by Marie Harte
“Which would be twice with me, that I know of.” He winked. “I can respect that, even if I wish you’d say yes and put me out of my misery.” He crossed his arms over his chest, and his muscles made her mouth dry. “So what now, St. James?”
Now I ride you like a bronco. She cleared her throat. “Now you go home while I finish unpacking. Then tomorrow we go to lunch and talk to each other.” She liked having the upper hand by calling the shots. “But that’s still no guarantee we have sex. You might like waving it around.” She glanced at his tented shorts. “Doesn’t mean you’re entitled to my body unless I say so.”
“I completely agree.”
She blinked, figuring he’d be a little more upset she wasn’t going to fall into bed with him. “You do?”
He kissed her again before she could stop him. “Honey, when you and I come together, I won’t have to persuade you. You’ll come—and come hard—because you won’t be able to help yourself.”
The reminder of his ego stoked her need to resist, if only to be contrary. Excitement flared. Brad would not be easy to manipulate. “Is that so?”
He smiled. “I’m amazing in bed.” He turned to leave the kitchen, but before he exited, he added, “Just ask Marcy.”
She stalked after him out the door and followed him to his own porch, annoyed she’d forgotten that fact. “Nice, Cava. That’s sure to seduce me into saying yes. Reminding me you’re another woman’s leavings.”
Instead of being insulted, he laughed. “Run scared if you want, but I’m right here, neighbor. Tomorrow at two. I’ll pick you up.”
Right. Lunch. “Fine. But I’m not a done deal, you know.”
“Good. Easy is boring.” He looked her up and down and groaned. “Nothing about you screams boring, Genevieve.”
She started. It was the first time he’d said her name to her face, and the husky tone put her in mind of silken sheets and naked limbs. “Right. So I’ll see you tomorrow then.”
“Not if I see you first.” He glanced up at her second floor and smiled. “Just open your curtain, and I’ll know to look. Until tomorrow, beautiful.” He walked inside his house, and she could too easily imagine him taking care of that massive erection, something she’d much rather be doing than unpacking.
Curtains—definitely time to hit the stores.
The next day, Brad stepped onto Genevieve’s porch with a bouquet of daisies. He wore khaki pants and a short-sleeved polo, doing his best to impress the woman out of her panties. She hadn’t opened her curtain last night, much to his disappointment. Not that he didn’t appreciate a challenge, but he had a bad feeling Genevieve had the ability to make him beg. And not since Dana had he been so in lust with a woman. Nor had he had to work so hard to interest one.
He knocked. She answered wearing a cute floral skirt that came to her knees and a peach-colored tank that exposed toned arms and showed off her hourglass figure. Damn, the woman had the nicest breasts. He was dying to know if her nipples were rosy or a darker cherry. Big or small areolas? He was a breast man, and he knew what he liked.
He fucking loved her rack.
She sighed. “My eyes are up here, Brad.”
Calling him by his name, even when castigating him, gave them an intimacy. A small bubble enveloping just the two of them.
“Sorry. Hard to resist.” He looked up and smiled into her dark green eyes. The color seemed to vary, but he liked this deep shade best. He handed her the flowers and kissed her before she could protest. “Again, hard to resist.”
“I see that.” She took the flowers inside, and he followed her.
He watched her put the sunny bouquet in a vase and set it on the table. “Why does your house look more lived in than mine?”
“I couldn’t say. Never been inside.”
“You’re more than invited.” He couldn’t help his smoky voice.
She laughed. “I’ve heard that one before.”
“I’ll bet.” He followed her outside and crooked his elbow, pleased when she latched onto his arm without balking. “You always been this pretty, or did you go through a gawky stage like the rest of us?”
“I highly doubt you were ever awkward. You have lady killer written all over you.”
“Nah. I’m a nice guy.”
She studied him, and he wondered what she saw. “Maybe.”
Nice guys finished last and all that, so maybe her not seeing him as “nice” was a good thing. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“I didn’t, did I?” She smiled. “Do your worst to interrogate me, Major Cava. I’ll never talk.”
He liked her playfulness. “Oh? I have ways of getting information, Ms. St. James.” He covered her hand on his arm with his own, aware his hand dwarfed hers. “And I always get what I want.”
“Do you now?” She batted her eyelashes at him then licked her lower lip in a suggestive way he couldn’t miss.
“Are you trying to embarrass me in public?” He groaned. “Cut it out.”
She gave his crotch a subtle look, but he caught it. “I can’t help it. I keep seeing your little show whenever I close my eyes. I have to tell you, I’m impressed. Most girls are happy with six inches, but I think you’re a bit more than that.”
He tugged her with him into the alley behind his sister’s coffee shop and backed Genevieve against the wall. “Okay, here’s the deal. We go out, talk, like you said we should, and play nice in public. That means no more provoking me by licking those fuckable lips or staring at my cock.”
“Or else what?” she asked, her voice husky.
“Or else we skip all this getting to know each other bullshit and I bang your brains out. I’m game, sweetheart. Just say the word.” Praying for the latter, he waited.
“Lunch, in public.”
He sighed and stepped back. “Fine. But quit teasing me.”
She turned a pretty pink. “Sorry. You’re just too cute to resist.” She grabbed his elbow again, and they walked down the street toward a popular seafood restaurant overlooking the Intracoastal Waterway.
“Cute?”
She smiled. “Sorry. I meant handsome. I’d say hung like a horse, but that’s a little crass even for me.”
He blinked. “Ah, okay.” Damn. He felt his cheeks heat. “So you’re from where, exactly?” Rumor had her from somewhere up north. Virginia, he’d heard.
“Maryland, just north of Baltimore. My parents and sister moved to the city a few years back.”
“What do they do?”
“My mom is a software engineer, my father a retired sailor. My sister teaches.” She smiled, the love in her voice softening her features. “Elementary school. She has the patience of Job.”
He chuckled. “I have a hard time teaching Marines. I can’t imagine small kids.”
“I know. Bethany married her high school sweetheart. She’s expecting twins in seven more months. I’m going to be an aunt.” Genevieve’s eyes sparkled, and his heart raced.
He led them inside the restaurant and requested a table in the back, outside and overlooking the water. The waiter seated them, took their drink orders, and left. Only a few other patrons sat nearby, so they had most of the restaurant to themselves.
“Sounds exciting.” He scanned the menu, decided on a meal, and saw her do the same.
“What?” she asked when she saw him looking at her.
“You make quick decisions.” She always had at work. “I like that.”
“I don’t have time for dithering. I see what I want, I weigh what I know, I decide.” She snapped her fingers.
“Well, decisiveness is a basic leadership trait.”
“I know. You can’t work around Marines for years and not realize what makes you people tick.”
“Oh?”
The waiter interrupted her response. After giving their orders, they returned to the conversation, and she answered him.
“Yeah. You guys work hard and play hard. Loyalty is
everything. Never leave a man behind, get the job done with the worst equipment—”
“I hear that.”
“And no whining.” She nodded. “I agree with a hundred percent of all of that. Now if I could just get half the Marines at work to stop staring at my breasts when talking to me, I’d be golden.”
Considering his gaze had dropped to her delectable cleavage, he could only laugh. “Well, hell, you have a nice body. Can’t blame a guy for looking.”
“I guess not. But it’s uncomfortable when it’s your boss.”
He frowned. “Colonel Drey?”
“No, no. My civilian boss in Bethesda. He visits every now and then. He’s creepy.”
“So report him.”
“Really?” She raised a brow. “Sexual harassment is alive and well in the workplace. I report him, I don’t get the promotion I’m working toward. Say what you want, but it’s true. I just have to deal with his brief upcoming visit, then he’ll be gone. It’s no biggie, really.”
Brad had no intention of letting some creep scam on her, but he held that tight to his chest for the time being. “Your career, your call.”
“Exactly.” She sipped from her wine. An ocean breeze whipped past them, stirring her hair over her shoulders. “So tell me. What’s in your future?”
“Like my dad, I plan to retire from the Marine Corps. I love it.”
“And you’re very good at it, according to everyone I know. You were promoted early, weren’t you?”
“I don’t know about early.” He downplayed his success, raised to be humble, and let his skills do the talking. “I do my job to the best of my ability every day. I love my Marines, my country, my family. I’m a pretty easy guy to understand.”
“Oh? Then why aren’t you married with two kids and living the dream?” she said with no small amount of sarcasm. “That’s what my parents keep asking me, anyway. I’m happy, but to them, until I’m a Mrs., I’m missing something in my life.”
“No kidding.” He drank from his glass, pleased at how much they had in common. “My parents have been happily married for nearly thirty years. My brother married the perfect woman for him. Olivia just settled down with Mr. Right. And now they’re all on my ass to get hitched.” He frowned. “I did that once and got burned. Bad. Not itching to do it again.”
“You were married?” She frowned. “I don’t see it.”
Chapter Five
That she hadn’t expected. Brad seemed too footloose and career-oriented to have ever settled down.
He blinked in surprise, as if he hadn’t intended to share that juicy nugget.
“Oh come on. You have to tell me. I’ll tell you about my last ex from hell.”
He took another hearty drag on his beer. “You first.”
She sighed. “Coward. Fine. My last boyfriend was a year ago. I try, but my relationships don’t seem to last. Maybe I’m picking the wrong guys. I don’t know.”
“What’s your type?”
“Strong and independent. Maybe.” She shrugged. “I don’t date military types because that’s too much like playing around at work. But the civilian guys seem to get jealous of my friends in uniform. Then there are the guys always trying to prove something. And the ones who can’t keep up with me.”
“Oh?”
She peeked at him before focusing on the waiter arriving with their food. The guy delivered her shrimp salad and gave Brad a juicy burger. They stopped talking to eat, but Brad circled around to the conversation again.
“So, they can’t keep up…?”
In a low voice, she admitted, wondering if she’d scare him off, “In bed.”
His slow grin told her she’d intrigued him. “Oh.”
“I have a big appetite. A lot of guys can’t handle me or my imagination.” There. She’d thrown down the gauntlet she prayed he’d pick up. She really wanted a piece of his fine body. She could only hope he’d be worth her trouble.
“You know, I’ve had the same problem with my exes.”
“Is that why you split from your wife?”
He frowned. She didn’t like the flash of pain she saw in his face before he blanked his expression. “No. Dana… I loved her, at first. We did everything together, and we were young, I suppose. We met when I was twenty-three, married two years later. Divorced two more after that.”
He ate slowly, watching her with that same frown.
“Hey, you brought up the marriage thing. I’m curious.” She watched him, wondering if her impression of him was right. “For some reason I imagine you with hordes of women around you. But I don’t know. I think if you were really with someone, you’d stick, not stray.”
“I did. She didn’t.”
“Ah.” So Brad’s ex had cheated on him or left him. A sad story there, and one she didn’t think they needed to get into despite dying to know more about his past. “Well, like I was telling you, my last ex got too needy. Demanded I stop spending so much time at work, which was not my fault, mind you. And when he saw me laughing with my very married Navy buddy, he got incredibly jealous. It was weird. I was great friends with Dan’s wife. Even Tim, my ex, had gone out with the pair. But he was a little crazy. Maybe because…”
“Yeah?” Brad had lost the frown, thankfully.
“Because I was honest about him not meeting my needs.”
“Needs.” Brad chewed, and his eyes widened. “Oh. Needs. So what didn’t he do for you?”
She glanced around, keeping her voice low as she answered. “He wasn’t very skilled. Orally. He wasn’t creative either.”
“Too bad.” Brad gave her a long, lingering onceover. “No shows through his window for you?”
She grinned. “Nope. I think he would have died on the spot before showing off like you did.” She had to know. “Did you know I was in my room when you did…that?”
“Nope. I saw your lights out and just wanted another night of fresh air before a new neighbor moved in. I just went with it.”
She fanned herself. “You sure did.”
He laughed. “You crack me up.” He watched her with curiosity in those light brown eyes. “I wouldn’t have thought you could be so open about sex. You seem so buttoned down at work.” When she would have explained herself again he stopped her. “I know, I know. You don’t screw around in the office. I respect that.”
“Thanks. You know, I don’t sense anything weird between you and Marcy. Even though it was pretty stupid to date a woman across the hall.”
He sighed. “I know. I was new to the shop and had just moved into town. I wasn’t smart, and trust me, Marcy and I… not a good fit. She’s so quiet and shy. I wanted a good time. She wanted something a lot more. So we ended before things got serious.”
“You ended it.” She could tell.
“I did. I’m not a bastard, you know. I date, and my friends know the score.”
“So what do you want with me?”
“Honestly?” He frowned again. “Besides wanting inside you like crazy, I’m not sure.”
Her heart flipped and tumbled into the butterflies in her belly. “Well, that’s not too clear.”
“I know.” His sudden smile surprised her. “But I’m sure I’ll know more after I’ve had you.”
“Had me?” She arched a brow.
“In every way possible.” He licked his lips, and she stifled a groan.
“Now who’s the tease?”
He laughed. They made safer small-talk, recounting stories about the people they worked with, how best to stay on the colonel’s good side, and about how much Brad’s family loved screwing with him.
Before she knew it, they’d finished their meal and walked outside, taking in the gorgeous day.
“About that project,” Brad began. “I’m thinking we should tackle it from my angle.” He launched into a detailed—and wrong—way of looking at it.
So she corrected him and had a fabulous time arguing with an intelligent man who
could give as well as he got. They talked about everything through their walk, over double scoops of ice cream, and through some competitive swinging on the playground at a nearby park. Breathless with laughter by the time they arrived back at her house, she noted the sun had begun to set. “Wow. How long were we out?”
He checked his watch. “Damn. Nearly six hours. The time flew by.” He smiled at her. “I don’t suppose we could make this the perfect day with a sexy nightcap?”
“Considering I’m pretty sure nightcap to you means getting naked and horizontal with me, no. I liked being with you today. Wouldn’t want to ruin it by letting you disappoint me in bed.”
His eyes darkened. “Honey, that’s never going to happen.”
“Yeah, well, let’s give the mystery of our future a chance. I’m just getting to like you after two months of disliking you. We have time.”
“True.” He walked her into her house then moved closer to pull her into his embrace. “I can show you what you’ll be missing though.”
“Bring it, Cava.”
He kissed her, his mouth taking. Commanding. His tongue and lips had her mindless in seconds, especially when he used his whole body to hug her. She felt the breadth of his chest, the rock-hard thighs against hers, and of course, that firm insistent part of him rubbing against her belly. God, he was huge.
He moaned and deepened the kiss, tangling his fingers in her hair to control her. His dominance had her weak at the knees, and she had to hold on to him so she wouldn’t stumble. He wedged a thigh between her legs, letting her ride him. Then one hand stroked her bare flank, and she realized he’d tugged up her skirt to run his hand over her ass.
He broke from the kiss and swore. “Fuck me. You’re wearing a thong?”
Knowing they’d gone way over the line, she pushed at his chest, breathing hard. “That was some kiss.” She hoped she hadn’t been too obvious about her arousal. As it was, she felt super slick between her legs.
