shred of integrity still intact, didn’t he?
He should probably just give in. So, what if he lost his last shred of integrity? He at least would have her, and it was what she wanted. She was dreaming about him for fuck’s sake. If only he could be sure he wouldn’t break her heart.
Or that she wouldn’t break mine, a small voice whispered. Shut the fuck up!
He’d only mixed sex and his heart one time, the one time he got caught and he regretted it, even now. It had hurt so damn much.
So, maybe the whole I-can’t-have-her-because-of-the-team-code was nothing more than a smokescreen to hide behind.
Even Max didn’t think his intentions were true. He was probably right.
In the end, wasn’t this between Dodger and Anna?
He took the last bite of his pancake, chewed, and swallowed. “There would be only two ways I’d consider getting naked with you, Anna.”
It was her turn to swallow hard.
“Oh, yeah? Would one of them be when hell freezes over and the other not a snowball’s chance in hell?”
He smiled and leaned forward. “Heat would be involved, but no. One—it would be temporary. I don’t do long-term.”
Her eyes flashed. “And the other?”
“Two is very important and as non-negotiable as one. Max and the team must never, ever find out.”
So much for his damn principles.
She got up from the table and cleared her plate. He watched her, but she gave nothing away. She was damn good at it. He couldn’t tell if she was thinking about his proposal or just mad as a wet hen.
She started out of the kitchen and he said, “Anna?”
She stopped with her back to him, her hand going to the frame and clenching around the wood. Without turning around, she said, “We’re in a terrible situation here. Right now, I’m compromised and the last thing I should be thinking about is getting involved with you. Let’s keep this professional. I’ll deal with my dreams and you can let yourself right off that hook you’ve so effectively hung yourself on. God forbid something besides the brotherhood should come first in your life. I hope you enjoy your sweaty, hairy, drinking, talking war stories, barbecuing, combat-loving, alpha rope-pissing-contest man-love. I’m going to take a shower, then we’re going to have an argument.”
Dodger sat there reeling like he’d been run over by a ten-ton truck.
Oh, yeah, he was sure now that she had jumped over the wet hen mad fence and gone straight to junkyard dog blood boil.
Wait. What had she said…argument? Oh, bloody hell. Another one?
He rose and did the dishes. He caught a whiff of her fresh scent even before her shower. Who’d have thought the wafting scent of citrus could give a guy a raging hard-on? Or was it the fact that she was dreaming about him? He just didn’t know. All he was sure of was his aching blue balls.
He was so in trouble here, and the least of it was this mishmash with the Navy and the CIA.
Anna couldn’t believe his answer to her telling him she was turned on after her dreams was, Um…yeah.
What the heck did she expect? She closed her eyes as the water cascaded over her. She needed some time alone to get herself in order. Not to mention getting her physical reaction to him under control.
Anna had thought he’d dominated her thoughts and dreams, but his presence in real life was so much bigger than she could have imagined. He filled up her small kitchen with his larger than life presence, and jeez Louise, he was so charming. She had sorely underestimated just how big a presence he truly was.
But he pissed her off, and she’d lost her temper. That was Max’s thing, not hers. Damn her brother for being so intimidating and treating her like she was a child who needed to be protected from the raw desires of a gorgeous, muscled man. She was a grown woman. She would shock the socks off Max with the depth of her raw desire and what she wanted to do with Dodger. It just irritated her that Dodger didn’t seem to care. He was probably right that they needed to back off from getting physical with each other, but he could at least act like it was costing him a little.
She got out of the shower and dried off. To spite Dodger, she dressed in a black lace bra, mesh T-shirt and painted on jeans, then dried her hair into a thick mane and put on just