Free Untamed (Untamed #1) by Victoria Green, Jinsey Reese

someone. It was always just a drug-induced, mind-numbing tryst.
    Except Dare didn’t numb my mind—he soothed it.
    I stood there in the pouring rain on the sidewalk staring at his door.
    Fuck. Why did he have to mess with my tried-and-true rules?
    My blouse was soaked, my hair plastered to my face. I had to make a decision. Now. And preferably without thinking about it. I put my hand on the handle. The lock was broken.
    Decision made.
    3B. If I remembered correctly, he was in 3B.
    I hardly breathed as I climbed the dingy stairs. In front of his door it took me a minute to work up the guts to press the buzzer. Just before my finger could connect with it, the door swung open, and Dare stood staring at me almost like he was relieved to see me.
    “You might have a concussion,” I said. “I’m not leaving you alone tonight.”
    He took in my drenched clothes and wet hair, reaching out to run his thumb over the moisture on my bottom lip.
    I shivered at the contact. “Dare…”
    “You’re shaking. Come in and dry off.” He slid his fingers between the buttons of my shirt and pulled me inside, crashing his mouth to mine, the kiss knocking the breath out of my lungs.
    We made our way through the kitchen to the living room, our lips and tongues insatiable, the heat making me shiver with desire. What was it about this guy? How was it possible to want someone this much?
    We came to a stop when we collided with the back of the couch. Dare was fisting my shirt, holding me tightly against his rock-hard body as his other hand pulled on my waist. He drew me even closer, intensifying the kiss until all I could feel was him. The pulsing, swirling licks of his tongue, the firmness of his muscles, the scent of fresh rain on his skin. I lost myself in him. Wanted to stay there forever. We needed each other.
    He suddenly broke our kiss and pulled back. Entwining his fingers in my hair, he searched my face before saying, “My father is an asshole. He fucked up any chance my family had at normalcy.”
    His beautiful face was twisted in so much pain it made my heart hurt. “You don’t have to say anything. You don’t have to explain.”
    “No. You need to know what you’re getting into by being around me. My mother has been a junkie longer than she’s been clean, and my dad is a drug-dealing scumbag currently serving time at Rikers for manslaughter, though the bastard should have been charged with murder.”
    “They’re not you,” I whispered. “Your parents are not you. You’re good.”
    He shook his head. “But I wasn’t. For a long time, I was just as fucked up as my dad. I wasn’t good at all.”
    “That was then. That’s not who you are now. I hardly know you and even I can see it.”
    He laughed bitterly. “The jury is still out on that.”
    “My father is an asshole, too,” I said. “He’s just rich and powerful enough to never have been convicted of any crime.” I paused, wondering if I should share the one thing that had been pressing on my mind all evening. Fuck it. “He’s killed before, too,” I whispered.
    Four years ago he killed a piece of me.
    “What about your mom?”
    “She drinks. She takes all these pills.” She’d even started feeding them to me when I was fifteen because no one can tolerate hysterics, Reagan. “She’s also addicted to power. And money. And control.”
    “So…” He kissed me. “We’re both…” He traced his lips over my throat. “Equally…” He grazed my collarbone with his teeth. “Screwed.”
    I put both hands on his face and lifted, then kissed him on the lips. Hard.
    “I doubt that,” I said. “I’m way more fucked up than you. Trust me.”
    He ran his mouth down my jawbone to my pulse and sucked. First gently, then harder, forcing it to speed up as he tore open my shirt. Buttons clattered to the hardwood floor.
    “That’s because you don’t know me,” he said as he yanked the silky material off and flung it to the floor.
    “Nor you me.” My bra