Sailor Proof (Shore Leave 1)

“Yeah. They’re good guys. I just wasn’t in the mood for much small talk.” He offered me a shy smile that only upped his kissability factor. “Should we think about food? We skipped lunch, but we can order something.”

“Later.” I pulled him to me.

“Later?” His smile widened.

“Does your door lock?” I whispered right before I kissed his ear.

“It does.” Inhaling sharply, he broke away long enough to flip the lock. “For what it’s worth, I can also be quiet. Very quiet.”

“Good.” I kissed him then, loving the way he melted into me. Maybe this dating thing was going to be easier than I thought.

Chapter Thirty

Arthur

“So you’re dating now?” Sabrina looked up from her iced coffee as we lounged on my microscopic balcony. The Seattle summer was really starting to heat up, and below us a crew of sweaty-but-ripped graduate students were moving into one of the lower units. Sabrina had spied them on her way in and had insisted we take our drinks out here to appreciate the view. “Like actually dating? No bet?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?” I took a sip of my drink, which she’d brought from our favorite local place. All the sweetened cold-brew goodness still didn’t taste as good as the slushy half-melted coffee had at Lake Crescent.

“No reason.” Twirling her straw, she was the picture of innocence. “But you were the one who was rather loudly opposed to such a prospect.”

“I know.” I groaned and made a vague gesture. “But Derrick’s rather...”

“Hot as hell?”

“I was going to say persuasive, but yes, that too.” I glanced down at the guys moving in. Objectively, they were quite possibly as hot as Derrick. Tall. Muscular. Deep voices and great laughs, but I still wouldn’t take any of them or all three together in place of Derrick.

“Look at you, all dreamy.” She tapped my outstretched leg with the heel of one of her gold sandals. “When do you see him again?”

“Tonight.” My tone came out a little guilty because I should have been catching up on work, not doing coffee with Sabrina, and also I’d purposely scheduled her for now so that I could have Derrick all to myself without the interrogation. “He’s on duty until three and then has twenty-four hours off, so he’s coming here to hang out.”

“Hang out.” She gave me a pointed look over the top of her jeweled sunglasses. “Yes. Because that’s worth the ferry ride.”

“It’s not all sex,” I protested. “I’m going to show him the composition I’ve been working on.”

“Uh-huh.”

“But speaking of him coming over, I should probably change my sheets. Good host and all.”

Snorting at that, she sloshed her coffee around in the cup. “You need a bigger bed.”

“Or a smaller computer setup.” Getting a small bed had made sense when I was the only one sleeping in it and when I seemed destined to die a virgin, but these days I was spending a lot of time debating how many monitors I truly needed and whether my next contract should go toward a new mattress.

“So what happened with you and that ensign?” I asked, eager to change the topic from Derrick and me and the dating that still felt new even though it had been a couple of weeks now.

“Oh, sailor boy?” She made a dismissive gesture, sunlight glinting off her metallic nails. “That was a one—okay, four-night deal. Nothing serious.”

“Did he know it was that casual?” I teased. Below us, the guys moving in were good-naturedly bickering over where a couch went. Sabrina had undoubtedly already picked out which of the trio was her next target. “You probably broke the poor boy’s heart.”

“Says the guy who’s going to break Derrick’s heart.” She tapped my chest with the sharp tip of one her nails.

“I am not. This isn’t that serious!”

“Does he know that?” Pulling her sunglasses down this time, she gave me the full force of her skeptical glare. “Because this dating thing sure sounds like he’s after more than just a repeat hookup.”

“He knows it can’t last,” I said weakly because she had a point. The sex might be a good motivator, but Derrick wasn’t coming over here whenever he had time off simply to get laid. We watched movies, ordered takeout, played chess and my dice game, and talked until we were too sleepy to do much more than make out clumsily in my too-small bed. “Damn it, why do I have to like him so much?”

“Because he’s a catch?”

“Says the one who practices catch-and-release fishing like she’s going for a tournament record.” I tapped her right back, lightly poking her arm.

“Hell, sweetie, if I landed a Derrick, I think I’d put away my net for good.”

“Me too,” I said miserably, a mood that carried me all the way through Sabrina leaving and Derrick arriving. I liked him too damn much and that was a fact, and yet I still couldn’t stop the thrill that raced through me as I opened the door.