LITMIR.BIZ

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Tea Room of The Sutherland had once been the place to host everything from baby showers to weddings. That was until the management company she and her sister had hired drop-kicked their once-beautiful banquet hall into ruin.

      “It does now. I had to wash over two hundred individual pieces of crystal chandelier by hand. And don’t get me started on the wainscoting.”

      “I’m not even sure I know what that is,” he told her without a hint of embarrassment at his lack of knowledge.

      Strange. In her work experience, a man not familiar with something was a sign of weakness. Maybe it had to do with the way marketing departments worked. You had to be the authority. You had to have confidence to sell an item to people who didn’t need it. A special kind of swagger.

      Not that Riley didn’t have swagger. And confidence. the man had plenty to spare. Just not blind arrogance.

      Of course, in Riley’s world, not knowing something and not speaking up could get him killed. Rachel shuddered. She didn’t like thinking of Riley like that. In harm’s way. She preferred seeing him as the easygoing charmer.

      An easygoing charmer she wouldn’t see much of after this weekend. Except at their speed dating SEAL parties. Her chest tightened. Riley was a regular at those parties. Always a favorite at the end of the night.

      Rachel would have to watch him talk with other women. Flash that smile to other women. And now she knew how he kissed, how he touched, how he made a woman feel … how he made her feel.

      How could she stand there calmly and ring a bell? Serve him drinks? She fixed the towel under her arms.

      She should just say something right now, to remind herself that Riley Wilkes wasn’t hers. Except until Sunday. No need to wait. Rip the sticky bandage off now. Her sister would be proud.

      “I’ll point it out to you at the next SEAL dating party.”

      He turned to face her, his brows drawn together. “Oh, but—”

      “You weren’t planning on dropping out, were you? Riley, you’re one of our most popular SEALs.”

      His gaze flicked to hers. Narrowed. Then he turned and faced the mirror once more, his shaving almost complete.

      Riley didn’t say anything else. Silence stretched between them. Awkwardly. So much for not waiting and ripping it off. From now on she’d stick with the methods that worked. Her methods. Avoidance. Delay.

      She needed to find something that would get them back on track. “Is that what you did before you became a SEAL?” Construction worker—wow. The image of Riley, shirtless and balancing on a roof would supply her fantasy life for, well, a long time.

      Riley checked in the mirror. “During my summer breaks and after school. Anything to make a buck. My dad could do everything. He framed homes, laid brick, put in plumbing, electric, whatever. Once I was old enough I trailed along. I guess he needed to be in construction because he had to keep on adding bedrooms with every new kid.”

      Rachel smiled. And yet …

      Riley told the joke easily, as if he’d made it at least a dozen times before now. But there was something a little off. His words were tinged with sadness.

      She left her perch tubside and joined him. She cupped his now-smooth chin, loving the feel of his skin beneath her fingers. He was a man who’d joined the Navy to be a different person. He’d worked hard, excelled and been accepted into one of the most elite special ops in the world, but he was still a man who was only a name in a baby book. After her mother’s death, Rachel had found a memento box containing snippets of Rachel’s life. A lock of hair from her first haircut. A note to the tooth fairy. The ribbon she’d worn in her hair on the first day of kindergarten. Riley had nothing like that.

      He gripped her hand, his gaze turning fierce. “I can see in your eyes you’re feeling bad. I didn’t want you feeling sorry for me.”

      Of course not. That would be the last thing a man like Riley would want.

      He ran his tongue along her bottom lip, and her nipples hardened against the terry cloth of her borrowed towel. “Unless feeling sorry for me means you’ll crawl up in my lap.”

      Now that sounded like Riley.

      “I could tell you how everything I wore was a hand-me-down.” His thumb stroked the back of her hand. Shiver time.

      “But on the bright side, the yellow shirt my mom got off the clearance rack for my older brother had faded to beige by the time I could wear it.”

      “I don’t know whether to believe any of this,” she said, giving his towel-covered hip a playful swat.

      “See, that’s why I joined the Navy. Those big brothers hitting me all the time made me tough. Now I got a woman punching me. I’ll just have to do this.”

      She squealed as he bent and hoisted her up and over his shoulder fireman style, heading straight to his big bed. Her towel slipped as he let her body slide down his and she plopped naked on top of the covers.

      A determined flash blazed in his eyes when he realized she no longer sported terry cloth. She’d witnessed Riley playful and tired and hungry and aroused, but this unwavering Riley was new to her. The thought of all his driven Navy SEAL intensity focused on her and …

      her breasts grew heavy, sensitive. Every part of her was wanting him.

      Aching for his touch.

      Riley scanned her body. His eyes darkened, his gaze stopping briefly at her lips, then lowering to her breasts, which seemed to grow even heavier under the heat and weight of his stare. He briefly met her eyes once more.

      “You are amazing,” he breathed. His voice tight with arousal.

      His towel dropped to the carpeted floor with a whoosh. Rachel caught sight of his penis hard and ready for her. Her breath left her body in a hiss, anticipating his touch. He stretched out slowly, too slowly, beside her on the bed. For a woman who was used to waiting, she’d suddenly grown impatient for everything that had to do with this man.

      Riley rubbed his cheek against hers. Ahhh, bliss. Her eyes drifted shut as the masculine scent of him once again took over her senses.

      Then he moved to gently nibble the side of her neck, radiating shivers of sensation along her nerve endings. He brushed over her collarbone and down to her breasts. With a quick kiss to each of her nipples, he continued lower. Every muscle she had began to tense, as she wondered what Riley would do to her next. He trailed his cheek over her rib cage to the hollow below her belly button, and she gasped.

      Hadn’t she just entertained thoughts of his smooth skin rubbing along hers? Taking just this southerly path?

      With tender fingers, he arched her leg up and over his shoulder, and all hell broke loose with her senses.

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