Sexy SEAL Box Set: A SEAL's Seduction\A SEAL's Surrender\A SEAL's Salvation\A SEAL's Kiss (31 page)

“What? You think I should only go out with guys who aren’t nice?”

“No. But you have to admit, you don’t have very good dating luck. Or should I say, the guys who date you don’t have very good luck.”

Which inevitably resulted in Eden not getting lucky. But that was beside the point. Or maybe it was the point, she frowned. Something to consider if tonight didn’t work out. Maybe she should learn not to maim her dates or something.

“Cade’s a navy SEAL. I’m sure he’s been trained to handle dangerous situations,” she said drily.

“Maybe,” Bev allowed with a grimace. “Still, I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Okay, what’re you so worried about?” Eden asked with a sigh. When a friend brought over her entire collection of makeup, clothes and shoes for you to choose from, a girl was somewhat obligated to listen to her concerns.

“Nothing, just, well, you know how the women were talking yesterday. This guy’s got such a reputation that they give out groupie insignia for being with him. Is that really the kind of guy you want to date?”

Hell, yeah
.

Eden managed to keep the exclamation to herself, though. She didn’t think it’d allay Bev’s worries to hear her rhapsodize about how great it would be to finally be considered a part of the “in” crowd. To be worthy of an insignia, or even talked about in any way that didn’t invoke pitying eye rolls. God, she hated the eye rolls.

“It’s fine,” she said instead. “Cade’s just a friend and this is just a welcome-home, thanks-for-hauling-me-out-of-the-tree drink. Nothing more.”

“He kissed you.”

Eden’s entire body went hot.

The memory of his lips, so soft yet firm, as they’d brushed hers had kept her awake half the night. His scent, rich and earthy, had wrapped around her. If she closed her eyes and imagined, she could smell him again. Still...

“That wasn’t a kiss. That was just a peck, a friendly gesture. A real kiss requires tongue,” Eden replied. Although she was pretty sure Cade could take her from tepid to boiling with just his lips.

Rumor supported her theory, as did the peeks she’d taken at his lakeside rendezvous. Cade Sullivan was the sexual bomb. She was sure of it. And she wanted, more than anything else, for him to make her explode.

“Look,” she said, going for distraction before her blushes gave away how much she really wanted Cade, “I’m just having drinks with him. It’s a good thing and it will help me out of the jam I’m in.”

At Bev’s quizzical look, Eden continued. “You know what the bank manager said. Because my mother took out that loan against the house while it was still in just her name, and because we just added my name to the title instead of transferring it when I took over the mortgage, I’m stuck. Cousin Arnie is sure Mom meant to pay that off. I’m sure she meant to pay it off. And as soon as I reach her, I’m sure she’ll take care of it. But in the meantime, I need to make those payments.”

“So?”

“So... People will see us, get to talking, and you know how the gossip chain is in this town. Everyone wants the inside scoop but doesn’t want to look like a snoop. So they’ll try to be casual, make appointments for me to see their pets. Or their mom’s pet, or their neighbor’s pet, whatever they can get.” Eden wrinkled her nose, equally amused and irritated. “I’ll get some new business, put the money toward a reasonable payment to the bank and buy some time until I can reach Mom.”

Every word was true. Except that not one of them had anything to do with why she wanted to go out with Cade.

“You’re using this guy to build your business?” Bev asked, her face all screwed up with distaste.

Eden paused in the act of twisting her hair this way, then that, to stare at Bev in the mirror. She made it sound so bad. Like Eden was one of those girls in the club, only after Cade’s status. They didn’t care if they dated him, or his father, as long as the last name was Sullivan. She wasn’t like that.

She opened her mouth to explain that to Bev, then closed it right back up. Because explaining would require she give her real reason for wanting this date so badly.

She wanted to seduce Cade Sullivan.

She wanted to strip him naked, drive him crazy and make him wild for her. To become a memory that he could think about on those nights before a scary mission and smile. To stop being the cute, accident-prone girl next door in his mind and become the sexiest experience he’d ever had.

She wanted to experience wild, intensely fabulous sex. To find out if all those rumors about his prowess were real. She wanted to be a Cade-ette, even if nobody but she and Cade knew it.

She wasn’t using Cade Sullivan for his name or connections or to better her social standing, dammit.

She was using him for his body.

But Bev wouldn’t understand that. She was too much a romantic. And also just a little bit of a worrywart. The minute she knew what Eden was planning, she’d try to talk her out of it.

Eden pressed one hand to her stomach, trying to soothe the dancing butterflies, and figured she wasn’t in any position to defend her decision.

“It’s just drinks,” she finally said. “How much using can be done over a beer?”

“You don’t drink beer.”

“Cade does.”

Eden huffed at Bev’s narrow look. “So I know what he drinks. You drink rum and cola. Janie drinks cosmopolitans, Crystal likes lemonade spritzers and Mrs. Winters chugs Kahlúa. What’s the big deal?”

“How do you know these things?” Bev asked, sounding amazed as she finally relaxed enough to come over and start helping Eden fix her hair.

“I usually end up on bartender duty at the Spring Fling,” she said, shrugging as if not ever being asked out on a date since the broken foot fiasco didn’t bother her.

“Oh.” Bev didn’t say another word. A deep frown etched on her face, she did some twisty fun thing with a few braids, a flip here and a tuck there and turned Eden’s heavy blanket of usually blah hair into a kicky style.

“Wow.” Eden twisted one way, then the other, her grin getting bigger with each turn. “This is so cool. It’s casual, sexy but still me. How do you do that?”

“I keep telling you, I’m good.” Bev stepped back and peered through slitted eyes at the style, then shrugged. “If you’d let me do more than give you a trim, you’d find out. You could totally rock a shorter style. Something sassy.”

“I don’t think I’m the sassy type,” Eden admitted. Although she was doing a pretty good impression right now. Cute top, with just a hint of sheer to show her red bra. Sexy skirt, just tight enough to remind her to sit like a lady so as not to show off her thong. And killer shoes. She eyed the black pumps with their red soles and white polka dots and wondered how many steps she’d make in them before she twisted something.

“You know, there are other shoes that would go with the outfit. Flats would work.”

Eden grinned at the worry in Bev’s voice. Geez, a few minor twisted ankles, a broken bone here and there and a girl got such a rep.

“I’ll be fine. Since you’re giving me a ride into town, I don’t have to drive in them. I’ll only have to walk from the car to the club, and back again.”

Eden would have rather driven herself, but with her car at the Larkin’s Body Shop, her only transportation at the moment was a ten-speed bicycle.

“Why isn’t Cade picking you up?”

“He called earlier to change the time and mentioned that he’s at ICU visiting his dad. I figured it’d be easier to meet him in town instead of making him drive here, then back there.”

“So it really isn’t a date,” Bev said with a relieved sigh.

“Nope. Just two friends getting together for a welcome-home drink.”

And, if Eden had her way, it would mark the beginning of a very hot, very sexy, very intense, and more importantly, very short affair.

* * *

A
N
HOUR
LATER
, Eden walked into the Oceanside Bar like a pageant queen on a slick catwalk—with slow, careful steps and pure concentration. What had she been thinking, suggesting they meet for drinks here?

“Eden?”

Ignoring the shocked looks, she called her hellos, but didn’t slow down. If she did, she’d have to get the walking momentum going again, and that might not happen.

She should have hit the liquor store and invited Cade over to her place. It’d be less nerve-racking to try and seduce a guy in private, wouldn’t it? Of course, then he could leave as soon as he’d accepted her welcome, thanks and cold brew.

Eden’s foot slipped, her ankle taking a sharp left while her foot went to the right. Damn. She quickly regained balance, hoping nobody had noticed, then hurried her mincing steps to the bar’s entrance and its lovely carpeted floors. Bev had been right. Flats would have been much smarter.

“Eden?” This greeting didn’t carry that air of shocked amusement. Nope, Cade’s voice was filled with pure, masculine appreciation.

And he looked just as good as he sounded. Dark jeans, a forest green button-up shirt and a charming smile made him the sexiest guy in the room. Of course, she was pretty sure he could have been wearing fatigues or grease-stained coveralls or nothing at all and still have taken the sexiest title.

Oh. Nothing at all. She gave herself one second to enjoy that image, then stepped forward to join him.

“Hi,” she greeted with a smile, reaching out to give his forearm a quick rub.

“I’m sorry I’m late—there was a dog emergency. Not the medical kind, but the howling kind. I wasn’t sure if your grandmother was staying at the Wayfarers Inn to be close to your dad, but just in case she’d gone home, I wanted to make sure it was quiet for her. So, you know, I had to settle them. The dogs,” she finished painfully.

Staring into Cade’s wide eyes, she watched him try to process her babbling. Well. There you go. She hadn’t fallen on her butt, but had managed to make an ass of herself anyway.

She wanted to groan. She was supposed to be sexy. Seductive, even. She’d have turned on her exceptionally high heels and walked right back out of the room, except that, well, yeah, the heels were exceptionally high. And Cade did look really good...

Too good to walk away from after just one strike.

“Okay, then,” he said with a laugh. “I’ve got us a table already. Let’s have a seat and you can run that by me one more time.”

She glanced toward the dimly lit, secluded tables at the back. But they were all taken. Eden did a quick survey of the ocean-facing deck, looking for an unclaimed spot there. Nothing.

“Right over here,” Cade said, gesturing toward the first-date section. The not-sure-you-want-to-see-it-through seating area. Where there were plenty of people-watching opportunities to distract from boring conversations, no hint of romantic potential and easy access to all escape routes.

Well
.

Her inner seductress wanted to huff herself into a pout, then crawl into a corner. But Eden was too practical for that. She’d invited Cade out for a “welcome home, thank you for rescuing me from the tree” drink. He didn’t know he was about to be seduced.

Yet.

So she followed his gesture, swaying a little more than usual thanks to the high, high heels, and made her way through the questioning looks and outright shock to their very public table.

Maybe the skirt was a little shorter than she’d realized? When Cade held out her chair, she glanced over her shoulder to offer a smile of thanks as she gratefully—if not gracefully—slid into it. And saw the look in his eyes.

Smoldering hot.

Thigh-clenchingly intense.

The kind of look a guy offered just before he stripped a girl naked.

Her breath caught tight in her chest. Eden wasn’t sure what to do, what to say. She wanted to turn the rest of the way around, wrap her hands around his shoulders and climb up his long, hard body. She wanted to shift upward just a little, and try out that kiss from yesterday again. But this time with tongue.

She wanted to make him wish he’d gotten one of those dark, secluded booths, dammit.

Before she could give in to any of that temptation, he straightened. She had to force herself not to whimper when he moved away to round the table.

Then he sat down.

The look in his eyes was gone, as if it’d never existed. Instead, his gaze straddled the line between neutral and friendly. Like, now that he’d thought about seeing her naked, it just wasn’t that interesting.

“Hey, Eden, I didn’t know you were the buddy Cade was meeting,” the waitress said, stepping over with a friendly smile for both of them. “What can I get you?”

Buddy?
Eden, her teeth hurting from being clenched so tight, debated. She could be obvious and order a Screaming Orgasm or a Suck, Bang, Blow. Or try for sophisticated and order a glass of Chablis from the Naked Winery.

After a second, though, she sighed and went for the old standby. “A pomegranate margarita, blended. Thanks.”

“Another beer,” Cade added, lifting his bottle. As soon as the waitress left, he gave Eden one of those friendly, distant sort of smiles that she was sadly used to here at the Wayfarers. But never from him.

Despite the heat she’d have publically sworn was flaming between them the day before, he was suddenly acting like he barely knew her. What happened to treating her like she was a cute kid? Or his personal rescue victim. Neither role was one Eden particularly cared for—especially since neither one would get her into his pants any time soon. But they were better than being treated like a vague acquaintance from back in the day.

Determined, calling up the same stubborn focus she’d used to put herself through veterinary school, to build a business from the ground up in her hometown, in order to save the family property instead of moving anywhere easier, and to face down countless jokes at her expense, Eden squared her chin. She wanted Cade Sullivan, and by damn, she was going to have him.

“So what’ve you been up to lately?” he asked, leaning back in his chair. “Graduated high school, college. What else?”

“What else have I done since I graduated high school seven years ago?” she asked, snark overriding her seduction plans for a brief second. Thankfully her margarita arrived before she could say anymore. That gave Eden a second to mentally regroup. By the time Cade had said thanks for his beer, she’d decided on a plan.