Hot SEAL, Heartbreaker - Cat Johnson Page 0,35
a whole lot less perky and fresh after all this time, but she hadn’t tossed them out yet.
“Those were just a prop. For our fake date,” he said.
“All right. What about how you brought champagne to my sister’s for Valentine’s Day and you brought wine for dinner?”
Brian lifted his shoulder. “More props.”
“No.” She shook her head. “You’re a gentleman.”
“If you think I’m a gentleman, then I’m going to have to up my game next round.” He purposely let his gaze travel down her body, lingering on the points of her nipples poking through the fabric of her T-shirt.
She didn’t react to his attempt at a salacious stare and continued, “In fact, I daresay you’re a romantic.”
A bark of a laugh escaped him. “Now, you’re pushing it. There’s no way in hell anyone could call me romantic.”
“A man who comes to a lady’s rescue in a bar? Who fends off a perceived threat? That’s the definition of chivalry.”
“You told me you didn’t need or want my help.”
“Correct. However, your motives were still noble.”
Noble. Chivalry. Gentleman. Romantic. The list of adjectives she was spewing in relation to him put his brain in a tailspin.
He refused to accept her calling him such things. “Nope. No disrespect, but you’re wrong.”
Contrary to what he thought her reaction would be, she just shook her head and grabbed her own sandwich. “No, I’m not.”
Apparently she considered the case closed. But at least she was finally quiet as she dug into her food, something he’d have to remember in future. When Alicia talks too much, feed her.
Usually he enjoyed listening to her talk. Even her crazy theories and ponderings entertained him. But not today.
Her ramblings today had gotten in his head. Maybe because he knew she might be right. The reason he’d given her for not being in a relationship was mainly bullshit. He suspected the real reason for his remaining single was flying to California tomorrow for a birthday trip to the Hotel Coronado.
And suddenly, he was dreading seeing her. He loved his mother. But with her came memories of a less than ideal childhood he preferred to keep buried.
Now, thanks to Alicia and her damn head-shrinker degree, he had to seriously consider the idea that he avoided love not because of the nature of being a team guy, or because romance wasn’t in his own nature, but because he’d grown up watching his mom suffer the effects of a failed love life, starting with his absent father and going downhill from there.
His appetite for the sandwich had faded with the conversation and his own thoughts.
Not Alicia’s appetite though. She’d cleaned her plate.
She set down the dish on the nightstand on her side of the bed right before she straddled him.
He felt the heat of her bare core through the fabric of his underwear as she draped one forearm on top of each of his shoulders and fiddled with the hair at the back of his neck.
Her gaze hit on his sandwich, barely touched with only a couple of bites taken out of it. “Didn’t you like it?”
“I loved it. I’ll eat it a little later.”
A smile bowed her lips. “Or maybe a lot later.”
As she leaned in toward his lips, a devilish look on her face while she ground against him, he decided this might be exactly what he needed to get her psycho-babble off his mind.
A good hard fuck was the best way he could think of to clear his head.
“Oh, before I forget.” She pulled back, before he could silence more talk with a kiss. “What’s this dinner you need me for? The one you texted me about.”
He was second-guessing that invitation. Putting his mother in the same room as his fake girlfriend who was also a therapist was the worst idea ever.
What had he been thinking when he’d typed in that text?
He knew exactly what he’d been thinking. He wanted to see Alicia again and this seemed like a good excuse.
“Oh, that. Yeah. It’s nothing. I don’t think I need you there. You’re off the hook.”
“Are you sure?” She frowned.
“Positive. But there is something you can do for me now.” He pressed her harder against the hard length between them.
“Gee, let me guess what that could be.” She smiled.
This was good. Pointless sex talk. More fucking. This he could handle.
Alicia could save her analysis for paying customers. He didn’t need or want it.
SEVENTEEN
Alicia was enjoying her second mug of coffee that morning while remembering last night.
The first mug she’d drank with Brian. Now