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Now that she was standing far enough away, he pulled his hands from his pockets and folded his arms over his chest. “What is that supposed to mean?” His dark, argumentative tone didn’t seem to faze her yet again.
She gave him a dubious look that was tempered by the gleam in her eyes. “I reserve the right to make comments. It’s a free world the last time I checked, and you are a part of making it so.”
He laughed, but the sound held no humor. In fact, he was so confused right now, he wasn’t sure he’d actually gotten through to her.
“Well, we’d better get some sleep,” she said briskly and headed to the stereo to turn it off. “Could you get the doors?”
Grumbling to himself, unable to understand how he hadn’t won that argument—or had he?—he slid the panels across the length of the living room and dining room and locked them into place.
She turned off the light, a faint glow from the hallway leading into the foyer the only illumination. He narrowed his eyes as she disappeared. He hurried after her and caught her on the stairs. “So, we’re clear, right?”
“Crystal,” she said with deep conviction, then started up the stairs. He blinked a couple of times. He was a fucking Navy SEAL, had grown up under adversity and hardship and this slip of a woman was running circles around him…or was she?
Goddammit!
He took the stairs two at a time and once again stopped her right outside her door. She turned toward him. “Maddy?—”
“When I saw you at the airport, I thought wow,” she said, tipping her head to the side.
That stopped his jumbled-up thoughts in their tracks. He was completely discombobulated by her sudden change of topic. Then he registered her words. Sadness filtered through him. “Everything on the outside. Nothing on the inside?”
She frowned. “No, that’s not what I meant. I felt like one part of a tectonic plate, and you were the other,” she whispered unevenly. “Attraction. To you, and together that friction would cause an earthquake.”
“Maddy, that’s not a good idea.” Everything in him leaped at a chance to get to know this woman, but he knew better. Relationships were difficult for him, especially the continual need to protect himself. That emotion stifled everything that was good. “I’m not here for a vacation or some romantic tryst. I’m here as a peacekeeper and extra security for the embassy. This country may look safe for tourists, but the temperature here is rising. It would be in your best interest to take the next plane out of here.”
“I don’t discount your expertise here, but my dad is an amazing negotiator and ambassador. So far things have worked out well. Now that there’s a new leader appointed and everyone agrees he’s the best choice, it seems the government is stable. What I worry about is how close this island is to another massive earthquake. My research may give us insights and we can warn the people and hopefully mitigate the loss of life.”
“Maddy—”
“As for some kind of commitment to me. That’s not exactly what I’m looking for. You see, I’m not very good at relationships either. I’ve had seven in the last year and a half, the last one disastrous enough that I had to quit my job, find a new one, and move halfway across the state. So, we could have fun if you would loosen up a little. I promise you. You won’t break my heart.”
“I don’t intentionally break anyone’s heart,” he said, not wanting her to think that he was the type of guy to string a woman along with false expectations.
“I’d like to know what made you so jaded.” Her gentle, caring voice reached out to him like a physical caress.
He ignored the sensation, as well as the all-too-knowing tenderness that softened her features and seemed to see past all those internal barriers he’d naturally built so long ago he couldn’t remember not having them. “I’m not jaded,” he said, but knew that denial was a lie. He’d learned at a very young age that it was so much less painful not to open himself up to any kind of emotional attachment. When he’d tried to ignore that reality, it had come back to bite him in the ass and haunt him. “There isn’t any room in my life for commitments and promises,” he went on, before she could dig any deeper into the depths of his subconscious. “And it has more to do with my job, than anything else.”
“Sure. We’re both here to do jobs, and I get it. You deploy a lot. Your job comes first. Why can’t we have a little fun when we have downtime, in and out of the bedroom?” His body responded as he worked at repressing some pretty heavy urges.
She had him tied up in knots, his dick so rock hard, he could pound concrete. Emotionally, physically, sexually. He had never met anyone who could do that to him in such a short time. All because he wanted her soft and naked beneath him, in a variety of ways.
“I don’t know. You need to make sure you understand.”
Her mouth curved ever so slightly, as if she was thoroughly convinced. “I understand. No strings attached. A good time,” she said, matter of factly. “Good rules.”
And here she was offering him everything on a silver platter. Dammit, why couldn’t she be the kind of woman he could just fuck, get out of his system, and forget?
He sighed.
“Okay, we’re clear on everything now.” In the starlit shadows, he watched as a slow, sultry smile spread across her face, and his gut clenched with heat and desire, mingling with the frustration twisting through him.
She stepped toward him and opened her mouth to speak, but he cut her off before she could say a word. Or touch him again. If she did either, she’d send him right over the edge with no hope of turning back. “We’d be better off not going down that road,” he went on, impatience roughening his voice.
“Too late. You're…an earthquake, Shark. My world is already shaken.”
Heat shot straight to his groin, thick with the aching, pulsing need that constantly smoldered just below the surface when it came to her. She shook his world just about every minute. Inhaling a steadying breath, he pinned her with as level and tough a combat stare as he could muster. “We need to get some sleep. Maybe I’ll be able to think clearly in the morning.”
She nodded. “Will you go to the airport with me tomorrow to pick up my equipment?”
