Bound By Seduction (A Red-Hot SEALs Novella Book 2) (10 page)

BOOK: Bound By Seduction (A Red-Hot SEALs Novella Book 2)
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“All right,” he said slowly, eying her scowling face warily. Time for evasive maneuvers. “Mind if I take a shower first? I could use a long hot soak.”

“There will be no showering, at least not here, until we come to an understanding.” She planted her hands on her hips and looked determined—a stance which might have carried more impact if she stood a foot taller and hadn’t sported a head full of pink spikes.

Aiden grinned, even though it stung like hell.

She narrowed her eyes and glared at him. “You find something funny about that?”

“No, ma’am,” he answered promptly. “You just look like a pixie standing there.” Not that he knew what a pixie looked like, but when evasive maneuvers failed, the experienced operator stepped in with a distraction. He raised his gaze to her hair and assumed a considering expression. “Maybe it’s because of all those pink spiky things in your hair.”

Her eyes narrowed even further as she raked his frame from head to toe. “Considering the way you look right now, bringing appearances into it isn’t helping your cause.” She shot him a knowing look. “And in case you’re wondering, Kait has grumbled—numerous times—about your propensity for winning arguments by using evasion and distraction. Guess what? I’m not falling for either.”

Hell. Kait needed to learn to keep her mouth shut…

“We are going to talk, like a pair of adults, right here, right now,” Demi said, her demand ringing out loud and clear in the enclosed space.

“Fine.” With a bad tempered frown, Aiden raked a hand through his hair. “Look, I’ll apologize to your friend, okay?”

Her hands dropped from her hips and a worried frown replaced the scowl on her face. “Good. You should. But that’s not the problem. I’m thinking I may have given you the wrong impression.”

He drew back and reassessed the direction the conversation was headed.

“I sincerely doubt it,” he assured her.

She ignored the reassurance. “Obviously, there is a tremendous amount of chemistry between us.” She waved her hand between them. “And if I’m not mistaken, you’re as open to a…physical relationship…between us as I am.”

“You are definitely not mistaken,” Aiden confirmed. Cocking his head and rocking back on his heels, he settled in to see where this odd argument was going.

“Great, but what you need to understand is that I’m not looking for anything permanent. What I want is a no strings attached, no emotions involved—friend with benefits.” She paused and lifted her eyebrows meaningfully. “You know, sexual benefits.”

Aiden barely caught his jaw from hitting the floor.

Was she serious?

He studied her face. She looked pretty damn sincere. Did she have no insight into her own emotional makeup?

“I’m not offering anything permanent,” she stressed, apparently afraid he hadn’t picked up on that little fact from her no strings attached, friends with benefits spiel moments ago.

“I’m not ready to settle down,” she added.

Said the woman who had married her first love right out of high school and remained faithful to him through the seven years they were married, even though she’d been as insanely attracted to Aiden as he’d been to her—yeah, those signs had been impossible to miss.

Aiden swallowed a snort of pure disbelief. Lord help him, this was going to be as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. The woman had no idea that she’d just hog-tied herself. There was no way, absolutely no way, that Demi would be able to welcome a man into her bed and her body, with all the intimacy that entailed, and keep her heart hidden away.

The very act of lovemaking would tangle her emotions all up.

“Looks like we’re on the same page, then,” Aiden said, lying through his teeth. “I’m not looking for anything permanent either. No strings sounds like a winning proposition to me.”


Really?”
She tilted her head and studied him. “I’ve been getting the distinct impression that you’re looking for more.”

“No kidding.” He strove for a dumfounded expression. “Why’s that?”

A conflicted frown feathered across her forehead. “Well, for one thing, there was that whole exchange with Chester a few minutes ago. Your reaction to his visit was far too possessive for a man who’s looking for a fleeting, no strings attached fling.”

He coughed and thought fast. To work his way into her heart, through her bed, he had to convince her he didn’t have permanence in mind. And she was right, a man who didn’t have any interest in permanence didn’t get possessive over his lover of the moment. He needed a good excuse for his reaction to Chester.

“Hell.” He ran a hand down his face and winged it. “You read that whole encounter with your neighbor wrong. I wasn’t being possessive. At least not in the way you assumed.”

“I did? You weren’t?” She eyed him suspiciously. “Why don’t you enlighten me, then? What was that about?”

“A guy like that…well, it’s obvious he’s pretty damn inexperienced,” Aiden said, stumbling his way through the false explanation. “And he’s fixated on you…” He checked her face to see if he was right. From the arrested look in her eyes, he was. “Odds are he asks you out constantly,” he added, and knew he was on target from the unconscious little nod she gave. “And being the genuinely nice person you are, you let him down easy each time.” He didn’t have to check her face for cues on that guess, since it was a given. “So he clings to the hope someday you’ll say yes and make all his dreams come true.” He shot her a quick glance. So far it looked like she was buying this convoluted piece of fictionalized nonfiction. Now to tie it all together. “These are exactly the kind of guys who can turn dangerous if their fantasy is threatened.”

“Chester? Dangerous?” She laughed in disbelief. “The guy’s harmless.”

He shrugged. “You don’t know what kind of fantasies he’s woven around you.” She still didn’t look like she was buying it, so he shifted gears. “Even if he doesn’t turn stalker and try to force you to fulfill his fantasy, in the long run it’s kinder to shatter any expectations a guy like that has, rather than lead him on—innocent as that may be.” He raised his voice when she opened her mouth in clear protest. “Do you have any interest in going out with him?” Her mouth snapped shut. After a moment she reluctantly shook her head. “See, a guy like Chester—he’s not going to move on unless it’s made crystal clear he doesn’t have a chance with you. Right now, and for the foreseeable future, he’s so hung up on you he doesn’t even notice any other girl that might be waiting for him.” He paused long enough to assume a virtuous expression. “I was doing him a favor.”

“Sure you were. You’re a regular saint,” she said dryly.

“I try.” He pretended to preen, and knew he’d skated past that mishap by her snort of laughter.

“Okay, say I buy that load of crap you just tried to feed me.” She gave him a dry, you-can’t-fool-me look. “What about what happened with Brett? You got into a fist fight with him simply because you thought he took me home. If you aren’t looking for a serious relationship, why would it matter if he took me home or not?”

He studied her face. She hadn’t believed a word he’d said about Chester, and there was no way he could spin what happened between him and Tag and make it believable. Time to stop spinning lies and give her the truth—with one crucial lie by omission.

“Fine, you want the truth?” He paused. Where to begin? Maybe at the beginning? “Do you remember when we first met?” He asked, watching her steadily.

“Sure.” A look of reflection pushed the suspicion from her face. “It was a couple of weeks after I met Kait at that photography class. Donnie had gone to some kind of conference in Vegas. I was at loose ends, so Kait invited me to dinner. She cooked lasagna—some prized family recipe.” She shot him a grin with a hint of nostalgia clinging to it. “You crashed the dinner party. Kait laughed, said she always made extra because it was your favorite dish and you always seemed to know when she was making it.”

Another little perk of his gift. It was odd how the damn thing worked—how he could just suddenly know, with absolute certainty, that Kait was cooking the family specialty, or that a certain stock was going to hit the ceiling, or the long shot at the race track was going to surprise everyone and leave the rest of the track in the dust. And yet he’d not have a clue that the operator next to him, the teammate he’d gone through basic training and then BUDs with, the warrior who was as close to him as a brother—was seconds away from getting his head blown off thanks to a sniper’s bullet.

At least Zane’s—his CO’s—premonitions were helpful. They saved lives.

What the fuck was his gift good for? Making money? Yeah, fuck that.

“You okay?”

Aiden shook his head to clear the frustration and get his mind back on business. They’d been talking about how they’d first met. The day that had irrevocably changed his life.

He caught her gaze. “You were wearing a yellow t-shirt with some kind of flower on it, faded jeans and sexy black half-boots with the longest damn heels.”

Her hand absently went to her chest and her eyes softened. “It was an iris, the flower on the shirt.”

He held her gaze steadily. “I took one look at you and wanted you. Right then. Right there and every day since.”

Surprise flushed her face. “Really? I would never have guessed it. You never acted like it.”

“You were married.” He shrugged; enough said.

A small, tight silence hummed between them.

“I wanted you too,” she admitted, without shame.

He gave her a gentle smile that barely hurt at all. “I know.” The smile quickly faded and intensity took its place. “It’s been ten years, sweetheart. Ten years of craving you, and locking the hunger down. And then Donnie died, and suddenly you were free…but drowning in grief and not ready for what I needed from you. So I waited…and waited, and waited some more for a sign that you were ready to take another man to your bed.” He shook his head and grimaced. “This last rotation was pure hell. It was closing in on three years since Donnie died. I knew at some point those good old primitive urges were going to wake you up. When they did, I wanted to be the one you turned to.”

“Oh… Her eyes rounded in understanding.

“Yeah.” He rolled his shoulders and ran a hand over his head, choosing his next words with care. “So imagine my frustration to find that Tag had taken you home. Yeah, I admit I got a little possessive. But you were faithful to Donnie the entire time you were married to him. Let’s just say I wasn’t thrilled to find you were already involved in another relationship before I had a chance to work you out of my system.” He paused and held her gaze steadily. “You have a history of faithfulness, sweetheart.” Which he was counting on—his strategy for their future was dependent on that faithfulness. “How was I to know you were looking for a no strings fuck buddy?”

“You’ve wanted me for ten years? That’s a long time to want someone on a purely physical basis, isn’t it?” She was frowning again, the expression in her eyes conflicted—caught between suspicion and hope.

He shrugged. “Not really. It’s a physical reaction. It’s not like I’m obsessed with you.” He fought like hell to keep his face straight.
Not obsessed with her? Sure—you keep telling yourself that buddy
. “And there were plenty of other women to distract me.” Something flashed across her face, but he couldn’t read the emotion. “Truth is, I haven’t spent enough time around you to form an emotional attachment. I don’t know much of anything about you.”

Which was pure bullshit. While they hadn’t spent significant time together, he knew enough about her. He knew the things that mattered. Like that she was loyal to a fault, had a wicked sense of humor, was completely open and unashamed of her sexuality, and was willing to compromise or even concede to those she loved. She’d confided in Kait she’d much rather live in a condo—because life was too short for lawn-mowing. Yet, Donnie had wanted the big old-fashioned house with the white picket fence and the huge front yard, so that’s what they’d been saving for.

There was one other thing he knew, too. The most important thing. He knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that she wouldn’t be able to keep her emotions under lock and key once they took that leap into the physical. It might take a while before she admitted it, but once they became lovers, she’d transfer her heart to him.

He was absolutely certain of that.

“Okay, so you aren’t looking for a girlfriend. You’re looking for a sex buddy,” she said slowly, as though she were testing her conclusions in her mind even as she said them out loud.

“That’s right.” He held her eye, and tried to radiate sincerity.

And he wasn’t even lying—at least not completely. He wasn’t looking for a girlfriend. He wanted a hell of a lot more than that.

“Okay.” She sounded a bit breathless. “Sounds like we’re on the same page, then.” She lifted her chin and gave him a stern look. “No more being rude to poor Chester, though.”

He nodded in agreement. “As long as he doesn’t turn psycho stalker. Terms are renegotiable at that point.”

She rolled her eyes at that. “I told you, he’s harmless.” Her voice turned teasing, and her eyes started to sparkle. “So I guess the next step is for you to recover enough to get the job done.”

Get the job done.
He laughed as he stepped closer to her. The hallway was so narrow and confining; it trapped the rose scent that clung to her skin. Every movement they made stirred the perfume up, until it saturated the air. Something told him he was going to smell like roses from this day forward.

BOOK: Bound By Seduction (A Red-Hot SEALs Novella Book 2)
13.7Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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