A SEAL's Courage (Military Match #1)(26)

“But I can’t just turn off my attraction to you because you want me to, either.”

The sound of Trent’s quiet footsteps moved up behind her, and she tensed, waiting. For what, she didn’t know, but seconds later his body heat filled her back. He didn’t, however, touch her. She couldn’t be sure if that was good or bad, but her stomach knotted all the same.

His fingers stroked along her shoulder. Slow. Sensual. Careful. After a moment, he let out a heavy sigh. “And I’m no longer sure I want you to.”

She let out a sardonic laugh. If she didn’t, she’d lean back into him. Everything south of the border had turned hot and molten, and every nerve ending he touched flamed. “That’s the most mixed-up thing I’ve ever heard, you know that?”

He looped his hands around her waist, setting his chin on his shoulder. “The last thing I want is to lose you.”

“I didn’t ask you to marry me. I believe I told you I just wanted to use your body for a while.” She turned her head as much as their position would allow, looking at him out of the corner of her eye. Her insides wobbled, and nervous anxiety rolled through her stomach, but she had to take the chance or die a virgin. “If it’s not going to be you, it’s going to be somebody. If you don’t want this, I understand, but at some point I’m going to have to move on. When I woke up this morning and found you gone, I had plans to call Military Match again.”

His body stiffened against her back and his jaw tightened, nostrils flaring. “I can’t stand the thought of your first time being with someone else, some asshole like last night.”

“Then be my first.” Lauren drew a deep breath and pressed herself into his arms, sliding her hands up his back. “It’s not like I’m asking you to do me right here and now. It can happen at whatever pace you need it to.”

He cupped her chin in his palm, brow furrowed, gaze intense. “You’re okay with that?”

She lifted onto her toes, trying to close the space between them. “I’m okay with that. If it makes you feel better to put a label on this, consider us friends with benefits. When it stops being mutually satisfying, it ends.”

She’d just have to be sure to keep her head in the right place, so that her heart didn’t get broken in the end. This was a fling with a sexy guy, no more, no less.

He let out an agonized groan and brushed his mouth over hers, so lightly she shivered. “God, I can’t resist you anymore. I have a few requests.”

Her heart hammered in giddy anticipation. She hadn’t expected him to accept. That he had sent myriad thoughts flying through her mind, all of which settled low in her belly. “Okay.”

He pulled back. For a moment his gaze dropped as his fingers idly stroked her shoulder, like he couldn’t help but touch her. “You can’t tell Mandy.”

Lauren rolled her eyes. “Trent, she’s my best friend.”

“Yeah, but she’s my sister. The last thing I need is her privy to the intimate details of my prowess in the bedroom.” He brushed his nose against hers, amusement glinting in his eyes. “I recall overhearing a conversation about size once.”

Heat rushed into her face, but Lauren couldn’t contain her grin. She recalled that exact conversation. They hadn’t discussed him, exactly, but she remembered distinctly wondering.

“All right. On this I’ll concede, because you have a point.” She rubbed a circle over his chest. “What else?”

“I want to put a time limit on this. A month. When it’s over, we go back to being just friends.” His hands looped around her waist, pulling her flush against him. Heat flared in his eyes. “I also think we should ease into this. So my last request is no sex.”

Lauren dropped her forehead to his shoulder with an exasperated sigh. “I’m never going to lose my virginity that way.”

He chuckled and hooked two fingers beneath her chin, tilting her gaze back to his. His eyes blazed at her. “At least not right away. I’m proposing we do everything else first. Because I was thinking…you want the full experience, right?”

She shrugged. He had her there. “I guess.”

“And that includes things like kissing. Touching.” He leaned down, his voice lowering to a husky rumble against her mouth. “Tasting.”

A hot little shudder moved through her as her mind filled with the possibilities: his rough hands closing around her breasts, fingers sliding into her panties, stroking her sex.

His warm mouth buried between her thighs.

“I like that idea. Doing it all. How ’bout, since you stayed last night, instead of lunch today, we start with dinner tomorrow night?” She pinned him with a direct stare and arched a brow, attempting to look fierce, but one corner of her mouth twitched, betraying her. “You still owe me a date.”

He rolled his eyes but grinned. “Tomorrow’s great.”

“Then it’s settled. You’re mine starting tomorrow.” She winked at him, then stepped back, took his hand, and headed for the kitchen. “Now, I believe you were making me breakfast.”





Chapter Seven



Still on for dinner tonight?

Trent stared down at his cell phone, seated on the counter beside the stove. He was halfway through making breakfast when his phone buzzed in his pocket. The thought of seeing Lauren again had his heart sledgehammering his rib cage. Just reading her text made him so hard he ached.