Wicked Sexy

by Anne Marsh

  Love.

  Was that really the word she wanted to use here? Sure, she had feelings for Daeg, feelings that his parting shot about risks couldn’t erase. He was right about that much. She didn’t like taking risks. He was the biggest chance she’d ever taken, and she wouldn’t forget those times, especially the night she’d been wrapped up in his arms while the storm had thundered overhead. So the question was: Even if she wanted to be brave enough to do this, how did she overcome a lifetime of caution?

  When the bell tinkled over the office door, her head came up and her heart started a pathetically hopeful dance. Maybe Daeg had done some rethinking? And maybe she needed to move on and get a life.

  The couple standing in the doorway, however, was not who she’d expected—or hoped—to see. Her grandparents looked tanned and relaxed. The next few minutes were all hugs and kisses and exclamations. Maybe a few tears, too. Happy ones.

  “But how did you get here?” Dani asked, bewildered. The cruise ship wasn’t due to dock in Los Angeles for another day. And she’d heard rumors of a special present from her father, who was presently riding a real estate wave and flush—the honeymoon suite at the Beverly Hills Hotel. No, her grandparents shouldn’t have been home for at least three more days.

  “Took a taxi.” Her grandfather waved a vague hand toward the driveway. “From town.”

  “Is something wrong?” Surely she would have heard, or at least merited a phone call. “I didn’t expect you back so soon.” She had the itinerary printed out and taped by her desk. She knew the dates without double-checking.

  “Of course not.” Her grandmother’s lips twitched, and then she looked at Dani’s grandfather and sighed. “He said there was no point in finishing the sail to Los Angeles, that we’d just have to turn around and drive right back.”

  “The ship brought us to our own front yard.” That particular twinkle in her grandfather’s eyes had always heralded mischief. “What else was I supposed to do?”

  “The head steward thought we were unhappy with the service!”

  Her grandfather slid an arm around her grandmother and planted a kiss on her. Not a quick buss, either. “That’s what he thought we were doing.”

  “You got off the ship. Early.” She couldn’t begin to imagine the logistics of that kind of move.

  “Uh-huh.” Her grandfather smiled, clearly less worried than she was by the cruise ship’s rules.

  “And they let you do that.”

  He snorted. “How were they going to stop us?”

  She could think of a half dozen ways. “Don’t they have rules about leaving early?”

  “Sure.” A familiar grin spread across her grandfather’s face. “But honey, some rules are made for breaking. You ask your grandmother all about it. I’ve got a mountain of stuff sitting on the driveway to haul in.”

  Her grandmother, he always complained—obviously enjoying the familiar refrain—had never mastered the art of packing light. “The overweight fees are bankrupting me,” he tossed out with a twinkle, right before he stepped smartly through the door.

  Her grandmother sank back into her chair. “That man is something else again.”

  “He loves you.” The pain of that statement was unexpected. The pain and the joy. These two people meant something dear to her. She’d always been happy for them, for their obvious love for each other and the pleasure they took in each other’s company. But now their easy comfort underscored what she didn’t have.

  What she could have had but had tossed away.

  Daeg was leaving.

  She knew that in her heart. She didn’t need to see his bold scrawl in the guestbook—thanks for the good times—to know he’d packed up his battered duffel and gone back to town. Today or tomorrow, he’d be on the ferry for the mainland and she wouldn’t see him again for months or for years.

  Perhaps forever.

  Her grandparents knew all about breaking rules. Fifty years ago, they’d cashed in their savings, hopped the ferry to Discovery Island and bought the plot of land that had become Sweet Moon. “How did you do it?”

  “Jump ship?”

  “Yes. Get off the ship early, follow Granddad. All of it.”

  “Who do you think put the idea in his head?” Her grandmother grinned at her.

  She tried again. “I’d have stayed on board.”

  “Would you have been alone?”

  That was the question. “What if I wasn’t? What if he got off, but I was too chicken to follow him?”

  “And this someone would be a person you care about?”

  She felt as though her grandmother could see straight through her.

  “Yes.”

  Her grandmother’s hand rested on hers. “Then it’s not too late,” she said. “Whoever he is, go after him. Bring him back.”

  Dani lifted her head, not wanting to meet those familiar eyes of her grandmother. She always seemed one step ahead of Dani. Dani only felt regret now—and admitted the truth. “He’s gone.”

  “Sure.” Her grandmother made a sour face. “But gone doesn’t mean never coming back.”

  “In this case, it does.” She thought about Daeg’s last words. He was right, of course.

  Her grandmother chuckled softly. “I know that look. Your grandfather inspires it all the time. Some men weren’t made easy.”

  “He’s stubborn.”

  “So are you.”

  “Am I?” She didn’t know. Didn’t know if it was just fear of the unknown or fear of taking a chance. Watching her father upend their lives over and over, betting on each new real estate deal to set them right, she’d decided years ago that risks were bad and safety good. But how did she know that her decision was the right one?

  “You don’t,” her grandmother said, as if she’d read Dani’s mind. “There’s no telling whether you’ve decided good or bad, not until everything’s over and you’re looking back on your life. But even then, you’ve made the decisions you have and for good reasons. You’re a sensible person, Dani, but you still have to live your life.” She smiled and gave Dani’s hand a comforting pat. “You going to give me a name, tell me who you’re bringing back to Discovery Island?”

  Saying it out loud would make it real. Would put into words the chance she wanted to finally take. She could sit here and let him go. Or, more accurately, watch him go because there was no letting Daeg Ross do anything. The man did what he wanted, when he wanted. He was a force of nature. Her grandmother had said it—life with him wouldn’t always be easy. No, but it might be wonderful. Wonderful should be what she was looking for, not steady and predictable.

  “Daeg Ross,” she said out loud, watching her grandmother’s face for a reaction.

  Her grandmother didn’t look surprised. Of course, she’d also checked the guest book and Dani might have mentioned him. “He always did like looking at you,” she said conspiratorially. “When you were both in school.”

  “He never said anything.” Or if he had, not to her.

  Instead, he’d pushed her away, all “look but don’t touch.”

  Her grandmother laughed. “Certainly, he didn’t. He was what, five years older than you? Those years don’t mean much now, but when you were teenagers that was all the difference in the world. He was a young man when you were still a child. It wouldn’t have been right.”

  “You think it could work?” She didn’t know why she was asking her grandmother impossible questions. After all, sometimes there were no answers, and Dani already knew how horribly wrong a relationship could go. Just making Daeg hers for a handful of nights had been a huge departure for her. She’d taken that chance in the bedroom, and Daeg had more than proved he was one hot lover—and she’d met him kiss for kiss. But was that enough? What was enough to make the transition from weekend lovers to long-term, committed types
?

  “You have to take that chance, Dani. He hasn’t given you any reason to believe he won’t be there for you tomorrow, the day after or the year after, has he? Maybe you’ll have your tomorrows in different ports—and maybe he’ll be first off the boat...or you will be. There is no formula for happily ever after, Dani. What counts is that you’re both part of the equation.”

  She wanted that chance, she realized.

  She needed that chance.

  19

  “YOU COULD GO for a drive,” her grandmother had recommended. “You could go look for Daeg Ross.”

  Now, with her grandmother’s words ringing in her ear, she was here out on the beach. A quick check-in at Deep Dive had revealed that Daeg wasn’t at the shop. Cal had pointed her toward the beach and, sucking up her courage, she’d gone.

  Spotting a search-and-rescue soldier wasn’t difficult. Six foot two inches of male gorgeous, her Mr. Right was straddling that motorcycle of his on the hot asphalt, staring out at the water. His powerful thighs grasped the sides of the bike and his boots were planted firmly on the ground. The aviator sunglasses pulled down low over his eyes made it impossible to see what he was looking at exactly, but she knew. His eyes were fixed on the horizon and his thoughts probably on getting away from Discovery Island.

  “You want something?” He posed the question when she got close, but he didn’t turn around.

  Yes. She did. She wanted him and everything that entailed. Slow, sleepy mornings spent in his arms. Rides to nowhere or somewhere on his bike, checking out the island and figuring out how and where they could build a life together. All the little minutes that made up a day, and the earthshaking, heart-stopping moments, too, when things went really right or really, really wrong. She just didn’t know how to tell him.

  “I do.” She stepped up beside the bike and noticed its smooth, black frame. Sleek and powerful, too. He didn’t move, didn’t give her any encouragement. She had to do this by herself. For them. “I want to talk.”

  “Okay...talk.” He removed his sunglasses. His gaze was direct and unyielding. That was okay. She’d decided to fight for what she wanted and she was going to get it. For them.

  “I did some soul searching about what you said in the cabin yesterday, about how you felt.”

  “I suggested you take a chance. Maybe believe in us,” he interjected, his mouth quirking.

  He had. Staring deeply into his eyes, she realized some things were easier to turn off than others. Stopping the flood of desire coursing through her, for instance, was downright impossible. She wanted to run her hands over Daeg’s broad shoulders; she knew the strength his arms could give. Her gaze tracked down the rest of his strong, lethal body and she—

  He coughed. “Earth to Dani?”

  Oh, right. Her explanation.

  She shrugged helplessly. “Daeg, I’m always going to overthink things. You need to understand that. You jump in, feetfirst, and I’ll be there on the sidelines, shouting advice and encouragement.”

  “And criticism,” he muttered.

  “Probably,” she admitted. “But I’d like to think we’d be on the same team, working together. The night of the storm—”

  “That was pretty intense,” he confessed.

  “You came for me.” That was the plain truth. “You held on to me then and didn’t let go. I’m hoping you’ll do it again.”

  It was his turn, she thought, as his dark eyes slowly traced a path down her body. “You don’t look like you need rescuing now.”

  “Well,” she said and licked her lips, “we could make something up. Explore. And I’m fairly certain that if I hang out with you long enough, there’s going to be some hair-raising, adrenaline-spiking adventures that I’ll absolutely need rescuing from. Or you can always rescue me from myself, if I hang on too long or refuse to jump in feetfirst. And I’ll return the favor. When you need rescuing, I’ll pull you out.”

  He gave her the widest smile she’d ever seen; the depth of emotion on his face rocked her to her core. He was hurting here, too. “I’m no hero, Dani. I told you that. My last mission, my partner didn’t come up.”

  “That was an accident.” She wanted to pull him into her arms, hold him tight, but instead she stood there on the beach next to him and struggled for the right words. She had to convince him that he was the man she’d come to know, reliable, trustworthy, honorable...hot. She smiled back at him. “That was terrible, what happened to your teammate, but it was beyond your control. If there was anything you could have done, you would have done it. You hang on, Daeg. You always hang on when anyone else would let go. That’s just one of the reasons I love you.”

  “You love me?” He reached out and tipped her chin up with his finger, and she watched his lips form the question.

  “Uh-huh.” Not her most articulate as far as answers went, but she was going for heartfelt, so he’d have to cut her some slack. “You make me feel alive, make me want to take impossible chances. There’s a hundred and one reasons why this—why us—shouldn’t work, but there’s a chance it does and I want to take that chance.”

  “You have a list of reasons?” That note of amusement was back in his voice and she felt her cheeks blush. “I hope it’s a long one,” he continued. “Long enough to survive the next fifty years or so.”

  * * *

  HE PULLED HER onto the Harley, facing him. The seat wasn’t built for two and if they’d actually been moving, her position probably would have racked up a thousand and one safety violations. Daeg’s pulse pounded as Dani wriggled closer, enjoying the tight fit.

  Putting his arms around her, he held on tight. With a small squeak, she lost her balance and fell into his embrace, her feet on his, her legs gripping his thighs. He could have sat like this for hours.

  Or forever.

  “I love you,” he told her, since now that he’d said the words once, he wanted to repeat them again and again. Say them every morning when he woke up next to her and every night when he went to sleep beside her.

  She wanted him.

  He’d let go and she’d still come back.

  Just because he could, because she was here in his arms and there was less than an inch of empty space separating them, he leaned in and kissed her. Kissed her long and deep, letting all the love and affection he felt show on his face because he knew she’d have her eyes open, like always.

  “Bet you didn’t expect this rescue job would turn out quite like this,” she said once they finally broke apart, both breathless for air.

  “Well,” he began, “I usually plan for a happy ending.”

  “Mmm,” she said, pulling him back in for another kiss.

  “But,” he added a long time later, “with you, I had an ace up my sleeve.”

  “Oh, no,” she exclaimed when he liberated the crumpled sheaf of yellow notepad paper from his back pocket. “You didn’t.”

  “I’m perfectly happy to cheat.” He waved the paper over her head, teasing her when she made a mad grab for it. “And besides, this was more like inside intel. No good soldier would ignore that kind of opportunity.”

  “You read my list.”

  “More than once.” He grinned at her, his chest almost bursting with pride and happiness that Dani loved him. “I see this as my own personal to-do list. And because I know how you feel about keeping things equal, I made a companion chart for you.”

  He separated the stack of pages into two and passed her a section.

  “That,” he growled, leaning in to nip lightly at her ear, “is a chart listing the probable moves in your seduction of me and how I’d likely react. Some pointers, if you will, and a few fantasies.”

  She ran a finger down the list, her lips moving as she counted. When she reached the bottom, her eyes widened. “More than a few, soldier.”

  “I don
’t know if I can be that man,” he said in the interests of fairness and full disclosure. “The one on your list. But I want to try.”

  “Good,” she whispered, pressing her lips against his mouth. “You are aware that as the number of trials increases, so does the probability of success?”

  “So we should do this again.” A grin flashed across his face. “Often. And in bed.”

  She grinned at him. “Absolutely.”

  “You know what this means, right?” he asked, moving in for another smoking-hot kiss. “One hundred percent probability of love.”

  * * * * *

  Keep reading for an excerpt from TAKEN BY STORM by Heather MacAllister.

  Ten years ago one devastating night changed everything for Austin, Hunter and Alex. Now they must each play their part in the revenge against the one man who ruined it all.

  Austin Treffen has the plan… Hunter has the money… Alex has the power!

  Read each of their stories in the captivating Fifth Avenue trilogy,

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  Avenge Me by Maisey Yates

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  Expose Me by Kate Hewitt

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