Page 57 of The Dating Dare

“Yeah, you have a long drive back.” Tara backed him up. “I’ll stay and help him clean up. It’s the least I can do.”

“Are you sure?” Aria covered a yawn with her hand.

“Yes, I’m sure.” Seth gave Aria a tight hug before she could fuss anymore. She was truly an excellent human being, and he was going to miss her. Then he turned to Lucien. “It was good seeing you.”

“We had to see you before you left for my old home.” He squeezed Seth’s shoulder.

It hit him that this was really goodbye for a while, and emotion clogged his throat. “I should’ve taken some French lessons from you. I’m going to be that uncouth American when I get to Paris with my awful French.”

“Landon said it was better than your Korean,” Aria said teasingly, grabbing him for another hug. “Take care of yourself. We’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you guys, too,” Seth said into her hair.

He and Tara walked their friends to their car and watched until the taillights disappeared into the night. She placed a warm hand on his shoulder, sensing his distress.

“Dammit. It’s not like I’m never going to see them again.” Seth pulled Tara into his arms and buried his face in her neck.

“Saying goodbye is tough. Don’t be so hard on yourself,” she whispered, drawing soothing circles on his back.

“God, Tara. It’s going to wreck me to say goodbye to you.” His voice was a husky rasp, saturated with fear.

Tonight made real to him that he had to leave her soon, and the thought was unbearable. Holding her in his arms felt like home. How the hell was he supposed to walk away from this?

“Don’t say that. We’ll make the best of the two weeks we have left together.” She spoke with quiet determination.

“And how do you suppose we do that? Our first two dates were interrupted by a bunch of rascally kids and a speed-hungry teenager. It’s like the world wants to throw in a monkey wrench before we get too cozy.”

“Don’t worry. I’ll body block any and all monkey wrenches. Our last two dates will be all about us, but we’ll talk about that later. First, we need to talk about the nondates.”

“I want nondates with you every day,” he said. “Please don’t say no.”

“I want to see you every day, too,” she said, her face buried in his chest. He pressed her closer to him. “When we first started the dating dare, one month seemed like forever. But now two weeks seem far too short. So I’m changing some of the rules.”

“Like what?” he asked with half trepidation and half curiosity.

Tara tilted her head to meet his eyes. Her expression held secrets and promises, bold and captivating. “The first rule I hereby ban is the keep-your-pants-on during nondates rule.”

He dragged in a breath with great difficulty. “I second that.”

“Do you now?” She got that cat look again, and Seth swallowed hard.

“Yes?” Why the hell did that come out like a question? He was all for taking his pants off during nondates. Like tonight. To show herhow much he wanted to take his pants off, he made his voice low and growly and repeated, “Yes.”

“Good,” she said. “That’s very good.”

Then she buried her fingers in his hair and tugged his head down. Her kiss was fire and sugarplum, delicious and multifaceted like she was. She licked, nipped, and dropped butterfly kisses on the corners of his mouth. Her greedy hands traveled down to his back and clung tight.

He held back and let her lead the kiss as long as he could, but when she nibbled on his bottom lip and mewled, his control snapped. With a long groan, he tipped her head back and drove his tongue into her sweet, sweet mouth.

“You’re my undoing,” he rasped, trailing kisses along her jaw until he reached her ear. He sucked her earlobe into his mouth and was rewarded with her moan.

“Good,” she said breathlessly, pressing herself against him until not a single molecule could get between them. “I spin out of control when you touch me, but I don’t care as long as I can have you.”

“God, yes.”

She could have him as many times as she wanted. Tonight and every night for the next two weeks. His heart froze remembering he had to leave soon, and he shoved the thought far, far away. Making love to her was not just another hookup. She was special. She was Tara. And he wasn’t going to continue groping her in the driveway. He lifted her into his arms and walked toward the front entrance.

“I’m taking you inside.”To my bedroom. To my bed.

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