“Yeah, sure.” He looked back at Molly. “If there’s some way I can help—”

Molly followed Dare. “You can stay away from my apartment for starters.”

“Right.” When Dare released him, he started to turn toward Molly.

Dare didn’t give him the chance. He opened the door and shoved Adrian out to the hall.

“Wait! What do I tell her sister if she calls me again?”

“You have nothing to tell, right?”

The clear warning hit the mark. “Well…yeah, I know.” Still Adrian waffled. “But—”

“Molly will be in touch with her sister and anyone else she wants to update. It’s no concern of yours. Remember that.” Dare shut the door in his face and then locked it.

Molly bit back a smile. “That was almost mean.”

For long seconds, he stood there staring at her. This was a new look for him, one she hadn’t seen before. He had that same intensity as when enraged, but she knew he wasn’t truly angry over anything. The way he watched her made her feel…warm.

And aware. And…excited.

“Dare?”

“How do you feel, Molly?”

The gravelly tone to his low voice stroked along her nerve endings. The spark of heat in his blue eyes, and the slow rise and fall of his muscled chest, took the strength from her knees.

“I’m good.”

“Not just fine?”

God, was he teasing her? Like a patient predator waiting to pounce, he kept his distance by the door.

Molly licked her bottom lip. “I…” She looked around at her still messy apartment, knowing it didn’t matter. Everything else could wait. But she couldn’t.

She turned back to Dare’s probing gaze. After a deep breath, she said, “If you want the truth, I’m eaten up with wanting you.”

He straightened his posture against the door. His shoulders flexed.

Voice rough and raw, he asked, “Are you sure, Molly?” And then, more harshly, “Tell me you’re sure.”

Seeing him like this, recognizing the lust, affected her, and she couldn’t think of anything to say. Instead, she opened her arms to him.

A low curse, barely audible, left him. In the next instant he had his powerful arms around her. He pulled her up against his body, kissing her hard enough, hungrily enough, to tip her head back.

And Molly loved it.

DARE WAS NOT A MAN to lose control, but the things she made him feel… He wasn’t used to being jealous, but, damn, he had been. Red-hot and enraged with jealousy, and for no other reason than that Molly had once cared for Adrian. Dare thought about taking the fool apart, and he would have, except that it hardly seemed fair. Her ex was pathetic.

What the hell had she ever seen in him?

And then seeing her so strong, so proud… It had damn near put him over the edge. Never before had he thought about the perfect female counterpart to him, but now he knew: Molly defined that woman.

He struggled to get it together, but she didn’t help much. The taste of her, the way her fingertips dug into his shoulders with insistence, and how she lifted into him, pressing into his erection, made rational thought a far-fetched thing.

But he knew what she’d been through, the marks that she still carried and the memories that continued to haunt her. Never would he add to that. He’d sooner die.

“Molly.” Dare opened his mouth on her throat, sucked on her soft, fragrant skin and lowered one hand to her ass. He loved the feel of that firm, plump flesh, kneading her, stroking. “We should slow down,” he said against her throat, “I should slow down.”

“No. Please don’t.” She grabbed his face and brought his mouth back to hers. “No more waiting, Dare.”

“No.” Hell, he couldn’t wait. The need to consume her pushed him.

But he had to know.

Holding her shoulders, he put enough space between them to talk. “The bedroom is okay?”

She nodded, but then paused and asked, “What do you mean?”

“No…” Fuck, he hated this. “Your ass**le boyfriend was here, and we both know he intended to use your bed, so…”

Her expression softened. “Forget Adrian. I don’t think he did anything in there.” She took Dare’s hand and turned to lead him to the room.

He was so charmed by her urgency that he grinned. Lust and humor—who knew? He’d never experienced the combo before.

Molly’s long, fast steps did amazing things to that delectable backside that he’d just been pawing, and he had to say, with heartfelt sincerity, “You have an incredible ass, Molly.”

She smiled at him over her shoulder and tugged him into the room. “Thank you.”

He stood in front of her, the bed right there, her need obvious. Damn, but his hands shook with the wealth of everything he felt. He’d known extreme lust, but he hadn’t known this.

Smoothing her hair back, he bent to kiss her forehead, her cheek, her chin and finally her mouth. “I’ve thought of seeing you, all of you, a hundred times.” He dropped his fingers to the top button of her blouse.

She kept her head down, watching his hands as he opened the blouse little by little. When he reached the button between her br**sts, she sucked in a shuddering breath.

“Dare?”

He kissed her temple, slipped the last button free and opened the blouse. “Hmm?” Damn, she was sexy.

“I still have…marks.”