Dare to Surrender by Carly Phillips Page B

“Was Naomi ever one of those people you care about, and whose life you wanted to make easy?” Before she’d stopped and he’d tossed her away.
    Had he selected her, and those before me, used them, made their lives easy, and disposed of them when he was finished? When someone new and more appealing came along? Like Lance had done with me, except he hadn’t had the decency to end things before starting up with someone else.
    I figured I should at least know who and what kind of man Gabriel Dare really was.
    You already know .
    I ignored the voice in my head, the one filled with hopes and dreams that never came true but caused much damage in the pursuit.
    Gabe lifted my chin, a favorite habit of his, forcing me to meet his gaze. To look into his handsome face, both rugged and chiseled to perfection at the same time.
    “I told you before, and I’ll say it again, clearer this time. Naomi provided an outlet. Other women provided me with the same thing. A release and nothing more. And that’s the last time I want to hear you put yourself in the same category as any one of them ever again.”
    My knees nearly buckled in relief, and how ridiculous was that? This man affected me on such a deep level that my emotions, which I’d promised to tuck safely away, were already engaged. It made no sense. And it frightened me beyond reason.
    So I kept pushing, hoping with answers would come clarity. “But there was someone once. Another woman. A stray that your brother mentioned.”
    A muscle ticked in his cheek. “I’m a man of few words, and you’ve exhausted those tonight.” His hand slid from my chin to cup my jaw. “I will say it’s in the past.”
    “Good enough.”
    A smile teased his mouth.
    “For now,” I added, lest he think I gave up easily.
    A low growl emanated from inside him. Next thing I knew, he lifted me into his arms and carried me out of the kitchen, through the entryway, and toward the two bedrooms in the back of the apartment.
    “Gabe, wait!”
    He paused at the end of the long hall. “This is the only time you get a choice,” he said, his voice gruff.
    My answer depended on which door he carried me through, but I couldn’t give voice to the question, which would only reveal a need for more than sex, one that, though I’d alluded to it, I didn’t want him to see so blatantly on display.
    “Time’s up,” he said and kicked open his bedroom door.
    *     *     *
    Isabelle: Behind the Chosen Door
    Gabe slid me down the length of his body, and I responded with liquid heat to every hard inch I touched.
    A soft moan reverberated around us, and I was shocked to realize it had come from me.
    “Clothes off,” Gabe said, sounding like a man very much in control.
    My eyes opened wide at the command.
    I was curvier than the women he dated, had compared myself more than once at the country club, yet I followed his instruction to the letter, pulling on the drawstring, releasing the sweatpants so they pooled at my feet. I shook them off. Tee shirt came next, up, over my head, and onto the floor.
    His stormy gaze never wavered, merely darkened as I stood before him in that tiny thong and my one and only bra. At least it was lace, I thought, trying hard not to duck my head in mortification, my hands itching to cover myself. Somehow I knew he wouldn’t allow it, and I kept my arms at my sides.
    “Everything, Iz.” He folded his arms across his broad chest.
    I noted he was still dressed, yet again, I did as he commanded, never once thinking not to listen. Warning bells sounded in the back of my brain, a place that should have been front and center but was somehow very far away.
    The panties, I slipped off quickly. The bra, that wasn’t so easy. I’d always been self-conscious of my breasts, too big for the rest of my body, except my generous hips and ass, another sore subject for me. Over time, Lance hadn’t been complimentary, and it was only now that I understood why. By making me feel like