Her Daring SEAL (Midnight Delta Book 5) Read online

“I’m not going to argue with you, again I’m just thankful you’re here with me now.”

  “Can we talk about something else? Anything else?”

  “Tell me more about your family.”

  He loved seeing the smile that crossed her face.

  “What do you want to know?”

  “Anything you want to tell me.”

  “Well, you’ve heard about Sawyer, right?” Darius nodded. “I still can’t believe he butted in, but it makes me so proud. I would have done the same damn thing. I’m going to tear a strip off him when I get back, but I’m impressed as hell.”

  “How are you going to tear a strip off of him? He’s almost twice your size.”

  “First, make sure there are Brussel sprouts with every meal for a week, then I’ll make him clean out the gutters, but the topper will be when I arrange for the minister and his family to come to dinner.”

  “Why is that a punishment?”

  “They have a daughter.”

  “Does she have a crush on Sawyer?”

  “Big time. She’s in his class, and she’s a total man eater. He can’t run fast or far enough. It’s a hoot to watch.”

  “You’re mean.” Darius brushed a strand of hair back behind her ear. She unconsciously followed his touch, her eyelids becoming heavy.

  “What about the others?” he asked.

  “Charlotte is an angel. Seriously, she is like a gift from God. I’ve met her mother, and I have no idea how she came from that woman. Charlotte is kind, and loving and damn near perfect.”

  “But not totally perfect. What makes her Charlotte?” Darius coaxed.

  “She can be kind of prissy.” Rylie glanced up through her lashes with a small smile. “She’s almost always coming from a loving place, but occasionally she gets up on her little high horse, and then she falls off of it. But the beautiful thing is, she laughs at herself. She realizes what she’s done. She is a wonder.” Darius could picture the girl in his mind.

  “And Georgie?”

  “Georgie has some issues. His diagnosis is unclear. He’s on the autism spectrum, but they also say he has ADHD. It depends on which doctor you talk to on what damn day,” Rylie’s twang was definitely more pronounced. “I say Georgie is Georgie.”

  “Do you really?” he asked gently. She let out a big sigh.

  “No. No, I don’t. That would be doing more harm than good. I’ve worked with doctors and counselors. He is currently taking some meds that are really helping him on his interactions with others. So obviously some of this is organic.” She sighed again.

  “Tell me about him.”

  “Oh, he’s a love. You have to let him come to you in his own way. But when you finally get that hug, it means the world. He’s smart as a whip. I’m not just saying that, Dare. He’s smarter than most kids three years older. He just can’t assimilate socially.”

  “You love him,” Dare stated.

  “I love all of them.”

  “I can’t wait to meet them.”

  “What in the Sam Hill are you talking about?” she asked, her eyes huge.

  “They’re your family, of course, I want to meet them. I want to be part of your life.”

  She snorted. “Yeah, sure you do.”

  “Rylie, I’ve been searching for you for six months. I already told you I haven’t had sex in all that time. That’s the longest dry spell since I turned fifteen. Baby, this is serious for me.”

  “No, it’s not,” she argued. But her tone was half-hearted.

  “Give me something here, Rylie. Fine, if you won’t find it in your heart to let me come and visit your family, tell me something, say something that tells me you want this too.”

  “Your eyes, you have the most beautiful eyes, Dare.” She stroked his cheek, as she looked into his eyes. He gripped her hand and held it to his face, then kissed her palm. God, she did it for him. She could wrap him around her little finger with one sentence.

  “I couldn’t believe it when you actually rubbed my feet. I never dreamed someone would want to do that for me. It was one of my most treasured memories.”

  “Mine too.” Watching her carefully, he dipped his head and brushed a kiss against her slick lips. He still tasted the salt of her tears, but he also tasted woman and want. He pulled back and traced her lips with his thumb.

  “More?”

  “Oh yes.” She smiled, her blue eyes soft and welcoming. “I want a longer kiss.”

  Darius did what he had been longing to do, he sifted his fingers through the silk of her hair. Carefully, because of her injuries, he stroked downwards until he had his arm wrapped around her body so he could pull her close. She struggled to shove down the covers.

  “Give it time, baby. We have all the time in the world,” he assured her.

  “That’s so not true. We don’t know what will happen next.” She struggled to get out from under the duvet.

  “Honey, you’re cold.”

  “Then dammit, get under here with me.” He laughed.

  “Let’s kiss.”

  “That’s what I’m trying to get you to do. Only I want you under the covers with me. Or me outside of the covers with you.” She was serious. She’d been through so much. He didn’t want to take advantage of her vulnerable emotional state.

  “You’re not going to be taking advantage of me.”

  “Oh, you can read minds now?” That was kind of scary.

  “You were broadcasting pretty loudly. I’ll let you know if I’m uncomfortable or if it gets to be too much.”

  “You’re such a liar. Did you ever once tell Roger you didn’t like what he was doing?” She looked down at the bedcovers. “I didn’t think so,” he said.

  “But I’ve liked everything you’ve done so far.” And he thanked God for that. What's more, he wasn’t some selfish fuck. Maybe all the women he had slept with would serve him in good stead.

  “I’m going to take off my shirt, is that all right?” Watching her eyes light up, made him feel ten feet tall. She immediately went to the hem and started pulling it upwards.

  “Honey, I think this is a one-man operation.”

  “I want to help.” Her hands were on his abdomen, and he felt like he had been hit by a jolt of electricity. He yanked the shirt over the top of his head, and she gasped.

  “Dare, you’re gorgeous. I saw pictures of you with your shirt off, but you look so much better in person.” She slid her hands over his pectorals, higher, to his shoulders, and then her fingernails bit in. He groaned. She leaned forward and breathed in his scent, and he was rock hard. It was the sexiest thing he ever experienced in his entire life.

  “You smell so good.” Her tongue peeked out and swirled through his patch of chest hair until she was warming his flesh and he found heaven. He cupped the back of her head and guided her toward his nipple. She swirled and laved, and suddenly his mind started working, and he pulled back. He tipped her chin. He needed to know she wasn’t just doing what she thought he wanted but was actually enjoying this interaction as well. Her eyes were dilated and her face was flushed.

  “What? Did I do something wrong?” She slid her fingers into his hair and tried to pull him down for a kiss, but he was having none of it. It was time his girl learned how to receive.

  “You did wonderfully. Too good as a matter of fact,” he reassured her. She smiled brightly and tried to bend forward, but he wouldn’t let her. “Rylie, if you do any better, I won’t last longer than a teenage boy with his first girl. This is too important, you’re too important.”

  “You’re important too. I want this to be good for you. I want to be good for you. Please let me do this. Please.” Darius, carefully pulled her hands from around his neck, and placed them on the blankets, encasing them in one of his. He cupped her bruised face.

  “Rylie, honey, you do know pleasing you, gives me pleasure, right?”

  “What?” She looked confused. He brushed his thumb against her lower lip.

  “Kissing you, holding you, touchi
ng you, and tasting you is like diving deep into the ocean and getting lost in the current. You sweep me away.”

  “But I’m not doing anything,” she protested.

  “Are you enjoying it?”

  “I do, Dare, I really do.”

  “I hear your sighs of satisfaction, and I about lose my mind.”

  “I want to make love.”

  “We’ll get there.”

  “Now,” she said adamantly. “I want to make love now.” She wrested her hands away from his grip and started to pull at the hem of the shirt she was wearing.

  “Rylie, are you going to deny me one of the things that is my heart’s desire?”

  “Huh?”

  “Let me do this at my pace, okay?” He smoothed the cotton jersey back down over her thighs. God, her thighs. His mouth started to water as he looked at her pale, smooth thighs.

  “You better make it quick.” He laughed.

  “Trust me, I’m on the same page you are.” Rylie was sitting with her back against the headboard. That needed to change. He put one arm under her knees, and the other around her back, and lifted her, then placed her lower on the bed so that she was now lying down looking up at him.

  “I love how strong you are,” she said in a hushed whisper. Dare smiled. She looked delectable, and he drank her in. Her silver blonde hair lay in disarray around her head, her perfectly formed breasts thrust against the sky blue fabric of his T-shirt, her nipples hard. Her legs squeezed together in unconscious need.

  “Dare?” She reached for him.

  “I’m right here.” In this position, the bruising on her throat stood out in stark relief. “How are you feeling, Rylie?” His fingers carefully traced the discolored flesh.

  “I’m feeling pissed off. If you continue to obsess about my injuries, instead of my needy body, I might be forced to get out my knife.”

  Dare shouted with laughter...again.

  “Nobody makes me laugh as much as you do, Rylie Jones.”

  “Well, you’re not making me laugh. You’re pissing me off. You promised me all kinds of things. Touching, tasting, pleasure and you’re not delivering. I was told I would like this sex stuff, and I’m beginning to think you’re all talk.” He bracketed her body with both arms and melded his mouth to hers.

  ***

  More, more, more, more. Rylie opened her mouth, and Darius’ tongue delved in, taking her invitation to twist and tangle. How could a kiss, just this meeting of lips, have her head spinning and her blood heating? He tasted good, a flavor she had never savored before, and she desperately needed more. She captured his tongue and sucked and heard him groan. She, Rylie Jones, just made Dare Stanton groan!

  Why was he pulling away?

  “No, Dare! More!”

  “Need to taste your breasts.” And that was when she realized her shirt was now up around her collarbone. She hadn’t even noticed when he had shoved it upwards. She watched in fascination as one of his big hot hands encompassed her small right breast. It felt magical, her legs twisted, as need pulsed to her core.

  “Are you ready?” She wasn’t ready for anything. But she sure as hell wanted to try everything with this man. She nodded, and he dipped his head and licked across her left nipple. Rylie shrieked at the sheer sensation. Somewhere through the fog, she heard his chuckle, but she didn’t care, she wanted him to do it again. The next time, he did something even better, he licked around her whole nipple, and then finally took the tip into his mouth and sucked. His other hand gently pinched her other nipple in a magically synchronized fashion that had her panting and rolling her head against the pillow. Please God, don’t let him ever stop.

  “Rylie.”

  “Rylie, honey.”

  “You stopped. I didn’t want you to stop.”

  “You’re crying.”

  “It feels so good.” She was cradled in Darius’ arms, one hand still cupping her breast, gently squeezing. She grabbed his hand and mashed it down. “Harder. I need it harder.”

  She saw him assessing, normally she loved his brain, but she didn’t need him thinking, she needed him doing.

  “Let’s slow this train down.”

  “No, Dare. I promise they weren’t sad tears. I promise. I was just a little overwhelmed.” Those beautiful caramel colored eyes searched hers, and he kissed her forehead.

  “You liked what we were doing, didn’t you?” he teased.

  “Oh yeah. No faking for this girl. Please more.”

  “I can’t resist you. I was just worried.” And he had been. She could easily fall in love with this man. His thumb brushed softly against her wide areola. Who was she kidding, she was halfway down the rabbit hole, and already deeply in like with Dare Stanton. Her nipple pebbled under his ministrations, and her legs scissored in response. She needed. Not even when she touched herself had she felt such a punch of raw passion.

  Darius eased his leg in between hers, and she sighed in relief. Her slim legs wrapped around his rock-hard thigh, and she melted, her thin panties getting damp.

  “Dare,” she panted, and he seemed to understand exactly what she meant because he moved his leg ever so slightly, as he again brought his mouth to her breast.

  Up and down, his leg rasped against her core, as around and around his thumb and tongue swirled around her nipple. He was taking her to a world she had never travelled. She called his name, or tried to, but no sound came out. In her head, she chanted his name as a talisman, over and over.

  His hand left her breast, and she sound was finally possible as she let out a bereft wail.

  “Shhh, you’ll like this.” He trailed his fingers downwards, skimming under her panties.

  “You’re so wet for me.” It was like she had said, his fingers had magic. Magic and electricity. He parted the folds of her sex and glided over a knot of nerves that had her crying out in pleasure so intense it was almost pain.

  “Dare!”

  Then he filled her, and she clamped around him, as his thumb rolled back and forth against her clit, taking her higher.

  “Relax, baby, let me in.”

  She tried to, she really did, but she felt so full. But at the same time, it felt so good, everything he was doing felt like something out of her best dreams. Then he did the most diabolical thing possible, he kissed her. Not some ordinary kiss. He kissed her like she was beautiful like she was special like she was the most precious woman on the planet, and her body clenched, and she crashed into paradise.

  Chapter Nine

  When he was absolutely sure she was sound asleep he snuck out of bed and went into the bathroom where he wouldn’t be heard.

  “How is she?” Lydia immediately asked.

  “That fucker strangled her with her purse straps. She could have died.” There was silence on the other end of the phone. Darius didn’t say anything either. What could he say? They all knew the risks, and Rylie was on the frontlines, whether he liked it or not.

  “Where is she?”

  “She’s asleep. My God, I can’t believe what she’s been through.” He exhaled deeply. “The guy’s name was Klein. He had bad breath and blue eyes. Other than that, she knows nothing else about him. Find out what you can about him.”

  “On it,” Lydia said.

  “Anything new going on?” Darius asked.

  “Uncle Liu has pushed up his arrival. He should be there tomorrow. Something is definitely up if they sped things up like that.”

  “I don’t think Albert has any idea his uncle is coming. He’s still acting like the cock of the walk around here. I hate this fuck and the way he treats Rylie.”

  “I thought they were partners,” Lydia said.

  “He’s condescending towards women.”

  Lydia laughed. “Hell, it makes it easier for Rylie.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Yeah, babe, what do you mean?” Clint spoke for the first time on the call.

  “It means he underestimates her. Men who talk down to us don’t realize how smart
we are, and we can usually play them easier.”

  Darius started to laugh. Rylie did seem to be able to play Albert pretty well.

  “Tell us what you found,” Clint asked. “Mason wants a report. He’ll be on the call tomorrow.”

  “They have a facility set-up for women to give birth. They have pregnant women locked up over there on the other side of the island. They’re going to sell the babies.”

  “Oh no!” Lydia exclaimed.

  “I’m sorry, Lydia. The good news is, I don’t think Ursula, the girl who they said committed suicide, is really dead. I think they probably took her and put her here on the baby farm.”

  “We have to stop them before they ever get to the point of selling an infant. We have to.” Lydia sounded near tears.

  “We will,” Clint soothed her. Darius imagined them in their townhouse, with Clint hugging Lydia.

  “We don’t have much time. They talked about one of the women being close to giving birth, and having a buyer set up.”

  “Fuck! How close? Do you know?” Clint asked.

  “It sounded like days, a week at most.”

  “I wonder if it’s why Uncle is coming in early. Maybe he wants to check out this side of the operation before the auction.”

  “Could very well be,” Darius agreed.

  “How’s Rylie taking all of this information?” Lydia asked.

  “I haven’t told her yet. Hell, Lydia, when I first saw her with her face bruised and then seeing the marks on her neck, I couldn’t believe it. Then she got to the room and threw up until there was nothing left. But she bounced back. Nothing stops this woman. And I mean nothing.”

  “Sounds like someone I know,” Clint said fondly. Again Darius could see Clint and Lydia in his mind’s eye. They were perfect for one another.

  “We’ve got to do something to force them to speed up the auction. We can’t let the baby be sold.”

  “Or we can have another buyer for the baby...” Lydia mused.

  “Problem is we don’t know who the fence is for the babies. Meanwhile, Rylie is the one who let’s folks know if more lucrative buyers are coming in for the women. She has the power to move up the auction.”

  “Would the other people purchasing still come if the date changed?” Clint asked.