that you’re dumb—which is in and of itself dumb."

He had to laugh a little at that. "I don’t
think that makes sense, Katherine."

"Call me Kathy," she said, staring at him.
"After everything we did together this morning, I think you should
call me Kathy."

"And I think you should call me Dare. But
only if you’re not going to dump me."

Her hand squeezed harder. He winced.

"I don’t think I can dump you if we’re not
dating," she said softly.

"Don’t you think that after everything
that's happened, we can reasonably say that we’re dating?"

"Well, maybe…"

"And yet you’re still trying to blow me
off."

"I'm not trying to blow you off." She drew
herself up with an air of calm dignity that was belied by the
nervously fluttering fingers. "I'm just trying to make sure we're
both on the same page."

"Kathy..." He sighed. "We were on the same
page this morning."

"Maybe. Not really. I mean, you just
kind of got carried away. It was the underwear, not me."

"Sure, Kathy. I always sleep with women
because I like their bras."

She looked annoyed by his snark. "You've
never looked at me like that before," she said irritably. "But the
minute you caught a glimpse of my underwear, you were all over me
like..."

"Spots on a leopard?"

"Something like that, yeah. And
before that, you couldn’t stop staring at my spotted t-shirt.
Obviously you have a spot fetish."

"Kathy..." He cocked his head. "Do you
really find it that hard to believe that I find you sexy?"

She was silent a long moment, while her
fingers fluttered frantically.

"Yes," she said at last, very softly. "I
do."

He frowned at her, narrowing his eyes. "You
do realize I came over here tonight to have sex with you,
right?"

"Oh. Well. I understand that you probably
feel sort of obligated now..."

"Obligated!" He rose
to his feet with a sudden surge of indignation.
"
Obligated
!? Are
you kidding me?"

"Okay,
maybe 
obligated
 wasn't quite the right word..."

"It was totally the wrong word." He grabbed
her by the arms and hauled her up against him, glaring down into
her eyes. "Kathy, I came over here to make love to you because I
find you attractive. And sexy. And hot as hell."

"Oh," she said in a small voice. "Well... if
you're sure..."

"I'm sure. Believe me, I'm sure. I'm so sure
I went out shopping after work, and bought you a little
something."

She tilted her head, curiosity lighting the
golden depths of her eyes. "What?"

He lowered his head and whispered into her
ear.

"Take off my jeans and find out."

She looked genuinely intrigued. Slowly, she
placed her hands on his chest and slid them downward. Seconds
later, she was unbuttoning his jeans. The zipper slid down with a
soft rasping sound, and then her eyes went wide, and she began to
giggle.

"You're not supposed to giggle," he informed
her. "You're supposed to be turned on."

"Oh, my God." She giggled harder.
"You're wearing leopard spot boxers."

"Yes. I am. And they’re not an easy thing to
find in Swift Creek, let me tell you. Could you possibly quit
laughing?"

"It's just that you— you—" She stopped and
gasped for breath. "You really always struck me as a plain white
briefs kind of guy."

"I am. I bought these all for you. And if
you ever tell anyone I wore them, I'll categorically deny it. Now
tell me how hot I am, damn it."

"You're... you are..." She burst out
giggling.

"Hot. Say it with me,
Kathy. 
Dare... you... are...
hot
."

She giggled harder, and he scowled.

"This is not exactly the way I envisioned
this working out."

"Maybe if..." She gasped for breath again.
"Maybe if I got, you know, the full effect."

"Right." He nodded, very seriously.
"You need to see all the spots to fully appreciate my
hotness. Got it."

He released her and grasped the hem of his
t-shirt, pulling it up over his head. Suddenly she wasn't giggling
any more, just staring at him wide-eyed, with an awed expression
that did a whole lot for his ego. He tossed the t-shirt aside and
looked at her with a little smile, then kicked off his workboots
and shoved down his jeans.

She gaped at him.

"That's better," he said
approvingly. "Now. 
Dare, you're
hot
."

Silence.

"
Dare, you're irresistible
 would
do fine, too."

The silence continued, and
he sighed. "How about, 
Dare, you're a
total hunk
?"

A long, long
silence. "
Dare, your spots are
hot
?" he suggested hopefully.

Suddenly she flung herself against him and
started running her hands all over him. He was startled, but he
didn't let that hold him back. He buried his face in her hair and
let his hands travel all over her, too.

At last he straightened up and grinned down
at her.

"Much better."

"You do look amazingly sexy in spots," she
said, sounding breathless. "I have to admit I'm not sure
why..."

"It's because I'm a wild man," he
answered.  In fact, most of the time he went to bed by
ten and was up by six, but she didn't need to know that.

"Maybe that's it." She rolled her eyes at
him. "I don't know what it is, exactly, but I'm beginning to
understand the attraction."

"It couldn't be that I'm mostly naked, could
it?"

"I don't think so." She considered him
carefully. "I mean, you do have a nice muscular chest, and your abs
are pretty sculpted, and your thighs are really impressive. So I
guess that could possibly be part of it..."

Sculpted
. He couldn't prevent a
self-satisfied smile from curving his lips. Katherine Parrish
thought he was 
sculpted
. That was even better than
saying he was hot.

"But it's hard to say for sure," she went
on. "I guess the only way to be certain is to see you one hundred
percent naked, and find out if I'm still this hot for you."

"You saw me naked this morning."

"Right. But that was before the leopard
spotted boxers. I think I need to see you naked again to make a
determination."

"I think I could live with that."

She offered him a slow, seductive smile.
Then she reached out and hooked the elastic waistband of his boxers
with her thumbs. And then she was drawing them down, over his heavy
erection, and dropping to her knees in front of him. She stared at
him for a long moment. At last she spoke.

"I think you're equally hot in or out of
spots," she said, her voice husky.

"Yeah." He buried his hands in her
hair, balancing himself so he wouldn't fall over. "I feel the same
way about you. Spots or no spots... you're the woman I want."

She looked up at him, and he could see the
shadows of old insecurities in the depths of her hazel gaze.
"Really, Dare?"

He spoke very gently. "Really,
Kathy."

She gave a happy smile, as if he'd washed
all her insecurities away with those two simple words. And then she
set about showing him just how attractive she found him.

Before long, spots began to dance in front
of his eyes.

Dare didn't mind.

He liked spots.

Chapter 4

When Kathy woke up, there was a heavy arm
wrapped around her, and the warm radiance of a big body pressed
against her own. She lay there a few moments, reveling in the
sensations. But morning sunshine was pouring in the window like
liquid gold, and the clock read 7:03, and the lifetime habit of
early rising prodded her to get moving, even though it was a
Saturday.

She wiggled out from beneath the heavy arm.
Dare mumbled a protest in his sleep, and she rolled over to look at
him. Even in his sleep he was gorgeous. He sprawled there,
gloriously naked, taking up an inordinate amount of the space in
her bed.

His bronzed skin stretched tightly over
heavy, corded muscles, and his dark hair fell around his face in
disarray. He looked, she thought, like an enormous jungle cat,
sated and relaxed. With that contented feline expression on his
face, she could easily imagine him as a panther, draped in a tree,
snoozing in the dappled sunlight.

She thought she could lie
here and admire him all morning, but her hard-working habits
prodded her, and she slipped silently from bed. Sometime during the
night she’d pulled on a nightgown—he’d stripped
all 
her
 clothes off too, but she got chilly when she slept in
the nude—and still wearing it, she padded toward the
kitchen.

Once there, she started the coffeemaker,
then pulled out a skillet and rummaged in the fridge. She was
pleased to find that she had enough eggs for both of them, and some
bacon, too. She put the bacon in a small skillet, then dropped some
butter in a larger skillet and let it start melting.

She headed toward the front door to get the
paper, so she could read while cooking, but hesitated at the sight
of the bookcase. She crossed to it quickly and pulled out an old
battered scrapbook, then took it back with her to the kitchen,
where the mouth-watering scents of coffee and cooking bacon were
already beginning to fill the air.

She broke six eggs into a bowl, then
considered the matter and added two more.  Dare was a big
guy, and last night's activities should have caused him to work up
quite an appetite.  She scrambled them, then added some
cheese, put it all in the skillet, and began to stir. With her
other hand, she flipped open the scrapbook, seeing old, yellowed
newspaper clippings.

"Oh, my God."

The deep voice behind her startled her into
crying out. She almost knocked over the eggs in her surprise, and
dropped the scrapbook to make a grab for the skillet. She didn’t
hear the thud of the big book hitting the floor, and when she
looked back over her shoulder, she saw Dare holding it, staring at
it in shock. Apparently he’d caught it right out of the air, which
didn't surprise her. He had been a football player, after all.

"You startled the hell out of me," she said
accusingly. For a big guy, he sure could move quietly. Once again,
she thought of a panther, creeping up on his unsuspecting prey.

He wasn’t listening to
her. His attention was riveted on the scrapbook. "Oh,
my 
God
," he
said again. "You were 
serious
."

"About what?" she said, as lightly as she
could. But her cheeks began to turn red, and she knew it wasn’t
from the heat of the stove. She had a pretty good idea what he was
talking about.

"Holy shit." His big fingers flipped
the pages. "These clippings—they’re all about me. You weren’t
kidding, were you? When you said you’ve always wanted me… I thought
you were just saying that to make me feel better. But you really
meant it."