Redeeming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT Caribbean Nights #9) - Kat Cantrell Page 0,81

hadn’t been so hard to say after all. The more you did it, the easier it got.

Eventually, he’d have to say it to Jared because that was the right thing to do, whether his former friend understood the need for it or not. Charlie didn’t enjoy that last bit of chaos remaining unresolved. But that one might have to wait. At least the concept didn’t make him want to punch the wall anymore.

Her smile lit him up inside, salving his wounds. Fitting into the holes he’d created with his stubborn inability to forgive.

“So where does that leave us, Charlie? Can we at least agree to take it slow and see what this new phase looks like?”

Gazes caught, they stared at each other as the last two years melted away and all that mattered was this moment where they stood on the brink of the rest of their lives. All he had to do was reach out.

“No,” he murmured, which was what he should have said to her on that beach the first time, before he’d walked away like an idiot. “Slow doesn’t work for me. I want the adrenaline-pumping, thrill-seeking woman I fell in love with to take my hand and jump in. No holds barred. Be with me, love me, take everything I’ve got because it’s always been yours.”

He extended his palm, and it felt very much like his heart lay in the center of it.

Unshed tears gathered in the corners of her eyes, and when she smiled, one slipped down her cheek, but she let it fall and gave him the ultimate redemption when she placed her hand in his.

Sometimes doing the right thing came with the best rewards.

When Charlie dove into the water along the north shore of Ilhota Rosa, he thought he could make it to a submerged rock near the center of the cove before one of the large gray shadows lurking under the surface noticed. That didn’t happen.

A fin rose out of the clear water. Tracking him. Keeping pace. And then the bottlenose broke the surface with a splash and the dolphin swam in circles around him like a crazed puppy begging for attention. It was the smaller female, small being relative when it took all of his considerable strength and skills to keep the overexuberant beast from drowning him.

They raced through the water. Charlie’s arms cut into the wake of the marine creature who could easily outswim him. But she liked to play, and he liked to let her have her fun.

Audra, who was already perched on one of the rocks fifty or so yards from the shore, slapped the water with her hand but the dolphin ignored her. Charlie was their favorite human, and Audra never ceased to get her panties in a wad about how easily he could get them to do what he wanted.

That was okay. Audra was his favorite human, and he knew exactly how to handle her panties.

“Hey,” he murmured as he drew up alongside the rock. “Wanna share?”

“Not really,” she said with a smirk. “This is my rock. Find your own.”

“Aww. That’s no way to be just because the dolphins can’t read the letters on your fancy degree well enough to know that you’re the expert.” He crowded onto the rock with her anyway because he had something special in mind that required close proximity to the most gorgeous redhead in the whole Caribbean. “I have something for you.”

“Is it the same thing you had for me this morning?” she asked hopefully as she wound her arms around his torso to hang on because the rock was definitely not big enough for two. “Because I like the way you woke me up.”

With a deep kiss that was followed by an even deeper exploration of the wonders of her body. That had been amazing. Of course, every morning was amazing when he got to sleep in the same bed with Audra, and since she’d moved into the house he shared with Jace, that happened on a regular basis.

“Yeah? You liked that?” Her breasts pressed into his bare torso, threatening to derail his agenda, and that wasn’t going to work. Oh, it worked. In every possible way. But he had important stuff to discuss.

Maybe he could get to that in a minute. He snaked his arm tighter around her waist and ground those perfect nipples against his chest because he wasn’t an idiot. Or rather he wasn’t one any longer.

Which meant he needed to make some things official around