Page 27 of A SEAL's Fantasy


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She was a mission.

Duty.

Nothing else.

Dammit.

* * *

LARA WONDERED HOW long a person could clench their teeth before their jaw exploded. She didn’t need to see Castillo’s face to know he was still clenching. Even his shoulder blades were tight. She could almost hear his molars grinding through their helmets.

Okay, so she shouldn’t have blown off his warnings. She should have waited, let him play bodyguard. She shouldn’t have run from the hotel like a hooker with his wallet buried in her bra. She shouldn’t have given in to lust and had sex with him. Not the first or second time.

Hell, she shouldn’t have gotten out of bed that morning.

It was all her fault.

Her fault he was hurt.

Her fault he’d had to, maybe, kill that guy.

Her fault for all the trouble he was going to be in.

Did SEALs get in trouble for things like that?

He hadn’t acted as if he was worried.

Nope.

He’d been an unemotional military machine.

Except for the flash of fury she’d seen in his eyes before he’d turned away.

No wonder.

She’d used him.

Sure, she could excuse her morning swan dive onto his body as a sleep-induced mistake. But she’d known what she was doing when he’d gone down on her. She’d been totally aware of what she had in her body when she came.

She’d used the poor man for her own selfish pleasures.

Over and over again.

He’d made it clear she was a duty. His mission.

And she’d sneaked up and seduced him.

No wonder he was so pissed.

Even knowing she was pushing her luck, Lara couldn’t help but give in to the emotional exhaustion beating down on her and leaned her head against Castillo’s leather-clad back. Her body automatically followed, pressing tight against his warmth.

She owed him. She didn’t know how or with what she’d pay him back. Since all the ideas that came to mind involved his body being naked, she figured she’d better keep thinking on it.

* * *

SERIOUSLY?

How the hell was he supposed to pretend she was nothing more than an assignment when she pressed those luxuriously delicious breasts against his chest?

He knew she wasn’t wearing a bra. That the only things between his bare back and her rosy nipples were a couple layers of fabric.

He should have stopped and bought her a leather jacket. Except that’d require talking, and he wasn’t ready to talk to the woman who’d run out, almost getting herself cut to ribbons and made into some goon’s plaything.

If she’d compromised the mission, Dominic would have failed. If Valdero’s creep had grabbed her, the team’s shot at getting Banks out would be a helluva lot harder.

By taking the guy down, Castillo had alerted the drug lord that the team had made him. He’d take steps to counter them.

Before leaving Reno, Castillo had sent Brody a coded text.

So now the team knew that Castillo had let a woman slip through his fingers. He’d say Banks would have a heyday with that, but the guy wasn’t friendly enough to give anyone a bad time. He was, though, as Dominic’s superior, in a position to make his life hell for not keeping Lara safe.

Now, instead of lying low and playing chill in Reno, he was taking his mission—that’s all she was now, dammit—to the base, where he could access resources to counter Valdero’s next move.

That’d mean explanations.

Of why he was there instead of on leave.

Of why he had Banks’s sister in tow.

And why he knew about a top-secret mission that was still in play.

Dominic growled into the wind, then realized he’d been squeezing the grips so hard they were flying twenty miles an hour over the posted limit.

He reluctantly throttled back.

Yeah. No question about it. Lara had put the mission in jeopardy.

And she’d walked out on him.

7

LARA WASN’T STUPID enough to fall asleep on the back of a motorcycle. But she’d definitely been in a daze for the past hour. Until the bike slowed, pulling off the freeway.

Her head still lying against Castillo’s back, she opened her eyes, the dark glasses shielding the sun as it reflected off rows and rows of grapevines.

Wine country?

Good.

She could use a good drink.

So, other than Northern California, where were they?

And why?

Her stomach growled, hunger overpowering the fluttering nerves that’d taken up residence there.

What was he going to do with her?

She wasn’t afraid he’d hurt her. But he might dump her on someone else. Someone who wouldn’t be as good at keeping her safe. Lara wasn’t proud of the fact, but she knew if it came down to that, she just might beg.

No.

She was his assignment. He’d said so.

Which meant he’d keep her safe until he was unassigned.

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