The Dare (The Chronicles of Katrina One) Read online

  ALSO BY KARIN TABKE:

  BLOOD MOON TRILOGY

  Blood Law

  Bloodright

  Blood Vow

  BLOOD SWORD LEGACY TRILOGY

  Master of Surrender

  Master of Torment

  Master of Craving

  A Knight to Remember

  **Master of Deception

  HOT COPS SERIES

  Bad to the Bone

  Good Girl Gone Bad

  Skin

  Jaded

  Have Yourself a Naughty Little Santa

  ANTHOLOGIES

  You’ve Got Murder, co-written with Edie Ramer

  Hard Stuff

  Men Out Of Uniform

  Guns and Roses

  PARANORMAL ROMANTIC SUSPENSE

  w/a Karin Harlow

  L.O.S.T. series

  Enemy Lover

  Enemy Mine

  **Enemy Sworn

  **COMING SOON**

  Enemy Sworn, TBA

  Master of Deception, book four in the Blood Sword Legacy series, TBA

  THE DARE

  Copyright © 2013 Karin Tabke LLC.

  All rights reserved.

  Editor: Christina Trevaskis

  Copy Editor: Martha Trachtenberg and Karen Matheny

  Cover Design & Ebook Production: VMC Art & Design, LLC

  This book is an original publication of Karin Tabke LLC

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments or locales is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise) without prior written permission from the copyright owner.

  ISBN- 978-0-9881879-1-7

  Author’s Note

  The Dare

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  About the Author

  t took a village.

  Thank you Syl for dragging my ass half way across the country to find my mojo. Tina, thank you for handing me my mojo and for believing in me. Your support has been invaluable.

  Virna, thank you for your always spot on crits, and taking the time to read for me when you were crunched for time yourself. Thank you Yajaira and Catherine for always volunteering to be my first readers. Double thank you, Catherine for reviving my Street Team.

  Martha, thank you for taking pity on me and bloodying up my pages. Karen, thank you for doing the same and for your final proof eyes. Victoria, thank you for coming to the cover rescue, we were meant to be! And also thank you for the lovely layout and so formatting of my words.

  Thank you to the anonymous couple in the lobby of the conference hotel who inspired the first scene.

  And last but never least, thank you to my hot cop husband who reminds me daily that if it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t write hot cops half as well as I do.

  s the door closed behind the trio, Katy trembled with excitement. She couldn’t believe she was doing this. Going where she had never gone before. Not even in her wildest fantasies: To bed with two men. One, her lover, Evan; the other a stranger.

  Her eyes traveled shyly but appreciatively down the newcomer’s tall athletic body. If she actually went through with this, he wouldn’t be a stranger for long. She inhaled deeply, then exhaled slowly. She could do this. She wanted to do this.

  “Hey,” Evan whispered against her ear, “I’m here, too, don’t forget that.”

  Encouraged by his presence, and his reminder that he had a jealous bone after all, Katy smiled and turned slightly to her left. Gazing into his suddenly concerned eyes, she slid her hand down Evan’s hard belly to his even harder groin and squeezed. Her touch elicited a sharp hiss of breath from him. “This rodeo was your idea, cowboy, now suck it up and make the most of it.”

  Evan’s eyes widened at her chastising words. She was always a passenger when it came to sex, but this time—she nipped his bottom lip and turned slyly to her new friend, who stood watching their exchange with something akin to amusement. Now she was the driver.

  If she didn’t chicken out.

  Admittedly, she would have balked if the stars had not been aligned as they were when Evan challenged her.

  There they’d been, at the hotel bar downstairs, when the handsome stranger she’d met earlier that day walked in. He’d caught and held her gaze, and Katy’s body had warmed in response. Of course, Evan had noticed the way she squirmed in her chair, and had later casually commented that the man had not taken his eyes off her all night. She’d noticed too.

  She’d smiled inwardly but didn’t tell him they had already met, quite by accident. Literally by accident. She’d stepped out of the elevator with her arms full of notebooks for her seminar and had plowed right into Mr. Smokin’ Hot. When they’d both bent down to pick up the binders, they bumped heads. Rubbing her forehead, she’d looked up into two very intense green eyes.

  “I’m sorry, I’m such a klutz,” she’d stuttered.

  “A very pretty one,” he said. Her reaction to the heat in his eyes and warmth in his voice was instant. She blushed, pushed her glasses back into place, and proceeded to drop the remainder of the binders onto his large booted feet.

  “Here,” he softly exasperated, taking her elbow and guiding her to a standing position. “You stand, and let me pick them up so we’ll both be out of harm’s way.”

  She watched him, covertly from beneath her lashes, trying not to feel guilty about how much she admired his moves. He looked like a man’s man. A big, rough and tumble kind of guy who’d like the outdoors. He even smelled like it. Fresh and woodsy. The total opposite of her quiet, intellectual lover, who despite lacking this man’s animal magnetism, had his own brand of charm.

  As the handsome stranger stacked the binders in her arms, her eyes dropped to his capable hands and instantly conjured the vision of them on her breasts. When she raised her gaze to his face, he was smiling. A wolfish knowing smile. Heat rose in her cheeks, spreading to her nipples and lower. Katy was no shrinking violet, but this man made her extremely aware of her female parts being in close proximity to his very male parts. When the binders were all stacked, he cocked a brow and asked, “Are you staying at the hotel?”

  “Yes,” she’d admitted too quickly.

  “Me too.”

  She swallowed. “That’s nice.”

  “Not really. But what would make it nice is if you would let me buy you a drink later tonight.”

  She’d swallowed hard again. “I can’t, I’m with someone.”

  His full lips tightened and he nodded. “Lucky man, your someone.” He tipped the brim of an imaginary hat and walked away.

  Since that meeting, she’d seemed to bump into him at every turn, including when she and Evan had gone down to grab a drink before dinner. Green Eyes sat across the bar with a bunch of drinking, carousing guys. Who, according to the cocktail waitress, were cops in for some kind of task-force meetings. Although he wasn’t partying with the others, he was drinking, and with each drink, he’d raised it to her in silent salute.

  “It’s my turn, Katy,” Evan had said pulling her attention back to him. “And I p
ick dare.”

  Excitement shivered down her spine. “Okay,” she said, slowly exhaling. “I’m feeling rather daring at the moment.”

  He grinned and nodded toward the group of cops. “I dare you to pick one of those cops and take him upstairs.” She went from feeling excited to feeling a little sick to her stomach. Not that sex with one of the hunky cops was sickening, but because Evan had suggested she have sex with another man.

  Her face must have reflected her dismay because Evan said, “C’mon, Katy, don’t tell me you’re not turned on by the one that keeps staring at you. I should go punch his lights out for his audacity.”

  “Then why don’t you?”

  He chuckled. “I’m a lover, baby, not a fighter. Besides, if I did, it would be kind of hard to invite him upstairs, wouldn’t it?”

  Not a fighter for her anyway. How could he dare her to take another man to bed? Weren’t they a couple? A secret one because of the no-fraternizing rule at work, but if he cared about her at all, how could he be okay with her having sex with another man?

  Her pride kicked in. Fine, if she didn’t mean enough to him to remain monogamous, then this little dare would be on her terms.

  She glanced over at the group of cops. Yeah, she admitted, and only to herself, that despite her hurt, she was intrigued. They were all good-looking men. Cocky as all hell, and most women would be happy to indulge in one or all of them—but there was only one she would consider. But, was Evan bluffing? Playing a game; a test to find out how much he meant to her by putting her in this position?

  “Are you serious?” she asked, sure he was kidding.

  “As a heart attack,” he said with conviction. He wasn’t bluffing.

  Her belly did a slow roll as she stared at him, waiting for him to take it back—but he didn’t. Raising her chin she made her decision. Pride was the devil’s child, so to hide her hurt, she nonchalantly threw back at him, “Only one? Why not two?” Go big or go home, right? Please God don’t let him say two! She couldn’t do that. Wouldn’t. The verdict was still out on picking just one. She knew she was uptight. Inhibited, Evan had said. She needed to loosen up.

  Evan’s lips twitched into an arrogant little smirk that she loved. It was playful and loaded with promise. He leaned forward and kissed her neck just behind her ear. The touch elicited a small tremor that instantly infused her already sensitive nipples, then shot straight to her groin. He knew that was her weak spot and used it to his advantage. “Count me in as the second one,” he whispered.

  od help her, but despite her hurt feelings and her self-induced inhibitions, the image of Evan and Green Eyes fucking her into oblivion excited her.

  And that damn pride of hers took Evan’s dare to the next step. She chugged her glass of wine and gave herself a mental pep talk. You are sexy, you are sexy, you are sexy. Go have the fuck of your life. You are sexy. You are fucking crazy!

  “You’ve been reading my mind.” She stood, focused on the green-eyed fiend, and made her way over to cut her next fuck out of the very fuckable herd.

  Green Eyes watched her approach with an appreciative smile. It took every bit of guts she had to saunter with confidence across that bar, knowing Evan’s eyes were on her ass, and every other man’s on her tits. Well, almost all of them. Those green eyes were locked on her mouth. She stumbled at the edge of the bar where the carpet ended and the hardwood floor began. She caught the back of a barstool before she took a header into the bar top.

  His strong warm hands righted her. “Are you falling for me already?” he teased.

  Barely able to breathe, Katy rubbed her nervous hands down the front of her black skirt. “Y-es, as a matter of fact I am.”

  He looked past her to Evan, his eyes narrowing to slits. “Is that the ‘I’m-with-someone,’ someone?”

  “Yes, and he and I, well—” Her nipples tightened as his gaze returned to her lips. He smelled really good. And he was hot, not hot as in good-looking hot, even though he was; he was hot body temperature. Heat radiated from him. “We’re going upstairs to party, and wanted to know if you’d like to join us.” She rushed the words so quickly even she didn’t understand what she’d just said.

  His full lips tightened. But he understood perfectly. “Ditch that dude and we’ll have our own party.”

  She glanced over her shoulder to Evan, who was watching with interest, and turned back to Green Eyes. “He’s my boyfriend. That would be cheating on him.”

  “He’d deserve it for putting you up to this.”

  “He—he didn’t,” she stammered. “It was my idea.” Straightening, she was almost eye to eye with him and she was wearing five-inch Christian Louboutins. “Now, are you in or out?” Dear Lord where did that demanding woman come from? She didn’t go there with herself because if she did, she’d talk herself right out of this. So she blamed the wine that she’d thank in the morning.

  He leaned toward her and whispered against her ear, “I’m in and out, fast and furious, down and deep.”

  “Oh my,” she breathed, pressing her hand to her thumping heart.

  When she didn’t move, he took her by the hand and strode with her stumbling behind him toward Evan.

  Shocked he’d accepted, now here they were, in her hotel room, the two men on either side of her. Evan and the green-eyed stranger.

  She still couldn’t believe the stranger was here. That he’d accepted her invitation to join her and Evan. Well, initially Evan’s invitation. But seriously, for an introverted girl like her, loaded with hang-ups, to land a hunk like this? Well, it was a-once-in-a-lifetime deal and she was going to do everything in her power not to scare him away.

  Fortified with wine-induced courage, Katy cocked a smile and sauntered across the room to him. She’d drunk four glasses, two right before they’d come up to the room, and the alcohol had given her the courage to follow through with Evan’s teasing suggestion that had become a dare. She’d never turned down a dare when they played Truth or Dare, she wasn’t about to begin tonight.

  “There are a few boundaries,” Evan started, a discernible edge to his voice. Was he rethinking his dare? Katy refused to give him an out. Not now. She’d come this far, she was going all the way. He directed his next words to Green Eyes. “No kissing. No fluid exchange and you wear a condom.”

  The stranger’s bright eyes glittered in the dim light of the room. Anger brewed at being given rules by a man he obviously didn’t respect, but he turned those lethal eyes on Katy. Her skin flushed warm at their intensity. Yeah, he was irritated that Evan was calling the shots, but that irritation was overrun by the prospect of fucking her.

  “If you touch my dick,” Green Eyes said to Evan in a threatening tone, “even by accident, I’m going to kick your ass.”

  Katy giggled and looked over her shoulder at Evan, the man she had spent more time with on her back than upright. He winked at her and the anxiety she’d been holding on to slid from her. She turned back to Green Eyes and softly, but firmly said, “Please don’t hurt me.”

  He looked indignant at even the thought, which immediately set her fears aside.

  Before he could respond, Evan moved up behind her possessively. “Hurt her, and you won’t walk out of this room.” Ah, there was Evan acting as a boyfriend should. But she doubted he could kick this cowboy’s ass.

  Despite Evan’s warning, Katy swallowed hard, glancing quickly up at the hunk who smirked at Evan and replied, “The only hurting I’ll give her will be for more.”

  Katy gasped. She didn’t dare turn to look at Evan. His silence screamed his unhappiness. But—she swallowed hard and looked up into the stranger’s gleaming eyes now completely focused on her—damn if she wasn’t excited to see this through. “Take off your pants; I want to see if you’re going to be worth the storm that’s brewing behind me.” Evan was going to regret this, because she knew she was not. And that was going to be a problem.

  Without breaking gazes, Green Eyes unbuttoned his tailored trousers and shoved them dow
n his hewn thighs. Katy’s curious gaze dropped, the impressive sight giving her cause for pause. He was big and beautiful and growing by the minute. Her breasts tingled with excitement. “You’re beautiful,” she breathed. “Now please take off your shirt.”

  “Take yours off first,” he commanded.

  Green Eyes’ demand pushed her arousal into high gear. “Aren’t you the cocky one?” she boldly said, caressing his tall muscular length with a long slow gaze.

  Evan pulled her back against his chest, sliding his hands down her waist then up and beneath her bra and form-fitting sweater. As his hands cupped her sensitive breasts, she moaned, never once drawing her hooded-gaze from the stranger’s blazing stare. “I’ll do the honors,” Evan breathed against her ear. Before his hands drew the sweater up, his fingers tugged and rolled her sensitive nipples between his thumbs and forefingers. His lips brushed against the nape of her neck, eliciting a rash of goose bumps. “She has great tits,” he quietly said to the other man. He squeezed them and Katy’s knees wavered. “Big, firm, succulent. The kind of tits a man dreams about.” He lowered his hands, much to Katy’s disappointment. Then slowly he drew the sweater up and over her shoulders. He dropped the fabric to the floor and Katy’s eyes widened as Green Eyes’ cock thickened.

  Slipping his fingers beneath her bra straps, Evan lowered one, then the other just to the tip of her breasts, barely covering her nipples. He slid his hands across the high swells and squeezed as his lips grazed her neck again. “Don’t forget who you belong to, Katy,” he whispered for her ears alone.

  His possessive words were more of an aphrodisiac than any pill. She arched, digging her bottom into his burgeoning cock. His hands tightened on her at the contact. He slid the bra lower, unclasping it. Then, cupping her breasts, he held them up in offering to the stranger, who stepped forward.

  The intensity of Green Eyes’ gaze electrified her. He smiled a half smile, reached up to her face, gently slid her glasses from her, and tossed them to a nearby chair. Then he reached behind her head, nudging Evan away and unclasped the hair clip holding her mass of dark chestnut curls in place. The heavy wave of hair cascaded down her back and over her shoulders. He dug his long fingers through it, smoothing it up and off her shoulders so that her bare breasts were not hidden from his white-hot gaze. A shiver ran along her spine scattering a new rash of goose bumps along her skin. His lips broke into a fully satisfied smile at her reaction to his touch.