Except, somewhere deep down, he’d gotten another feeling when he’d watched John kiss her. He’d spent his swim trying to figure it out and still couldn’t put his finger on it. He’d sought out the water, knowing where he’d find the solace he needed to think, knowing where he always felt most at home. It was one of the reasons he’d joined the Navy. Out of all the ops he’d been a part of in his career as a SEAL, the ones where the team had been forced to swim their way covertly and silently to shore had been the ones that had really got his adrenaline pumping.
Said adrenaline was pumping now, too, with a vengeance. His first impulse as he stopped within arm’s reach of Lara was to pull her against him and kiss her again. He resisted the urge, not wanting to come on too strong, and smiled at her instead.
“Hi.” He inwardly cringed at the lame greeting.
The corner of her luscious lips twitched. “Hi. That was some thoughtful look on your face as you were walking over here.”
“I could say the same about you.”
She glanced away, seeming to take in her surroundings before meeting his gaze again. “For a small place, it’s a lot to take in. The island,” she qualified. “I know I’ve still only seen probably less than half of it, but it’s got me mesmerized.”
Her attention slid down his front and Brandon felt it like a physical caress. It wrapped around his shaft, squeezed, and nearly drew a low moan from his throat. He needed to get back in the water before the whole beach noticed the raging hard-on he’d soon be sporting if she kept looking at him like that.
“Will you join me for a swim? The water is fantastic.”
She seemed to contemplate the offer for a moment and then finally smiled and nodded. “Sure.” She gathered the bottom of her swimsuit cover-up in her fists and pulled it up so cock-teasingly slowly, Brandon nearly whimpered before he caught himself.
He took a half step back as his attention followed the garment. Slender hips supporting two thin white strings that held her bikini bottoms together came into view first. Her belly had a very subtle rounded shape to it, giving it more of a healthy womanly appearance. Her abs were well toned and made his tongue tingle. His hunger ratcheted off the charts as his gaze fixed next on her breasts. They filled the white bikini top to perfection, the tops gently spilling over to create half-moons above the fabric.
When they started to shake, he snapped out of his trance, lifted his gaze and slammed it into hers.
She was laughing, sheer amusement dancing in her eyes. “Enjoying yourself?”
“You have no idea,” Brandon muttered, silently berating himself for acting like a pig.
She glanced around, dropped her gaze to her feet, shrugged, and let the cover-up fall where she stood, apparently deciding it would be safe there. “Don’t sweat it.” She lifted a hand to his chest and dragged the tip of one long fingernail from one shoulder to the other. “Just so you know, I already had my good look at you.”
Brandon grinned and placed a hand on the small of her back as they started walking to the water’s edge. He needed to get there quick or his mission to keep his rapidly stiffening cock concealed would go down in the logbook as a complete failure. “Did you now?”
“I saw you out there.” She turned her head to look at him as he led her to the water. “You seemed like you were in your own little world.”
“Water does that to me.” He let his hand fall from her back as they reached the water. “I would probably live in it if I could.”
She stopped, looked down at her toes, and wiggled them as the bubbly remnants of a wave reached them. “Which is why you’re a SEAL.”
“It’s why I chose the Navy above other branches of the military.”
She glanced at him, squinting her eyes against the sunlight. “And you went through all the rigorous training and torture to become a SEAL because…”
“I wanted to prove I could.”
Her head lifted and she drew her brows together. “You don’t strike me as a man with self-confidence problems.”
Brandon grinned. “I’m not.”
“Then it wasn’t yourself you wanted to prove it to,” she guessed correctly.
“No, that would be my father.”
Her brows winged up this time. “He didn’t have the confidence in you to do it?”
The old drunken bastard didn’t have the confidence in him to do anything. Thirty years of life, countless achievements, and even making it through to be one of the best of the best the military had to offer had never changed that.
“He said I would never amount to anything.” Brandon lifted a shoulder as he stared out at the waves barreling toward the shore. “He still doesn’t think so.” He shook off the aggravation and disappointment he’d been living with his entire life and smiled at her. “But I know better. Funny thing is, his lack of confidence in me steered me to discovering where I really belong. I love being a SEAL. I was meant to be a SEAL. I may not have taken that path without him.”
Lara smiled, but her eyes were full of sympathy. “Yeah, funny how a father’s dislike of you compels you to be so much better than you might have been if you let it.”
She was talking about her own father now. Brandon could see it in the depths of her clouded green eyes. By all accounts in the public eye, her relationship with the US senator was solid, a daughter-father bond that many people envied. He knew well enough how politicians put on a good show for the American people, never revealing what truly happened behind the scenes, and guessed Lawrence Hampton was one hell of an actor.
Brandon started to ask more about her relationship with her father, but she beamed a more genuine smile at him, and waggled her brows. “Let’s see what you’ve got, Super SEAL.”
She left him chuckling after her as she broke into a sprint until she reached deep enough water to dive and then disappeared beneath the surf.
Brandon took the slower route, wading into the water as he waited for her to resurface. He expected her to come straight back up. When a good ten seconds passed and he didn’t see her, he started to get worried. Another five seconds went by and he started to dive after her when she finally came up for air.
His air, however, felt suddenly trapped in his lungs as water rained from her long blonde hair, down her breasts, and cascaded over her flat abdomen. She’d surfaced barely an arm’s length away from him and he couldn’t stop himself from reaching for her, from hooking his arm around her waist and attempting to draw her against him.
Attempting to because, the second he got his hold on her, she squeaked and executed a perfect flip in the water that took her out of his reach.
She raked her hair from her face with her hands and grinned at him. “Slick move, Sweet SEAL, but it didn’t work.”
Brandon made a face. “Sweet SEAL?”
She giggled. “It’s been my nickname for you since Cambodia. It’s what I called you in my head before you told me your name.”
“But sweet? You realize, to a man, sweet is about as bad as nice.” Hot SEAL would’ve been better. Maybe even Doable SEAL. Anything but sweet, for crying out loud.
“You are sweet.”
He frowned and muttered, “I think I liked Super SEAL better.”
“Aww,” she cooed, but, hey, it got her closer. She treaded the water back to him, lifted a wet hand to the side of his face, and patted his cheek. “Poor baby. How about I just call you Brandon? Or Ace? That’s the nickname your teammates use, isn’t it? Why do they call you that, anyway?”
Beneath the water, he dared to close his fingers around her hip. She didn’t summersault away from his touch this time. “It goes back to what we were talking about a few minutes ago. The whole proving myself jazz. I excelled in almost every training exercise they put us through in BUD/s. After the first couple, some of the guys would say something like, ‘Damn, he aced another one’, and it eventually stuck. I became Ace.”
Her lips spread in a grin of pure mischief. “Ace, the super sweet SEAL.”
“Ugg.�
� Brandon caught her hips with both hands, flipping her over on top of him as he fell back into the water, and took them both under. He brought them both up immediately, knowing he hadn’t given her any warning to take a breath.
She sputtered, coughed once, and narrowed her eyes at him, but the move had gotten her arms around his neck. They stayed there, too, the tips of her nails poking into his nape and igniting the desire to feel them penetrate flesh as he shoved his aching cock deep inside her pussy.
“I’ll get you back for that.”
Brandon grinned. “I’m looking forward to it.”
She laughed and rolled her eyes. “Sweet or not, you do manage to prove you’re a guy, don’t you?”
“It’s a species thing. We can’t help it. Men are pigs no matter how sweetly you dress them up.” The emphasis he put on the word sweetly had her throwing back her head and laughing harder.
“No, I guess not.” She stared at him, her gaze dancing over his face, her fingers playing in the hairs at his nape.
He thought for a moment she might kiss him. Okay, he hoped like hell for a moment she might kiss him. She wanted him. He knew that. The way she’d settled herself so comfortably in his arms and so perfectly against his body was only one of the many indications he’d seen to prove it. The kiss back at the cottage had been another. He’d given her time to know what he’d been about to do and allowed her those few seconds to pull away. Instead, she’d kissed him back and rocked his whole fucking world.
Yeah, she wanted him. The trouble came in knowing she wanted John, too. Who did she want more? Fuck, the answer to that might not be what he needed to hear. Would she share herself with both of them? Double fuck, he still wasn’t sure he could share her with John.
“Who did you borrow the boat from?”
Brandon blinked at her before stupidly looking around them for a boat. They’d swum out far enough to put a good distance between themselves and the other swimmers on the beach. “Boat? What boat?”
The smile she gave him told him she knew exactly what she was doing to him. “You said you stayed with an old friend in Silver Springs and borrowed his boat to get here. Who is the old friend?”
“Oh, Ryan Magee. Remember him?” He sighed inwardly, already knowing full well she’d remember Ryan. She might have shivered every time he’d touched her that night in Cambodia and he hadn’t missed the couple of times she’d sucked in a quick breath when John had got near her, but she’d had eyes only for Magee that night. Hell, why not throw another fucking man in the mix? Except, Magee was a taken man now. There had to be some level of comfort in that.
“Ah, Mr. Too Sexy for His Shirt.”
Brandon barked a laugh. “Did you come up with your own little nicknames for all of us that night?”
“A few of you. I just told you Ryan’s and you already know yours.” She giggled when he rolled his eyes. “There was that one SEAL who was always bouncing all over the place. He was highly energetic even though you guys had just finished a mission. I called him Spaz.”
Brandon nodded. “Chase Spazetty. His nickname in the team actually is Spaz.”
“Well, I pegged him right, didn’t I?”
“You did. What about John?” he asked at the same time she asked, “So Mr. Too Sexy for His Shirt isn’t a SEAL anymore, or is he on furlough, too?”
Back to Magee again. It was time to nip this one in the bud. “He left the team shortly after that night. The knee injury, the one that had him limping that night, it did some pretty serious damage.”
She gasped. “I forgot about that. I just told you wrong, too. My first nickname for him was Limping SEAL.”
Brandon grinned. “Yeah, well, that limping is still there now and then, although it’s not nearly as bad as it used to be. A SEAL team is only as slow as their slowest member. Magee refused to put the team in danger if he couldn’t double-time it as fast as the rest of us on an op so he got a medical discharge.”
She winced. “Bet that hurt his pride. What’s he doing now?”
“He’s a firefighter with the Silver Springs Fire Department.” Brandon waited a beat. “He’s married now and has a stepson.”
“The hardened warrior turned family man, huh?”
Brandon lifted a brow. “Disappointed?”
She gaped at him. “Absolutely not! Why would I be?”
Brandon slid one of his hands to the small of her back and then dragged his palm up her spine. “I don’t know. You seemed to be pretty into Magee that night.”
“Oh, come on. That man’s got an ego so big I’m shocked he managed to find a woman who’d put up with it. It was so obvious he expected me to take one look at him and swoon.”
Brandon bit back a grin, trying hard not to let her see the relief party breaking out in his mind. “You came close.”
She slapped his shoulder. “I did not! I only wanted you to think I was.”
Isn’t that interesting. “Only me?” The instant the question spilled from his lips, he wished he hadn’t asked it. Her smile faded and her gaze turned equally serious and thoughtful.
“Honestly? At first, yeah.”
Brandon nodded slowly. “Then you met John. You didn’t tell me what nickname you pegged him with.”
“I didn’t come up with one for him. I only wanted him to sing some more, but you kept telling him to cut it out.”
Brandon sighed. “I wish I could say I think he does that just to get women but, half the time, there’s not a woman around when the man decides to break out with a song.”
“Why did he quit? Being a SEAL, I mean. He obviously loved it. Yet, he’s here now working as a sheriff on an island in the gulf.”
Brandon shook his head. “It’s not my place to talk about that.”
She grimaced. “Is it that bad?”
“Let’s just say a lot of shit went down that was connected to that night. It took a few years before it all came to light, but he ended up in the middle of it when it did. Hell, it was a goatfuck. The whole team ended up in the middle of it, but John, well, I’ll let him tell you.” He hesitated before adding, “When you have dinner with him tonight.”
* * * *
The look that swept through Brandon’s eyes tore at Lara’s heart. She didn’t care how much he groaned about her calling him Sweet SEAL, he was sweet, and she saw in that moment she had the power to hurt him.
It was all happening so fast. She’d stepped onto the island that morning and the first man she’d seen had been John. That hadn’t been so bad. Sure, she’d talked her way back and through the door of confusions-r-us a few times, but it hadn’t taken her long to decide she fully intended to go after what she wanted. John. Then Brandon had showed up and her confusions had started mixing an all new concoction. The way they’d both been coming on to her, the way they’d both kissed her, and the way they both touched her was driving her lust for both of them through the roof even as it stole her sanity.
She’d been worried about the devastating effects giving into one of them would have on her soul. The serious trouble came in realizing she wanted them both. Reminding herself that ménages were the norm on Silver Island didn’t help. No way in hell would two alpha men like Brandon and John ever share a woman. Hell, did she even want to be shared?
Stupid question. You know damn well you’d fall into bed with both of them in a heartbeat. It’s what you’ve been fantasizing about for four freaking years.
Yeah, but despite the island motto, Silver Island, where ménage isn’t a dream, it’s reality, she knew in her world it didn’t matter what piece of land she planted her feet on, a ménage with Brandon and John would always be a dream.
“Thanks for reminding me,” she said, inwardly damning herself for taking the easy way out. “Kenneth, Marcus, and Charlotte are having a dinner party tonight. They are expecting the three of us to be there.” The three of them. God, help her, even saying it that way, so casual and conversationally, sent lustfully searching butterflies fluttering through her belly. “Don
’t ask me how Kenneth knew to invite you, too, but he did.” She angled her head and narrowed her eyes at him. “How did he know to invite you?”
“Marcus and I are…acquaintances, and he knows John and I are friends.”
Lara got the sneaking suspicion there was more to it than that, but she decided not to press for now. “Oh, well, good. You have dinner plans tonight, too, with John and me. That is, of course, if you want to.”
“Count me in.” His gaze shifted by her and a dreamy smile unfolded on his too-kissable lips. “Look.” He used his hold on her to turn her around in his arms, backing her against him as he pointed out into the ocean.
Lara squinted her eyes, trying to see further into the distance, but widened them when she spotted what looked like a dolphin breaking the surface several yards away. “Is that a dolphin?”
Brandon nestled his face next to hers, resting his chin on her shoulder. “It sure is. Beautiful, isn’t it?”
“It’s amazing!” She’d seen dolphins in the ocean before, but the sight never got any less exciting. “I wonder what it’s like. Spending your life in deep water, no reason to care about all the chaos that happens in the world…” No reason to fear crazy men who won’t give up and resort to things like stalking and tormenting.
She started to close her eyes as dregs of that fear tingled through her veins, but the dolphin picked that moment to flip high in the air before bulleting back under the water. She was quickly discovering one thing about being on the island. Even if her time here didn’t make Harold Taggart move on, at least the island offered enough distraction to keep her mind off him most of the time.
Brandon took the lead in her distraction train when he turned his face into the side of her neck and brushed his lips lightly over her flesh. Goose pimples rose to the surface of her skin, contrasting with the heat that seared through her system as the warmth of his breath when he spoke ignited a raging flame in her pussy.
Safe and SEALed with Ecstasy [The Heroes of Silver Island 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 6