To Dare a SEAL (Sin City SEALs) (2 page)

“I won’t beg,” she said, her voice breathless.

“I know.” He released her arms and lifted his hands to her face. “I’m just showing you my way. But I still like yours better.”

Her hands moved to his chest, her fingers digging into his shirt. But she didn’t push him away. He studied her face. Her brown eyes widened and her lips parted. He wanted another taste. It might end with her fist planted in his gut, but he was willing to take the risk.

He lowered his mouth to hers, allowing his fingers to weave through her long hair. With his eyes closed, he let his imagination run wild as his tongue tangled with hers. He pictured stripping away her clothes, climbing up on this table, and taking her. He wanted to tie her up, and it had nothing to do with his past. Hell, he wished he could claim the fantasy. Here. Now. Make her scream his name and acknowledge the fact that he’d made her come. Make her admit that part of her wanted him.

His lips sparred with hers, and he fought for control of the kiss. Natalie pressed her mouth hard against his. He stepped closer, his hands holding her head as his body touched her. Rocking his hips, he let her feel how much he wanted her.

She pushed back, breaking the kiss. “Is this how you say thank you?” she said, struggling to catch her breath. But the thread of steel he’d heard from across the bar night after night was there, loud and clear in her voice.

“No, ma’am.” He released her long locks and ran his hands over her shoulders, down the side of her body, brushing the sides of her breasts. He wanted to memorize every inch of her, knowing she might never let him this close again. His hands wrapped around her waist.

“Is that what kind of man you are?” she breathed. “You don’t even offer a woman a proper thank-you?”

“Natalie, if I was fixin’ to offer a proper thank-you,” he said, his Texas accent clear and present in his voice, “I’d kneel down right here and slide your jeans over your hips, down your damn-near perfect legs. I’d toss your pants across the room, followed by your panties. And then I’d lick you until the whole bar heard you come. Screaming. My. Name.”

He released her hips and drew a path to the top closure of her jeans. His fingers toyed with the button as he stared into her wide brown eyes.

“Jack.” Her hand covered his but stopped short of pushing him away.

“What do you say, Natalie? Would you like a proper thank-you?”

Chapter Two

J
ack dominated her senses. She could taste his kiss on her lips. And she could smell the ocean on his skin, the scent mingling with spice. Not cologne. She couldn’t picture the Navy SEAL splashing on the male version of perfume before leaving the house. This man didn’t primp in front of the mirror. Everything about her Prince Charming was raw and unrefined.

Natalie blinked.
Her
prince? Not a chance. She refused to let his charm slip past her defenses and claim control of her.

“While this is impressive…” She slipped her hand between their bodies and pressed her palm against the hard bulge hidden behind his cargo pants. “A proper thank-you involves pen and paper, not—”

You. On your knees. Licking me.

Jack raised an eyebrow. “Not what?” he murmured, rocking his hips into her touch.

“You can’t offer sex to everyone who saves you from a sticky situation,” she snapped. She drew her hand away from his crotch. She shouldn’t have touched him. Before she’d felt how much he had to offer beneath his pants, she’d clung to the illusion that the charming SEAL lobbed stupid pick-up lines across her bar night after night to compensate. One touch and that pipedream had vanished.

He tossed his head back and laughed. “Sure as hell would change my relationships with my teammates if I did,” he said. “But to be clear, this thank-you would be designed for you.”

Tell me more.

Her body craved details. The parts of her that knew it had been more than a year since her last hot, heavy, and not entirely satisfying encounter with a man, those parts needed more. Sixteen months was a long time without someone touching her, and the feel of her skin on Jack’s left her wanting more, more,
more
. Where would he place his hands? Would his mouth live up to its sensual promise?

“This thank-you would be a one-of-a-kind expression of my gratitude that will leave you begging for more,” he added.

“I never beg.” Natalie leaned back against the table. She needed to escape and return to her customers. Details were dangerous, especially when they crossed this man’s lips. Her gaze dropped to his mouth. He flashed his I-want-your-panties smile.

But if she handed over her underwear, she knew he’d ask for more and then walk away when she began to believe they might have a future together.

Rebellious. Stubborn.
Her former foster parents’ words echoed in her mind. After watching Jack from the other side of the bar, after tasting his kiss and feeling his hands wrap around her wrists, she had a feeling he’d like to replace defiant with submissive. And when she held her ground, he’d leave.

So that was how she’d get rid of him and save herself. If she was just herself—a challenge for a man like him—he’d give up on his own.

She pressed her hand against his chest, demanding space. For a split second, he leaned into her touch.

“Never say never,” he murmured. And then he obeyed her silent request, stepping back, offering the distance she needed to escape. “Never is a very long time, Natalie.”

She blinked. She was on intimate terms with two things in her life—the vibrator in her nightstand and the word “never.” At eleven, she’d lost her parents to a car crash. She’d been thrust into a world where she would
never
see them again. A world where she could
never
rely on anyone but herself as she and her sister moved from one foster family to the next. And she’d learned that she’d
never
feel entirely in control, not when she was with another person, no matter how hard she fought for it. Opening her heart, letting someone in, that was an invitation for heartbreak.

She moved to the door and stopped. One glance over her shoulder and she saw a glimmer of triumph in his blue eyes. Oh no, she refused to let him have the last word. “Jack?”

“Change your mind?”

She offered him a smile. “Never.”

She pushed through the door and scanned the bar—four flirtatious fools, three tipsy blondes, two drunken sailors, and in the corner, Jack’s brothers. But their party had grown, claiming a second table. Three of Jack’s teammates sat with Colton and crew, including Cade Daniels, the man she’d considered her best friend long before the SEAL had proposed to her little sister.

Standing tall, she headed for the corner tables. She refused to let her customers see her unsettled from her conversation with Jack. And if anyone asked, she’d cling to her modified version of the truth—they’d been talking, end of story.

“Leave my little brother tied up?” Colton Barnes sneered.

Natalie withdrew her notepad and turned to Jack’s teammates. “The usual, boys?”

Dante nodded. The Navy SEAL was a rugged warrior whose coloring spoke of his mother’s Italian heritage while his six-foot-plus frame left no doubt his father’s side descended from Vikings. There was nothing boyish about him or Ronan, the red-haired, blue-eyed teammate sitting beside him.

“Are you okay?” Cade asked. The piercing look in his green eyes screamed
I heard you kissed Jack. Did you wake up with an extra dose of crazy this morning?

“Fine.” She stuffed her notepad into her apron.

Her best friend raised an eyebrow. “And Jack?”

“I was in the back, looking for a pen and paper,” Jack said, rejoining the group, his carefree smile in place. “I came up empty.” The man who’d kissed her senseless beside the broken
Bottom’s Up
sign and popcorn maker turned to her. “Can I borrow yours?”

So he could spell out all of the tempting things she’d never do with him? Not a chance. “No.”

She turned and headed for the bar, determined to do her job. The sooner she brought their drinks, the sooner they would leave her to tend to the mid-afternoon drunks and flirtatious fools. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jack claim a seat beside his teammates. He appeared relaxed, as though their kiss hadn’t infused his body with an undeniable need.

Liar. I felt your cock—every hard, thick inch pressing against the palm of my hand.

She mentally slammed the door on that thought. Maybe she had woken up with an extra dose of crazy this morning. That would explain the impulse to kiss Jack Barnes. But right now, she needed to put her crazy to good use and pretend the charming Navy SEAL didn’t measure up.

J
ack forced a smile and pretended to listen as Ronan quizzed his brothers about raising cattle. His teammate’s Irish accent—despite the fact that Ronan was born and raised in New York City—blended genuine interest with humor. And yeah, Colton was dumb enough to believe an officer with the SEAL teams wanted to hear about how to artificially inseminate a cow.

In his peripheral vision, he tracked Natalie’s movements behind the bar. Her long hair swayed as she reached for a pint glass and set it beneath the taps. He wanted to wrap his hand around her long locks and make her beg for another kiss.

Never.

That one word she’d said echoed in his mind, his body ready and willing to accept that challenge and prove her wrong. Hell, most women followed him home without any effort on his part, and that was why he felt bored. But Natalie?

Never.

He was ready for a challenge. He was ready for Natalie.

“You can’t hit that,” Colton leered, kicking Jack under the table just like when they sat down to one of his mom’s home-cooked masterpieces at the Barnes ranch. Growing up, his brothers had taken every chance to land a hit.

Dante glanced at him, eyebrow raised. “Are you making a serious play for Natalie?”

“He’d never get her into bed,” Colton said. “I’m willing to put money on it. Mom said you were taking a few days off, without bothering to visit her—”

“Cade’s getting married,” Jack shot back. “I’m the best man in his wedding this weekend. I talked to Mom. She understood.”

Out of the corner of his eye, Jack saw Natalie, who’d be playing the part of the maid of honor, carry the filled tray out from behind the bar. She headed in their direction but came to an abrupt stop ten paces away when a young blonde nearly tumbled out of her chair trying to get Natalie’s attention.

“I bet you can’t get the bartender into your bed by the time you ship out again,” his big brother said, pretending Jack hadn’t offered an explanation for skipping a trip home to see his parents while he had a few days leave.

“Fifty bucks,” Colton added. “Anyone else want in?”

Jack glanced at Natalie as the pack of Barnes brothers reached for their wallets. Her eyes widened, but she kept her smile in place while she talked to her customers. Had she heard Colton’s proposal? At Jack’s table, a chorus of “hell yeahs” filled their corner of the bar as money was slapped on the table.

Dante shook his head. “I won’t put money on it, but Jack, man, you don’t stand a chance. Natalie doesn’t even like you. Right, Cade? She’s your friend. You know her better than any of us.”

“Leave me out of this,” Cade said, stealing a quick glance at Natalie. His teammate could read Natalie better than anyone here. And judging from the way he shook his head, Cade knew the Bottom’s Up bartender was close to spitting fire even while she nodded at something the blonde said.

“Your guy here knows you can’t do it,” Colton said with a laugh. Then his brother turned to Ronan. “What about you? Are you in?”

Ronan’s blue eyes narrowed and his smile faded. It seemed his teammate had just realized that Jack wished his brothers had remained on the family ranch, dealing with the cow semen. “My money’s on Jack. I’ve never witnessed a situation he couldn’t handle.”

“You’re throwing away fifty bucks,” Dante murmured. “Jack’s the first person I want covering my six, watching my back, on a mission. But if Natalie wanted him, she’d have claimed him years ago.”

“Claimed him?” Colton kicked him under the table again as the rest of his family laughed. “Down in Texas, we go after our women. We don’t wait for them to come to us.”

Bullshit.

But there was a spark of truth buried in his big brother’s challenge. He’d wanted Natalie for six long years. And yeah, he’d spent a large part of that time deployed, but still, wasn’t it about time he went after the woman who filled his fantasies?

“What do you say, kid?” Colton prodded.

“I’m in,” Jack said, unwilling to walk away from his brother’s challenge. He didn’t lose. Not to Colton Barnes. Not anymore. And shit, after the way Natalie had kissed him, touched him—dammit, he wanted to turn her
never
into
Yes, Jack. Give me more.
“Before the bride walks down the aisle, I’ll have her in my bed.”

And she wouldn’t claim him. His jaw jumped and the tension rippled through his seemingly relaxed body. No, he’d make her
his,
take control, ignite the passion and need he’d tasted in her kiss—

Natalie set her filled tray on their table. “Jack Barnes, prepare to lose your money.” She placed her hands on her hips. “Because as much as I hate to side with Mr. Belt Buckle here,” she waved her hand at Colton, “nothing you say will talk me out of my clothes and into your bed. Pick someone else to seduce, sailor.”

Shit. Had she heard
everything
? Well, that would make this interesting.

“Nothing?” Jack fought the flush threatening to turn his cheeks fucking pink with embarrassment in front of his brothers. He stared into Natalie’s dark brown eyes and searched for a sign that he’d offended her by taking the bet. And thank you Jesus, he came up empty.

“Nothing. You know I hate bullies,” she said with a pointed look at Colton. “But you can’t win this one.”

“That sounds like a challenge,” Jack said. “And Natalie, I always play to win.”

“I dare you to try,” she shot back.

He stood and stepped in front of her. He heard her sharp inhale as he placed one finger under her chin and tilted her head back, her fiery, take-no-prisoners gaze meeting his. He scanned her eyes, looking for anger. As a rule, he liked an even playing field, not a cornered opponent. He’d filled those shoes as a kid and tried damn hard never to place anyone else in that position—terrorists excluded.

But if hearing about the bet had pissed her off at first, her competitive spirit had risen and displaced her anger. Studying her face, he saw a woman determined to win and to battle their mutual attraction. And yeah, that kiss earlier had proven he wasn’t the only one interested in taking their relationship to a new level. Not that anyone would define their verbal sparring—when she wasn’t flat-out ignoring him—as a relationship.

“Game on,” he said, smiling down at her. “Game on.”