“And how would you know?” she asked.
“I know exactly what your type is.” His voice was dark. Full of lust and desire. His large hand splayed across her upper back was possessive. Enticing. He was about to send her up in flames.
“Like hell you do.”
His lips brushed against her ear. “You don’t need a boy like him; you need a man.”
“Maybe I already have one,” she huffed, trying to rile him up. No freaking way was she letting him bait her, gain the upper hand. Christopher couldn’t affect her at all anymore—the walls she’d put up over the past decade were impenetrable, even by him.
A beat passed, and his breath tickled her skin. He edged even closer, his chest against her bare shoulder, his lips brushing against the shell of her ear.
She shuddered.
“I don’t see a ring on your finger.”
“And big surprise, I don’t see one on yours,” she retorted.
“There’s no other woman, Lexi. Hell, I can still taste you all these years later. Hear you cry out my name. If we weren’t in a goddamn bar surrounded by all these people, I’d take you right here. Prove you wrong.”
“Don’t kid yourself. I haven’t thought of you once since I left California.”
She flashed a glance his way, and his eyes flared in anger as he straightened, carefully schooling his expression. The heat from where his hand had been still burned into her skin. Marking her. Making her long for more of his scalding touch.
Everywhere.
“Where do you work?” he demanded.
“The Pentagon.”
“We’re a long way from Washington.”
“So we are.”
“You’re visiting base?” he asked.
Years ago, a computer whiz even back in college, she’d gotten an internship at Coronado. Having Christopher working there too was exciting. She was just a college intern, and he was a larger-than-life, sexier-than-hell Navy SEAL. But now? The thought of even walking around the same building with him in it made her feel dizzy and ill. Like his mere presence there would be too much for her to handle. They didn’t need a wall between them, they needed an entire country. Preferably a few continents.
“Just for the week.”
A flash of respect shown in his eyes. She turned away before he asked her more questions.
No way was she sticking around Anchors, even if she did convince Christopher to leave her alone. Not with his very presence causing her body to short-circuit. Not with the brown eyes she’d dreamt about boring into hers. She couldn’t breathe around him—couldn’t think, couldn’t stop the instinctive response she’d always had when he was near.
The bartender set their shot glasses in front of them, nodding at Christopher when he waved off needing change.
The whiskey burned down her throat.
She felt hot, too hot. Uncomfortable in her own skin. Long forgotten memories she didn’t want to face were churning to the surface—good memories, bad memories. All the other ones in between.
“I’ve got to go,” she said, sliding down off the barstool.
“Like hell you do,” Christopher said, lightly catching her waist in one large hand. He was massive. Overwhelming. Irresistible. “You disappear ten years ago and then suddenly want to act like nothing happened between us?”
“You disappeared on me, remember?” she asked, her voice steely. “You walked out of my apartment like I meant nothing to you.”
“Lexi—”
“Goodbye, Christopher.”
She pulled away from his searing hold on her waist and stormed off, nearly bumping into another wall of solid muscle. She jumped back, the hairs on the back of her neck tingling as Christopher came up behind her. The heat from his large frame radiated off him, and her breath caught. Just. Freaking. Perfect. Now she was stuck between two burly SEALs.
“This isn’t over, Lexi,” Christopher growled.
“Like hell it isn’t,” she snapped, glaring over her shoulder at him. Thick arms crossed against his solid chest. Soft cotton hugged his pecs. Light stubble covered his clenched jaw. He looked about as immobile as a mountain. And as freaking gorgeous as a Greek God.
“Aw, hell, darlin’. Christopher’s not that bad.”
She turned back and rolled her eyes at the man in front of her, obviously buddies with her ex. He was not one of the men from the table earlier that had been watching them. Did Christopher know everyone in this damn place?
“He’s worse,” she muttered, brushing past him as he stepped out of her way, chuckling.
She felt Christopher’s eyes burning into her back as she stalked off, and she threw an extra little saunter into her step. Screw him. No way was he going to chase after her with his friend watching. He had way too much pride.
Her heart pounded in her chest as she pushed open the door to Anchors and stepped out into the cool night. The evening air bathed her overheated flesh, and she took a deep breath, sucking in precious oxygen. She felt shaken to her core running into him. The moment he’d met her eyes, she knew she had to leave. Her body didn’t care that he was a bastard—it screamed for his power and strength to be moving over her—inside her. For him to kiss her like he once had and steal her breath away.
It took absolutely every ounce of her willpower to walk rather than sprint out of there, head held high, but so help her, she was not spending another second in that man’s presence. The possibility of running into Christopher again while she was in town was unnerving. Unsettling. It sent her mind reeling and her stomach tumbling to the ground.
No, no, no.
This was all wrong. Tomorrow everything would be fine. She’d stick to her meetings with the IT staff, avoiding the SEALs roaming around base, handle the attempted hacks to the network, and make a clean exit at the end of the day. One week here, and she’d be done.
No problem.
If only she could convince her heart of that, too.
Chapter 5
“You piss off another lady?” Matthew drawled as Christopher slammed his shot glass down on the bar. Lexi’s very empty barstool still sat beside him, and he bit out a curse.
“Just a ghost from my past,” he muttered.
Sonofabitch.
Matthew laughed and ordered two beers, drawing the attention of a few women seated nearby. Christopher couldn’t care less. There was only one woman he gave a damn about, and she’d just strutted right back into and out of his life. Fucking hell.
“You sure have a way with the women,” Matthew needlessly pointed out.
“Right. Usually I don’t know them well enough to piss them off that much.”
“What about that crazy chick from California?”
Christopher’s gaze slid back to Matthew. He didn’t say a word, just waited for it to click.
“Shit. That was her?”
“In the flesh.”
“What the hell’s she doing here?”
“I’ll be damned if I know.”
He could run after her, chase her down. She couldn’t have gotten that far. With her sleek black hair trailing over the strappy little dress she had on, she’d stand out against all the too blonde, too tanned women running around Virginia Beach. Hell. She was as fucking gorgeous as he remembered—more so, even. Pouty lips, full breasts, curvy hips, and those violet eyes he’d gotten lost in. His hands itched to trace over her soft skin, getting reacquainted with the curves he’d once known so well. He longed to taste her—both her sweet lips and what lie beneath those lacy panties she always wore. Did she still have a thing for that sexier-than-sin lace? Or had she switched to skimpy thongs or satiny panties instead? The thought of not knowing was driving him mad. Adrenaline surged through him, making him want to roar in frustration. Urging him to act on locating her, taking her home, making her his again.
Fucking hell.
What would be the point of chasing after her? She obviously didn’t want a thing to do with him. He was the one with wounds from a lifetime ago. Lexi had
moved onward and upward.
Not that he’d spotted a ring on her finger or anything.
A tiny dash of hope sparked inside his chest, instantly gone as quick as it came. Who the hell was he kidding? He’d had a shot with this girl and blown it. So what if he’d carried a torch for her for years. So what if he’d never been in a serious relationship again because it was her that he wanted. Needed. So what if he bedded numerous women over the years, trying to forget the only one that his body craved.
He groaned.
Her lavender scent lingered in the air, taunting him. Lavender. The same scent he’d noticed in the parking lot on base. Jesus. That had been her he’d seen earlier. He’d gone nearly a decade without seeing the woman only to have her show up in his life twice in the same day? No way in hell—
“I see you met the big shot security specialist,” Mike said, sauntering up to them, beer in hand. “What’d you do to piss her off? I’ve never seen a woman run away from you so fast.”
Matthew laughed, handing Christopher one of the beers he’d just ordered. Christopher glared at them both, taking a long pull from the bottle. Big shot security specialist. What the—
“You know her?” Matthew asked, a smile threatening to break out across his face.
“I saw her earlier,” Mike said. “Total babe.”
“And where’d you see her?” Matthew asked casually, looking like the cat that had eaten the canary.
“On base.”
Christopher’s conversation with his CO that afternoon came crashing back into his mind. Lexi was the one he’d be meeting with tomorrow?
Sonofabitch.
His gut churned as his groin tightened. No way in hell was his next conversation with Lexi going to be in front of all of Little Creek. Not with the way her wide violet eyes had gazed into his—not with the way she’d shivered on the barstool as his lips brushed against her ear.
Lexi, unaffected by him?
Not a chance in hell.
His SEAL training gave him an ability to read people, to watch all the tiny signs people unknowingly gave off. They all had to be attuned to their surroundings when running ops, following their instincts, and basing decisions on the people around them. On a mission it could mean the difference between life and death. Not that it had taken years in the military to read when a woman wanted him. Unbeknownst to Lexi, she’d been giving off signs the second he crowded her space at the bar. Her pupils had dilated, her breathing had hitched. Her nipples had tightened as his eyes slid over her gorgeous body in that sexy little sundress she had on. Holy hell, if he’d ever wanted to undress a woman with his eyes before, it had been tonight. He’d give anything to peel off that dress, to see the lacy lingerie and smoking hot body beneath.
He needed to kiss her rosy lips, to touch the miles of smooth skin running over that curvy body. To slide those straps down on her sundress and lave attention on her swollen breasts. They were round, full, and made just to tempt him. He needed to tease her the way he’d spent hours doing a lifetime ago, making her tremble and shudder for him. His chest clenched as he thought of her slamming the door in his face when he’d tried to return the following morning. He needed to hold her close and keep her safe. To breathe in her lavender scent and the sweet smell that was pure Lexi. To explain that on his life, he’d never meant to hurt her. That he’d gone damn near a decade unable to forgive himself for what he’d done.
“She was pretty fine,” Matthew drawled, jerking his mind back to the present.
Christopher’s eyes shifted to him, taking in the smirk on his face. “For the love of God,” he muttered, clenching his fists together. “She’s off limits.”
“Easy,” Matthew laughed. “Just making sure we’re all on the same page.”
“And what page is that?” Mike asked, his brow furrowed.
“The hotshot security specialist is Christopher’s ex.”
Mike let out a low whistle. “As in the chick from California he’s always talking about?”
“For fuck’s sake, I told you about her one time.”
“And that’s one time more than you’ve talked about any other woman,” Matthew quipped, making Christopher want to punch that shit-eating grin right off his face.
“Hell, she’s got our boy all worked up,” Mike said.
“You two need to get laid,” Christopher muttered, standing up.
Adrenaline surged through his veins, a mixture of need and regret filling his chest. Pinning Lexi against her SUV in the parking lot and kissing her senseless didn’t seem like a reasonable way to solve their problems, but damn. Seeing her had sparked a craving in his body that had been lying dormant for years. He’d been with more than his fair share of the opposite sex, but never had he thoroughly possessed a woman as he had Lexi. Never had a woman made him come so undone, made him need to seek her pleasure over and over again until they were both satiated beyond belief.
His groin tightened just thinking about her curvy body—those full breasts, those hips a man wanted to grip as he drove into her, and that delicious ass that he wanted to sink his teeth into.
Hell. He was as hard as a goddamn rock.
He needed answers from Lexi, and he needed to make amends. He needed to take her to bed and keep her there forever. The guilt he’d carried with him for a decade wouldn’t be put to rest until he talked to her, told her the truth. And if that didn’t change anything? Well then, so be it. He’d either be able to work things out or finally move the hell on.
He left his half-empty bottle on the bar and grunted a goodbye, pushing his way through the crowd. Five minutes had gone by, but she couldn’t have gotten too damn far. Maybe he hadn’t gone after the girl years ago, but not even the laughter of his SEAL team trailing behind him would stop him tonight.
***
Lexi walked down the street to her SUV, wishing she’d brought a damn jacket. The heat from the late summer day had given way to a cool evening, with a breeze blowing in off the water. She dodged around a couple kissing on the sidewalk and tried not to groan. She’d been young and in love once, too—a freaking lifetime ago. Moonlit walks down by the water were a hell of a lot more fun when you weren’t alone.
She sure the hell would never trust a man enough to ever give her heart to him again. Nope, Lexi was destined to be alone. Maybe it was better that way. If she was married to her career, she’d never have to worry about her heart being shattered again.
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms as goosebumps coated her skin. And they sure weren’t the same type of goosebumps that had trailed down her arms as Christopher murmured in her ear earlier, either.
What the hell was that about anyway?
Of all the times she’d imagined running into him again, telling him off, hurting him the way he’d hurt her, she’d always had the upper hand in her mind’s eye. She’d be the one spouting off insults a mile a minute, sharp words coming off her tongue, and he’d be the one left standing alone in shock as she’d sauntered off, leaving him in the dust. Giving him a taste of his own medicine.
In all her fantasies, she’d never stood before him shell-shocked, in disbelief, as her heart slowly began to unravel once more. She’d been strong and vehement. Adamant that he’d wronged her. She’d never felt disarmed and vulnerable. So completely raw.
She’d been mad at the man for a decade, and the first time she’d set eyes on him in nearly ten years, her entire body had gone on high alert. And not the fending off an attack, put up all defenses kind of alert. The warmth surging through her, arousal pooling in her core, and tingles covering every inch of her skin was more of a sweet surrender.
Holy hell.
When he’d crowded into her space at the bar, scalded her back with the burning touch of his hand, and bent over to whisper into her ear, she thought she’d combust. For a man she now considered to be jackass numero uno of the entire male species, did he have to be so goddamn enticing? It was frustratingly curious the way she responded to him. Her entire body felt
like it might just go up in flames with one more of his smoldering glances.
He’d wanted her, too. That much was apparent. The heat in his eyes, his lingering touch…. How the hell he could live with himself after hurting her years ago was a damn mystery. He sure didn’t seem to be in the mood to chat with the way his lips had brushed against her ear and his body had crowded hers. Did he seriously think she’d go home with him after all that had happened between them? Not a freaking chance in hell.
Kenley was still at the damn game, so she couldn’t call her. Cassidy was always an option, but she’d tell Lexi to sleep with Christopher just to get it out of her system. Ironically, the only person she really wanted to talk to was the man himself. To demand an explanation. And for the second time, she’d walked out on him. It’s not like—
“Lexi!”
She froze mid-step, her stomach flip-flopping. Only the deep timbre of one man could reverberate through her entire body, sending her insides reeling like that. There was no way in hell Christopher would come after her. What would his SEAL buddies think? She had to be imagining—
“Lexi!”
He was behind her in an instant, his fingers encircling her wrist as he spun her around. His touch burned into her skin, but she didn’t pull away as her mouth dropped open in shock. Black cotton spanned his chest, hugging every inch of muscle in the moonlight. The scruff of his five o’clock shadow highlighted his chiseled jaw—but those eyes. His searing gaze burned into her very soul.
“What are you—?”
She never finished her question, because muscular arms encased her, pulling her into that inviting chest. His heat surrounded her, warding off the chill of the night air, shielding her from the breeze blowing in off the ocean. She tilted her head back, trying to search his face for some explanation of what exactly was happening, and his mouth instantly covered hers.
A SEAL's Surrender (Alpha SEALs Book 3) Page 4