Daring Her Love (Love in Bloom: The Bradens #10)

Chapter One

IT WAS HIS eyes. Definitely his eyes. They were the type of eyes that said things Kat Martin had spent a lifetime spotting—and the last year avoiding—at Old Town Tavern, the bar where she worked in Richmond, Virginia.

She could spot a player a mile away, from the expensive suit to the open-necked dress shirt, showing just enough skin and a smattering of chest hair to make a girl’s insides quiver.

And boy did this man show it well. Her insides were doing some kind of crazy sex-me-up dance.

Even from across the crowded airport bar, the intensity of the insanely sexy man’s seductive gaze beckoned her, goading her into doing naughty things she had no business doing at this point in her life.

Kat had spent enough years sowing her wild oats.

Ever since her best friend, Brianna, had been swept off her feet by professional race car driver Hugh Braden, Kat had longed for more.

Watching her friend fall blissfully in love with a man who treated Bree and her daughter, Layla, like they were the very heart and soul of his being, Kat had become pickier about men and the treatment she’d accept.

And she had to admit, she was a little lonelier because of it.

Finding a tough alpha male who was also loving, monogamous, and romantic was like searching for a tick in the woods.

Oh boy. Mr. Fuck Me Eyes was on the move, and holy hell, this man didn’t move; he prowled.

Slow, determined steps, clearly meant to amp up Kat’s pulse—Damn, you do it so well—were intensified by eyes radiating power, sex, and sinful promises.

Promises that a year ago Kat would have been aching to explore, but now she was looking for Mr. Right, not Mr. Goodbar.

Sweet Jesus, he had that tousled, just-been-fucked hair thing going on, too, and the perfect amount of scruff covering a not-quite-chiseled chin, which, unfairly, only made him hotter.

And his mouth. Well, fuck me sideways. Kat had a thing for mouths and all the pleasures they could give.

This guy had two sweet bows over a full lower lip, the kind she’d love to sink her teeth into.

She hadn’t had these types of thoughts about a guy in so long that she had to wonder what she’d done to deserve this temptation.

She’d already missed her flight because of a storm.

Did she really need to spend her evening fending off Adonis himself?

He probably had an anaconda in his pants, too. Wouldn’t that just top it all off?

He placed a hand on the back of her chair, and the temperature in the room spiked.

Lowering himself to the seat beside her and smelling like heaven on legs, he looked at her like he’d already staked his claim.

Kat knew guys like him were about notches on belts and conquering prey, and she was done being prey.

She was looking for a bird who would stay in the nest, not a cuckoo flying over it.

She chanced a glance at him, instantly regretting it. His features were well defined and disarmingly youthful, like he’d grown into a man but the rebellious teenager in him refused to completely grow up. A trait Kat knew and loved so much, it caused her mouth to go dry.

He motioned to the bartender. “Bourbon sour, please.”

The drink of bad boys. “Of course.” Shit. She didn’t mean to say it out loud, and from the way his lips quirked up, he obviously knew exactly why she did. She tried to ignore the musky scent permeating her senses, tipped her head back, and gulped down her martini. That’d calm her nerves.

The bartender placed his drink before him.

“Thank you. Can you please get this beautiful lady another of whatever she’s having, too? It seems I’ve driven her to drink by ordering a bourbon sour.” His eyes narrowed just a hair and filled with wickedness that revealed his true cocky colors, and hell if it didn’t turn her on even more.

This was not the way to find Mr. Right.

She didn’t even try to pretend he’d misread her comment. This guy was too sharp for her to play innocent. “Thank you. A lemon-drop martini, please.”

“My pleasure.” He leaned in closer, his knee brushing hers. “I’m Eric.”

His amber eyes were even more alluring up close, a daunting haze of yellow and brown looking at her as if he was thinking about all the things he’d like to do to her and gauging her reaction closely. She shifted in her chair.

“Kat,” she managed.

Eric paid for their drinks and lifted his glass. “To bourbon sours and lemon-drop martinis.” His voice was rich and confident, with an undercurrent of strength and desire. “And whatever else will be.”

Holy. Crap. She could imagine a lot of whatever else, and that was a problem.

She should get up and walk out right now.

Save herself an hour of innuendos that would only leave her wondering why she wasted her time.

This wasn’t a stay-in-the-coop type of guy.

Hell no. This was a sneak-into-the-coop, take-his-fill, and get-the-hell-out sly fox.

She knocked back her drink, relishing the sweetness as it slid down her throat.

He leaned in even closer. “I don’t bite,” he said.

If Kat had learned one thing working at the tavern, it was that there was only one way to handle a guy like this, and that was to beat him at his own game.

“That’s a shame,” she said with a smirk that had slayed many men. She hadn’t played this way in a long time, and reveled in the excitement tickling up her spine.

Eric slid his leg between hers, brushing her inner thigh and causing her dress to inch up, which he followed with his very large, very hot hand. Deliciously lewd thoughts simmered inside her, coalescing with heat prickling her in all the best places.

He leaned in so close she could see sparks of lust in his eyes.

“Darlin’, I’ll bite, nip, suck, lick, and anything else your gorgeous body desires.

I’ll turn you on in ways you never knew possible.

” He hovered there, his cheek a fraction of an inch from hers, his warm breath caressing her ear, and his searing heat seeping into her skin.

Kat. Couldn’t. Breathe.

She loved men, and she loved hot sex, but she’d never find Mr. Right if she was playing around with Mr. Wrong.

This was supposed to be her big starting-over weekend.

She’d officially quit her job and was heading to Colorado so Brianna, a photographer, could take pictures for her website and portfolio.

But Lord did he smell good, and the way those promises slid from his tongue made her believe…

Maybe one last goodbye to the old me…

His fingertips slid beneath the edge of her dress, causing her breathing to hitch in her throat and her hand to cover his, stopping it from moving any farther north.

If her brain was short-circuiting over his voice and his hand on her leg, what would happen if that luscious mouth of his touched her skin?

She needed to break this spell, but it had been a long time since she’d been this turned on—and the idea of turning off the lust coiling deep in her belly was not nearly as enticing as the man before her.

If I do this, I’ll regret it seven seconds after we’re done.

He leaned back just enough for his face to come back into focus, and her resolve slipped away like silk off skin.

“Or,” he said, his gaze penetrating and controlling, “I can be gentle, tender, and make it last all night.”

Yes, please.

Kat needed to get ahold of herself. “Awfully confident for a guy who’s only said a handful of words to me.”

A coy, smoky smile curved his lips, bringing as much heat as his hand tightening around her thigh.

“I’m a man who knows what I want, and I know how to pleasure a woman.

And you”—he lifted his hand from her leg, leaving a wanting ache low in her belly, as he traced the edge of her jaw with his finger—“look like someone I once knew, which makes me a little bawdy.”

She didn’t know what to make of that comment, but his gaze was too distracting for her to think.

His brows knitted together, and even the amber rims of his eyes seemed to darken.

God he was beautiful, in an unforgettable kind of way.

Kat swallowed past the lust threatening to drown her, and forced words from her lungs.

“Excuse me for a moment. I need”—room to breathe—“to visit the ladies’ room.”

“Of course.” His hand sank to her thigh again, then dragged down to her knee as he sat back casually, as if he hadn’t just set her world on fire.

Kat stood on legs way too wobbly, and as she shimmied her dress down her thighs, he rose beside her.

The perfect gentleman. Oh, he is good. Why had she thought it was a smart idea to wear the slinky dress Brianna had sent her?

She should have worn jeans or sweats. Something that wouldn’t have gotten her into this position.

And why was he standing so close, sending incendiary thoughts about what he’d feel like lying above her, with those muscular thighs pressing down on her?

“Don’t get lost now,” he said as she took a step away.

She felt his eyes on her as she walked down a long, dimly lit hallway to the ladies’ room and fumbled for her cell phone. She called Brianna, silently hoping Brianna would tell her to run.

“Hey, did you get on a flight?” Brianna asked.

“I’m about to get on something if you don’t stop me,” she said, nearly breathless.

“What? Kat, are you okay?”

“No. Yes. Fuck. Bree, I don’t know.” She paced the bathroom floor, her heels echoing off the tile.

“Okay, slow down. What’s going on? It’s okay if you can’t get a flight. Hugh has a friend coming out from Virginia at some point. I’m not sure when because of the storm, but he can probably come save you from whatever’s going on.”

“Save me? Yeah, that’d be great if he can get here in the next thirty seconds, because I’m flirting with danger, and danger has never looked so good.”

Brianna laughed. “Wait. Are we talking about a guy? You’re at an airport—remember, Kat?”