Coyote Heat (SEALs On Fire) (2 page)

I found her first.

Well, he didn’t know that for sure, but he wasn’t about to let someone bump him off her radar. Ignoring the rude comments as he shoved past people, he worked his way to where she was standing and planted himself next to her, elbowing surfer dude aside. What was her name? Cori. Right. That was what her friend had called her.

“Hey, Cori. You came back. Good.” He took in every bit of her body. “And I like your outfit.”

“Like I care.” She looked at him and moved her drink to the opposite hand, away from him. “You aren’t going to douse me twice,” she warned. “Why don’t you go bother someone else?”

“Please. I’m glad to see you here again so I can apologize once more. Really. I’m not usually that clumsy.”

“Okay. Apology accepted.” She waved her free hand. “Now go away.”

“This guy bothering you, Cori?” Surfer dude had moved closer in a protective stance.

“Yes,” she said.

“No,” Coyote said at the same time.

“And she’s already got a new drink,” surfer dude growled.

“Chill, Deacon,” Cori’s friend said. “The woman can speak for herself.” She smiled at Coyote. “If Cori’s not interested, you can buy me a drink.”

But he was focused on Cori. “I’m hoping we can start over. My teammates and I are staying at a buddy’s house here in Key West. I’m on a few days leave, and I’d like to spend at least an hour or two of it with you.”

He always got that out there first, to let whatever woman he was with know this was definitely short term.

Cori’s expression softened just a little. “You’re in the military?”

“Uh, huh. Navy.”

He saw interest flame in her friend’s eyes. “Really? Are you guys SEALs?”

But before he could deflect the question, Cori turned toward him, studying his face. “Military? Never mind, then. Go bother someone else.”

Coyote frowned. What was going on here? “You got something against the military?”

“You could say we don’t see eye to eye,” she told him.

“Look.” He started to reach for her elbow then stopped himself. “I’m just here for a few days, trying to get rid of the stress from our last mission. I’m sorry I spilled the drink on you, and I’m even more sorry if someone in uniform treated you badly. But that wasn’t me and I’d really like you to let me apologize to you.”

“Do it, Cori,” her friend urged, then grinned. “He’s cute. If you don’t want him I’ll take him.”

Cori shot a glare at the other woman before she turned back to him. “Okay. You can apologize.”

“Then you’ll let me buy you that drink?”

She nodded. “One drink. But let’s see if we can grab a couple of seats right out at the end of the pier. That’s the best place to catch the sunset. You get the drinks, I’ll steal two chairs.”

“What are you drinking?”

“A margarita.” She seemed to relax just a hair. “What else. We’re in Margaritaville, right?”

“Hey, what about me?” her friend teased.

Cori just grinned at her as she moved away from the rail. “You can entertain Deacon.”

Deacon didn’t seem too pleased with the arrangement, but Coyote didn’t care.

It took a few minutes for him to get the attention of one of the bartenders, neither of whom seemed the least bit phased about the crowd of people shouting at them. Holding Cori’s drink and a beer for himself up high, he managed to reach the end of the pier without spilling anything. Sure enough, somehow Cori had managed to steal two folding chairs from someplace.

She sat with her legs stretched out, head leaned back, and eyes closed, the sun kissing her face. Coyote wanted to caress all that soft skin and run his fingers through the rich brown hair, highlights glinting in the sun. The tank top was cut just low enough to see the upper swell of her breasts and the beginning of her cleavage. His palms itched to cup those mouth-watering mounds.

Below the cuffs of her shorts, her legs were as smooth and tan as the rest of her. Toned calves ended in slender ankles and graceful feet. Strappy sandals exposed her toes painted hot pink. Coyote wanted to take every one of them into his mouth and suck. And her scent, a combination of vanilla and lilacs, drifted across his nostrils on the early evening breeze, tantalizing him. His cock was sending him messages again, messages he was in no position to act on.

And yet, for all her unconscious sexuality—because there was no other way to explain it—there was something so erotic about her. A freshness to her sensuality. For all the women he’d had, and there had been more than he wanted to count, none of them had made his body react so quickly. But more than that, even in the brief moments they had together so far—at last half of which could be called antagonistic—she stirred something deep inside him that he wasn’t sure he wanted to acknowledge.

When he leaned down to hand her the drink, he caught a whiff of her scent again, the clean fragrance of vanilla with that hint of lilac, and his aching cock began to silently beg. Jesus, this woman was just doing it to him, and she didn’t even realize it. Easing himself into the chair next to her, he stretched out his legs to rest his feet on the rail.

“So, can we start here with a clean slate?” he asked.

“As long as it’s just for one drink,” she reminded him.

Yeah, he’d see about that.

“Mmm.” She took a sip of the frosty drink. “Yum.”

“To Margaritaville.” He raised his bottle to her.

“Margaritaville,” she agreed, clinking her glass with his beer.

“And maybe to another drink,” he said softly. “I hope.”

“Who knows?” Her voice held a touch of mischief. “You may be right.”

Coyote took another long swallow of his cold beer, hoping it would take the edge off the heat surging through his body. They sat there for a long moment, listening to the music behind them and watching the reflection of the sun on the water as it slid slowly from the sky.

“So,” he said, “local or tourist?”

“Local.”

“I wasn’t sure there actually was such a thing at Key West?”

“Someone has to take care of all you crazy tourists, right?” She laughed, a soft musical sound.

“And you take care of the tourists how?”

“Actually, I don’t take care of them at all. I work from home, testing software programs for a company in Tampa that makes computer games.”

He looked at her, surprised. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who actually does that.” He laughed. “Although my friends and I are kind of addicts, like half the male population. It’s a good stress reliever when we’re between missions.”

“I’m guessing your home base is in Virginia rather than California?”

“Yeah, but home is really in Texas.”

She slid a glance at him. “How’d you end up here for the weekend? Or however long you’re here.”

“One of the guys has a friend who owns a house here. We don’t know how long this leave will last and this seemed like a good place to hang out.”

She nodded at the pager clipped to his belt. “You have to take that with you everywhere?”

“Orders are orders. We get paged if we’re being called back to base.

“Doesn’t that kind of put a crimp in your social life?”

He shrugged. “You get used to it. Try to make the best of whatever time you have.” He draped his arm casually along the back of her chair, his fingers idly fiddling with her hair. “I hope that’s what I’m doing now.”

“Making the best of it?”

“Uh, huh.” He studied her face. “It’s hard to make promises to people when you don’t know if you can keep them.”

“Promises?” She laughed, a musical sound. “You realize I don’t even know your name.”

“Sorry. Doesn’t say much for my manners. Miguel Cruz. But my friends call me Coyote so everyone else does, too.”

“Coyote.” He loved the sound of it on her tongue. “It suits you.”

“Your friend called you Cori, but there’s got to be a last name, right?”

She nodded. “Sutherland.”

“Cori Sutherland. Beautiful name.”

For a beautiful woman.

He said the words like a caress then found himself unusually tongue-tied. Normally by now, they’d be on their second round of drinks, he’d have sent a few signals, received some back, and he’d be working toward getting her up to his hotel room. But tonight the chemistry was different. He had an unfamiliar urge to put this in a different framework, to talk to this woman rather than just get her in a room, rip her clothes off, and go at it like monkeys.

Not that he didn’t have that in mind, too. But again, everything about this was different. He might only have this weekend with her, but he had a sudden urge to create a weekend of memories. Something he could take out and relive when he was hunkered down in Afghanistan or wherever they sent him next.

And maybe even hope to recreate if he had the opportunity.

But he had to be honest with her. “Cori, I want to be very honest with you. I need you to understand that I’m just here for a few days. I’m not looking to start a long-term relationship or anything. I just want to enjoy the weekend, and I want it to be with you.”

He didn’t expect the look of frank approval she turned on him. “I always appreciate a man’s honesty. That gets you a lot of points. So let’s drink to a fun weekend.”

“Does that mean we’re okay for a second round? Your glass is empty and my beer’s gone.”

“Sure. That’ll work.”

He stood up and reached for her glass. “Or would you rather take a walk?”

Take a walk?
The words had rolled out of his mouth before his brain could catch up with them. No, no, no. The object was to ply her with alcohol and…

No. This is different.

Cori stared at him, startled. “A walk? You want to take a walk?”

He shook his head. “Never mind. It was probably a stupid idea. Let’s just sit here and enjoy the sunset.”

“No. Not at all.” She stood up. “We can walk on the beach and watch the sunset from there.” She pointed to a tray on a stand where the railing curved. “Just leave my glass and the bottle there. Someone will pick them up.” She smiled shyly when he reached for her hand.

It felt so small and soft in his. Heat that had nothing to do with the sun blasted him, and his heart did a somersault. What was he getting himself into?

“Come on. Let’s get away from this mob.”

For a moment, he thought she’d had second thoughts, was about to change her mind, then she smiled. “All right.”

“Then show me the way.”

The bar seemed even more crowded now than before, no surprise since this was Friday night. Coyote held Cori’s hand tightly as she led him out of the mob, back onto Duval Street and with a few twists and turns, they were on a beach with some of the finest sand he’d ever seen. Here he could feel the breeze coming in off the water, slightly diminishing the heat of the sun.

“Take off your shoes.” She stopped, pulled off her sandals, and hooked one finger through the straps.

Coyote let go of her hand only long enough to step out of his deck shoes and grab them with his left hand. Then he laced his fingers with hers and they walked slowly toward the water’s edge. He loved the feel of her hand locked with his, the consciousness of her next to him.

“A beach is probably nothing new to you, being a SEAL and all.”

“No comparison,” he said. “When we hit a beach, it’s in full gear and we are mission focused.” He took in a full breath and let it out slowly. “This is…nice.”

They walked in silence for a while, swallowed up in the quiet. But then Coyote couldn’t stand it any more. He stopped, pulled her around to face him and dropped their shoes on the sand.

“What—?”

The rest of her question disappeared as he cupped her face and lowered his mouth to hers. Jesus, she tasted so sweet. Her lips were full and soft with the feel of velvet and tasted slightly from the margarita. Just touching them sent a bolt of lust shooting through him. He licked the surface then drew a line along the closed seam.

“Open for me,” he whispered.

And she did, allowing his tongue to sweep inside where it was hot and wet and delicious. He felt her shiver against him and hoped it was from the same electric sensation surging through him. He ate at her mouth, angling his head this way and that, coaxing her tongue to dance with his, mimicking sex with a thrust and retreat.

Her hands crept up between them until they reached his shoulders, and she gripped them as if they anchored her. She was on her tiptoes, and he banded one arm around her to hold her steady, threading the fingers of the other hand through her soft-as-silk hair. He couldn’t seem to stop kissing her and only lifted his head when his lungs cried for air.

They stared at each other in the ambient light from the hotels along the beach. Cori looked as stunned as he felt. He brushed his knuckle lightly against her cheek. He had to clear his throat twice before he could speak. “I think we need to take this someplace besides the beach.”

“I agree.” She swallowed and let out a slow breath. “Come home with me?”

“Yes. How about right now?”

Chapter Two

Cori was silent as they drove away from Duval Street and the noisy crowds. She was still shaken by the intensity of Coyote’s kiss and her body’s reaction to it. She was certainly no shy virgin, although her lovers had been few.

She’d about had it up to there with the arrogant hot bodies who came to Key West for weekends and thought every female in town was a prize in a box of cereal. She especially disdained the ones who didn’t bother to learn names. Just called everyone babe or sugar or honey. Well, she was very happy with her own company and that of her friends, thank you very much. They could all take their juvenile sexual come-ons someplace else.

But she didn’t ever remember a man affecting her the way Coyote Cruz did. Even when she’d been drenched by the drink he’d knocked from her hand, her body had reacted to his in an unexpected way. It wasn’t just that he looked so sexy. Okay, so he was six foot plus of lean, hard-muscled body, deeply tanned, with eyes the color of espresso framed by thick lashes a woman could die for. His face had a classic bone structure, finely drawn, and he had a smile that made her toes curl.

But it was more than that. The moment she’d locked gazes with him something deep inside her uncoiled and sprang to life. Something beyond the sexual heat. Which was why she was breaking her own rule and bringing home a man she barely knew. Someone she’d just met. It was that unexpected connection, that indefinable something sizzling between them that said this was different. She hoped she wasn’t making a huge mistake.