“How did they know?” She pulled back to stare into his eyes, eyebrow quirked.
After setting her on her feet, he smoothed back her hair, and then framed her face between his hands. Knowing she felt the same way he did made his breath catch in his throat. “It’s in your eyes, baby. Has been from the first.”
She shook her head, her lips sliding into a teasing grin. “I thought you were a jerk. A lead-footed one at that.”
“Didn’t stop you from eating me up with your baby blues,” he said with a waggle of his brows. “Admit it. It was love at first sight.”
“More like annoyed at first sight,” she murmured, but she blushed, her head turning down while she gazed at him from beneath her thick lashes. “I’m glad you didn’t give up on me.”
“Sweetheart, you are the challenge of a lifetime. And I’m a SEAL. I’m made of pretty sturdy stuff.”
“Don’t I know it,” she said with a groan.
Justin didn’t even try to resist. He drew her close then bent her over his arm for long, breathless kiss. Not until he heard distant applause did he straighten.
“It’s too late now,” she whispered.
“Yeah, I think they know where this is heading.”
Hand in hand, they made their way across the warm sand toward their friends.
The End
For more Adventure Girls, Inc. stories, check out:
Dangerous Liaison
A pampered travel agent, roughing it at an anti-terrorist training school, escapes through the jungle with an undercover DEA agent when a drug lord mistakes her for a rival’s daughter.
Mutiny’s Bounty
Expecting an adrenaline-packed adventure, a travel agent finds more excitement than she can handle when she falls into bed with an ex-SEAL, and then into deep water, swimming with sharks when the yacht they’re sailing on is taken.
About Delilah Devlin
Delilah Devlin is a USA TODAY bestselling author of erotica and erotic romance with a rapidly expanding reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters. She has published over a hundred twenty erotic stories in multiple genres and lengths, and she is published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace, Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Harlequin Spice, HarperCollins: Mischief, Kensington, Montlake Romance, Running Press, and Samhain Publishing. In May 2014, she adds Grand Central to her list of publishers when Her Only Desire releases!
You can find Delilah all over the web:
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Or email her at: [email protected]
SEAL of My Heart
Sharon Hamilton
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Chapter One
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Airports were mostly happy places for Kate. She pretended she was going on an exotic vacation, a tour of lands where everything from the smells to the language and customs of the people themselves was foreign. In her fantasy, she’d meet a strange man and they’d spend a romantic week together exploring, indulging in glamorous restaurants and glittering casinos, and sensual delights.
And even though she was engaged to be married to the most eligible bachelor in Sonoma County, the favorite son of the favorite first family of wine, she couldn’t help it. The fantasy and dream were just around the corner in her psyche, waiting to cover her like a sensual blanket where she could escape the reality of her future.
It worried her that she wasn’t happier about her upcoming wedding or that she was even considering escape. She missed the whole experience of being a blushing bride-to-be. Something wasn’t settling well with her, but she forced herself not to think about it, instead writing it off as stress-related big day panic just like every other bride in history felt.
Except she couldn’t help but feel excited about leaving town, leaving her fiancé, leaving her job and her family in Sonoma County, to visit her sister.
Her airport fantasy persisted, though, and was kicking in big time this afternoon. She felt like having an adventure, something far away from everyone she knew, perhaps something far different from what she pictured for herself and her life. As she examined the crowded terminal in San Francisco and began to board the nearly full plane, she couldn’t quell the excitement quickening in her, even though Portland was not even close to being an exotic land, and her sister was a poor substitute for a dark handsome man who could sweep her off her feet.
It was going to be a fairly full flight and she wasn’t one of the lucky ones with an early boarding ticket. She liked to sit by a window, but knew that would be nearly impossible. Scanning down the rows ahead of the slowly shuffling line of passengers she only saw one open window spot on the left hand side, with someone occupying the middle one. When she came upon it, a briefcase laid across the cushion at the aisle. The young man in the middle seat was fully occupied in reading a book.
He looked up, as if he heard her silent plea for the window position. His warm brown eyes lit on her face casually. She knew he wanted to scan her figure but stopped himself, and then he smiled.
What was it about handsome men who smiled easily? Did the smile mean he would like permission to engage? Did it mean he liked what he saw? Did it mean he was hiding something? He didn’t look like the type to feel awkward, certainly not as awkward as she felt.
Her eyes darted to the open position next to him, and his glance followed hers.
“You want the window?” he asked.
She didn’t say anything, stuck in place as if her feet were encased in concrete. A passenger from behind pushed into her back, reminding her she was holding up a line of travelers yet to be seated.
“It’s yours if you want it,” he whispered in what could only be described as a bedroom voice.
Damn.
These sorts of attractions to strange men weren’t supposed to happen to a happily engaged young woman with a life planned out nearly moment-by-moment. In spite of her fantasy life, which was not planned out and definitely not scripted, she permitted herself the dangerous closeness to this stranger.
He was dangerous because he was perfect in enough ways to upset her ordered life. And he matched the fantasy man of her dreams to a T.
“Thank you. That’s very kind of you,” she heard herself say in response.
She saw he was not only good-looking, he was also tall, very fit, and muscular as he eased gingerly across the aisle seat and slowly uncoiled the muscle and sinews in his upper torso. And, boy, did she react…enough for him to hear her heartbeat, probably, or see the slight involuntary shaking of her knees or the quiver of her lower lip. She caught his scent with a hint of lemon from an aftershave applied earlier in the day. She loved lemon on a man.
She actually heard a low growl of approval and that made her traitorous panties go wet. It was all the right and oh so wrong kind of chemistry, in front of impatient strangers. Over two hundred of them.
And she didn’t care.
Kate turned a shoulder to him, crouching to sidle in front of him, her butt grazing the tent in his pants with interesting discoveries. She didn’t dare say she was sorry. Just best to ignore the touch and pretend it never happened. She settled at the window, placing her Kindle and her slim briefcase on the seat next to her. She stashed her purse on the floor at her feet and watched, out of the corner of her eye, as he settled himself back into place and also connected his seatbelt with long, strong fingers.
So far, so good. No harm, no foul.
She became extremely interested in the loading of bags into the cargo hold, the position of the little vehicles servicing the plane, the weather, other planes taking off in the distance, all the while willing her breathing and her heartbeat to return to normal. When she thought sufficient time had passed, she let her eyes drop to her lap, and then she shot a furtive look at the stranger at her side without turning her head much.
He was reading his book again, not paying the least bit of attention to her. She told herself it didn’t matter what kind of book he
had, but all of a sudden she was dying to know.
She could tell he knew she was watching him, because his eyes scanned the pages, and his lips stayed pressed together, but began to quirk up in a smile. The laugh lines at the corners of his eyes were deliciously short. His shiny, dark hair was slightly curly, a little longer than it should be, which made her think maybe he was an older college student. A retread.
She faced forward while the cabin doors closed. Then she sighed, and it did seem to let out some of the tension.
He brought out a small set of expensive ear buds and plugged them in, adjusting the pieces into his ears before resuming his reading.
Kate closed her eyes and told the fantasy in her head to chill, explaining to herself and the cast of characters arguing in her head that she wasn’t in any danger of doing anything inappropriate, and that today’s trip was taking on a normal trajectory. She told them it was going to be a boring day.
Until he tapped her on the shoulder. He was smiling again and extending his book in her direction.
“You read romance?” he asked.
“Y-yes.” How hard was it to admit the truth?
“Well, I’ve just finished my sister’s book, and she said to give it away to someone else who might like to read it, so it’s yours if you want it.”
Her fingers grabbed the book. Did he notice how quickly she’d made up her mind?
Be With Me. The title was familiar. She’d read about this particular book on one of the blogs she followed. A time travel romance. It was exactly what she needed to get her mind off the handsome stranger to her left.
“Thank you.” She smiled in spite of herself. Trying to play cool.
She glanced back down at the book, and flipped open to the title page, and found a signature.
“My sister,” he said, nodding at the page. “In case you were thinking I read romance as a regular thing.”
“I’ve known some men who read romance,” she said, but it was a total lie.
“Really?” His eyebrows scrunched atop his nose. “I’ve never known any.”
“You just said you read your sister’s books.”
“That’s different.”
After a short pause, she asked, “You don’t think they’re manly?” She was enjoying this a bit too much. A fall was coming. She knew it just as surely as she knew the plane had started to move and announcements were being made over the loudspeaker.
Mr. Gorgeous had to lean in closer to her, and she found herself meeting him halfway—involuntarily, of course, just so they could hear each other over the blaring intercom.
“Kindah embarrassing about all the sex scenes,” he said. “I mean reading them in public, with a cover like this.” He ran his finger over the front cover and touched the back of her hand in the process. The male torso on the cover looked oddly familiar.
She looked back up at him. “That’s you on the book?”
He wiggled his eyebrows. “She says she uses me as her inspiration. My sister. That’s my sister’s book.”
“She writes romance?”
“Yes. Does quite well, I guess.”
This was definitely not the twist she’d expected. She examined the shirtless torso on the cover again, the ripples of muscle, the huge arms, veins that snaked out along his shoulders and forearms, and one dangerous vein that disappeared into the top of a pair of jeans hung almost low enough to—to—He was hotness personified. And as handsome as he was on the cover, all wet, dark and brooding, in the flesh he was even more impressive.
She didn’t know from where her next comment came, “Your girlfriend must be jealous of all the women who fantasize—”
“Don’t have a girlfriend. So, does your fiancé get jealous of you reading romance?”
Fiancé? Oh yes, there was that huge two-carat diamond on her left hand that people practically had to wear sunglasses to admire properly. How could she have forgotten? But still, it meant he’d checked her hand out. Not like she’d waved it in his face to draw attention to it, but the thing was hard to miss, all the same.
“My fiancé—my fiancé—” That’s when she realized the answer to his query. She was about to marry a man who knew nothing of her tastes in romance. As a matter of fact, she wasn’t entirely sure he’d approve of her reading them. And how was that going to work? “He’s never said anything. I doubt he notices.”
“Really?” The guy gave a puzzled smirk. “Lets you wander around, reading about strange men and the things—” Now it was time for him to stop. He leaned back into his headrest, his eyes straight ahead as if interested in the makeup of the fabric on the seat in front of him. He adjusted his pants discreetly. His hands rested palm-down on his massive thighs. A circle of thorns was tattooed onto his forearm. His chest expanded with each inhale, extending a good two inches out, then his upper body relaxed back into the seat, his abdomen going concave. His jeans were loose-fitting, and she was busy figuring out it was for a definite reason when he suddenly opened his eyes and caught her examining his package.
Great.
She quickly aimed her eyes back out to the little window to her right and blushed in spite of herself.
“I’m sorry,” she said out of the side of her mouth.
“Don’t be sorry, darlin’.” It was such a luscious rumble. “That just made my day.”
All of a sudden, the plane accelerated into takeoff mode. She felt the pressure of the G-force against her chest as they were lifted into the air, swinging around the San Francisco Bay below until everything began to resemble a miniature scale model of Silicon Valley itself.
After they leveled off, the stranger extended his huge, callused hand, flexing the tat on his forearm, and said, “Hi. My name is Tyler Gray.”
“Kate Morgan,” She lay her palm against his and felt the warm squeeze he gave her. She could feel what those fingers were capable of.
He was the first to withdraw his hand. He clutched his right thigh as he cleared his throat, licked his lips, and began speaking with a croak until he paused to clear his throat. “Having a sister who writes romance is kind of embarrassing. I don’t normally tell people about it.”
“I’ll bet.”
“Most of the time on her covers, they cut off my head, so all you see is, well, my chest and a little below.”
“I noticed.”
Where in the hell did that comment come from?
“I’m happy to do it for her.”
“For her. Sure. Nice of you to do it for your sister.” It was her time to tease. Was he blushing? “You’re actually blushing, Tyler Gray. Do cover models blush?”
“When we’re affected.”
That one was going to have to hang in the air a bit until she could figure out what it meant. Affected?
“Sometimes I do a shoot with a model. Things can heat up, even though I don’t know the girl.”
Did she want to hear this?
“I imagine it can affect her, too.” The girl would have to be blind!
“Well, sometimes funny things happen. I’m sure you can imagine.”
She could. She really could. And her mind shouldn’t be going there at all. Not. At. All.
The pause between them felt a little awkward. “What brings you to Portland, or are you going on further north?” she asked.
“I’m going home to spend some time with the folks before—” he hesitated. “I’m in the military and I deploy in ten days.”
“Ah.” So that hard body was beginning to make sense. His longer hair scored some recognition. She’d read enough romances to peg him as a special forces guy. “I’m guessing you do something dangerous.”
He seemed to like that statement. “Some would say so.” He was watching her reaction like his life depended on it. Without thinking her eyelids fluttered and she found herself looking at the smoothness of his full lower lip, the clenched jaw muscles bunching under a day’s stubble, and the swallow that sent his Adam’s apple down his powerful neck. He had those body parts she loved in
a man. The soft lips that could give pleasure, the eyes that wouldn’t waver from her face. Honest, and relentless. Full of courage and unflinching. She liked men who would look back and not hide their attraction.
Because that meant she didn’t have to hide hers.
And there it was, like a dragon coming to life, the danger, and the power of getting swept away. The fantasy coming to life again, transporting her from where she sat, on a plane to visit her sister before her upcoming wedding, but sitting next to a man she wished she could get naked with.
Chapter Two
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Navy SEAL Tyler Gray was heated up with testosterone like he sometimes got just before a firefight overseas. The urge to act with swift resolve and commanding force was a little misplaced, since he sat in the middle of a bevy of heavyset travelers cocooning in their seats. Some were falling asleep, some were talking nervously. Babies cried and kids wiggled. But Tyler Gray had the biggest hard-on he’d had in weeks.
It was damned inconvenient, but the lady was affecting him in such a lovely way, and he was absolutely powerless to do anything about it. His libido was heightened, cheering for a total lack of control in a breakout move that couldn’t do anything but alienate her for all eternity. He understood the urge to mate, to procreate. Boy did he have that in spades. In fact, he almost felt fated, like in some of his sister’s steamy vampire books.
The woman next to him had an athlete’s body, slim in all the right places but not too muscled. She had a firm grip, and, in spite of herself, when he’d grabbed her hand, he felt her need to answer him strength by strength. Did women understand how much of a turn-on that was? She was telling him she could handle the strength he could dish out, that she was capable of feeling the full force and power of his body as he pleasured her. He’d be careful, at first, just to be sure he wasn’t misinterpreting things, of course, but then if she was willing, this kind of woman would let him take them both to heaven and hell and back without a breather.
SEALs of Summer: Military Romance Superbundle - Navy SEAL Style Page 8
