A SEAL's Fantasy (16 page)

“So does Dom.” Celia sniffed at her brother. “I could almost hate him for that if he wasn’t so great.”

“That must be pretty cool, having a brother you think is great.”

“I have four of them,” Celia said, her tone making it clear she wasn’t picking favorites. “Lucas is the best at fixing things and Matteo is the funniest. Dominic knows everything, though. You want advice, you talk to him. He always has the answers.”

Lara noticed she didn’t mention a fourth name. A quick glance around the table and she realized that whoever their other brother was, he wasn’t here tonight.

Of course, who was she to comment on familial relationships or question fallings-out?

“Dominic said you wanted the security code for internet access,” Lucas said, taking the platter and sliding four empanadas onto his plate. “I can give it to you after dinner.”

“Thanks. I have homework due Monday and want to make sure it’s in.” Lara tasted the empanada.
Oh, my.
The meat-filled pastry was so delicious that her mouth exploded in delight.

“What’re you in school for?” Lucas asked.

“You’re in school?” Dominic muttered at the same time.

Lara slid him a sideways look, but responded to Lucas instead. “I’m studying computer security with Fireside Tech,” she told him. “This is my last semester.”

“Fireside?” For the first time since they’d gathered at the table, Lucas put his fork down. “They’re good. Are you specializing?”

“I’ve got top marks in home security and systems design, but I’d really like to get into cybersecurity. That’s what I’m focused on the most.” Lara’s voice trailed off when she realized everyone had quieted and was now staring at her and Lucas. Suddenly as self-conscious as she’d be if she were wearing her feather costume and dancing on the table, Lara gave a little shrug and finished with, “That’s about it.”

“Really?”

Before she could tell Dominic, “Yes,
really,
” Lucas broke in.

“What do you know about the Onyx R300 system?”

What did
he
know about it?

Too confused to be rude, Lara explained how she’d reprogrammed the Onyx home security system the previous semester in the school lab in order to overwrite a common weather glitch.

“You fixed that? The company said it couldn’t be done. That’s why they had issues with the Onyx R500 this summer.” Lucas gave her a long look, then nodded to her plate. “You finished?”

Lara glanced down. She’d barely eaten half her dinner, but now she was too intrigued to want more, so she nodded.

“Mama, excuse us,” Lucas said, getting up from the table and gesturing for Lara to join him.

“Dessert?” Mrs. Castillo asked, not looking at all surprised that one of her sons was leaving dinner with another son’s girlfriend. No, not girlfriend. Date. Guest? Lara pressed her lips together, too confused to figure out what she and Dominic were now.

“What’s dessert?” Lucas asked, pausing on his way out the door.

“Chocolate cake, cherry pie or flan.”

“Save us some—” He arched a glance at Lara.

“Cake, please.”

“Save us some cake.”

He gestured for her to follow. After a baffled glance back at Dominic, who just sat and grinned, Lara did.

Three hours later, she slid onto the bench seat of the truck Dominic had traded his bike for. He waited for her to settle in, then closed the door before going around to the driver’s side to get in himself.

“Your family is pretty awesome,” she told him as he started the engine.

“They think you’re pretty awesome, too.”

They do?

The words were almost out of her mouth before she realized it. Instead of asking such a needy question, Lara rested her head on the seat back and watched the lights of the house and outbuildings fade into the distance.

His family actually liked her.

What an odd concept.

Her own family didn’t think she was awesome.

Maybe that’s why she had never once, in her seventeen years with them, relaxed and simply enjoyed herself the way she had tonight.

She’d talked security systems with Lucas.

Discussed dance with Celia.

Mrs. Castillo had given her the posole recipe, insisting that a pot of soup could keep a pretty girl like her in meals for a week. Lara still wasn’t sure what hominy was, but she was going to give it a try.

Wow.

What a weekend.

Incredible sex, followed by the attack of the goon guy. A motorcycle ride through scenic California, then more incredible sex. An entire day of even more incredible sex. Then that dinner.

Enjoying the smooth satisfaction, Lara followed Dominic out of the truck and into his cabin. Inside, he hit that button that locked the place up again. It made sense now—his home was protected by the best Castillo Security had to offer. She barely resisted asking if she could poke around his security panel.

“You look happy,” he said, tossing his keys on the counter. “You have fun tonight?” Hands empty now, he reached out and pulled her close.

“Yeah,” she said. “I did have fun.”

Lara’s smile shifted from satisfied to seductive as she leaned into Dominic’s body. His chest was hard against her breasts, his thighs braced as if he was ready to rock.

“How fun?” he asked in a husky tone, his hands cupping her butt to pull her tight against his growing erection. Lara gave a little hip swivel, just to up the stakes, then brushed her lips over his.

“Fun enough that I don’t know how you’re going to top it tonight,” she said against his mouth.

Dominic swiped his tongue over her lips, then said, “Why don’t we see what I can come up with?”

* * *

L
ARA HAD A
way with fun.

Sexy fun.

Sweet fun.

Chocolate-covered fun.

And, dammit, the kind of fun that sneaked under a guy’s skin. Which was why he hadn’t been able to resist staying here for the week instead of taking her down to Coronado.

From outside, Dominic watched her and his sister through the window of his cabin. Their laughter rang out the open door; their smiles lit in the dim morning light.

“They’re having fun.”

He glanced at Lucas, who had his head under the hood of the truck. Paranoid as ever, he figured it needed a once-over before it could handle the trip south.

“She’s had fun with everyone this week,” he observed in return.

“Ma likes her.” Lucas’s words echoed through the engine compartment, taking on an otherworldly blessing tone.

Ma liked her. Grandma liked her. Matteo, Lucas—everyone liked her.

But she and Celia had gotten tightest.

God knew what they whispered about. It wasn’t all clothes, although his sister had taken a trip into Sacramento to get Lara what she deemed a dozen bags full of essentials. Lara had been upset that he’d covered the cost, but had settled when he told her he’d add it to Banks’s tab.

Then she’d laughed.

She laughed a lot more now than she had when they’d first met. Over the past few days, she’d actually started to glow. It wasn’t the attention that was making her look more relaxed and happy than he’d seen her in their weeklong relationship. For all her lack of inhibitions and ease onstage, attention actually seemed to make her uncomfortable.

She liked his family.

Not a surprise, since Dominic considered his family pretty damned awesome. Meantime her only living relative was one certified stick-in-the-mud, Lieutenant Phillip Banks.

Poor girl.

As if he had a wiretap hooked up to Dominic’s brain, Lucas looked out from under the hood and asked, “So you know her brother, right?”

Not really.

He could pick him out of a lineup, write a job recommendation for the guy. But know him?

“We serve together,” was all he could say, hoping Lucas would get the hint and change the subject.

“You gonna bring her back?”

Not even close to the change Dominic had been hoping for.

“I dunno. I’m not really in a relationship place.”

“Who is?”

“Women?”

“Not that one,” Lucas said with a laugh, tilting his head toward the cabin.

“No?” Dominic frowned at the cabin.

Lara didn’t want a relationship?

At all? Or with him?

How did Lucas know that?

Dominic almost asked, then decided he really didn’t want to know.

He tossed his duffel behind the truck seat. He didn’t have much to pack. Pretty much everything he needed was on base. But it didn’t hurt to bring a few dozen extra condoms, a bottle of hot fudge and his digital camera, too. Not that he wanted to make dirty movies with Lara. Much. But he figured a few pictures of her visit to San Diego and Coronado would be fun to have.

A little souvenir of their time together.

He stared blankly at the trees on the other side of the truck, wondering why. He’d never wanted anything to remember a relationship by before. And if Lucas was right, Lara had no interest in one, either.

So why was he so reluctant to let go of this one? It’d been a week. Usually at this point he was done, finished and ready to be long gone. If he even made it this far. Most women had issues with the idea of his job being top secret, or that he’d be gone indefinitely. They figured a guy was cheating or didn’t care enough. He’d always considered it one of his greatest job benefits.

Now he was wondering how the guys in relationships made it work. Masters and Lane were both recently married and seemed to juggle it all just fine. Then again, their ladies were rare and special. Same with Landon. He’d been married over a year—a record for some military guys.

“You’re good to go,” Lucas decided, slamming the hood shut and giving it a pat. He tilted his head toward the house. “I’m gonna get Celia and go. You good?”

“I’m good.” Dominic issued his traditional response, slapped his brother on the back, then lifted the cooler his mom had filled into the truck.

While Lucas went inside to say his goodbyes and drag their sister away, Dominic reminded himself that he wasn’t looking for a relationship.

He just wanted to help Lara out.

He had a few ideas. First he’d have to find her a better job to keep her going until she was through with school. Something she could do with a few extra clothes on. And there was no point finding her a new apartment until she knew where she wanted to work. Maybe she’d get crazy for Southern California and want to relocate there. If her apartment was close to base, he could visit from time to time.

Damn.

Dominic all but smacked himself in the head.

There he went again, thinking those ridiculous relationship thoughts.

Not gonna happen.

He was gonna fix things up for Lara, then this was over.

Bad Ass had messaged the night before with news.

Bird in hand, flying back to nest.

The team should be in Coronado within a day, debriefed and available within the week.

Dominic could have simply returned Lara to Reno with the news about her brother. Fixed her apartment door, kissed her cheek and let her get back to her life.

That’s what he should have done.

Instead, he’d told her they’d be safer on base.

True, but now totally inapplicable to the situation.

But he figured she’d already called work to arrange to take the rest of the week off, so they might as well go. They’d cruise down the coast, spend more time together, have enough sex that he’d get her out of his system.

He was due back on duty the first of next week, so by the time they’d come up for air he’d be ready to put her on a plane back to Reno.

If she ever got out here. Dominic looked at his watch, then the cabin door.

As if she heard his impatience, Lara sauntered out, duffel over her shoulder and a laugh on her lips. His brother and sister flanked her, but he barely saw them.

Damn.

She was crazy sexy.

Long, leggy and slender, her body was a work of art that he was afraid he could spend forever studying. She’d fancied up her simple jeans and a long-sleeved tee as green as her eyes by adding a scarf that draped around and around her neck in a fluffy circle. The filmy blue fabric somehow highlighted instead of hid her full breasts. Dominic liked that in fashion.

He waited for the goodbyes, barely offering more than a cursory hug and nod to his family to hurry them along.

“Sorry, I was just thanking Celia and Lucas,” she said, her ever-present laptop tight in her hand. “You have the nicest family. Did you know she came over to hang out last night while you and Lucas were off doing your boy-club powwow?”

“Yeah, she said she was going to.” Ready to hit the road, he opened the passenger door, waiting until she was settled before circling the truck. As he started the engine, he glanced over, taking another second to appreciate his sister’s choice in clothes if she’d had a hand in what Lara was wearing. “She likes you.”

“She’s great.” Lara spent the next twenty minutes chatting about his family. Impressions, observations, questions.

It was cute.

“Lucas figures you’re gonna nail the security tech internship.” Waiting for the light to signal that they were clear to turn onto the freeway, Dominic reached over to flick Lara’s scarf, just there by the tip of her breast. “He’s trying to figure out how to change your mind and get you to come on board with Castillo Security instead.”

He grinned when he saw that her nipple had hardened against her T-shirt. Damn, she was delicious.

Lara twisted around, one knee on the seat between them as she reached over to grab his arm. She didn’t seem interested in her body’s reaction, though.

“He really said that?” Lara’s laugh sounded more stunned than amused as she reached over to lay her hand on his arm.

He looked at her fingers with a frown, realizing this was the first sign of vulnerability he’d seen in her. After everything she’d been through, this got to her?

Dominic prided himself on knowing women. What made them tick, what got them happy, what turned them to mush.

But Lara kept on surprising him.