The guys cracked up.
Dare put his hand over his heart, leaning back as if he’d been shot. “Damn, Mancini, that hurt. Guys, is there a knife in my chest? Am I bleeding?”
She laughed. “Idiot.”
“Dude, she shot you down good,” Doc said with a laugh.
The guy who had just asked for her number said, “She’s taken, man. I already asked.”
Dare’s eyes narrowed, but they were still locked on her. “Yeah, by a big-dicked biker, from what I hear.”
She needed to sidetrack this conversation and looked at his brothers. “You want a round of beers?”
Cowboy’s gaze moved curiously between her and Dare. “Holy shit. Tell me it ain’t so, Billie. Tell me you’re not the truck thief.”
Her eyes flew open wider, and she looked at Dare, who wore a shit-eating grin. What did you tell them?
“I thought you had better taste than that,” Hyde teased.
Shit. Shitshitshit. As much as she didn’t want to become the talk of the town, she didn’t want them thinking he’d been with someone else. “Yeah, I took his damn truck, but I gave it back. Y’all want beers or not?”
Hyde nudged Cowboy and held out his hand. “Pay up, dipshit.”
Cowboy dug his wallet out of his pocket, and Billie rolled her eyes.
“Guys, really?” Dare snapped, and Hyde and Cowboy laughed.
“Yeah, we’ll take those beers, Billie,” Doc said. “Thanks.”
She served them, then hiked a thumb over her shoulder. “I’ve gotta grab something from the back.” She escaped into the stockroom.
Dare blew through the doors behind her, closing the distance between them.
“Dare. What was that?”
His arms circled her waist, and he was still smiling. “That was me saying hi to my girl.”
“But why with a kiss, in front of everyone? I don’t need the whole town knowing we’re knocking boots.”
“Why the hell not?”
“I don’t know. Because we weren’t even in each other’s lives for years, and now we are, and—”
“We were always in each other’s lives. I’ve always been in your heart.” He touched his lips to hers. “And in your head.” He kissed her again, longer this time, chipping away at her irritation. “I was here damn near every night you worked.”
He kissed her neck, backing her up against the shelves, and his possessiveness sent her body into a frenzy of want and need.
“And we both know I was in your shower fantasies.” He trailed kisses down her neck, igniting sparks beneath her skin.
“But this is new, and we still have stuff to work through,” she said breathily.
He brushed his lips over hers. “You take all the time you need, darlin’. You’re mine and I’m yours, and I’m not going to hide that. But we don’t need to make a big thing of it. When you’re ready, I look forward to letting the whole world know.”
“I don’t want to hide it, either. I just don’t want to make out at my bar. I need people to respect me here.”
“I get it, Mancini, don’t worry. I’ve got your back.” His eyes turned volcanic. “And now I want your mouth.”
His mouth came coaxingly down over hers so seductively, it was hypnotizing, lulling her deeper into him with every swipe of his tongue. She went up on her toes, craving more, and boy, did he give it to her. He didn’t just kiss her; he consumed her, tongue plunging, hands roving, hips grinding, drawing every ounce of her into their realm. Her limbs tingled, and her knees weakened. She was dizzy with desire, clinging to him as reality spun away and she lost herself in their world of erotic sensations.
“Whoa!”
They broke apart at the sound of Kellan’s voice, and Dare moved in front of her, just as he’d done with Cowboy all those years ago. Kellan was smiling victoriously.
“Hey, man,” Dare said calmly. “We were just…discussing something.”
“Like if she needed a tonsillectomy?” Kellan laughed.
Billie glowered at him.
He looked right at Billie. “Bad matchmaker my ass. I called it. Do me a favor—bring in another case of Guinness when you’re done discussing.”
As Kellan walked out, Dare pulled her back into his arms, grinning. “Good luck keeping it off the gossip vine now.”
“This is not funny. I have to manage him.” Although she was smiling too, because never in her life had she imagined being caught in a compromising position at work. But ever since Dare dropped out of the sky, it was like the world was pushing them together. Was this another of Eddie’s signs? Or was this just where they were always meant to be?
“Want me to have a talk with Kellan?”
“Hell no. I can handle my own business, but I do need to get back out there.”
He held her tight and palmed her butt, making her warm all over again. Did she really have to go back to work?
“Just one more kiss to hold me over until I get you in my bed tonight,” he said in a low, husky voice.
“And what exactly would you like to do to me tonight?”
As he lowered his lips to hers, he growled, “Everything.”
IT TOOK FOREVER to get to closing time, and Dare must have been on a mission to keep Billie all revved up, because he didn’t miss an opportunity for furtive glances, stolen touches, and dirty whispers under the guise of ordering a drink. Looking forward to being with him felt almost as incredible as it felt to actually be with him.
By the time she closed the bar, she was ready to tear his clothes off in the parking lot. But she wasn’t going to chance getting caught in that kind of compromising position, so she followed him to his cabin, where they came together like ravenous animals, stumbling through the front door in a tangle of messy kisses and greedy gropes.
“I’m sweaty from work,” she said between kisses.
“I like you salty.”
She smiled into their kisses, enthralled by his unrelenting passion, but she needed to rinse off the night’s grime before she let him put his mouth on her. “Does that mean you wouldn’t like me naked in your shower?”
He growled, and the carnal sound pounded through her as he took her in more mind-numbing kisses and they made their way to the master bathroom, which looked nothing like it had years ago. It was just as rugged and unique as Dare, with slate floors, marble walls in hues of blues and browns, dark wood cabinets and black countertops. They stripped each other naked as the shower warmed.
The slate was cold beneath her feet, but her body was hot as fire as they stepped into the enormous shower. Warm water rained down them as he drew her into his arms, devouring her mouth again. His scruff abraded her cheek, and she reveled in it. She was addicted to his kisses, to the heat that blazed between them every time they were together. His body was enticingly slick and deliciously hard. When he drew back with fire in his eyes and reached for the body wash, she instantly missed his mouth and the feel of him against her. But those warm feelings were iced over at the sight of several bottles of pink-green-and-gold body wash on the ledge. “How many women have you had in here?”
“None, why?”
She nodded to the bottles.