HazardsDare Read online

  “I respect Alex for being up front with his clients when he decided to come out. Even if there’d been a backlash, he’d made the choice and wouldn’t have backed down from it. That’s the kind of agent I want handling my career.”

  “He’s chosen the right career. Dad wanted him to be a corporate lawyer or politician or something along those lines.”

  “If he’d chosen law, he’d have excelled. It’s difficult to imagine Alex Grant failing at anything. He knows what his clients need and makes sure our contracts are sound and factor in the future. He’s already looking into an agent to represent my music career.”

  Avery nodded and smiled. “He found a literary agent for Kyran Black, who got him a lucrative book deal. Not to mention my friend Cassie’s sister, Alessandra, had written a series of erotic romance books before she’d died. With Alexander’s help, those books are being published.”

  “I’d like to read them when they’re available. Admittedly, Jax has more knowledge regarding the publishing industry than I do.”

  “Something tells me Jaxon Wynter is a complicated man.”

  “He can be.” Looking much like he wanted to change the subject, Hazard pushed away from the table. “Still nibbling on the sweet potato fries or can I clear off the table?”

  “You don’t need to do that.”

  “Since I’m staying here, might as well make myself useful.”

  Avery stood up, frowning. “It’s a matter of stacking dishes on the cart and putting it outside the door. We can do it together.”

  He didn’t object and they made quick work of cleaning up the table, saving the remainder of the fries in a Styrofoam container that’d been stuffed under the cart and sticking it in the fridge. Avery stacked the platters and domes on the cart. There were two sodas left. Hazard stuck them in the fridge with the fries.

  Curiously, she looked around for a clock to see what time it was. It felt as if a lifetime had passed since she’d opened the door to the Truth or Dare Club. In reality, it’d been three hours.

  “Wow, it’s getting late. You mentioned having plans in the morning. If you need to go, it’s okay. I can handle the rest of this stuff.”

  “Thought I’d made it clear, I’m staying here,” Hazard corrected.

  “All night?”

  “If you’ll have me, I’d like to stay until you leave.”

  Gaping at him, it took her a minute to grasp what he was saying. “Doesn’t that kind of break the whole no-strings-attached rule?”

  “Do you want me to leave, Avery?” He came up to her then, his eyes on her face.

  “No. I like having you here. I simply don’t want to put pressure on you. I’m aware that we’re a week-long deal.”

  Hazard ran his finger down her nose, studying her closely. “I thought we agreed to break the rules? There’s a warehouse-sized box of condoms in your drawer that I aim to deplete before you leave.”

  Giggling a little about the condoms, she thought he should know why they were there. “Uh, Hazard, they were a joke from my friends back home. The fact is, despite the red dress and makeover, I wouldn’t have hooked up with a stranger.”

  “Now that I’ve gotten to know you better, I believe you. The sensible you would have come out. There’s nothing wrong with that, Avery. I hope you don’t come to regret your decision to take a chance with me.”

  “Being with you is a dream come true. I wasn’t lying when I said I wanted to try everything with you. We’re in Dare and anything goes without anyone but the two of us knowing, right?”

  “Anything with me can be scary, baby. Keep that in mind. But if you’re open, I’m game. Not to mention there are vibrating condom rings and a fingertip vibe included in that box of condoms. Yeah, baby, I’m already hard thinking about trying them with you.”

  Looking down at the towel around his waist, she saw that he wasn’t joking. The towel was stretched to its limits. All she’d need to do was give it a shove.

  “Hmm, guess I should take care of that for you,” she said, boldly licking her lips as she stared at his substantial erection. “Stay the night or however long you want, Hazard. Right now, I’m going to make you a happy man.”

  Taking matters into her hands, she snagged the knot at his side and jerked the towel off. Hard as a flagpole, his cock was massive and heavy and aimed right at her. “Sweet mercy, I need to taste you again.”

  “Avery, wait, condom lube might not taste so good,” he warned a second before she went to her knees before the biggest erection she’d ever had the fortune of exploring.

  “No worries, the purple condoms are grape flavored. I want your cock. I want to lick it and suck it and fuck it. First, I’m going to stroke it.”

  Keeping her eyes on his face, she slid her hands up the sides of his calves to his thighs to his splendid cock. “Beautiful,” she praised, wrapping her fingers around his girth and giving him a tight-fisted stroke.

  “You are,” he told her.

  He touched her head, combing her hair back from her face and compelling her to stare up at him. Lost in his unusual amber gaze, she felt the impact like a volcano erupting deep in her soul.

  Putting more strength into her strokes, she gave him the attention he deserved. It took only a nudge of his hand to get her to bring him to her mouth and kiss the glistening satiny head.

  Wrapping her tongue around him, she loved the way his eyes narrowed, his mouth tightened and his abs clenched. She had him where she wanted him, right where she needed him. His pleasure was hers for the taking.

  He tasted salty, male, aroused, enhanced with grape. Yet she preferred the taste of his essence, drinking down the precum greedily. None too gently, he gripped her hair, jerking hard enough to sting, but she welcomed the roughness.

  Getting rough didn’t frighten her, not a bit. Roughness meant he liked it. Giving him what he’d asked for, she parted her lips, letting him thrust into her mouth. All of a sudden, he roared impatiently, grasped her about the arms and jerked her to her feet.

  “To bed with you, vixen, now,” he commanded, hefting her up into his arms and carrying her there.

  A cloud of soft covers welcomed them. Avery would have wanted to keep up the oral attention, but Hazard wasn’t having it. He wrestled her for dominance, pinning her down and somehow grabbing a condom off the table.

  Before getting lost in each other, he sheathed himself, flipped over to his back and brought her around to straddle his hips. “Ride me like your favorite horse, baby. Be wild. Be free.”

  Avery smiled, allowing him to help her get into place. It didn’t take long to feel him enter her.

  But he refused to let her drive herself down too fast, making sure she felt every single inch. Penetrated to the hilt, she finally rocked as he bucked, riding him into oblivion.

  Chapter Four

  Waking up with Avery was an unexpected pleasure, one that Hazard wasn’t sure he could part with when the week was over.

  At the moment, she lay right up against his side, her head was on his chest and she felt like the part of him that’d been missing since his divorce…his heart.

  They’d fucked several times during the night, each time becoming more intimate until they’d fallen asleep still joined. Now that was something that’d never happened before and something he didn’t want to relinquish.

  Perhaps when their vacation was over, they could talk about taking things a step further than a week. She kept saying she didn’t want a relationship. He’d been truthful with her. He hadn’t wanted one either. But sometime during the night their intentions shifted, and as scared as he was of commitment, he wasn’t afraid of Avery.

  Wrapping one arm around her waist, he slowly ran his free hand through her soft-as-silk hair. It was incredibly pretty. He was mesmerized.

  “Time to wake up, baby,” he whispered, nudging her some.

  Avery was a sound sleeper. She wasn’t a morning person. She harrumphed something against his chest and fucking bit at his ribs. Not hard enough to
hurt. Just hard enough to get his morning wood ready and rearing to go.

  “Sleep, we’re on vacation,” she mumbled, nestling farther into the crook of his arm.

  “Breakfast is coming soon. Waffles, strawberries, coffee and bacon, any chance that sounds good?”

  “Um-hmm, delicious, rather be sleeping or have you fuck me.”

  “You gonna bite me again?” he asked, already reaching over as far as he could until he snagged a strip of condoms from the table.

  Thankfully, he’d remembered to set a couple there for the morning after he’d ditched the last condom when he’d gotten up to use the bathroom. He hoped it wasn’t a purple one.

  What was up with neon purple anyway?

  “Only if you let your erection soften,” she admitted in a voice hoarse from sleep.

  Kicking the duvet off them and down to the bottom of the bed, he shifted out from under Avery to kneel beside her. She groaned out load, growling and mewling like a kitty cat. Then he saw her roll onto her stomach, her hand disappearing underneath herself.

  “Let’s see what I can do to put you in a better mood,” he said.

  “Fuck me, that’ll do. As it is, I’m finger-fucking myself. There’s a dildo in the bedside drawer that’ll help.”

  And here Hazard thought he was horny first thing in the morning. Avery wasn’t grumpy. She was desperate to fuck. Her hips ground downward into the mattress, likely into her hand.

  “Baby, you have the sweetest ass,” he praised, watching the way she shifted and gyrated.

  Moving quickly, he opened up the drawer, chose the fingertip vibrator and returned. It took less than a minute to roll the Trojan on and slip the vibe onto his finger.

  It was soft and flexible. Turning it on, the vibrations seemed to get Avery going even more. He hadn’t even used it on her yet and she was grinding herself harder and faster.

  “Slow down, I’ve got this for you,” he promised, bringing her up to her knees.

  Moving up close to her ass, he hugged her with one arm, kissing the back of her neck, his cock finding her sweet spot and filling her with a controlled surge of his hips. The snug grip of her hot pussy felt beyond good. It felt amazing.

  “Ohmigod, finally,” she ground out into her pillow. “Fuck me! What are you waiting for?”

  “For you to feel how deep I aim to go,” he answered, taking her the way he wanted.

  The position afforded him the ability to control how deep he went, how fast he fucked her. Only after he was seated as far as possible did he withdraw and thrust.

  Avery shoved back at him, arching her back, taking him for a ride. Loving the challenge she offered up, he reared back, steadying himself by putting his hand on her pretty ass. On a thrust, he swatted her butt, grunting at the way she flexed her inner muscles in retaliation.

  For a minute or two, he let her think she had the upper hand. Only after Avery was shouting to let anyone within hearing distance know she was about to come did he slip his vibrating finger into position.

  “Oh! Oh, yes, Hazard!” she shouted, her animalistic growls turning him on to the point that he almost came before she did.

  He wasn’t letting that happen. They would come together.

  Letting the fingertip vibe work her clitoris something good, he gave up holding back and rocked into her with such force the bed smacked into the wall. Avery didn’t seem to mind. He sure as hell didn’t.

  Fucking her first thing in the morning was incredibly fun. Gone was the woman demanding more sleep, in her place was a woman capable of taking him on and giving it right back.

  Amazed by the vibrations shimmering through her into him and the strength of her legs that kept her steady for the pounding he was giving her, he fucked hard. Every time he slammed deep, she shouted for more.

  If he could, he’d fuck her for an eternity if she let him.

  Curious as to what her pussy would feel like squeezing his bare cock, he ignored the temptation. Too soon, it was too soon for that. But not too soon to carry out every fantasy she’d ever had.

  “Hazard, I’m coming!” she cried out, her inner muscles clamping down on his shaft right as he sank deep into her core and stayed there, her orgasmic spasms setting him off like a rocket.

  “With you, baby, right with you,” he promised, holding still while her inner muscles milked him dry.

  Voice caught in his throat and heart pounding, Hazard slowly drew out of her, took off the vibe and condom and tossed the latter into the trash. Avery collapsed down on the bed. She was so silent, he thought she’d fallen asleep.

  “Avery?”

  “Hmm,” she hummed in satisfaction, still not moving much.

  “What are you thinking?” he asked, relaxing on the bed beside her and taking her into his arms.

  “That I should have figured out before now that sex was not something to be ashamed of. With the wrong person, I suppose it is. I missed so much, Hazard. I’m going to miss the real thing when I go back home. Toys aren’t the same as the real thing.”

  “Who says you have to stop having sex?” He didn’t like the idea that she might find another man. Not one fucking bit, but he didn’t own her and neither had been looking for commitment when they shared tequila shots last night.

  “No boyfriend waiting for me in Danvers,” she admitted. “I’d think you’d know that since I came to this town looking for a little romance. Having my brother hovering over me in Danvers is a mood killer. I love him, but he can be a pain in the ass.”

  “There’s no one you’re interested in, perhaps someone Alex would approve of?”

  “No, not yet, though I’ve become friends with a couple of male nurses who work for Ryan, as well as a cardiologist and an oncologist. Sam and Eve and I frequently go out on the town. So far, they’re hung up on two men already and in complete denial about their feelings.”

  “Any chance I know the men in question?”

  “Samantha’s got it bad for Taran Maddox. As he does for her, yet she’s convinced herself she’s too old or too wrong for him. Eve’s hung up on Remy Sinclair.”

  “The name sounds familiar.”

  “He’s a ghost hunter on TV, primarily in New England, but he’s begun getting national exposure. Maybe that’s why.”

  “Shit, Jax has a perpetual boner for all things paranormal. When he’s not bartending or fixing up his supposedly haunted house, he’s watching those shows. Many in town think much of Dare is haunted and he’s thinking about starting a ghost tour to attract more visitors.”

  “Eve’s the same way about ghosts. She works for Remy as the history consultant for the show.”

  “What’s the holdup?”

  “Remy treats her with the affection of a brother. I can understand how it feels to love someone who doesn’t love you back. It hurts and it sucks and there’s nothing she can do about it.”

  “I’m sensing there’s more to his reservations than that.”

  “When he’s not filming, he spends his free time dating men and women. But whenever Eve doesn’t notice, he looks at her the same way Taran does with Sam, with a longing that makes a woman ache and even a little jealous. If either of those men looked at me that way, I’d consider myself fortunate.”

  “It sounds to me like he does want Eve.”

  “Agreed, but he remains professional. It doesn’t help that her father is Bartholomew Stratham.”

  “And he is?”

  “New England’s version of Donald Trump, and apparently he’s donated a lot to Remy’s reality TV show.”

  “That can’t be easy.”

  “Eve’s his only daughter and he’s widowed. I’m not so sure he’d be happy about his daughter’s boyfriend being so open to sleeping with guys.”

  “It sounds to me like you and Eve hit it off because you can empathize with each other.”

  “We do. She deserves to be happy with whomever she wants to be with. I just hope Remy doesn’t play hard to get too long or he’ll lose out to a pen name.”


  Frowning, Hazard propped himself up on his elbow to look down at Avery. She was pretty as ever. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

  “It does when you consider she’s also hung up on an author she’s never met. Ransom Hunter’s books are…whoa…hot and excellently written. It’s impossible to get through one without having to take a break to masturbate.”

  Swallowing hard at the shock of hearing Ransom Hunter’s name, Hazard concentrated on Avery masturbating. That was something he’d like to see unfold.

  “What did I say?” Avery asked. “You’re looking at me like you’ve seen a ghost.”

  “Nothing. You do know that pen names are there for a reason.”

  “Of course, so does Eve. It doesn’t mean she hasn’t fantasized about who Ransom Hunter is. I have too.”

  “Yeah, I got that when you mentioned the whole stop reading to masturbate thing.”

  “Are you jealous, Hazard?”

  “No, not at all,” he reassured a little too quickly.

  “Oh, good. I’ve read all six books in the vampire-for-hire series and was disappointed to find out that a new one hasn’t been published in well over two years. You should read them sometime. They appeal to men too.”

  “I have,” he admitted, unable to admit more. Unless Jax was comfortable enough with someone to reveal his secret identity as Ransom Hunter, Hazard wasn’t going to be the one to break the news.

  “Maybe we could act one out,” Avery suggested.

  “Sounds like fun,” he agreed.

  A knock sounded at the door, reminding him that it was morning and reality had set in.

  “Breakfast,” he announced, scrambling off the bed to gather up his towel and cover up.

  “I’m starving.” Avery followed him off the bed, got her robe and belted it before he opened reached the door.

  “Room service,” the waiter said upon knocking twice.

  Hazard verified the guy’s identity by looking through the peephole and opened the door. “Bring it on in.” He made way for the breakfast tray, which was placed on the small dining table.

  It didn’t take long to sign the check and send the waiter on his way. When he turned away from the table, he noticed Avery coming out of the bathroom, re-knotting her robe.