She wanted to shout No! But with her heart slamming against her ribs, she opened the door wider and stepped aside.
“Cute place,” he said as he strolled in with that long-legged, athletic grace.
“No, it’s not.” She shut the door and followed him into her living room. “It’s basic.” She’d wanted somewhere close to the university and her lab, so this wasn’t exactly a posh neighborhood. She didn’t make a lot of money as an associate professor and only took a small salary from the business, so she wasn’t in a position to splurge on a new place. She also didn’t have a lot of time for decorating, but Carrie’d helped her pick out furniture, frame a few photographs, and arrange some of the things that had belonged to her parents, and she was comfortable here in her little condo.
“If you think that, why do you live here?” He turned to face her. His tone of voice was gentle but his gaze was sharp as he waited with what appeared to be sincere interest in her response.
“It’s convenient. I work long hours. I don’t need something fancy.”
“Huh.” He tipped his head. “That’s why you’re shut up inside working on a beautiful Sunday afternoon like this?”
“Yes.” She gave him a lopsided smile. “Right now it’s pretty much seven days a week.”
“That’s not good for you.”
She lifted a shoulder. “Whatever. I love it.”
He tilted his head, his steady gaze unnerving her. “What is it you do?”
“I’m an associate professor at UCSD, and I have a small biotechnology company.”
“A professor?”
“Yes. In the Biochemistry and Cell Biology faculty.”
“Huh. And your company does…what?”
“We research and develop protein therapies based on a new kind of messenger RNA technology.”
His forehead creased. She recognized that look—the blank expression, followed by a perplexed frown and then utter disinterest. She prepared for his Oh hey, look at the time…
“Don’t worry about it.” She held up her hands and smiled. “It’s not that interesting.”
Strangely, he wasn’t making a speedy exit. “I don’t even know what you just said, so I can’t say it’s not interesting. When you say you have a company…you mean you own it?”
“Yes.”
“Impressive.”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “It’s a lot of work.”
“What does that mean, exactly?”
“What?”
“What you said you do.”
“Oh. Basically, we’re trying to cure cancer.”
“Oh. Is that all?”
She laughed at his dry humor. “And a few other diseases.” As usual, she felt that lightness in her chest and her heart rate accelerating when she talked about her work. “The possibilities are huge with the progress we’ve made.”
His lips curved into a smile and the corners of his eyes crinkled. “You look excited.”
She rolled her eyes. “I do tend to be passionate about it. But it bores most people to tears.”
He gazed at her for a long moment, his eyebrows pinched together. “I think you’re the opposite of boring,” he said slowly. “Like I said last night…you’re fascinating.”
A hot tingle swept up from her chest into her face and she dropped her gaze to her bare feet.
“Hey.” He moved closer, close enough to lift her chin with his fingers. “Now you look embarrassed.”
She pressed her lips together. “I’m not fascinating.”
“Clearly you are, because I’m fascinated.”
“You probably say that to all the girls.”
He laughed again and she loved the rumbling sound of it. “Yeah, I don’t think I’ve ever said that to a woman before, honestly. Look, this is why I’m here.” He held up the glossy black-and-white shopping bag.
Her eyes widened. “Oh. Right.”
“I guessed you’re a size medium.”
More heat flooded her cheeks. She was probably breaking out in blotchy hives too, which happened when she got embarrassed. She was no doubt a red, sweaty mess. How on earth could he think she was fascinating?
“I’ll, uh, open this later. Thank you. Again, you really didn’t need to do that.”
“I’m a man of my word.”
She eyed him doubtfully. He seemed like such a smooth charmer, words and compliments coming easy to him. In her experience, people like that lived on the surface, using charm and glamour to win people over. But once again, she sensed more to him than that surface charisma.
“You’re analyzing something again,” he murmured. His dark eyes studied her.
“You,” she blurted, then closed her eyes as more mortification swept through her.
He chuckled. “Yeah?”
“You’re the one who’s fascinating.”
“Well, hey, we have a little mutual admiration happening here.”
“Along with that explosive chemistry,” she added. Gah! What was she doing? She shouldn’t be encouraging this! She should be thanking him for the underwear and showing him the door.
“That too,” he agreed. “So if you’re a bio…uh…are you a biologist?”
A smile tugged her lips. “Actually, I’m a biochemist.”
“Jesus.” He blinked. “Okay, then, I guess you probably know something about chemistry.”
“A little.”
“Then you have to know that some kinds of chemistry can’t be explained.”
“Everything can be explained.”
Their eyes met and held. The air pulsed around them, burning when Hayden pulled it into her lungs. “Seriously?” he said quietly. “Everything?”
“Okay, maybe not.” She caved. She couldn’t explain what had happened between them last night, or what was happening now. She understood hormones, but this was something inexplicable…a feeling like being high on a drug, like just the smell and taste of him was intoxicating. Addicting.
“Sometimes we can’t rationalize why our bodies feel a certain way,” Beck continued, almost as if he was telling himself that too. He reached out to stroke a hand through her hair. Tingles cascaded from her scalp down her neck and down the backs of her arms. “Sometimes we feel something instinctually, right in the gut, right in the heart—you feel it in your body, not in your brain. You can’t create sexual chemistry when it’s not there. So don’t analyze. Just go with it. Enjoy it.”
“What are you saying?” she whispered, every nerve ending in her body on fire, her pussy squeezing. Did he want to have sex again?
“I know you’re trying to cure cancer.” His smile mesmerized her. “But come out with me. Come to the beach. Just for an hour.”
“Th-the beach?” She blinked rapidly at him.
“Yeah.” His fingertips trailed over her jaw and her lips parted. “You know…there’s sand and water…um, H2O.”
She couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up. “Oh my God, Beck.”
He grinned. “I thought maybe I should appeal to the scientist in you. I don’t know what to call sand, though.”
“There is no chemical formula for sand, because it’s a mix of different minerals and particles. But most sand consists mainly of silicon dioxide.”
Oh my God. Why did she keep spouting this crap? Standing there in front of a gorgeous, sexy man who appeared to be attracted to her, it was like she was trying to turn him off. “I’m such a dork,” she muttered.
He laughed. “Adorkable. Come on, let’s go analyze some sand.”
“I have so much work to do…”
“I’m sure it can wait an hour.”
She huffed out a breath, and against her better judgment said, “Okay.” She turned. “I need to save some work and shut down my laptop. Be right back.”
“You don’t want to change?”
She stopped and her head whipped around. “You think I need to change?”
“No!” He held up his hands. “No, that’s not what I meant! You look great. But
usually women…never mind. Fuck me.” He dropped his head, shaking it.
“Oh yeah. Usually women want to dress up and do their hair and makeup when they go out. I forget about stuff like that sometimes. Especially when Carrie’s not around to remind me. You’re right, I should change.”
“No, seriously. Unless you actually want to go swimming, you’re dressed perfectly for the beach.”
Perfectly fugly. Ah well. If she was going to take an hour off, she wasn’t going to waste half of it putting on makeup.
Moments later they were outside her condo, Beck leading the way to a black Jaguar convertible with the top down.
“Sweet Mary mother of God,” Hayden breathed. “This car is gorgeous.”
He smiled and opened the passenger door for her. “It is, isn’t it?”
She slid into the luxurious interior. Wow, bartending at Conquistadors must pay well for him to have a car like this. “Now I really wish I’d changed. Although I probably don’t have any clothes that would do justice to this beauty.”
He laughed as he started the car. “You look good in here.”
Such smooth words, and yet so sincere-sounding.
He headed down Grand Avenue, turning onto Mission Boulevard at Conquistadors, cruising along the coast to Mission Beach Park. They left the car in a parking lot and walked to the sand and then toward the ocean.
Hayden filled her lungs with fresh sea air, the breeze off the Pacific brisk and briny. Puffs of white clouds drifted across the blue sky and when her feet hit the sand, she paused to take off her flip-flops and hook them over a finger. She let out a brief sigh. “It’s beautiful.”
“Of course it is.”
They walked side by side toward the water, past people stretched out on towels, bodies gleaming in the sun, the scent of coconut drifting on the breeze. Children played at the edge of the water, letting the waves chase them onto shore, screaming with laughter when a big one came and soaked them.
Hayden absorbed it all. She should feel guilty, playing hooky like this, but truthfully, as she filled her lungs with fresh air she felt an amazing sense of freedom and delight. The guilt would probably slam her later.
“Have you always lived in San Diego?” Beck asked.
“Yes.” She glanced at him. “Does that sound insular?”
“Are you saying you’ve never in your life left San Diego?”
“Of course I have.” She smiled. “I’ve traveled. For a while I considered moving to Boston.”
“Boston?” His jaw dropped and he stared at her. “Why?”
“Massachusetts has a big biotech cluster. I thought I might need to be there to get my company started.” She shrugged. “But I decided to stay here. My aunt and uncle are here, Carrie’s here. And things seem to be going okay.” She paused. “What about you? Are you from here?”
“Nope. Oddly enough, I grew up in Boston.”
A startled laugh escaped her. “Seriously?”
“Yep.” He smiled at her. “Left there when I was eighteen, though. Went to college in Los Angeles, then came here to join the SEALs.”
Her feet halted and she tipped her head to look at him. “Really? You’re a SEAL?”
“Not active. But I was for about nine years.”
“Oh, wow.” She blinked. “I had no idea.” She gestured at his beard and long hair pulled back into that oddly sexy bun. “You don’t look like a SEAL.”
“SEALs are a lot more relaxed in their grooming standards. Once we were done training and earned our trident, lots of us grew our hair and beards.”
Hayden found herself feeling rocked by this information. She’d figured he was a bartender who’d probably dropped out of college and lived to drink tequila, party, and surf. Actually, he looked like a rock star, and she could not reconcile that image with a Navy SEAL. But then again…in a way it made sense. He was very sure of himself. Very strong. Very commanding. Somehow she’d known there was more to him than what was on his attractive surface, depths to him that he kept hidden beneath a seductive façade.
Fascinating.
Chapter 6
Beck took in Hayden’s stunned expression, then the way it slid into thoughtfulness. He knew what she thought of him. But hey, he’d had his stunned moment too when she’d told him she was a biochemistry professor working on a cure for cancer. Jesus fucking Christ.
But really, dragging her away from her work for an hour wasn’t going to make a difference in the big scheme of things. He hoped. Except…guilt pinched his gut, because he had no intention of it only being an hour.
This wasn’t like him. He didn’t do relationships. He didn’t usually take girls into the office and nail them, and when he did go out with someone he kept things light and casual. Women got weird ideas about commitment and marriage and babies, and no way in hell was he going there. A family man he was not.
So he wasn’t even sure why he’d asked her to come to the beach with him. He’d honored his promise of replacing her panties and that should have been it. But somehow he had a million questions he wanted to ask her, about the work she did, about why her eyes lit up with passion and excitement when she talked about it, making her so fucking gorgeous he couldn’t breathe. He might not understand any of it, but he still wanted to know about it.
And not gonna lie, he also wanted to explore that hidden sensuality again, because holy hotness. When he’d walked into her condo, she’d been all pink cheeks and fluttery eyelashes, looking a lot like she had last night after…
Whoa. Seriously? Or was his dirty mind making a big leap?
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Her eyes narrowed and she took a step back.
He stepped toward her. “Like what?”
“Like you want to…erm…” She took another step back.
He followed again, smiling. “Want to what, gorgeous?”
Her eyes shifted. “Never mind.” One more step back.
“Like I want to fuck you and make you lose your mind again?”
She sucked in a sharp breath and stepped back again…this time into a wave that broke. She screamed and barreled forward, right into him. He caught her in his arms, laughing, lifting her up and spinning her around. “Baby, now you’re all wet.”
“You have no idea,” she muttered, burying her face in the side of his neck.
He carried her out of the reach of the waves and lowered her feet to the sand. Cold water had dripped from her lower legs onto his, and he was surprised it didn’t sizzle, he was so fucking hot.
“Good to hear.” He dipped his head and nuzzled her hair. “But you’re gonna get us arrested if we keep going like this.”
“Arrested?”
“Pretty sure sex on the beach is against the law.”
Her body shook and he peered down. Okay, good, she was laughing.
“You are a bad man.”
“That’s not what you said last night.”
Now she laughed out loud. “You’re right.”
He held on to her but let her lift her head and lean back. “This is so weird.”
He smiled. “What is?”
“Doing this. Me. You. I don’t even know you.”
“What does it matter? As long as we’re having fun together.”
“Right, right. Fun is what life is all about.”
“When you’ve seen the things I have…done the things I’ve done…you realize a little harmless fun is a pretty special thing.”
Her smile faded and she gazed at him with warm eyes. “I guess I can understand that.”
“Come on. I’ll buy you ice cream.” He waved a hand at the boardwalk.
“I like ice cream.”
He reached for her hand and they walked across the sand. “What’s your favorite flavor of ice cream?”
“Vanilla.”
“Oh no. Hell no. Not vanilla.”
“Why not? What’s wrong with vanilla? It’s a lovely flavor.”
“Sure it is. But you need something more exciting.”
/> “I like vanilla.”
They crossed the street to the small ice cream shop and studied the menu. “Be wild,” Beck murmured. “Try something new.”
She gave a huff, then ordered Crazy Cookie Sundae Swirl. “I don’t know how I’ll stand the excitement of eating peanut butter and chocolate.”
He grinned, charmed by her sarcastic humor. “I’ll have two scoops of chocolate,” he requested.
She nudged him in the ribs with her elbow. “Chocolate? That’s almost as boring as vanilla.”
Moments later they were seated on the low wall that ran along the boardwalk. They faced the endless blue of ocean and sky, licking their ice cream.
He watched her tongue and lips as she ate, his groin tightening. What he’d said about not being able to explain the chemistry between them was very true, because she wasn’t the type of woman he’d usually be attracted to. Not that there was anything wrong with the way she looked—her skin was pale gold, smooth and perfect. Big brown eyes framed with long lashes and a generous mouth didn’t need a lot of makeup to emphasize them, and though her dark gold hair was a nondescript style, long and straight, it was shiny and healthy, though he preferred it loose rather than pulled back into the low ponytail she wore today. She wasn’t obvious with her beauty, hiding a sweet body beneath loose clothes. Although today those long legs were on display beneath the hem of her shorts, and they were as amazing as he’d thought.
“You’re looking at me that way again.”
He jerked his mind back from thoughts of those legs wrapped around him. “Yeah, you seem to have that effect on me.”
She held his gaze as her tongue came out to lick her ice cream, and the guy downstairs stirred again.
“Your ice cream is melting.” She gestured.
Chocolate was running down the side of his cone. He quickly lapped it up and devoured the rest. When they were done, he rose. “Let’s check out the arcade.”
“It’s been an hour.”
“Live dangerously. Take another hour.” He swung his legs over the wall to stand on the sidewalk and reached for her hand.
“You’re very persuasive.”
“It’s my charming personality.”
She snorted, but he caught the smile.
Another hour of playing Donkey Kong and shooting basketball hoops—or attempting to, in her case—passed quickly, but Hayden didn’t seem to notice, intent on sinking a ball at least once. She really wasn’t very good at it, but she was determined, her little tongue out as she carefully focused on the net. Finally she sank one and turned to him, beaming that gorgeous smile and shoving her hands in the air. “Yes!”
Body Shot (Last Shot) Page 6