“I guess this is what all the fashionable SEALs are wearing,” she said as she put it on.
“Yeah, but none of them look as good as you.” He propped himself onto his elbows so he could follow her movements.
“I don’t know. Some of them looked pretty cute today.”
“I didn’t realize you were judging the team on its cute merits,” he said, his forehead creased in a small frown. “And who, exactly, did you think was cute?”
She shrugged, played with the brim of the hat. “So many to choose from.”
“How about I help you choose?” he asked, his voice low, with a rumble she’d never heard before.
“How about we go over the day’s film, so we’re both not walking zombies tomorrow?” she asked, even though she suspected that Cash didn’t need much sleep to function and still function well.
“Sounds like a blast. You, me and all the cute SEALs,” he muttered, more to himself than to her, and she suppressed a smile. She liked Cash a little jealous, a little thrown off his game.
She just liked him, period. That was dangerous enough in itself, especially when he pulled her toward him and let his hands work their way across her upper back, stroking her still sensitive skin. She could so easily forget about anything to do with work, let him walk her up the stairs and into his bed.
No, this had to stop at the couch. At least until she got her evening’s work done. She wouldn’t arrive for tomorrow’s shoot unprepared.
“We have a lot to do.” She motioned to the video equipment by the door. “I’ve still got a night’s worth of editing in front of me.”
He grumbled, but stood up and collected her gear.
“I just have to set this up to be compatible with your TV. It’s easier that way, and then I can work from the laptop.”
He casually motioned her toward the TV and headed for the kitchen. “Want a beer?”
“That sounds great,” she called, worked a few wires into the back of his set and knocked over some DVD cases in the process.
“Here,” he offered, and held out a bottle to her when she emerged from arranging the wires.
“Thanks.” She took a quick swig of the cold, amber liquid as she watched him recline on the couch. “Hey, did you ever watch any of those X-treme videos I mentioned, by any chance?”
“I don’t watch things that have stupid names like that,” he scoffed.
“Uh-huh. Then what are these?” She held up DVDs of the first three videos in the X-treme series. He shrugged as if he had no clue how they’d found their way into his house. “Having second thoughts about starring in one of them?”
“Not a chance.”
“Did you ever surf competitively?” she asked, settling in beside him. She flipped the laptop open and began to type, as though she wouldn’t care if he answered her.
“A long time ago, when I was more into traditional surfing. But extreme surfing doesn’t have many comps, and that’s what I’m into.”
“How come you gave it up? I mean, I don’t know all that much about surfing, but I know enough to know that you’re really good at it.”
She glanced at him when he took his time to answer. His eyes held a faraway look, like he was thinking about something he didn’t really want to think about. But he did answer her finally.
“Lots of reasons. One of them is that I don’t want my hobby, what I do for relaxation, to become another job. I’ve already got one of those, and I like to focus all my career energies in one place.” He paused. “You, of all people, should be able to understand that, even if you don’t have an outlet.”
“I have outlets. Plenty of outlets,” she said.
“Well sure, now you do.” He ran a hand under the T-shirt she’d thrown on, his fingers skimmed lightly up her inner thigh in a way that let her know nothing good would come of him sitting this close to her. Well, nothing good for her career, anyway, unless she wanted to end up naked and performing with Cash on camera.
“We’re on film,” she pointed out, and he followed her gaze to the viewfinder and then to their images projected on his TV screen.
“That’s cool,” he said, let his hand stray to her nape. He brushed her hair away then bent down to kiss the hollow between neck and collarbone and she couldn’t tear her eyes off the screen, the way they looked together, light and dark. His hand continued to move down to cup her breast.
“It’s not taping,” she said.
“Even better. Nothing to worry about when we’re done,” he murmured, his hands moving deftly now across her breasts.
She’d never done anything like this, and she’d never been more turned on by anyone or anything.
“Are you going to let me take you all the way, Rina? Going to trust me again?” he murmured against her shoulder, still keeping his eyes on her, facing the screen in front of them. “Because this is my idea of the ultimate interview.”
“I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered, even as she watched his hands tug at her T-shirt to reveal her stomach and the curve of her breasts. He paused before pulling it off and exposing her fully, and she pushed her thighs together since she hadn’t bothered to find her underwear.
Meanwhile, Cash didn’t seem to mind a bit that he was completely exposed, letting it all hang out. But he had nothing to be embarrassed about. There wasn’t an ounce of fat to be seen on his body—all tanned and hard and so, so good to look at. And touch.
Which she was doing without realizing. Touching his hip, tracing his six-pack abs and generally getting lost in him.
“You’re capable of a lot more than you think,” he said. His finger traced the sensitive underside of her breast, then tickled and teased the nipple through the cotton fabric with his thumb. Every single erogenous zone quickly demanded equal attention from Cash’s fingers, although she was sure his lips, his tongue or the hard cock between his legs would also do the trick.
But she wasn’t off the hook that easily. He waited not a second longer to pull the shirt over her head and toss it behind her. She watched in fascination at the way his golden skin looked against the pale tone of her breasts, the way her taut, rose-pink tinged nipples looked between his fingers. Loving the way he gazed at her, watched for her reactions, staring straight ahead into the camera at her.
“You’ll answer a few questions for me now,” he ordered. His palms continued to stroke her breasts while she tried not to squirm against the couch. Tried and failed, of course.
“This isn’t like any interview I’ve ever done.”
“Probably because you never let yourself be on this side of the camera.” He eased his way down behind her, let his hands run the length of her torso and back up to her breasts and down again to nestle in between her thighs. His calves wound around hers, pulled her legs apart, exposing her completely for the camera, and for him.
His hand lingered for a minute on her inner thigh, brushed gently before it moved in to touch her, his breath hot, heavy against her neck. “First question. Why did you come here tonight?”
“I told you. Needed the film,” she said.
“Is that the only reason?” His fingers grazed into the triangle of curls between her legs and lingered there. Her breath caught and she dug her fingernails into his forearm.
“No.” The word came out as more of a moan than anything, and the answer seemed to satisfy him. “Are you glad I came?”
“I don’t think you’ve come enough yet. And I’m asking the questions.”
“You’re a control freak, aren’t you?”
“If that’s not the pot calling the kettle black, I don’t know what is. Now, who was the best-looking guy you saw today?”
“Out of the SEALs, or are you talking about the whole base?” she managed to tease, and he rewarded her by rubbing two fingers against her, where she was already so wet for him.
“Funny, funny girl.” He stopped pressing for answers, but walked in front of her and got on his knees. With his back to the camera, he slowly spread her legs s
o that her calves balanced on his shoulders. He then gave a long, slow lick up her left thigh. It didn’t stop when it reached her sex and she groaned at the first contact.
He was so good at this. Deserved a medal. Twenty-one gun salute. Something. As long as he didn’t stop because seeing his head between her legs, watching on screen while his tongue delved and dipped, hearing the hitch in her own voice as her cheeks and chest reddened was going to send her straight over the edge and fast.
He seemed to sense that, but he only probed harder and faster and clutched her hips to keep her pressed against his face.
This was part dirty movie, and part the most intense experience she’d ever had. Intoxicating. Liberating. She never thought she could bare her body this way, this freely, and she realized she thought that every time she was with Cash. He knew how to bring out her wild side, the one that wanted to take chances but was never quite sure how.
Cash didn’t ask, just took her in hand and showed her how to do it. And now, spread before him, her hands twined through his blond hair, she let go with a ferocity that vibrated through her. She twisted and writhed, and he pulled away for a moment.
“You didn’t answer my last question,” he murmured, and then he moved back to where he’d been, teased her clit by sucking it between his tongue and upper lip until she gasped loudly.
“You, Cash. Dammit, you know it’s you.”
He dropped her legs and sat next to her on the couch, then brought her onto his lap. “Can’t blame a guy for wanting to hear it,” he said, burying his face in her hair and himself deep inside her.
She wasn’t planning on blaming Cash for anything ever again. At least not tonight.
11
“YOU’RE SLEEPING with her? Again?” Justin asked in a stage whisper. The nearby couple at the diner turned to stare at them. Cash grimaced at his friend, who seemed to have the biggest mouth in the world.
“You boys ready to order?” The waitress, who’d apparently heard Justin’s announcement, as well, chewed her gum, smiled broadly and winked at both of them.“Just coffee for me,” Cash said.
“Aw, mister, you need more than that. Gotta have your strength to keep that woman of yours satisfied. Tell you what—I’ll get both of you the house special omelettes.”
“Sounds good to me,” Justin said, and Cash nodded, and put his head back against the booth. “Now, do you want to explain yourself? Hunt and Rev will kill you. So will Hollywood and Eric and…”
“Are you going to list every goddamned member of our team?”
“And Mac. Remember Mac? So not a member of our team and so Rina’s uncle?”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“I mean, it was one thing when you didn’t know who she was….”
“I know. Trust me, I know. But you weren’t there when she showed up last night.”
Justin stared at him for a minute, leaned in and then leaned out. “I knew it.”
“Knew what? That I was possibly the stupidest man alive?”
“That you fell for her in Hawaii.”
“Fell for her? All she did was yell at me, Justin. We spent all of eight hours together, most of that naked and not talking. So how can you fall for someone in that short a time?” he asked, and Justin’s face tightened. “Sorry, man,” Cash said.
“S’ okay,” his friend assured him. “But you’ve got to learn from me. It can happen.”
And get taken away just as easily, Cash thought, but didn’t say it, because dammit, Justin had been hurt enough. He’d been mooning over the same woman for years now, unable and unwilling to do anything about it, which explained why Justin went after so many women in an effort to forget.
It wasn’t working for Justin and obviously, it wouldn’t work for Cash, either.
“You’ve got to figure this out, and fast. Before Mac figures it out first,” Justin warned.
“Don’t say anything to the other guys,” he said, and Justin nodded in assent.
“Not a word, brother. But they’re not stupid, and women have a pretty hard time hiding this kind of thing.”
“It’s not going to happen again.”
Justin snorted. “Come clean to Mac. ’Fess up now, and maybe he’ll go easy on you.”
“Rina and I both agreed we weren’t doing that.”
“Well, I think the salt water’s finally soaked your damned brain.” Justin drummed his fingers on the table. “When did you become a you and Rina? Cash, man, you’re already a we. There’s no way out of this.”
“I’m not a we. It’s figure of speech,” he insisted. The waitress dropped their plates down on the table, and Cash was grateful for the distraction. He started to stab at his omelet while Justin continued his commentary.
“Look, you’re playing too many sides and you’re the one who’ll get caught out. Rina won’t, we won’t and Mac won’t. Your ass, and your promotion, are on the line.”
“I need your cooperation in this, Justin. If I don’t have it, if I can’t show that you all listen to me, I’m not getting the position.”
Justin sighed, then crunched on a piece of toast. “You need a plan. A good one. And you need to keep it in your pants.”
“Easier said than done,” Cash muttered as Justin’s phone rang. He stabbed at his eggs and attempted to eat while Justin said yes and no and not much else.
“That was Karen,” Justin said, after he clicked the phone closed. “Things didn’t go the way they planned.”
“They never do.”
“Yeah, well, they’re undercover for another week before they finish and take Bobo down.”
“An extended stay in Hawaii isn’t the worse thing that could happen,” Cash said, took another slug of coffee. He hadn’t wanted to think about Hawaii this morning, or about Rina and possibilities.
Up until this point, his life had been uncomplicated, save for the minor dramas he always found himself embroiled in regarding his sex life. Rina brought an entire suitcase full of complications. And he’d let her stroke him with one hand and roll the suitcase into his life with the other.
“You going to see Karen again when she gets back?” Cash asked.
“Not unless there’s another case.” Justin shoved toast in his mouth and tired to look innocent. No use. Cash knew Justin had slept with her. Knew it meant nothing to him, too.
Yeah, he and Justin were both idiots, but for different reasons.
RINA BALANCED the largest cup of coffee the deli had as Stella parked the rental car as close to the SEALs meeting room as she could. They’d left some of their equipment in there, assured it would be safe. Zoot and Keith would carry in the heavier stuff later. Rina put the coffee cup on the roof of the car while she slung her camera and smaller video around her neck.
She squinted toward the shoreline, wondered if the clouds would burn off in time for her to shoot some footage of what Hunt had called rock portage. A flash of lightning across the sky told her that her plans for today would most likely be cancelled.Which meant finishing the interviews. Knowing Cash’s was out of the way made the butterflies in her stomach moderately better. Knowing she’d forgotten to ask Cash if he’d let her use the tape he’d confiscated made them worse.
He certainly knew how to distract a woman from her mission.
“Are you nervous?” Stella asked. She didn’t bother to try and hide a yawn as she leaned against the car, an overstuffed bag on one shoulder, she took a sip of her chi latte.
“Maybe a little,” Rina admitted. She’d left Cash’s house sometime after two in the morning. Reluctantly, because his offer to sleep over was very, very tempting. Except she knew she wouldn’t be sleeping if she stayed there, and three hours of pure REM time was better than none.
She needed all her faculties about her for this.
“Once the sun comes out you’ll get a lot of the footage raw, while they’re in the field. Stands to reason, these men don’t hang around to chat, even though you didn’t do badly with Justin,” Stella reasoned.
; “True. I’ve got to catch them off guard, when they’re pumped up and full of adrenaline.”
“Exactly. Operation Catch a SEAL is on, full force.”
Rina smiled in agreement, but wondered if she’d caught Cash at all. Or had he caught her and did he want to keep her, was the weightier question, she mused as she and Stella knocked and entered the meeting room. The space was empty, but Rina noticed that Etienne was already in his office.
She lightly knocked on the open door and he waved her in, cell phone cradled to his ear as he rifled through a mess of papers in front of him.
“I said I’d find it. Keep your shorts on, boo,” he drawled, with a quick glance at her. In one sweep, he emptied the papers into a drawer and pressed the lock closed. Then he clicked the phone off. “Sorry. I’ll leave you to your work.”
“That’s okay. Actually, as of right now, you are my work,” she said. “Is it all right if I call you Etienne?”
“Better if you call me Rev,” he said. “Short for Reverend, and don’t ask me to explain.”
“Deal,” she said.
“Beyond that, you really don’t want to interview me,” he said. “Nothing interesting here.”
“Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
Rev sighed and leaned back in his chair, tipping it so far that she had to fight the urge to yank it from under him.
“This drives you nuts, doesn’t it?” he asked.
“Is that what you were going for?”
He laughed. “I like to push the limits.”
“Seems like you might’ve found the perfect job.”
“Ah, Justin said you were good. Easy to talk to. But I’m a lot tougher than the rest of them.”
“So why don’t you tell me a story about another team member, instead of talking about yourself.”
“Like who?” Rev narrowed his eyes.
“Your pick.”
He thought about it as his chair teetered precariously. He caught his balance without a problem and stayed with the chair balanced it a few more seconds before letting it hit the floor with a thud.
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