Claiming Her SEAL (ASSIGNMENT: Caribbean Nights Book 1) (9 page)

He groaned, and her hand vibrated with it. “Why is nothing I’m saying registering with you?”

“Maybe because you’re not saying the right things,” she suggested. “I have yet to hear what’s so bad about you. What could possibly be so horrible that you not only won’t tell me what it is, you seem hell-bent on making sure I know you’re a one-time thing, when clearly you want something more meaningful?”

At that, he did step back, and the shutter dropped back over his expression, going so deep that she was pretty sure she’d lost him for good this time.

“Remember how you had a bad feeling about your ex and it turned out to be so much worse than you’d expected?” he said softly, his voice gravelly with an edge that promised she wasn’t going to like his next statement. “Your track record for getting a sense of who a guy is under his skin isn’t so great.”

Oh, God. No, she wasn’t and as reminders went, that one was brutal. Dropping her hands as fast as she dropped her gaze, she whirled away before he clued in that he’d just torn a new hole in her gut. “Well, then. Guess there’s nothing more to say.”

She couldn’t sort out what hurt worse: that he was right, or that the barb had come from the one person she’d thought might be the answer to her prayers.

Without bothering to correct him—after all, it had been Rachel who had the bad feeling, not her—she waded out of the water, leaving Dex alone in the surf. Over her shoulder, she called out, “Thanks for the moonlit swim.”

It should have come off jaunty and carefree except for the part where her voice broke. He didn’t respond, nor did he try to stop her. Eyes burning, she walked back to the resort in the moonlight, refusing to shed one single tear.

And that’s what she got for always trying to see the best in someone… a brutal reminder that she sucked at judging people, and no one had her best interests at heart except Rachel.

The next morning Rachel bounced out of the bathroom, clearly still on a Klingon-style orgasm high, and threw herself on Emma’s bed with a contented sigh. “I think we should go ahead and book our next visit to this place. I could come back here about four times a year and never get tired of the delicious panorama of sights.”

“Yeah, the water is pretty,” Emma intoned automatically and stuck a pillow over her face in case Rachel wasn’t distracted enough by visions of Rico the bartender dancing naked in her head.

The last thing Emma wanted to deal with was a bunch of questions about her horrifically unsuccessful midnight jaunt. Rachel had been asleep in her bed, alone, when Emma had returned to the hotel room last night. Which was perfect. Why had she told Rachel about Dex’s offer to go swimming with her anyway? It was the height of stupidity.

“I meant the men. What’s wrong, honey?” Rachel smoothed a hand over Emma’s arm. “Didn’t you find your guy last night after all?”

“No,” she mumbled into the pillow.

It wasn’t even a lie. The man she’d found wasn’t the sweet, bighearted man who had continually come to her rescue over the past couple of days. She didn’t know
what
she’d found other than more disappointment in the male species. And herself.

That’s why she’d vowed to stay clear of men in the first place: because she couldn’t pick a decent one out of a lineup. Enter a smoking-hot guy with soulful gray eyes, and she’d forgotten all about her disability. And
he’d
reminded her of it. She was done. For really real this time.

“Oh. So I guess that means no snorkeling today then.”

At that, Emma flung the pillow off. “Who said that? I made you a promise last night. We’re going snorkeling.”

Rachel pushed her glasses higher on her nose. “But you didn’t get your personal snorkeling lesson. Isn’t that what you said you needed to do first?”

Yeah, she’d said a lot of things and done very little. It was time for some action, and she didn’t need Dex to get where she wanted to go. She hadn’t even known he existed before she got on a plane to come to the Caribbean with Rachel. What did it matter if he’d made good on his promise to go under with her or not? She could meet this stupid phobia where it lived, on her own terms, like she’d planned to that first day.

Of course, she’d been interrupted by the handsy cretin before she could make herself do it. But she’d gone in the ocean last night with Dex, and even though she hadn’t exactly put her head under the water, it didn’t matter. Knee-deep was farther than she’d gotten at home.

“We’re going.”

“Are you sure?”

The caution in Rachel’s voice decided it for Emma. “Yes, I’m sure. I’ll even call the concierge to book it, so you just go put your contacts in.”

As Emma dialed the room phone, she sent up a little prayer that someone other than Dex was helming the snorkeling excursion today.

But of course that was precisely who stood at the end of the dock smiling at the other resort guests who had elected to take a snorkeling trip that afternoon. Bare-chested, dark-haired, dazzling-in-the-sunlight Dex. The universe must not be listening to Emma Richardson anymore.

Maybe she should take it as a sign and skip this whole ridiculous idea. But Rachel was bouncing along beside her, gleefully anticipating her afternoon excursion, God knew why.

Dex’s smile slipped as Emma stepped from the beach to the splintered planks of the long dock. Mirrored sunglasses hid his flinty gray eyes, but she could feel them on her as she followed a twenty-something couple who were most likely on their honeymoon judging by the way they murmured and cooed to each other.

They climbed into the pontoon boat floating in the turquoise water, and then it was Emma’s turn. She made the mistake of glancing up at Dex. His jaw tightened, and his hands were fisted at his side. You couldn’t have cut the ice in the atmosphere with a chainsaw.

“Didn’t expect to see you here,” Dex commented under his breath.

The scent of him washed over Emma, and her mouth went too dry to speak. How was it possible that he could still affect her like that after being such a… an infuriating, complicated
man
last night?

Because he just did. She sighed. Being mad about it wouldn’t change things. Her attraction to him couldn’t be wished away, explained away, or warned away, apparently. Which made the stiffness in his body all that much more devastating. Especially when she recalled how fluidly he’d wrapped it around her last night. And how much more of him she’d wanted.

With a breathless little sigh, Rachel shouldered up next to Emma and stuck her hand out. “You must be Dex. I’ve heard a lot about you, but I must say, clearly not enough.”

With a small chuckle, Dex shook her hand. “Rachel, right?”

“I don’t know, my brain is stuck somewhere in your abs.” With a lusty sigh, Rachel took off her sunglasses to further objectify Dex with a once-over that should have embarrassed him, but he just grinned.

“I’m only the appetizer,” Dex said with a wink. “Jace over there is the main course. He’d probably let you stare at him the whole trip if you ask real nice.”

Rachel’s gaze flitted over Dex’s shoulder and her eyes went wide as she caught sight of the guy Emma remembered being in the driver’s seat of the speedboat that had spirited Dex off after their first meeting. Where Dex was built like a Greek statue with sinewy hills and valleys and an elegant, wiry grace, Jace had muscles on his muscles and a chiseled face that was almost too beautiful to belong to a mere human.

“Emma,” she said out of the corner of her mouth. “You’re lucky I love you so much, or I’d be really mad at you for not telling me your white knight has a friend who looks like
that
.”

Rolling her eyes, Emma watched Rachel’s back as she took off to go introduce herself to the boat driver. “She’s a good person, if a little tactless and prone to saying things that embarrass everyone except her.”

“She’s all right,” Dex said easily, and the tension between them broke.

Emma made a mental note to kiss Rachel later. Dex helped her onto the boat and guided her toward the front with a tug on her arm. Curious, she followed him, stepping down into a smaller area with a cushioned, curved seat that followed the contour of the front of the boat. Rachel and the six other guests had crowded into the back where Jace was holding up a mask and a snorkel, explaining the way it worked in a deep, rich voice that held his small audience captive.

Dex plunked down on the cushioned seat and nodded at the spot next to him. “Sit with me for a minute. I’ll explain all that stuff to you later.”

“I’ll stand, thanks.” No way could she be that close to him, not with all the unsaid stuff churning between them. The boat rocked a bit with the semichoppy water, but it wasn’t too bad as long as she concentrated on her balance.

He slipped off his sunglasses, capturing her gaze with his. “Please. I want to apologize.”

Oh, well, that was all right. Gingerly, she perched on the cushion. “So you admit that you’re pigheaded.”

He didn’t laugh. “It’s brave of you to come snorkeling, and I don’t want what’s going on between us to affect what you’re trying to do here. Forget last night. I shouldn’t have kissed you, and I should have handled everything that came after differently. I’m sorry.”

No, he shouldn’t have. Because she couldn’t unkiss him, and now that she knew what his mouth alone could do to her, she wanted to do it again. Dex was like an addiction she couldn’t shake until she’d had her fix, knowing the whole time that it was so bad, but was going to feel so good the moment he filled her again.

That’s why she couldn’t be trusted around a man, obviously. Her body didn’t seem to care one way or the other that her brain had no ability to sort white knights from bad news. Besides, the feel-good part of the evening had only been a small part of the fireworks, and she had no business being upset that he’d done exactly what he’d said he was trying to do—save her from making a mistake that would hurt.

“It’s okay,” she said and meant it. “You’re right, we’re a really bad idea and I just want to focus on snorkeling. That’s the goal today. You said you’d go down with me, that I could trust you. But only in the water, right?”

That’s what she had to remember. He’d promised to help her, and if nothing else, she would always feel safe with him. All at once she was glad her prayer had gone unanswered. His absence would have made this afternoon harder, not easier.

“Right.” His gaze had softened as she talked, and the corners of his mouth turned up. It wasn’t his killer smile, but she’d take it.

“Thanks,” she said. “This means a lot to me. And to Rachel. I want her to have fun and forget about me and my problems for a while.”

On even ground again, they both relaxed as Jace fired up the boat and chugged toward open water. Dex called out landmarks, chatting about the area like her very own personal tour guide. Once, he touched Emma’s arm and pointed to a black stingray with white spots skating along the ocean floor. Breathtaking. Both the sea creature and the man.

After a few minutes Jace halted the boat within range of a small island, but not close enough to be their destination.

“Look down,” Dex said as he caught her eyeing the island.

She curled her fingers around the edge of the boat and peered over the side. Her lungs hitched. “Oh, Dex.”

B
eautiful reds and yellows and blues unfurled on both sides of the boat. Thin silvery fish darted between leafy branch-like structures and then circled tall, lumpy spires that resembled the blobby style of buildings in Barcelona that she’d seen on the History channel.

“That’s the reef we’re going to explore.” His hand covered hers, and their fingers entwined as he stared into the water in kind. “I’ve seen it a hundred times, but I never get tired of it. There’s always something new to see or a new way of seeing the same old thing.”

He nodded to the island in the distance. “That’s Ilhota Rosa. Most of the islands in this area go by their English names, but the Portuguese name stuck for that one, for some reason.”

“It’s beautiful. The reflection of the sun turns the sand a strange color though.” Kind of an ice cream pink.

“No. It really is pink, hence the rosa part of the name. I’ll take you there sometime. I can’t now because—” He jerked his head toward the back of the boat. “This is my job. After I’m done for the day, no problem. Sunset is the best. If you’re interested.”