HazardsDare by Frances Stockton

down.
    The knock sounded again. “Room service,” a man announced.
    “Hold on there,” Hazard called out. “You all right, Avery?”
    “Better than I’ve ever been in my whole life,” she admitted,
sounding suspiciously like she was crying again.
    Some women cried after orgasm. It happened. Yet he didn’t
like being the one to make Avery cry. “You sure?”
    “Yes, I’m sure. Guess I’m a crier,” she said against his
bare shoulder. “Likely this will end after a couple of bouts of sex, unless
you’ve given up on me.”
    “No way will that happen. We’ve only just started.” Hugging
her to him, he couldn’t remember the last time he’d been this satisfied after
sex.
    “Good. Now go get the food. I’m starving.” Playfully, she
slapped him flat on his ass hard enough to sting. Hell, yes, he liked that. Few
women tried to get rough with him, he liked when Avery did.
    Letting her go, Hazard got off the bed, grabbed up Avery’s
towel to knot it around his waist and headed to the door.
    “Cover up,” he warned before checking the eyehole to make
sure it really was the delivery guy.
    Dressed in a cowboy getup, the waiter wasn’t in standard
garb for a hotel. But nothing about Dare was standard. The roadhouse was all
about cowboy grub, steak, burgers, hot wings, chili and cornbread. To wear a
penguin suit would have been weird.
    “Hey, thanks for waiting,” he greeted after opening the
door.
    “Sure thing, Mr. Osbourne,” the waiter said. Two
domed-covered platters, Cokes, condiments and napkins were on a cart. “Where
should I put this?”
    “Just bring it in and I’ll take it from there.”
    The guy pushed the cart through the door. Hazard took the
check, added a generous tip and scribbled his signature on the bottom line with
the pen included in the black billfold.
    He handed the billfold back, realizing that the guy’s eyes
were glued to the other side of the room. Swinging around, he saw that Avery
had covered up with a blanket. Not much bare skin was showing, but she looked
all mussed up and flushed, evidence that they’d just fucked.
    “Keep your eyes to yourself, buddy,” he warned in a deadly
serious whisper. “You blab about her to your buddies, you can consider your ass
kicked.”
    “I’d never break Dare code, Mr. Osbourne. She’s pretty.
Forgive me for staring.”
    “Yes, she is. And mine,” he stated. “Got it?”
    “Yes sir, when you’re done, wheel the cart out to the hall
and call down to the front desk,” the guy said, stammering a little as Hazard
backed him out of the hotel room.
    Huh, imagine that? The delivery guy barely noticed him. It
was true that Dare had made a name for itself as a small town with Vegas-style
fun and sin meant to be kept under wraps.
    Running into a football player or a Hollywood director was
par for the course for residents. But that kid hadn’t cared who answered the
door. Avery had been his focus.
    Not that he could get upset about that. She was pretty. No.
She was more than that. She was beautiful.
    Belatedly aware that he’d told the boy Avery was his, Hazard
waited for the panic to set in. Rather, he felt more settled, probably because
they’d just had fantastic oral sex.
    Orgasm and blowjobs did that.
    Yeah, that’s what was happening. After-sex glow and all
that, it’d never been this nice before. He could safely admit he had a crush on
his secret lover. No one needed to know, right?
    Glad to be alone with Avery, he slid the deadbolt home on
the door and slapped the brass door hook into place. A shuffle behind him
brought his attention around.
    Buck naked, Avery dashed across the room to the closet, slid
open the pocket door and withdrew a sage-green bathrobe. Only after it was
knotted around her waist did she turn around and face him.
    “Everything okay with the food?” she asked, padding up to
him.
    “Seems fine,” he answered. He hadn’t even looked.
    “Took you a few minutes to get rid of the waiter. What did
you say to