Dare to Resist (a Wedding Dare novella) (Entangled Brazen) Read Free

nickname she knew he found equally grating. His gaze was almost a physical caress on her face and breasts, but Kady refused to meet it because she didn’t want him to see that his words had affected her again. But in truth, the stupid little term of endearment curled anger into her belly because it took her right back to the night three years before when the competitiveness and tension between them had flashed red hot and led to the single most intense sexual experience of her life. And they hadn’t even had sex. Not because she hadn’t wanted to, but because Colton had developed second thoughts and declared the whole thing a mistake.
    The wheels caught in another pothole that tossed Kady in her seat.
    Their hookup had happened at the party welcoming Colton home from the military. Before that night, she’d only seen him now and then when he’d come home on leave and hung out with her brother. But that night, from the moment she’d seen Colton out on the back deck leaning against the railing, beer in hand and absolutely glorious smile on his suntanned face, he’d totally stolen her breath. During his two tours in the army, he’d gone from a gorgeous boy to an incredibly hot man who had the filled-out, muscular body, survival skills, and wartime experiences to justify the arrogance that had always been part of his personality. Her friend Regan, who had a knack for summing people up in just three words, didn’t refer to Colton as a loyal, driven badass for nothing.
    Kady could certainly agree with the “ass” part anyway.
    “ Well, damn. Is that really you, cupcake ?” Those were the first words he’d said to her that night. The nickname had been cute for about five minutes when she’d been, like, thirteen, and afterward he’d continued to call her that simply because he knew it annoyed her.
    And though she’d teased right back that eight years in the military apparently hadn’t changed him at all, it hadn’t taken her long to realize that wasn’t actually the case. Because all night, Colton had looked at her differently. Like, for the first time in their lives, he actually saw her , and not just Tyler’s little sister. Her. Kady. The twenty-three-year-old woman.
    After hours of circling each other and subtle glances that had turned more brazen the later it had gotten, he’d walked into the pool house after she’d changed into her bikini and stared at her like a starving man at a feast. “Problem ?” she’d asked. And his answer to the question had been to close them in one of the dressing rooms, kiss her senseless, and make her scream his name not once but twice, first with his thick fingers and then with his mouth. God, between his dirty talk and rough handling he’d had her so out of her mind she’d freaking begged for him to fuck her. In that moment, nothing else had mattered but him burying himself as deep inside her as he could go.
    Then her brother—who had the gift of perhaps the worst timing in the history of man—had come looking for Colton, and the sound of Tyler’s voice had totally thrown Colton out of the moment and sent him flailing back from her like she was a snake that might strike him down.
    What was worse was that, in college, Regan and Kady’s sorority sister Christine had predicted that outcome—both how incendiary Kady and Colton would be if they ever gave in to the chemistry brewing between them and the fact that he’d pull a duck and cover. Which was exactly what he’d done. But had Kady listened? Nope. She’d led with her body instead of her brain and gotten her heart stomped on for her trouble.
    Ugh, whatever .
    Thunder crashed above them, pulling Kady out of the memory. She wished she could make out some detail of the passing scenery through the rain-blurred windows because she really didn’t need to dwell on how he’d commanded her body that night, nor on the humiliating words he’d said afterward. Not with the man himself sitting two feet in front of