Harbored by the SEAL (HERO Force Book 3) Page 3

  She felt like she’d been through a war. She could still see Cowboy’s bare chest, feel his arms around her holding her tightly. She’d been so close to getting everything she wanted, yet it slipped right out of her hands.

  Malik brought her drink. “A lot of people ask me for advice on their love lives, too.”

  “Do I look like I need it?”

  “You’re pretty, but you don’t look very happy.”

  She sipped her scotch, somehow sadder to know that it showed. “Thanks for the drink.”

  She turned around, taking in all the people gambling, the laughter, the noise. She didn’t want to spend this week wallowing over Leo. She wanted to enjoy the cruise.

  No sooner did she think it than she saw Cowboy across the way.

  Dammit.

  He was with that woman again from the Academy, who was just cute enough and hanging on to his arm just tightly enough that she wondered if he was sleeping with her.

  Probably.

  If that wasn’t salt for her wounds, she didn’t know what was. Was this how the whole freaking week was going to go? Seeing Cowboy every time she turned around? She took another sip of her drink as their eyes met across the room.

  Her stomach clenched, and just as quickly her ire went up. She was not going to sit here and feel uncomfortable. She’d march right over there and make him uncomfortable, instead.

  She swore she could see the panic in his eyes as she crossed the casino floor to reach him and her mouth pulled into a self-satisfied grin. “Hello, Leo. Abby. You two here for a little gambling?”

  “I’m going to play blackjack and keep an eye on our friends,” said Abby. She looked from Cowboy to Charlotte and back again, a smile firmly fixed on her face. “Why don’t I go do that right now?” She walked away.

  Charlotte stepped closer to Cowboy. “What about you?”

  “I’m not much of a gambler.”

  “Really? That surprises me. But then again, you’re just full of surprises today.”

  “You’re upset.”

  She took a sip of her scotch. “No. Disillusioned maybe.”

  “How so?”

  She leaned in and lowered her voice. “You work so hard to sell this fun, playboy persona. I guess I just thought it was real.”

  His eyes darkened and he put his hands in his pockets.

  “Why me, Charlotte? Why did you come all this way just to share my bed for a few days?”

  Because you’re the best man who ever looked twice at me.

  She couldn’t tell him that, and her mind steadfastly refused to come up with a more appropriate answer.

  “There must be a reason,” he said.

  “I wanted some company.”

  His stare took in her whole face, pausing on her lips before meeting her eyes again. “A gorgeous woman like you could find company closer to home.”

  Her stomach flip-flopped. Did he really think she was gorgeous? His voice was gravelly — a bedroom voice — and she clenched her knees together.

  She could feel the heat of him, and she dared to hope she might get her way after all. “I wanted you.”

  He leaned toward her, just inches from her face. Her eyelids drooped heavily and she licked her lips. The moment stretched out between them, her heart leaping frantically as she willed him to kiss her.

  He pulled back.

  “I still want you,” she said. Her cheeks instantly heated. She took a sip of her drink and stared into it, swirling the ice in her glass. “But you’re going to keep right on turning me down, aren’t you?”

  She felt so sorry for herself in that moment, so embarrassed to have put herself out there again only to be rejected.

  “You’re not telling me the whole story,” he said.

  “What do you want me to say? That I’m here because my divorce left me feeling like an old, dirty towel someone dropped on the floor and walked on? Because there it is. That’s the truth. And the truth isn’t always pretty. You strike me as the kind of guy who’s more interested in pretty.”

  She searched his face for the pity she knew she would see there, but his expression was unreadable.

  “Maybe you don’t know me as well as you think,” he said.

  He was so good-looking, his presence so big and grounding and endearing and sexy, if she added sensitive and understanding to the list, she’d be on her knees begging him to reconsider.

  She put her empty glass down on the tray of a passing waitress. She had to get the hell out of here before she made even more of a fool out of herself. “Enough talking. I’m going to go to the nightclub. This girl needs to dance.”

  8

  Cowboy spent the better part of the next hour watching Abby lose money playing blackjack at the table next to the prince and princess. He’d watched the royals all through dinner and the early evening so Abby could go to the spa, which meant he didn’t need to be here right now, and he kept thinking about Charlotte dancing.

  “Hit me,” said Abby.

  Cowboy frowned. “You have seventeen.”

  “I’m trying to get twenty-one.”

  “You suck at this game.”

  The dealer flipped over the four of hearts and Abby gave a loud whoop. “I am great at this game.”

  “You’re down more than four hundred bucks.”

  “I’m going to get it all back, and more.”

  He’d seen enough. “I’m going to head out. I’ll catch you in the morning.”

  He left the casino telling himself he was headed back to his room, but that wasn’t where his feet were taking him. A walk, then. He’d just go for little walk around the deck before he turned in for the night.

  He arrived at the nightclub, staring into the darkness and blue throbbing lights. Of course he was headed here. He’d been heading here the whole time. From the moment Charlotte walked out of the casino, all he could do was follow her. He needed to see her.

  It wouldn’t go further than that.

  Sure it won’t.

  He entered the nightclub, picturing her body moving to the thump of the music and imagining he could take her up on her offer. Knowing how good it would feel to be with her.

  She was larger-than-life in his mind, with her bold makeup and clothes that hugged her body, an odd mix of classy and trashy that drove him absolutely wild. The revealing plunge of her neckline and the tang of her perfume in the casino had nearly been his undoing.

  He’d been about to kiss her when he pulled himself back. Now here he was following her, and he knew he’d left his better judgment at the door.

  The music was loud, people standing at small tables and drinking out of glasses that glowed neon in the black lights.

  Then he saw her.

  She was on the dance floor, the wide stripes of her black and white dress fluorescing and disappearing in the darkness, making her knockout body look wrapped in strips of fabric. She had her eyes closed, seemingly oblivious to the world around her as she circled her hips and raised her arms above her head.

  He was already half hard and the floodgates opened, blood rushing to his cock. He stepped onto the dance floor, walking around her, taking in the sight of her from every angle before getting close enough to touch her shoulder.

  Her eyes flew open, her knowing look arresting his stare. It was too loud for talking. She rested her hands on his chest and began to move to the music once more. He moved with her, a slow, seductive dance that had more in common with making love than dancing. He squeezed her hips, his fingers slipping over the silky fabric of her dress and digging into the curves of her warm, womanly body.

  His lips grazed her forehead. She lifted her head to kiss him, her full lips tantalizing his before she opened her mouth and teased him with her tongue.

  He slipped his hands around her neck and into her hair, holding her against him. She tasted like scotch and something sweet, and he wanted his mouth on more of her, tasting her everywhere. She used the music to torture him with her body, rubbing and pressing and pulling
him in tight.

  The music slowed and he pulled her fully against him. “Is it too late to change my mind?” he asked in her ear. “I need to be with you.”

  She shook her head and took his hand in hers, pulling him behind her out of the club and into the warm night air. He tugged her toward the ship’s railing, pressing her against it and kissing her over the roar of the water against the ship.

  She lifted her head. “Come back to my cabin.”

  “Yes.”

  He wanted that, wanted her and everything she had to offer. They reached her room, the light of the full moon shining through wide windows and casting deep shadows on the floor. The room was much larger than his. He fisted his hands in her dress, hiking it up her legs, pulling it to her waist and touching the smooth skin of her hips with greedy hands.

  She wasn’t wearing any underwear.

  Jesus.

  He pulled his polo shirt from the waistband of his trousers and she slipped her hands up his chest. Her nails scraped his skin and he moaned deep in his throat before lifting his shirt over his head.

  She kissed down his neck, nuzzling the hollow of his collarbone before making her way lower. She took his nipple in her mouth, gently sucking, and he laughed huskily. He needed her naked, needed to see her body and taste her skin.

  He bent down and scooped her up, carrying her to the bedroom. His legs hit the bed and she slid down his body, brushing his erection. He wondered at this urgency, the fierce need to have her, lust so intense he could have been a teenager experiencing his first time with a woman.

  He gathered her hair and pulled her head to the side, kissing behind her ear before finding the zipper of her dress and pulling it down her back. He could feel the band of her bra, the texture rough like lace, and he twisted her around to face him before pulling the dress down and revealing her to him.

  Black lace. It contrasted with the pale skin of her large breasts in the moonlit room, and he cupped her reverently. His thumbs found her nipples, pressing and stroking before taking her in his mouth through the material.

  Charlotte gasped and cursed colorfully.

  He reached around her rib cage and unhooked her bra, then pushed her back against the mattress before returning to her bare, luscious peak. He lapped at it, letting his tongue map the sensitive areola before drawing her deep into his mouth.

  She called out, her legs spreading beneath him, and he settled his body between them before lavishing her other breast with the same attention.

  She held his head against her. “Oh yeah. Suck me. Just like that.”

  He wondered again if she would talk dirty in bed, the thought instantly intensifying his excitement. He suckled her harder and she keened loudly.

  He moved back up her chest and she rolled him onto his back.

  “I want to suck your cock,” she said. “I want to take you deep into my mouth and play with your balls.”

  He unfastened his belt more quickly than he had in his life. She pulled his pants down and off his legs before freeing his straining shaft from his briefs. Then he was in her mouth, the wet heat sucking him in deeper than he knew he could go. Her fingernails lightly scraped the line between his testicles before she took them in her hand and rolled them against each other.

  She felt too good and he knew he would come quickly if she didn’t stop. “Wait,” he bit out between clenched teeth. “I want it to be good for you.”

  She released him, crawling up his body until her mouth was at his ear. “Don’t you want to come in my mouth, Cowboy? Because I want to taste you.”

  He all but growled, taking her by the shoulders and pushing her back down his body. He was out of control, completely obsessed with the sensations she drew out of him. When her mouth found him again, he called out and thrust into her. He forced himself to let go of her head, but she took his hands and put them back there.

  He was pumping into her mouth, the head of his cock deep in her throat as she sucked him. Then those fingernails were back and she squeezed his balls gently, ripping his orgasm from his body as he called out in release.

  9

  Charlotte smiled in the darkness and curled against Cowboy’s side. His skin was hot and sweaty, his breathing labored.

  She’d done this to him. She was the reason he couldn’t control himself, and the knowledge pleased her tremendously.

  It felt so good to be in his arms, sharing the night with this man. When was the last time fooling around had felt good instead of like an argument she could never win?

  No. She wouldn’t think about her past right now.

  Nothing to ruin this moment.

  She turned her head, kissed his chest and sighed.

  Cowboy kissed the top of her head. His hand moved up to stroke her back. It felt so good she must’ve fallen asleep, because the next thing she knew she was on her back with Cowboy on his side looking down on her in the darkness.

  What had happened to the moonlight?

  He stroked her face, her neck, down to her belly. He kissed her mouth with a slow, sensual finesse that had desire rippling through her once more. His hand moved lower, urging her legs apart and exploring the sensitive folds of her flesh.

  When he settled on her clitoris, she turned her head into the pillow and purred. His fingers teased her with lazy circles before settling into a rhythm that promised so much more.

  He moved down between her legs and kissed her most private places. He lavished her with his tongue. Then his finger was at her entrance, tracing her opening and dipping inside until she was desperate for him to penetrate her.

  “Please, Leo,” she begged.

  His finger sank slowly into her ready channel. “Is this what you want?”

  Her back arched against the mattress. “Yes.”

  “Tell me you want more.”

  “I want more. Fuck me with your hand.”

  He withdrew and came back with more fingers — two, three — she didn’t know. They stretched her and filled her aching emptiness, gently stroking her G spot until she climaxed with fierce intensity.

  She was shattered.

  He moved up her body and entered her with one hard thrust.

  She was lost. She could only hang on while he pumped into her with long, fast strokes. He felt so good inside her, the length that had challenged her during oral sex now filling her completely.

  Her body convulsed around him as she came quickly and suddenly, her pleasure sharp and focused as it commanded her movements.

  “You’re not getting off that easy,” he ground out against her neck. “I’m just getting warmed up.”

  He rolled onto his back, taking her with him, and she set a new rhythm. Every stroke took her higher. His hands squeezed her breasts and her hips moved of their own accord, racing again for the climax that hovered just out of reach.

  Then she was inside it, her orgasm taking over her body. Cowboy flipped her back over, thrusting against her fisted muscles and intensifying the explosion of sensation within her until his own climax ripped through his body.

  They stayed like that, fitted together, Charlotte smiling as she held him inside her, his weight heavy on her torso. When he lifted himself onto his forearms and kissed her, she sighed contentedly. She was sated. She could barely move.

  Cowboy rolled onto his side, pulling her into the crook of his arm, and she drifted off to sleep.

  10

  Low clouds hung over the ocean, obscuring the morning sun as Cowboy made his way back to his room. It was still warm, with a chilly bite to the air that hadn’t been there the day before, and he wondered if a storm was on its way.

  He let himself in, stacking one cup of coffee on the other to work the key card.

  Abby was sitting on the couch. “Seems I wasn’t the only one who got lucky last night,” she said with a smile.

  “Where are the royals?” he asked.

  “On a tour of the engine room with two members of the security team. Harrison thought I might want a break. They should be
busy for another hour, at least.”

  “Thanks. I’ll take over through dinnertime to make up for disappearing on you this morning.”

  She shrugged. “It’s all right. Trust me, if I had a beautiful woman who wanted to spend the night with me, I’d be the first one to ask you to pick up an extra shift.”

  Cowboy wasn’t a stickler for protocol, but her easy insubordination rubbed him the wrong way. He was a navy man, and even when he chose not to follow the rules, he did so with respect and caution.

  He filed the thought away for later and put the coffee down next to her. “I’m not sure how you like it.”

  “So this woman,” said Abby. “Is it serious between you two?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Just making conversation, that’s all. You already know about my love life, or lack thereof.”

  He stared at her.

  After an awkward silence, she said, “It’s none of my business, is it?”

  “Nope.” He sat down on the bed and pulled his cell phone from his pocket. “I’m going to check in with HERO Force.”

  “You can’t. The cell service is down. Wi-Fi too.”

  Cowboy frowned. “When did that happen?”

  She shrugged. “An hour ago, maybe two.”

  “Did you check in with security to see what’s going on with it?”

  “It’s probably just some glitch.”

  “Glitch or not, it impacts our ability to communicate with each other, which impacts our ability to guard the royals.” He would have hoped Abby would realize that. “I’m going to go check with Harrison.”

  Cowboy took the stairs down two flights, emerging onto an open-air deck. It was raining lightly, the drops lightly kissing his skin. He thought of the moonlight from the night before, so vivid when he’d first gotten to Charlotte’s room. This front had moved in while they slept, and he couldn’t help but wonder if that was some kind of omen.

  Stop it.

  The decision had already been made. They’d already slept together once, and he’d have to be out of his mind to ruin this week with Charlotte by constantly second-guessing himself. Was it the smart, safe thing to do? Absolutely not.