A SEAL's Fantasy (17 page)

“Yeah.” He shot her a glance. “Why the disbelief? Didn’t you say you’re top of your class? That means you’re good, right?”

“Well, sure,” she said with a shrug. “But good and good enough for a company like Castillo Security are two different things. Why didn’t you tell me before that your family owned the biggest security company on the West Coast?”

“Sorry. I rarely think to share that with women.” Or his assignments.

“Well, you should. It’s pretty impressive.”

Dominic gave her a baffled look.

“Lara, I’m a Navy SEAL. You really think I need to work to impress women?”

Lara’s laughter burst out, filling the cab of the truck and making him grin.

She was tough, savvy, strong.

She was sexy, gorgeous and demanding.

And she had one hell of a sense of humor.

And that was why he was falling for her.

No.

Dominic stopped that thought in its tracks.

That was crazy thinking. It was just the novelty of seeing a woman around his family.

The ultimate challenge of fixing her life so it was as great as she deserved.

It was sex.

Just sex.

Dominic settled into the seat, one hand on the wheel and the other arm stretched across the bench seat so he could play with the short ends of Lara’s hair. As the miles passed, he plotted.

She needed family.

He knew where she had one.

Time to fix that little rift, whatever it was, and give her that connection she craved.

Then he could get over this crazy idea of sharing his.

Because thinking like that, it was purely stupid.

That was the kind of thinking that led to expectations, sharing closet space and, God forbid, long-term commitment.

Nope.

Tension faded, leaving Dominic to focus on his fallback emotion toward women: affectionate lust. Yeah. That’s all he felt for Lara.

And as long as he ignored that laughing voice in the back of his head, everything would be just fine.

* * *

“
S
O TELL ME
about your family.”

Lara’s gaze ricocheted off the soothing view of fields and trees to stare at Dominic. Frowning, she gave him an irritated look he didn’t see because, of course, he was driving.

“Why?” Talking about them would ruin the nice mood she’d been in.

“Because I’m curious. C’mon, you know everything about mine. Don’t tell me my grandmother didn’t show you that picture frame with all of my school photos. Kindergarten to graduation, with a story for every year.”

Lara’s annoyance faded a little as she recalled his second-grade picture. He’d been so cute with his front teeth missing and his hair in little-punk-boy spikes.

“I liked your prom pictures better,” she said, shifting in her seat and reaching over to tap his thigh with her fingers. “So did you get lucky with that cute little blonde?”

“Which one? I went to three proms.”

“All with blondes?”

“What can I say, it was a phase,” he said with a shrug. Then he shot her a laughing look. “I’m partial to brunettes now, though.”

“You’re partial to anything female, you mean. Don’t try to deny it. I talked to at least twenty members of your family this week and every one had a story about you and a girl. But no two were the same girl.”

“So I know how you went from Maryland to New York, but how did you end up in Reno?” he asked, surprising her.

“You want to know how I ended up a showgirl, you mean?”

“Sure, maybe. I’m not criticizing, I’m just curious. Broadway indicates some major dedication. So why would you leave it?”

“I had to.” Lara shifted in her seat, wishing he’d talk about something else. She hated thinking about what she’d given up. It wasn’t that she was so dedicated that she mourned leaving something she’d spent most of her life training for. No, she just hated the reminder of why she’d lost it all.

Especially now, when she was head over heels for a guy who’d end up leaving her high and dry.

But this time she wasn’t sidelining her dreams or giving up her ambitions. She’d used the extra time off work to finish her homework and her semester project and to grill Lucas for information that should help her ace her final exam. For once a relationship was actually working in her favor.

“So what happened to make you leave Broadway?” he asked again, interrupting her self-congratulatory mental happy dance.

“Life. She has a way of stepping in and shaking things up, you know. I figure it’s her way of keeping us from getting too cocky.” She angled an arch look his way. “You should watch out. I’ll bet you’re due.”

“C’mon, tell me. You know everything about me,” he reminded her. “Including the sad fact that I wore a purple tuxedo to the prom.”

“It was closer to violet,” she observed. Then she shrugged. “It’s not a very exciting story. I was in a car accident. Busted my leg up pretty bad.”

He shot her a frown. “You didn’t call your parents? Go home, play good daughter for a while until you healed?”

“I called them,” she said stiffly.

“And?”

“They said I’d made my choice, now I could live with it.” Lara’s words were matter-of-fact. She’d expected nothing less, nothing more. After all, she’d left home for a reason. Why would her being gone change anything?

“Son of a bitch,” Dominic breathed. His fingers clenched, stretched then clenched again on the steering wheel. “Banks left you swinging in the wind, too?”

“Phillip?” Lara blinked. Had she ever considered calling him back then? She tried to remember, but didn’t recall that ever entering her head.

“You didn’t even ask him for help?”

“I never thought about it. He was always a toe-the-line kind of guy, though. No reason to think Prince Perfect would buck the company line.”

“That’s just sibling rivalry,” Dominic said with an indulgent glace that made Lara want to punch him. “Everyone who has brothers or sisters has that. Doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have helped you.”

She rolled her eyes. As if he had a clue?

“Enough talking about ancient history,” she dismissed with a wave of her hand. “Tell me what we’re going to do when we get to Southern California.”

He shot her a look that said he was doing her a favor but would be returning to the subject later. Fine. Lara knew how to dodge with the best of them.

“When we get to Southern California?” he mused. “We’re going to have sex. Lots and lots of crazy, wild sex.”

Sounded good to her.

10

W
HAT A MONTH
.

Two weeks ago, she hadn’t known Dominic Castillo existed.

Now she was sitting on a hotel terrace overlooking the Pacific Ocean, sipping coffee and debating her newfound attitude and how she felt about it.

Southern California’s much too laid-back attitude seemed to be rubbing off on her. Two days after arriving, he’d gone back on duty, but they still spent every night together, had gone sightseeing and spent glorious hours on the beach. Who knew she was crazy about the ocean? With Dominic on duty during the day, she had plenty of time to add extras to her final project. Nights were for wild sex, long walks on the beach and soulful talks. She figured the wild sex balanced out the cheesiness of the other two.

When Flo had called to reluctantly inform her that she’d been fired, Lara had just laughed.

Nibbling a strawberry, the sweetly tart juice exploding on her tongue, Lara watched the tiny surfers from afar.

Her landlord had left a message with Flo that she was evicted. Apparently he hadn’t found a body in her apartment so didn’t feel her excuse was justified and was keeping her deposit but throwing away her belongings. No biggie, since Lara didn’t figure they could scrape together enough of that mess to equal a single thing worth saving.

So she was jobless and homeless.

And she was oddly fine with that. It was as though a huge weight of obligation was gone. Of course, she had very little money and no apparent means of making more until she graduated. Since the internship paid jack, she’d have to find some way to cover the bills. But she couldn’t quite work up enough energy to worry.

Lara’s easy mood dimmed.

She was a little worried for her brother. Dominic had assured her over and over that Phillip was fine, that she just had to lay low a little longer while the team secured the situation. But now, after barely thinking about the guy more than a dozen times over the years, she was thinking of him daily. She could chalk that up to the situation. After all, it was because of him that she was here on this very balcony.

But that didn’t explain why she was suddenly wondering how he was doing. What he was like. Did he still eat his cereal dry and read at the table when he was alone? Did he ever think about the Christmas their parents had spent in Vail, leaving the two of them home alone? They’d had McDonald’s for breakfast because neither could cook and Phillip had driven Lara to the store the next day to exchange all of her lousy gifts. She’d totally forgotten about those things until this month.

She’d almost forgotten what he looked like, his image flashes of photographs rather than impressions of his actual self.

Now she wondered.

Late at night, curled in Dominic’s arms, she pondered if she’d ever find out. If she’d have a chance to.

And why it was suddenly so important.

Lara poured more coffee, drinking it fast to wash away the worry. Using the same guaranteed method of calming herself that she’d employed all week, Lara took a deep breath, cleared her mind, then imagined Dominic naked.

Oh, yeah...

Hard muscles. Golden skin. Big blue eyes and those sexy man dimples. Long, erect delight.

Worked like a charm.

Soothed and happy again, Lara settled her feet on the balcony railing, wondering if—brotherly worries aside—she’d ever been this happy.

Especially considering that she was pretty much positive that she’d done the stupidest thing of her life. She’d fallen in love with Dominic Castillo. And the weird thing was, that didn’t bother her, either.

She should be terrified.

She should be freaking out.

This was scarier than those goons breaking into her apartment, the one who’d grabbed her and the creep cadre all balled together.

If she were smart, she’d be hitchhiking back to Reno or New York or, hell, even Maryland.

She shouldn’t be chilling on the balcony of a hotel room that she couldn’t afford to pay for, eating fattening croissants and thinking about complex HTML code and various sexual positions.

Lara broke off a piece of pastry, the buttery flakes melting on her tongue as she contemplated it all.

Yeah.

She’d probably slipped around the edge into crazyville.

She didn’t take things easy.

She didn’t do calm and reasonable.

Hell, she didn’t even relax.

Something to blame Castillo for, she decided.

Through the open patio door she heard the swoosh of the hotel room door closing and sighed, pleasure curling around peace in her stomach.

She didn’t need to look to know it was Dominic. It was as if she could sense him now. A little voice in Lara’s head screamed
WTF,
and she imagined that tiny screamer beating on the walls of her brain, trying to wake the real her up. But she was so happy, that voice was easy to ignore.

A hand, warm and hard, slid over her bare shoulder.

“Hi.” She tilted her head to rub her cheek over his hand, then grinned when it slid past her shoulder onto her breast. “Aw, now, Jimmy, I told you I only tip like that for chocolate. Coffee and croissants don’t merit copping a feel.”

“Cute.” Grinning, Dominic came around to drop into the chair next to her. He snagged a pastry from the basket and popped it into his mouth. While he chewed, Lara let her gaze wander over his excellent form. Clad in fatigues and a tee, paratrooper-style black boots and a camo cap, he must be on a break, not off duty.

Even while she appreciated the view, her lips moved into a half pout. A break meant no sexy times, but seeing him in his military clothes was enough of a turn-on to keep her revved until bedtime. Or at least until six, when he’d walk through the door again for dinner.

“You like it here?” he asked.

Surprised, Lara tilted her sunglasses down to get a better look at his face. Nary a dimple was showing, so he must be serious.

“Here? On the balcony? Here at the hotel? Here in California?” She arched one brow. “Wanna narrow it down?”

“Here. Southern California, close to the base.”

Lara wet her lips, excitement bubbling a nervous brew in her belly.

“Why?”

“I asked first.”

“Yeah, but if you don’t answer first, you won’t find out, will you?” She shot him an arch smile.

“You always get the upper hand that way?” he asked, pouring a cup of coffee and toasting her.

“By being clever? Yeah, it usually works.” She waited, but he didn’t tell her what he was talking about. Clearly, he thought he could out-stubborn clever.

Lara waited until he reached for another pastry, then took the basket just before he could get one.

“You were saying why you wanted to know if I like it here?” she encouraged with a smile.

He gave her a hard stare, looked at the basket, then at her again.

“Curious,” he finally said.

Lara shifted the basket so it was on the edge of the balcony, one quick tip from taking a twenty-story header.

“Just wondering if you might want to stick around,” he said, his expression somewhere between irritated and impressed. “Maybe meet a few people, hang out a little. You’re done with your final project, right? So you have some time?”

See. Clever. She knew her man, knew his weaknesses. Dominic didn’t have many, but unless it was a military secret, he was all about the food.

Lara handed him the pastry basket, then shrugged.

“I’m technically done with the project, but I’d like to add a few more things. I’d love to ask Lucas some advice, though. Can I get his number?”

Yet another odd change.

Lara was used to working alone.

She thrived on her own energy and figured if she ever got a tattoo, it’d read something like Me, Myself and I—why mess with perfection?