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All she knew was that when she opened her eyes, Dominic was grinning, his hands covering hers and his face totally relaxed.
Yeah. She was in love.
But she felt too good to care.
* * *
DOMINIC LAY ON his back, breathing as though he’d just hiked ten miles through the desert with a twenty-pound pack on his back—on water rations.
Damn.
First the balcony, now the bed. Two hot sessions in less than an hour. Hell of a morning break.
Every time he thought things between them couldn’t get any hotter, Lara took it up a notch. A few more of her notches and she just might kill him.
But what a way to go.
He couldn’t remember ever being this fascinated, this hooked, on a woman before.
Hell, he couldn’t remember spending three weeks with the same woman before, either. What was it about Lara?
He sure wished he could figure it out.
The sooner he did, the sooner he could get his fill and move on.
The trouble was, it didn’t seem to be any one thing.
At this rate, it might take forever to get his fill.
He reached over, his hand rubbing the soft flesh of her back where it dipped.
Then, with a deep breath, he smacked her butt before angling to a sitting position.
“Damn, you make break time great,” he said. “I’m gonna grab a shower, then head back to base. I’ll pick you up around seven for dinner, okay?”
Lara opened her mouth as if she wanted to protest, then she snapped it shut again.
“What?”
She frowned before sliding from the bed to grab her robe off the floor. Dominic watched her long limbs as she bent over, deciding that no matter what angle, she simply didn’t have a bad view.
“Is Phillip back yet? Safe?” she asked as she belted the flimsy silk.
Dominic debated. She’d asked that same question daily since they’d arrived in Coronado. It wasn’t as if it was classified information, so he had no reason for not telling her.
Except that the minute he did, he knew his hold on her was gone. She had no reason to think he was protecting her if her brother was safe.
Despite the fact that it flew in the face of his plan to give her that family connection, he’d been able to justify it for the first week while the team returned, then over the few days of debriefing. But now? Keeping it from her simply made him a creep. A desperate creep, at that.
Dominic sighed, running his hand over the short stubble of his freshly buzzed hair.
All of a sudden, he felt very naked.
Reminding himself that he was his most convincing in the nude, he offered Lara a charming smile.
“He’s safe. Back on base, even.”
He waited for her to ask to see Banks.
He half expected her to grab her duffel, shove her clothes in, tuck that laptop under her arm and wave goodbye.
But all she did was stare.
Green eyes didn’t blink as she slowly frowned.
Dominic had an urge to grab a blanket off the bed.
“Lara?”
She wet her lips, then tilted her head as if to say, “What?”
“You heard me, right? He’s back. He’s fine.”
Fine being relative, of course.
Banks had withstood some pretty intense questioning. The kind that came with a side of torture. The guy had never been what anyone would call chatty, but the past few days in the barracks he’d taken silence to new levels.
He was hurting, even though he denied it.
He was suffering, even though it didn’t show.
The guy couldn’t have made it through debriefing without a psych eval, so he was either as fine as he said or a hell of an actor.
Dominic called it bullshit.
Which meant Banks needed help.
He needed family.
Just like his sister did.
“He’s not going to this little dinner party you have planned, is he?” Lara asked, crossing her arms over her chest and shooting her hip to the side in a straight-up combative post. Dominic had been in combat enough to recognize the vibe, even if it was wrapped in blue silk.
He damn near sighed.
He was a man who appreciated the simple, the easy.
He had a reputation for bouncing from hot chick to wild woman to sexy siren, all without a hint of conflict.
And here he was, smack-dab in the middle of it.
Naked.
For the life of him, he couldn’t figure out why.
All he knew was he wouldn’t—couldn’t—walk away from Lara.
Not yet.
“I wouldn’t say your brother and I are on margarita terms,” he finally said with a shrug. “I figured Bad Ass, Genius and maybe Boy Scout if he’s around. I’d be happy to invite your brother if you want.”
Seeing the look on her face, knowing exactly what was going through her mind, Dominic added, “Or if you’re not up for a group thing, we can do dinner. Just you, me and Banks.”
As threats went, it was pretty good.
