76

 

SEVENTEEN MILE DRIVE, 1:15 A.M.

Gwen parked outside Dan’s house. Rang the bell. No reply. Following instinct, she walked round to the lawn overlooking the sea.

As if he’d known she were there, he called out: “Over here.” His voice was low. The faint huskiness tightened something in her stomach. The full moon lit the night. Gwen saw him, his back to her, standing at the edge of his land near the cliff top. She stopped by his side, gazed out with him at the moon-silvered path that cut across the ocean.

He turned to look at her. His eyes held hers. His lips quirked into a smile, but still those green eyes just looked at her, revealing nothing.

Gwen wanted to see the desire she felt reflected back at her, but all she saw was control. She smiled her own smile. I’ll break that into a million pieces, she vowed.

She turned to look out to the sea. “I used to imagine walking along that path when I was a little girl. Wondering where it would take me,” she said softly.

Dan remained silent for a while. “Funny thing, so did I.”

They turned back to each other.

“Your path seems to have brought you here. To me,” he said.

Gwen laughed softly, moved away, five paces, ten, twenty. She stood, the moon glowing off her, smiling across at Dan. He gave a smile of understanding, moved across the silent grass to her.

“And my path has brought me to you,” he said. Still they didn’t touch. The air between them felt alive. Gwen could feel him even though she wasn’t touching him. She could feel the force that was him, the energy pumping out of him. And she throbbed with the energy and the desire pumping out of her.

“I wasn’t sure you’d come to me,” he said.

“Neither was I. I tried to hold back, for the longest time.”

“Why?”

“Because I’ve known from the beginning if we do this there is no holding back. At least not for me.”

Dan raised an eyebrow. “Why would I hold back?”

“Because you do. Because underneath that dude exterior you’re as controlled as anyone I know. Whatever’s hidden inside, that’s what I want. All that power, all that loneliness and stillness, all that contained violence I feel in you. I want it all. I want to feel it all.”

“You want me to lose control?” Dan asked, his voice raw-edged.

As she spoke, his eyes turned hard and wild; that look she had glimpsed, seen in her dreams, wanted above all else. His body seemed to be vibrating with tension.

Gwen took a step closer. “Can you do that, Dan?” she asked softly. “Can you lose control with me? No holding back?”

“Jesus, Gwen. I’m catching fire here.”

Gwen laughed. “Let it burn.”

“Here?”

“Yeah, right here. I don’t want a bed and sheets and pillows, safe and sanitized in your bedroom. I want you here, outside, under the moon, on the grass, the night air on my skin.”

Any remaining control snapped. Dan grabbed Gwen in one swift move. He pulled her into him, chest to chest. She could feel the armor of his muscles. He bent his head, mouth on hers, kissing her with all the violence and the yearning she had sensed in him. Abruptly, he broke away, held her at arms’ length.

“You want it all, I’m gonna give it to you. Every last bit.” Then he pushed her down onto the grass. Gwen pulled him onto her, felt the weight of his body pressing down on her. She kissed him back, pulling him to her as hard as she could grip. Unnoticed by either of them, her stitches began to bleed, all pain subsumed.