Tempted by a SEAL (7 page)

Smiling, he knew he’d win in the end. She could drag that thing with her all the way to the bathroom, but not into the shower stall. There, he’d have access to every inch of her slick, wet body.

A shiver ran down his spine as he imagined sliding into her beneath the hot spray of water, her body gripping his as she came.

Yeah, he was definitely up for some shower sex. As soon as he got his soapy hands on her, she would be too.

CHAPTER 6

“So . . . ” Lydia glanced down, grinding the toe of her shoe into the bedroom carpet. “I guess I should get going.”

She’d far rather stay there with Mack. Maybe cook something for his breakfast and impress him with her prowess in the kitchen.

Her culinary experience might make up for her lack of experience in the bedroom. Not that Mack had complained about that. Nope.
 

Still, she was an excellent cook. It was the one skill she’d gotten from her mother.

She thought how she wouldn’t mind showing it off for Mack, when she could wrestle her mind to focus on anything besides how damn good he looked without a shirt.

All hard, cut muscles. Washboard abs. Big, bulging arms that had held her just an hour ago. Arms she wished she could have wrapped around her again.

A scene formed in her mind as she watched him pull a collared shirt off a hanger in his closet. He tugged it on over his head while she imagined how the day would be if she had nowhere to go. If she could spend a lazy Sunday here with him.

She could borrow a pair of his sweatpants and a T-shirt. They could snuggle on the sofa and watch a movie. Or even football if that’s what he wanted to watch. She wouldn’t care.

As he pulled a belt through the loops on his khaki pants, which made him look more conservative and less bad ass than the jeans had last night, he glanced up at her. “Yeah, I gotta get going too.”

The crazy, insecure girl in her head wondered if he was lying to get rid of her. The other half of her mind—the eternal optimist inside her—hoped it was true. That he really did have somewhere to go.

Given the way he was kind of dressed up, it must be true. She only hoped it wasn’t to go out on a date or something.

“Oh. Okay. Maybe we can walk out together.”

“Sure.” After sitting down on the one chair in the room and pulling on brown boots he stood. He grinned at her and his looks rose from good to
wow
. “Ready?”

“Ah. Yeah.”
Kind of. Mostly
.

She’d been so busy watching him get dressed and fantasizing about them being a couple—because she was obviously crazy—that she hadn’t been getting her own stuff together.

Not that she had all that much to gather.

Even though she had an overnight bag in the car, she hadn’t brought it inside. She only had her purse, so she’d be doing the walk of shame out of his apartment while wearing the same clothes as last night.

Lydia looked around and finally spotted her purse on the floor by the bathroom door. She remembered grabbing it when Mack had finally left her alone in the bathroom.

After their shower together, she’d definitely needed to wash off her old makeup and put on some new.

She strode across the room to retrieve the bag and not hold him up any longer since he was ready to leave. She was within a step of it when the heel of her shoe caught on the rug and she pitched forward.

Throwing up her hands in front of her, she hit the wall hard, palms out, but at least she remained upright. When she dared to turn to glance at Mack, hoping in vain he’d missed seeing her less than graceful move, she saw he was right behind her.

He turned her to face him. She saw the concern on his face, mixed with a crooked half smile. “Careful. Don’t want to mess up that pretty face.”

Her heart thundered from a combination of the compliment and her embarrassment.

“Yeah, that would have left a bruise. No doubt. Told you I was a klutz.” She lifted one shoulder like it was nothing even as her pulse raced.

“Lucky for you, I’ve recently discovered I happen to like klutzes.”

He liked her? Her heart pounded.

And now she felt like she was back in middle school asking her friend about the guy at the next lunch table.

Does he like-like me?

Lydia swallowed and managed to say, “You do?”

“Yeah.” His mouth tipped up further before he leaned in.

It certainly didn’t feel like middle school once Mack’s lips covered hers. He had a way of making a kiss seem like so much more.

He thrust his tongue between her lips, claiming her mouth, while he tangled his hands in her hair.

Even with how all consuming his kiss was, her mind spun. She didn’t want this to end.

After one night together, she didn’t need his declaration of undying love or anything permanent, but his phone number would be nice.

How could she walk out his door thinking she might never see him again?

Lydia could envision it now—her and her VW Bug on I-64, driving the hour plus from her college in Williamsburg to here—wherever
here
was—every Saturday night, just so she could hang around the bar across the street from Mack’s apartment in hopes he would walk in.

He pulled back and she could have kicked herself for obsessing rather than concentrating on enjoying what could be their final kiss before it ended.

Checking the readout on his cell phone before he shoved it into his pants pocket, he sighed. “It’s getting late. I gotta go.”
 

She swallowed and nodded. “Okay.”

“Got everything?” he asked as he pulled a leather jacket on over his shirt.

“Yes.” She tried not to think about her ungraceful retrieval of her bag almost as much as she tried not to think he was making sure she had everything so she wouldn’t have an excuse to contact him or come back again later.

How good he looked in leather was enough to distract her.

“Good. Let’s go.” He tipped his head toward the doorway. Reaching down, he grabbed her hand and glanced at her feet before meeting her gaze with his. “Don’t trip on your way out.”

“I’ll try not to.” She felt her cheeks heat and decided to change the subject. “So, what do you have to do today?”

The question stemmed from her being nosy and insecure and she hated that she’d asked it. Still, she held her breath waiting for his answer.

“I’ve got a thing with my dad.”

Relieved at that answer, she laughed. “That’s funny. I’ve got a thing with my mom. I guess that’s what Sunday’s are good for. Keeping the parents happy. Though I could think of a few other things I’d rather do.”

He let out a snort of a laugh as he held open the door of the apartment building for her. “You ain’t kidding.”

Outside on the curb next to her car he paused and drew in a deep breath. “So, I had a good time.”

This was it. Goodbye.
 

“So did I. Maybe we can do it again some time.” Shocked at her own boldness, she waited for his reply.

“Yeah, maybe.” He leaned in and pressed a hard kiss to her lips, plunging his tongue against hers as her body tightened in response.

It was a quick kiss but damn it was a good one. It made it almost less painful when he pulled away and let his hands drop. “Bye.”

She was breathless as she said, “Bye.”

When he stood, not moving, obviously waiting for her to leave first, she realized she’d better find her car keys. She started digging through her bag as he stood by patiently.

Finally she lifted her oversized and overloaded purse and shook it near her ear. She heard a jingle. Once she knew in which general area to search, she finally located the keys. She pulled them out and held them up for him in triumph.

He tipped his head and treated her to a small, lopsided lifting of his lips.

There were no more excuses for delay. Lydia walked around to the driver’s side door.

“All right. So, see ya.” She shot him a smile she wasn’t feeling.

“See ya.”

She wasn’t going to let his response get her excited. He was simply parroting her, not promising anything. She really wasn’t cut out for this kind of thing. This hook up and move on, one-night stand kind of lifestyle.

If her first sexual encounter hadn’t proven that, this one did. Stupid girl that she was, she was half in love with Mack already.

Must have been the orgasms. Some sort of biological reaction that stemmed from the days of the cavemen to insure the proliferation of the species. She was a slave to her hormones and the whims of human nature.

Being a Biology major, she should have realized that immediately. Her womb-deep craving to be with this man was nothing more than Mother Nature making her will known for the survival of the species.

The theory helped her feel a little bit, but not completely better. It still sucked to be leaving him with not much more than his
see ya
as plans for their seeing each other again.

As she glanced up and saw Mack straddling a motorcycle her gut twisted tighter.

He rode a Harley. That figured. As if he wasn’t hot enough before, now she had that image in her head.
 

Yup, she was no good at this hooking up thing at all.

She was definitely not a love ’em and leave ’em type. She figured chances were good that he was.

As she pulled the car into the street, she got a glimpse in the rearview mirror as he fired up his Harley without even another look in her direction as she drove away.

With a deep exhale she forced herself to focus on the GPS. She’d gotten herself all turned around by getting off the highway and following the glow of the neon last night. She had to get back on track and to her mother’s place.

The buzzing in her purse had her sighing. Her phone.

She’d forgotten to check it this morning—and last night—just as she’d forgotten to check in with Marissa.

There was a good chance it was her roommate, concerned about her. Though it could also be her mother, calling to ask how close she was to arriving.

Either way, Lydia had to get it.

With too much to do at once and the time ticking on toward the brunch, she risked it and continued to drive the direction the car’s navigation told her to, while rummaging through the bag for the phone.

She found it one handed and glanced at it long enough to hit the button to answer. She was breaking the law by pressing the cell to her ear as she drove. “Hello.”

“Hi, sweetie. Where are you?”

“Not too far. About half an hour if the GPS is right.”

“Oh, good. I—” The computerized dashboard voice telling her to
stay right ahead
cut her mother off.

That was probably for the better. The longer this conversation went on, the more likely Lydia would be pressed into having to lie to her mother about why she didn’t end up driving down last night instead of this morning.

“I’ll let you go so you can concentrate on driving.”

Relieved on more than one account, Lydia said, “Yeah, thanks. I’m not really sure where I’m going so that’d be good.”

“Of course. We can talk when you get here.”

“Great.” She hoped her mother didn’t hear the sarcasm she’d been unable to hide. “See you in a little bit.”

“Okay, sweetie. Bye.”

“Bye.” Lydia lowered the phone and took her eyes off the road one more time to see the button to disconnect the call.

Another glance at the read out told her she had a missed call and a bunch of texts, all from Marissa.

She needed to call her friend back. She had promised to last night and never had.

In Lydia’s defense, she’d been a bit distracted by Mack. The memory brought a smile to her face, as did the idea of telling Marissa about it.

She couldn’t read the texts while driving, but she managed to hit the right button to dial Marissa.

“Where are you?” Marissa didn’t even answer with hello and instead launched right into the question.

“Leaving the place of the guy I spent the night with.” Lydia wouldn’t have admitted that to anyone else on Earth, but she and Marissa were more than roommates. They were best friends. This was the one person she could be perfectly honest with about last night.