KissedByASEAL

by Cat Johnson

  His Kimber and the leg holster went onto the desk too, as Darci watched wide-eyed. “That’s a lot of hardware you’re wearing.”

  He didn’t tell her that she didn’t know the half of it, or that the room safe was currently packed nearly full with the contents of his weapons bag.

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s off now.” He pulled off his shirt and socks and moved to the bed in nothing but his underwear.

  There he ignored that his briefs didn’t hide how excited he was to be there and instead, he reached for her.

  Kneeling on the mattress between her feet, he leaned low and kissed one shin, then the other. “No more bruising this perfect skin.”

  He didn’t stop at her shins, but moved up to kiss first one thigh and then the other, raising the hem of her dress as he moved upward toward his goal.

  When he got to her underwear, he took a moment to admire the way the white lace looked against her creamy skin, before he hooked his fingertips in the waist and slid them down.

  She waited, watching, anticipating his next move. He didn’t make either of them wait any longer. He spread her legs wide, lowered his head and reveled with pure male pride as his first touch wrenched a cry of pleasure from her.

  He’d imagined this moment more times than he could count. Now, he realized he’d done himself a great injustice because his mind had skimped on all the best details.

  The way the color rose to her cheeks. How she watched him from beneath lids heavy with desire. How she bit her bottom lip as she lifted her hips, seeking more.

  How he was aware of every shaky breath she took as her body tightened before finally letting loose in a release that shook her. Hell, that shook them both, to the core.

  Darci was still gasping for breath when he slid her dress up the rest of the way, all the way over her head before tossing it to the far end of the sprawling bed.

  Her bra clasp was conveniently located in the front, making it easy for him to pop it open and expose each pink peak, before he slipped first one and then the other into his mouth.

  He tried not to crush her with his weight but she didn’t seem to worry about that as she grasped his hips and pulled him tighter against her.

  The only thing that separated them—the prevented him from doing something foolish like plunge into this woman unprotected—was his underwear. Even with that barrier, he felt the warmth between her legs beckoning.

  “Let me go grab something out of my bag. Okay?”

  She nodded, looking eager, feeling that way too as she didn’t release her tight hold on him so he could move.

  He grasped her head in both hands and delivered one more kiss, which became more intense than he’d intended. He finally got himself to move, to leave her long enough to run to the bathroom, get the condoms and ditch his underwear.

  It was like an obstacle course as he navigated the room, dodging discarded shoes—both hers and his—as well as the other clothing on the floor from when he’d dropped trough.

  Finally, he was back to her. She’d pulled down the outer bedcovers and lay on pristine white sheets, waiting for him.

  He didn’t waste any time. This was a need too long denied on his part. That combined with her encouragement as she pulled him down to her made waiting any longer not only foolish, but impossible.

  When Darci palmed his ass, Chris went with it. He let her guide him to where he wanted to be. Her eyes, as blue and warm as the summer sky, locked on his as he sunk deep inside her, and he was lost.

  Time passed at a surreal pace, but like all good things, eventually it had to come to an end, but not before leaving them both breathless and sweaty.

  His chest still heaved as he lay next to her beneath the covers. Running and weight lifting kept him in good shape physically, but he’d just had one hell of a workout.

  Making love to Darci was enough to take any man’s breath away. But that he felt he had something to prove made it even worse. He wanted to prove to Darci just what she’d gotten herself into by finally offering herself to the man who’d wanted her for years.

  He only hoped she had been as affected as he was by them being together.

  Even though he’d just had her, he wanted her again. Wrapping his arms around her, he rolled them both over and moved in to kiss her.

  She smiled before he reached her mouth. “Again? Already?”

  “What?” he asked, playing innocent when he knew damn well what she felt between them.

  “I can feel you against my leg.”

  “Oh, that.” He tried to hide the twitch of a smile on his lips and shrugged. “I figure we don’t have to be anywhere until tomorrow. There’s a lot I want to accomplish between now and then.”

  “You are going to need to sleep at some point.”

  “Nope.” He braced his head on one hand so he could see her better. “The military was real good about training the need to sleep out of me.”

  “Well, I’ll need to sleep sometime.”

  He smiled down at her. “Do that Sunday when we get home. Maybe if you’re real lucky I’ll let you rest in between rounds. I might even feed you, so you don’t get weak.”

  “Chris?”

  “What’s on your mind, darlin’?” Slipping his hand beneath the covers, he trailed one finger down the warm skin of her belly, heading for the spot that would make her stop talking once he reached it.

  She lifted up on one elbow so they were eye level. When the sheet fell away from her breast, he couldn’t resist and leaned low to kiss one creamy swell.

  “I want you to know that I understand this doesn’t mean anything.” Darci’s words were like nails on a chalkboard.

  His smile of satisfaction disappeared and the motion of his hand stopped as she dropped that verbal bomb. He pulled back to look at her. “Excuse me?”

  “I want you to know I understand what this is. It’s just one weekend, and then we’ll go back and never speak of it again. Not to Rick. Not to Brody. Not to Ali. Nobody needs to know.”

  “So this is just a fling?” The words tasted bitter on his tongue.

  “Exactly. Nothing will change between us. We’ll go back to the way we were before. Just acquaintances.”

  Acquaintances. Not even friends.

  The real kicker, the thing that twisted his gut like a kick in the balls, was how excited she seemed about the whole thing.

  She was laying down ground rules as if he hadn’t just moments ago been inside her, something he was apparently supposed to forget after the weekend was over.

  The problem was, he didn’t want to forget.

  Her plan. Hell, her decree, was surprisingly hurtful. Other men might be thrilled with her idea.

  Another time, another place, another woman, he might be happy about it himself. But not here, not now and definitely not with her. He’d wanted her for too long. Cared about her too much, while all he’d gotten in return was what amounted to polite indifference.

  It was hard to wrap his head around what Darci was asking. It seemed the polar opposite of what he assumed a woman would want. She wanted to give him everything she had, but just for the weekend. Then they’d be nothing to each other again.

  Just acquaintances.

  The meaning behind the words ate a hole in his gut. As crazy as he was about her, he might have been able to live with just being friends. He wouldn’t be happy about it, but he’d have accepted it. But she didn’t even think of him like that, and that was like a knife to the heart.

  If the choice was to have her for the weekend and never again, or to not have her at all, he knew what he had to do.

  Only an insane man would say no to the offer she was making. In spite of her efforts to drive him crazy, he wasn’t there quite yet. He’d take her deal, but he fully intended to show Darci exactly what she would be missing by dismissing him when they got back.

  A meaningless fling with the sister of his one of his closest friends.

  The only thing saving him from feeling worse about the whole thi
ng was that this hadn’t been his intention or his plan. Not one bit. He wanted to date her. To be her best friend and confidant. He wanted a real relationship with her.

  Didn’t Darci know she could wrap him around her little finger if she wanted to? He would have willingly been anything she asked him to be. As serious as she wanted.

  Unfortunately, what she wanted from him was meaningless sex.

  Apparently, he wasn’t dating material, in her opinion. He wasn’t good enough for the long term. Just for a few tumbles in bed.

  Fine. He’d give her all the sex she could handle and then deal with how that was going to screw with his head and his heart later, because he knew even though Darci might be able to pretend it meant nothing to her, he wouldn’t be able to.

  There was no way this wasn’t going to mean something to him. Every time he let himself touch her, love her, sink into her, he fell deeper into his feelings. He’d be drowning in them soon.

  He couldn’t let himself fall for her. This was all over Sunday. She’d said so herself.

  Maybe if he treated her like a casual hook-up—which was apparently what she wanted to be—he’d stop thinking of her as a girlfriend.

  “Okay?” she asked.

  He’d been quiet for too long as he reeled with her request.

  She wanted a weekend of sex? He’d give her a weekend she’d never forget, and he sure as hell was done pussyfooting around. If he only had her for three nights and then never again, he was taking everything she had to give.

  “Yeah. Okay.” He rolled away from her and stood.

  “Where are you going?” She swung her legs so she was sitting on the edge of the bed.

  He had been planning on going to hide in the bathroom for a little bit, maybe take a shower to give himself time to calm down and squelch the anger he felt but didn’t want to show. But she’d put herself in the perfect position for something else.

  “I’m not going anywhere.” He took a step forward and angled his length toward her mouth. He waited for her to protest, but she didn’t.

  With her gaze locked onto his the whole damn time, she opened her mouth and took him in, surrounding him completely.

  The feel of sinking into her hot, wet mouth while she stared at him with eyes he could happily lose himself in forever nearly brought him to his knees.

  This was not good. His plan to make this about meaningless sex was failing miserably.

  It would never work as long as he could see her.

  Closing his eyes, he palmed the back of her head and tried to ignore that his heart was way more invested than it should be in what he’d meant to be just a simple blow job from a woman who would never be his.

  Simple. Ha. There was nothing simple about any of this.

  CHAPTER 13

  The morning sunlight slanted through the window, casting streaks of shadow and light across the bed where Darci and Chris were tangled together beneath the sheets.

  She felt him stir behind her and smiled when she felt the evidence of his morning arousal pressing into her.

  Groaning with the effort, she rolled to face him. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” His voice was low and gruff from sleep, but he was obviously wide awake. He swung one leg over hers and, straddling her, reached for a condom on the bedside table.

  She guessed he hadn’t been kidding when he’d said he intended to cram as much sex as possible into this weekend. Not that she was complaining, but she supposed she should be happy they’d actually gotten to sleep as early as they did last night.

  Of course, they’d never gotten around to eating dinner and the welcome basket had only yielded so much. She was starving.

  As Chris slid inside her, she knew food would have to wait for both of them.

  Today, his lovemaking was the opposite from how their first time together last night had been. Last night, he’d spent what felt like an hour exploring every inch of her. This morning, he got right to business, squeezed his eyes tight and thrust fast and hard.

  That wasn’t to say it wasn’t good, just different. By the time his spine bowed and he let out a groan, shuddering to completion inside her, she followed right behind him with an orgasm of her own.

  Then it was over.

  He pulled away from her and got out of bed. “I’m taking a shower.”

  “Okay.” She was feeling satisfied and boneless, but apparently, he was anxious to get on with the day.

  Lucky for her, since she had to wait for him to be done in the shower, she had some more time to relax.

  Darci stretched and snuggled deeper beneath the covers, but soon she realized she was too excited about the day to laze in bed long.

  Flipping back the covers, she sat up and after glancing at the amazing view outside, moved to stand in front of the closet and stare at her minimal choices.

  She heard the water in the shower turn off and called loud enough he’d hear her through the door, “What should I wear?”

  Chris opened the door and came out of the bathroom accompanied by a burst of steam. He was already dressed in shorts and a T-shirt.

  He didn’t blink twice that she was standing in front of him naked as he asked, “For the cruise? Something nice but not too fancy, I guess.”

  “Not just the cruise. What about for the rest of the day? Don’t we have to go out and patrol the grounds and keep an eye on what’s happening with the guests and stuff? And I thought we’d have breakfast. I’m hungry.”

  “Order something from room service for yourself. I’m going to do a sweep alone. It’s way more efficient if I do it on my own.” He came over to the closet and, reaching past her, bent to grab his sneakers from the floor. He carried them to the chair and sat to put them on.

  “I thought we decided it looked less suspicious if we walked around the grounds as a couple.”

  “That’s why I’m going for a run. No one looks twice at a guy jogging alone. I can cover the whole property faster than if you’re with me.” He talked as he focused on tying the laces of his running shoes.

  “Oh, okay. That makes sense.”

  Something was different. Chris was different. She felt it, like a burst of cold cutting through the warm air. He was polite and civil, if she asked a question, he answered, but there was an edge to his words and his tone.

  He stood and grabbed the menu off the desk. Handing it to her, he said, “Order whatever you want. Collins is paying.”

  “Do you want something?” she asked as he reached to flip the lock.

  “Don’t worry about me.” He pulled open the door and glanced back. “The shuttle to the marina for the boat trip is at three. I’ll be back before then.”

  It was mid-morning now. Surely he wasn’t planning on staying away all day and only coming back in time to change for the boat trip.

  The way things had gotten so strange between them, maybe he was. She knew sex changed things, but this was ridiculous. He was like a different person.

  Maybe it was the job. He was in work-mode or rather, back in SEAL-mode. She could understand that. The guys must have to put themselves in a different mindset to perform at the level they did, to do the things they were required to do.

  Hopefully, good old Chris the joker would be back to normal again tonight after the boat trip. Until then, she’d just have to deal with his serious side.

  Given the beautiful setting he left her in, she figured that wouldn’t be too hard.

  ~ * ~

  “Mr. Cassidy, good morning.”

  Chris turned from the bar where he’d just finished devouring the last of the glass of juice and sliced fruit plate he’d ordered. He was soaked through with sweat from his run and had only stopped because he needed the fuel.

  He hadn’t planned on encountering Mr. Collins, but here he was. “Good morning, sir. Everything going okay?”

  “I was going to ask you that.”

  “I’ve done a thorough sweep of the property.” Twice, actually, as he ran full out one time around th
e perimeter, and only slightly slower the next, in an attempt to sweat Darci out of his system. “Everything looks secure. Business as usual. And I’ll be going over the yacht with a fine toothed comb the moment we board.”

  “Do you anticipate a problem there?”

  “No, but I’m going to insure that by doing a thorough sweep before we get underway. It might mean I have to tell the captain the truth, but I don’t think we have to worry about his telling your family I’m there as security.”

  “Probably not. Just make sure he knows I’d rather keep your true function a secret.”

  “Yes, sir. I will.”

  Mr. Collins nodded. “Good. Well, I’ll let you get back to that girlfriend of yours.”

  Chris couldn’t let that misperception pass. Especially not now that he knew how far it was from the truth. “She’s not my girlfriend. That’s just the cover story. She’s really the sister of one of my teammates from GAPS. She was available and capable, so she was the best choice to accompany me as my cover and as a second set of eyes for security purposes.”

  His babbling protest sounded like bullshit. Like he was trying to convince Mr. Collins that he hadn’t been getting sweaty with Darci since they’d left the Welcome Party yesterday.

  But if the older man saw through Chris’s story, he didn’t let on. “Whoever she is, I’ll see you both later.”

  “Yes, sir.” Chris only breathed freely again once the man had left.

  He needed to get his mind off Darci and his head back in the game.

  The wedding guests would be scattered all over the resort until they rallied for the boat trip. Maybe he could convince Darci to hang around the pool until it was time to leave. That way he would be free to make occasional sweeps of the public areas—the restaurant, the beach, the gym—while she kept an eye on the pool area.

  But first, he needed to take another shower and change into clothes that weren’t drenched in sweat.

  Chris signed the bill for his breakfast and headed back toward the room, bracing himself the whole way for the assault on his senses that was sure to hit him from just seeing Darci in their room.