The Dating Dare Page 8

  “Someone you know?” Seth asked, glancing over. “Are you sure we don’t need to take cover?”

  Tara laughed, her anxiety easing after the initial panic. “We don’t really hang out in the same crowd, so I’m not too worried about her spotting us together. Besides, a picnic is hardly gossip-worthy.”

  “Good to know,” he said. “Ready for dessert?”

  “Which one? There are so many to pick from.” In the guise of looking over the desserts, Tara scooted back to create more space between them. Although she wasn’t overly worried, there was no harm in being extra careful.

  “Why do you have to pick?” Seth grinned at her, eyes twinkling. “Just eat a few bites of every single one. I promise you there won’t be any leftovers.”

  “I like the way you think.” She rubbed her hands together, eyeing the desserts with renewed greed. “Why eat just one when you can eat them all?”

  “Exactly.” He methodically opened all the containers and lined them up in front of her. “Go for it.”

  Tara went for the slice of black-sesame and white-chocolate cake. The nuttiness and mild bitterness of the black sesames and the smooth sweetness of the white chocolate was a match made in heaven. The thick, dark cream, the soft white mousse, and the moistest genoise cake filled her mouth with incredible texture and a tornado of flavors. She’d eaten at least twelve dozen of them, but she still couldn’t stop the whimpering moan that escaped her lips.

  Her eyes had involuntarily slid shut. When she opened them, Seth was staring at her with such heat in his eyes that she stopped breathing. “You … you want a bite?”

  “Yes.”

  That was the single hottest word she’d ever heard, and she was certain it wasn’t the cake that he wanted a bite of. She wanted to jump him. Just literally straddle his lap and kiss the living daylights out of him. But she couldn’t give into the temptation, especially with an audience nearby. Instead, she scooped up some cake on her fork and extended it to him, thinking it would be harmless. Seth leaned forward, wrapped his lips around her fork, and claimed the delectable morsel. He licked a speck of snowy confectioner’s sugar from the corner of his mouth. Her lips parted and she forgot where they were. She wanted to flick aside his tongue so she could lick the sugar away instead.

  He chewed and moaned much like she had, and warmth pooled at her center. She realized Aubrey named the cake Cloud Nine for this reason. It was foodgasmic.

  She didn’t know what she was doing. She certainly hadn’t ordered her torso to stretch and lean toward Seth. When he moved to meet her in the middle, the lust in her veins sang Hallelujah.

  Their lips were only inches apart, and she could feel his breath against her lips. The kiss that would quench her thirst was so close that her mouth watered. Their breath quickened in harmony, their inhale and exhale mingling and blending.

  “Oof,” he suddenly grunted, spinning away from her.

  What the hell? Where was her kiss? Tara sat up when Seth scrambled to his feet and retrieved a soccer ball by their picnic blanket.

  “My friend accidentally kicked the ball over here.” A girl with corn-silk hair ran up to them, holding her hands out for the ball. “He’s sorry, but he’s too scared to come over himself.”

  “That’s okay. It was an accident.” Seth’s expression smoothed into a gentle smile as he handed the ball to her. “It’s very brave of you to come over to apologize for your friend.”

  “Thank you.” With a wave she bounded away to her waiting friends.

  Tara was much more annoyed than Seth that the rude soccer ball interrupted their kiss. The disappointment was brutal, and she was tempted to stab the ball with her fork to deflate it. Then it hit her. They’d almost kissed. Holy heck. A picnic could be brushed aside, but a kiss would provide enough fodder for town gossip. She went limp with relief that they were interrupted.

  Even after the close call, watching Seth interact with the little girl so sweetly made her heart melt, making her want to flutter her lashes and moon over him. Ugh. She wished she could rub some dirt on herself and be rid of the warm and fuzzy feels. She was never this emotional. She blamed the lingering effects of Aubrey’s wedding for her uncharacteristic sentimentality. Weddings were definitely going on her allergic-to list along with haikus and rainbows on rainy days.

  Everything about their date so far was unexpected. He wasn’t what she’d expected. He was kind, considerate, and endearing. The version of Seth in her mind was cocky, superficial, and entertaining. He was still cocky and entertaining, but superficial just didn’t fit with her impression of him today.

  The girl with the pale gold hair ran back to them and said in a breathless voice, “We need a prince.”

  “A prince?” Tara said, arching an eyebrow. Did she mean Seth? He did make a rather swoony fairy-tale prince. But the bigger question was whether Tara was willing to share. “What for?”

  “To rescue, of course,” the girl said with a duh expression. “None of the boys want to play the prince who’s locked up in the tower. Now we have no one to rescue. Then what are we princesses supposed to do? Sit and wait for some clueless prince to come rescue us? No, thank you.”

  Seth pulled his eyebrows down to hide his grin and said in a serious voice, “Well, I’d be honored. I would love to be rescued by a beautiful princess.”

  The girl blushed and twirled a piece of her hair. Gee, even a seven-year-old wasn’t immune to his charms.

  “I’m Gwen by the way,” she said by way of introduction.

  “I’m Seth, and this is Tara.”

  “Okay. Come with me.” Gwen grabbed Seth’s hand and tugged him to his feet. “I need you to climb up that tree and sit on one of the branches.”

  “Wait. What about Tara?”

  “Yeah. What about me?” Tara asked. “Can I be a princess, too? I’ll help you girls rescue the prince.”

  “No, we already have too many princesses.” Gwen gave Tara a once-over. “I guess you can be the dragon that’s holding the prince hostage.”

  “I like the sound of that.” Seth’s eyes twinkled with humor. “I think she’ll make an excellent lady dragon.”

  “Meh,” the girl said, drawing a huff of affronted laughter from the lady dragon. Tara obviously hadn’t won over the little date crasher with her wit and charm. And she couldn’t help noticing that Gwen still held tightly onto Seth’s hand. “She’ll be okay, I guess.”

  “Thanks?” Tara said as she bemusedly tagged along with the handholding couple leading the way.

  Once she cut it out with the ridiculous possessiveness, her heart started puddling again. Seth was so wrong about not knowing what to do with children. He was fantastic with them, and it was so sweet of him to play the prince-in-distress for them.

  “Sorry about the interruption,” he said close to her ear. He’d broken away from the circle of children and came to stand next to her. “I’m sure they’ll tire of us soon and let us return to our picnic.”

  “So you don’t know what to do with children, huh?” She bumped her shoulder against his biceps, and he bumped her back.

  “Gwen was sweet enough to let me join her group. I really didn’t do anything.”

  Tara sighed. He was endearing her to death. “Well, here she comes to lock you up in your tower. Good luck.”

  “Are you going to let the princesses rescue me?” He tucked his chin and looked at her through his lashes.

  The look alone could charm the pants off anyone within a mile radius. I will fight off every single one of these adorable girls if you keep looking at me like that. “Lady Dragon will do as she pleases.”

  With one last devastating smile, Seth was escorted to the tree where he would be imprisoned. Tara trailed after them again, guessing she needed to be stationed there as well to play the evil dragon. She had to admit, she was feeling the part.

  * * *

  He climbed the thick-trunked tree—aware that he was trying to impress Tara like a dumbass—and settled down on a sturdy branc
h hanging a few feet above the ground.

  The rules of the game stated that the princess who defeated the lady dragon and her gremlin minions, played by the boys who refused to be the incarcerated prince, would win their happily ever after with the prince.

  The game seemed like flag football with a fantasy theme at first. Then it evolved into something like freeze tag. The children wore belts with flags hanging off of them and chased each other around screaming murder. The gremlins roared and aggressively held their defensive positions, but when the ferocious princesses rained their wrath on them, they faltered.

  The best thing about the game was that the battle raged a few feet away from the tree, and the prince could flirt with the lady dragon. Tara stood with her arms across her chest, leaning against the tree trunk, and watched the children with a gentle curve of her lips. She was nothing short of breathtaking.

  “Do you think you’ll have a change of heart and let me free?” he asked in a low voice.

  “The question is, does Lady Dragon have a beating heart or one made of hard, jagged stone?” Her expression transformed into something mischievous and saucy that made his stomach fall and slam back into place.

  “Would Lady Dragon turn into a beautiful princess if the prince kisses her?”

  “Maybe the prince will turn into a dragon when she kisses him.”

  Seth wanted to jump down from his perch and kiss the hell out of his captor, whether he turned into a dragon or not. Tara came to stand below him and wrapped a hand around his calf, and he felt electricity jolt up his legs. He reached down and buried his hand into her long strands and tilted her head to meet his eyes.

  “Come up here,” he growled.

  “Now you’re commanding me?” she said imperiously, while color suffused her cheeks. “How dare you, trifling human?”

  “I’m coming down.” Releasing her hair, he swung one leg over the branch.

  “No, you’re not,” she said, looking over her shoulder. “We have eyes on us, remember?”

  “We’re getting out of town for our second date,” he said darkly, glaring at her for being unfairly beautiful. She blushed and opened her mouth, but whatever was on the tip of her tongue didn’t get a chance to roll off.

  “Ahh!” Gwen screeched, running toward them. “The dragon has put a spell on the prince. She’s trying to eat him.”

  Tara snorted but turned to face the girl with a scowl on her face. “You dare disturb me? I will fly away with the prince. Leave me in peace.”

  She then stuck her arms out and flapped them around like great, sweeping wings and chased the little princesses around. They scattered, giggling and screaming. The gremlins forgot which side they were on and chased Tara around, approaching her as close as they dared and then retreating. Despite their standoffish attitude toward the evil dragon in the beginning, the kids clamored to her for more.

  In the end, the kids went off for some snacks and juice. They forgot about the prince locked away in the tower altogether. Seth jumped down from the branch and strode over to Tara. She met him halfway, her face infused with pink after all the running around.

  “So you defeated all my rescuers, huh?”

  “They never had a chance.” She smirked. “Besides, why should the princesses always get the prince? Dragons deserve happily ever afters, too.”

  “You’re absolutely right,” he said, taking a step closer to her. Seeing Tara like this made something in his heart clench tight, and he liked it. “Well, are you going to claim your prize?”

  “My prize?” She widened her eyes much too innocently. “Oh, you mean the rest of our dessert. First one to the blanket gets to eat it all.”

  She took off before he could respond. Her long legs carried her quickly across the grass, and Seth barely caught up with her. He tackled her and dragged her down with him, landing on his back to break her fall.

  “We have a tie,” he said when she lifted her face from his shoulder. “We’re going to share our dessert like civilized people.”

  “Are you sure about that?” Her triumphant grin had him twisting his torso to see where her outstretched arm went. Her index finger was poking into the picnic blanket. “Ha! I won. It’s all mine.”

  He lay back down on the grass in defeat, but Tara didn’t get off him right away. She smiled down at him for a moment before lowering her head to plant a kiss on his cheek. He nearly swallowed his own tongue. Weren’t they supposed to appear platonic? To hell with platonic. He felt the caveman in him rise, and his fingers dug into her waist. Their eyes met, and their breath quickened. He lifted his head off the ground, and Tara lowered hers, her silky hair forming a curtain to one side.

  “You guys. You guys.” Gwen’s clear, ringing voice interrupted them once more. Dammit. What happened to his alone time with Tara? “My mom says we have to go now. Thanks for being the prince, Seth, even though you really didn’t do much other than sit on a tree branch. But, Tara, you were such an awesome dragon. I want to be a ferocious dragon next time. It’ll be so cool.”

  “We had fun, too.” Tara smiled warmly at the little girl.

  “It was great meeting you,” Seth said sincerely. She and her friends were too adorable. “Sorry I wasn’t more interesting, locked away in the tree. Next time, I’ll recite a poem or something.”

  “You’re silly.” Gwen giggled into her hand. “I have to go now. You could go back to kissing or whatever.”

  Belatedly, Seth realized he was still holding Tara firmly by the waist as she lay on top of him. Not that he minded. They should listen to Gwen and go back to kissing or whatever. But as anticipated, the moment was over and Tara scrambled off him and dusted imaginary grass off her leggings.

  Needing a moment to gather himself, Seth sat down on the picnic blanket and set out the desserts for Tara. “You won fair and square, so here’s your bounty.”

  “I’m not a total monster,” she said, settling down across from him. “I’ll let you have one bite.”

  “That’s all right. I’m happy to watch you eat all the dessert,” he said in a low, teasing voice. “Just remember to do it slowly.”

  “Shush for a minute. This is going to be fun.” Tara rolled her eyes, but color blossomed on her cheeks. “There’s this Korean food-fighter show where one contestant doesn’t get to eat with the rest of his friends. But as he watches them eat delectable, mouthwatering entrée after entrée, he can choose to ask for one bite. Only one. Basically, he piles up a spoon with all the food he can fit on it, and shoves the giant spoonful into his mouth all at once. You’d be amazed how much food can be piled onto a spoon. Anyway, that’s my offer. The one bite chance.”

  “That does sound fun.” He grinned widely. Watching her lick and moan her way through all the desserts was tempting, but a bite of dessert was always welcome. He had his eyes on the brownie with salted caramel. “I’m game.”

  With a smile that lit up her face, Tara opened the container that held her first choice, Japanese cheesecake with a hint of yuzu. She tucked in fluffy morsel after fluffy morsel of the moist, light-as-air cheesecake with ecstasy on her face. His mouth watered with hunger and lust. She then moved on to her next indulgence, chestnut mousse cake.

  “This is so good,” she moaned. “Man, you’re really missing out. You sure you don’t want one bite?”

  “No, thanks. I’m not that tempted.” He was tempted. He wanted to bury his tongue in her mouth and taste the sweet nuttiness she held within.

  “Your loss.” Humming happily, she demolished dessert number 2.

  She finally moved on to her third dessert, the salted caramel brownie. His absolute favorite. But he couldn’t just watch this time. He was so turned on, he couldn’t sit still. With the children and their moms gone, they had this side of the park to themselves. It should be safe to have their date be more date-like.

  “Let’s change up the game a little.” He looked at her with hooded lids, not bothering to hide his desire. “This time, I get to feed you.”

  �
�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 the middle 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.