To Tempt a SEAL (Sin City SEALs 1)

She glanced over the top of the Post-its and spotted him diving into the waves. He was at home in the water. And her home was in the landlocked state of Tennessee, a long, long way from the California coast.

She scanned the list again. The decision came with a heady sense of power. Where did she wish to start? And what did she want to save for last?

The question pulled at her as she felt the weight of that word—last. This time tomorrow, she would be packing her bags and heading for the airport. Her sexy SEAL and his buffet of sexual fantasies would be a memory.

Cade dove deep, then surfaced a few seconds later and drifted on his back. He floated with the current, and his perfect abs glistened in the sunlight.

Thoughts about tomorrow and the day after that faded into the background. Right now, she had the chance to make his stick-figure fantasies come true. She set aside her empty drink and stood. She covered the slips of paper with her hat and walked to the water.

She waded out into the sunbaked waves and headed for her SEAL.

“Picked your favorite?” he asked.

“Number three, please,” she said in the same voice she used to order from the drive-through menu.

“If we do that here, I’ll drown.”

“I thought going down under the water was a SEAL specialty.” She paddled hard to keep her head above the man-made current.

“I must have missed that lesson in BUD/S training,” he said, easily floating beside her.

How did he make it look so effortless? Her legs were burning, and she was barely keeping her head above water. Swimming beside him felt about as sexy as a ride on the elliptical machine.

He swam up behind her. “How about I take you to shore and we find someplace a little more private?” He wrapped his arm across her chest and drew her back against his hard body. “Not a lot. Just a little taste of privacy.”

“Your plan sounds better,” she said, allowing him to pull her to shore. She could have swum the short distance, proving to herself and anyone else who was looking that the past six months of workouts had left her in decent physical shape. But then she’d lose the feel of his chest against her back and his breath against her neck.

He shifted his body, relaxed his hold, and moved his hand across her chest. He trailed a light, teasing circle around one breast and then the other. Through her suit, her body begged for more.

“You can stand up here,” he murmured.

Her feet touched the bottom as he ran his hand over her shoulder and down her arm, entwining his fingers with hers.

He led her out of the water and stopped beside their chairs. “You’ll want your dress.”

“And the list?” she asked, pulling the black cotton cover-up over her head.

“I don’t need a diagram for number three.” His low words left her wet and ready. “I know where I’m going.”

She grabbed her bag and took his hand. “Show me.”

He led her into the hotel lobby. They wound through the slot machines and past the reception desk. He moved like a man who knew where he was going, and no one questioned them as they headed for the elevator banks.

“I need your room key card,” he whispered, drawing her close to his side.

“It won’t work here.” But she pulled it from her bag and handed it over.

Smiling, he wrapped his hand around the key. He flashed only the top of the plastic to the hotel security guard. And he kept walking without waiting for the uniformed man’s approval. At the elevator bank, he drew her close and captured her lips.

She sank into the kiss. Her surroundings slipped away until she heard the ding of the elevator doors. Then he broke their kiss, led her into the elevator, and handed her back the key.

“Same color key cards, just different hotel names printed on them,” he explained, hitting the button for the forty-second floor, one level below the top.

Her anticipation rose with the elevator. His hand moved to her low back. They passed the tenth floor, and the impact of what she was doing hit her. She’d known him less than twenty-four hours, yet she was following a man who slipped past security on a whim up to God knew where.

Go. Trust the man who let you bind his wrists and ride him until you were out of your mind with pleasure.

“Why not the top floor?” she asked, her interest in his answer fading as his hand moved lower.