Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT Caribbean Nights #9) - Kat Cantrell Page 0,34

A rarity.

And he had less than no interest in explaining what the hell he thought he was doing with the woman who had caused the entire team so much grief courtesy of her ex-boyfriend and that flipping report. Mostly he didn’t want to explain it because he didn’t know what he was doing.

She should say no. Dinner had all kinds of implications tied to it that going down on her against a desk did not. Sex he could handle. Anything more than that spelled trouble.

The smile on her face didn’t have that I’ve already got plans with my sisters feel to it. “Really? I railroad you into taking me parasailing and your response is to invite me to dinner? You must not be clear how gratitude works.”

The teasing lilt to her tone lit something inside, and he dug his bare toes into the wood planking of the dock to keep himself in place. Otherwise, he might reach for her, and then all bets were off. “You must not remember our first dinner date.”

That had not been what he’d meant to say. But it was already out there, and the atmosphere shimmered with faint threads of how it had once been between them. Was it so bad to wish they could recapture that hot, explosive vibe? Or the feeling as if the world had opened up beneath their feet and anything was possible as long as they were holding onto each other?

Wishing for that wasn’t the same as expecting it. His feet were still firmly on the ground, anchored in reality where the fledging tendrils of their relationship had been severed at the base.

“I remember our first dinner perfectly.” She wiggled her fingers. The same ones she’d used to unzip his pants and slide inside to make herself at home as she explored his erection. “We didn’t eat.”

After she’d given him the hottest hand job of his life, they’d raced each other to the elevator and—barely—made it over the threshold of his hotel room before clothes started hitting the floor.

Thick, hot awareness rolled across his skin. “I’m only asking you to dinner.”

“I know. And I’m only planning on eating. Anything else is a bonus.”

So apparently it was a yes, implications and sisters notwithstanding.

Charlie held on to the promise of a bonus as he and Evan sped back to the other side of the island and tied up at the Town dock. The resort staff who lived in Town mostly walked to work as the path through the middle of the island clocked in at about 1.2 miles, so the team often had the dock to themselves.

“I take it Dr. Reed has become a current event?” Evan asked mildly as they hit the sand between the dock and the walkway into Town.

“Maybe.” Evan didn’t press him. And all at once, Charlie wished he would ask, if only to force a conversation about it. Just because he didn’t spend a lot of time jawing about women didn’t mean that he had all the answers. “Probably not.”

“Seemed like she thinks it’s a current event.”

“Why? What did she say? Did she—” He cursed. One simple comment had turned Charlie into a teenage girl at a sleepover, blathering through an analysis of every word so-and-so had said during study hall. “Jace was hassling her sisters on the beach, and I stepped in. They wanted to go parasailing. End of story.”

“Custer doesn’t hassle chicks. He doesn’t have to.”

Sometimes Evan’s tendency to be short and to the point pissed him off.

“What, are you saying I was looking for an excuse to talk to Audra? I saw her come out of the hotel and walk to the beach. It’s not a crime to notice a redhead. And I was wondering what she was doing at the resort when she has an apartment in Freeport.” He held up a hand to stop the flow of questions. “Not that I’ve been there or anything. I hear things.”

Evan nodded like everything was cool and it was commonplace to know where a woman you weren’t seeing lived. And then Evan just kept walking without saying a word.

“Okay. Fine. Maybe I’m seeing how things go between us. It’s been two years. A lot of stuff’s happened. I’m not an idiot. I haven’t made up a bunch of excuses in my head for how it might go differently this time. I’m still…” Messed up. But whenever he touched her, he forgot about black boxes and horrific bloodbaths—and he craved that oblivion. “Look at her. She’s