Page 26 of The Dating Dare

“What? I’m—”

She stopped protesting when he plopped a forkful of brownie right into her open mouth. She tried giving him a narrowed-eye look, but once she chewed and the brownie melted in her mouth, her eyes slid closed.

Tara accepted the next mouthful eagerly. The air had stilled like a vacuum around them, and their breaths grew shallow. Every bite he fed her was exquisite torture, but he craved for more. Finally, he couldn’t hold back a second longer, so instead of feeding her another forkful, he said, “One bite.”

Before she could respond, he pressed his mouth against hers. The first touch was feather light, tentative. When she didn’t pull away, he licked her bottom lip and was gratified by the parting of her lips. Like a man starved, he dipped his tongue into her mouth and found it to be a heavenly place of heat, flavored with rich chocolate and buttery caramel.

He moaned helplessly, never wanting his one bite to end. The tip of her tongue teased his, and her hands lifted to fist around his T-shirt, tugging him closer. He growled and pulled her onto his lap, splaying his hands on her back. When she whimpered and wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, his eyes nearly rolled back into his head. He’d imagined kissing her countless times, but this topped them all. It was almost too much.

This time there was no ball to interrupt them, but his annoyingly reasonable brain interrupted his lust-fogged thoughts.We’re in themiddle of a park with nothing to shield us from view.If he kissed her any longer, he might lose his mind and rip her shirt off.

He managed to tear his lips away from hers. “Tara.”

She whimpered and fidgeted on his lap. He was beyond tempted to shut his brain down, so he could take her right there. And get them arrested. He placed a lingering kiss on the line of her jaw, then behind her ear, then finally on her forehead.

“If you keep kissing me like that, I’m going to take you in the middle of a park,” he murmured against her skin, not quite ready to stop touching her.

“Holy shit.” Tara practically jumped off his lap, her cheeks stained deep red, and scrambled away on her hands and feet. As aroused as he was, he couldn’t ignore her resemblance to a crab. He held on to that image, trying to put the brakes on the launch sequence.

“I know.” He raked his fingers through his hair. “It seems we’re dabbling in some dangerous magic.”

“Right? Caution: No kissing in public. Might rip each other’s clothes off.” She laughed shyly as she fanned her face with her hands.

“You’re killing me. You know that?” he choked out, vividly imagining ripping her clothes off.

“No. You’re not there, yet. You’ll know when I’m trying to kill you,” she promised, biting her bottom lip. He was doing it. He was going to jump her in the park. Then a slow smile spread across her face. “Softly. With my words.”

“God. That’s horrible,” Seth said, laughing so hard he had to clutch his side to breathe. “You’re supremely talented at telling dad jokes for someone who isn’t a dad.”

“See. You’re fine now.” She flicked a glance at his jeans. “If you’re decent, we should pack up and get going. I think our Save the Prince game ate up our riverside-walk time. I need to get home.”

“Home?” He didn’t want to part with her already.

What happened to his plan to have her all to himself? Well, he chose to share her with a bunch of adorable kiddos. How could he have said no to that? But in hindsight, he regretted his decision just a little. He wasn’t ready to let Tara go.

“Yeah. I told my brother I was going out to run errands. I can’t believe I didn’t have a better excuse. Sorry.” Her shoulders drooped. “There are only so many errands I could hypothetically run.”

“Let’s get you home then.” At least, she wanted to stay longer with him, too.

He grabbed the nearest container and began cleaning up the remains of the picnic. As he’d predicted, they’d eaten up pretty much everything he’d packed. Tara joined in right away. Every accidental touch of her hand and a bump of her elbow sent electricity striking down his spine. From the way her eyes shot to meet his, she felt the same spark.

They worked silently and efficiently and loaded everything back into his car within minutes. The air in the car was charged as he drove her back home. He snuck a peek at her, but looked away blushing when their eyes met.Christ. He was acting like a love-sick kid.

“Can you pull up here? I’ll walk the rest of the way,” Tara said, a block away from her house.

“You’re taking this sneaking-around business pretty seriously.” He shifted the gear into park, and turned to face her.

“You better, too, if you don’t want our next date to be dinner with my family.” She unbuckled her seat belt. “Like you promised, I had fun today. Thank you for the lovely picnic.”

“My absolute pleasure.” He sat awkwardly for a second, wondering if it would be okay to kiss her again. But he remembered their kiss in the park and settled for a quick peck on her cheek. He wouldn’tbe able to handle anything more if the goal was to let her go home. “Bye.”

“Bye.” Tara placed a sweet lingering kiss on his cheek in return.

He clenched his fists, fighting the urge to pull her against him, and watched her get out of the car. Long after she disappeared from the rearview mirror, Seth exhaled and unclenched his hands. Then he reached over to crank up the AC.

If he wanted any chance of sleeping that night, he better hit the gym hard.

CHAPTER SIX

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