Dare You to Run by Dawn Ryder Page B

moment.
    Live in the moment … reach for what you crave … take it now, before it slips away.
    She shivered, the longing to do exactly that nearly consuming her. The delicate surface of her lips felt dry and she rolled them in, drawing his attention.
    â€œPrincess.” His tone was harsh, edged with self-loathing and a lack of discipline she understood because she was experiencing the same thing. She felt his breath against her wet lips a moment before she felt his kiss.
    Her memories were bullshit, a sorry excuse for the real deal.
    The real deal? She stretched up onto her toes to get more of it, slipping her hands up his chest, savoring the feel of him before finding his bare skin above the collar of his uniform jacket. That connection shook her to her core, breaking down the walls she’d built to keep her desires contained. Now they burst free as he kissed her, the way only Vitus had ever kissed her.
    Boldly, passionately, and all the while touching her like she could take every bit of his strength. It was the thing that stroked her inner needs, that confidence in her ability to meet him and not need to be handled like a delicate vase. He held her like a woman and she kissed him back like one. Time froze, the seconds moving by like hours. There was only the taste of him and the way he angled his face so he could press his lips against her more completely. It was firm and spine-tingling. He moved his mouth across hers before boldly pressing her lips apart and tasting her deeper.
    Just as quickly as it had begun, she was standing alone. There was a full foot between them though it felt like ten. She was breathing hard, and he was glaring at her. She would have sworn she could feel the heat of it.
    â€œGood-bye Princess.”
    This time, the word was somehow different, his tone transforming it into an endearment, a very, very personal one. It stroked the memory of the hours she’d taken refuge in his embrace, those stolen moments when she had been a woman, his woman.
    His …
    He melted back into the darkness as she forced all her feelings back into the box she kept them in. When she emerged, she was everything she was expected to be.
    But deep down inside, she was still his.
    And always would be.
    *   *   *
    â€œThe car is being brought around for you.”
    Her sire glided up to her side as the clock struck one. The good wives and younger children were making their way toward the exit while men like her father were getting ready to dig in for a long night of whiskey and information gathering. More business went down in the cigar rooms than anywhere else.
    â€œTrenton will make sure you get home.”
    â€œOf course he will,” Damascus purred. Her father’s personal bodyguard was constantly dogging her heels. Her belly suddenly tightened as she realized what Carl had said about her not having too many lovers.
    One look at her sire and she realized she wasn’t wrong. There was a calculating look in his eyes, his mind working on a plan that included her playing her assigned role.
    â€œYou’re having dinner with Carl Davis tomorrow.”
    Her eyes widened but her sire was striding across the polished ballroom floor without waiting for her reply. Oh no. She was expected to fall into line. Well, that wouldn’t be happening.
    â€œMs. Ryland?” Trenton inquired softly from where the burly man had been shadowing her sire. He extended an arm toward the door.
    Damascus took off, eager to be done with the appearance, and yet part of her longed for one last glimpse of Vitus.
    What are you going to do if you see him? Run to him? You wouldn’t dare.
    No, and that was perhaps the saddest part of all. She was a coward. The car pulled up the moment she made it to the doors, the press snapping shots of her as she slipped inside and Trenton shut the door.
    *   *   *
    Damascus leaned her head back against the top of the seat in the