Jill Monroe - SEALed with a Kiss

A year ago, Nate would be the first at the party. Hell, Nate was the party. Now the man was a homebody.

And for a moment Riley almost envied him.

Then thankfully that moment passed. The world was a buffet filled with beautiful women. Why would he limit himself to one?

“See you, buddy,” Nate called, as he hoisted his duffel bag over his shoulder.

And that’s the last he’d see of his friend for at least a week, he’d bet.

Riley watched as each Team Member left. Some left with salutes, others with pats on the back.

“Bunch of us are heading to The Bowery tonight,” Ethan Morales, another single man from his Team, said. But as a second generation Navy man, Ethan still had a family eagerly waiting for him on the pier.

“Sounds good,” he replied to Morales’s back. The Bowery was known for its locally brewed beer, loud music and the women looking for fun. It was the first place Riley hit after a long training run or a deployment. Guess tonight would be no exception.

Riley picked up his duffel bag. He’d delayed his departure long enough. Most of the happy families and reunited couples should have moved on by now. Good. He hated the feeling of being an intruder into those private moments. In the past, a few of the men had even felt obligated to invite him to their homes. He hated putting his fellow officers and friends in that position, especially since he knew it was the last thing they wanted to do. Now he regretted accepting Nate’s offer of a ride home.

Overhead the sky was blue. The day perfect for a return from duty. Hopefully he’d given Nate and Hailey enough time alone on the pier. Riley took a few steps, and stopped.

His throat dried.

There, not ten feet away from him, stood Rachel Sutherland, looking hot, tired and like someone who’d been waiting a while. A discarded ribbon was wrapped around her wrist and she snacked on … a cookie?

She also looked like the best thing he’d seen in about a hundred and eighty-five days, but then what else was new? Rachel always looked like the best thing he’d ever seen.

He loosened the tight grip of the handle on his duffel bag and aimed in her direction. Riley watched as her eyes widened when she spotted him. Rachel brushed the crumbs from her hand then angled her head, checking left and right.

What an ass he was. Had he just assumed she was here for him? When had the woman ever regarded at him with anything other than distaste? Clearly she was searching the crowd and waiting for someone else. Maybe one of the SEALs that hung around The Sutherland after their Meet A SEAL nights? Something a lot like irritation mixed with envy hit him in the chest. Who the hell had been making a play for Rachel when he wasn’t watching?

Too late to change course now. He continued forward. Riley would be polite and move on so she could greet the man she was here for. Strange, he’d never thought of her as a Navy woman. She’d never given any of the SEALs who’d been at The Sutherland anything other than that polite smile. Not one of her smiles had ever broken into something more warm, more genuine. At least not for him.

He found himself almost wanting to hang around to meet and shake the hand of the man who’d managed to get something other than a “no” from Rachel Sutherland.

She’d stopped scanning the quickly clearing pier and stood straighter, meeting his gaze. His breath hitched, and he realized he wanted to lose himself in those green eyes of hers. Beautiful green eyes that were, for the first time, truly inviting. The coldly reserved Rachel Sutherland who ran the speed dating parties with a watch and a whistle was gone. She even flashed him a tentative smile.

Rachel wasn’t here waiting on some other guy. No, she had stood there for over an hour waiting for him.

Something deep and elemental punched him in the gut. This was what it was like to have someone waiting for him. His return.

His feet ate those last steps that separated them.

“Hi,” she said, her voice breathless, her skin turning rosy-red. She thrust something toward him. “I brought you cookies.”

Riley had never seen Hailey’s prickly younger sister look more beautiful. And the woman always looked hot. Today, the breeze caught her hair, ruffling the long, blond strands into her eyes. He reached, feeling the silky glide of her hair between his fingers as he gently tucked the soft strands behind her ear. He smelled the light honeysuckle scent of her. Her gaze lowered to his lips, and he was lost.

His duffel bag hit the pavement, and his fingers sank into her hair. Riley saw the heat in her eyes before her lids lowered. She raised on tiptoe meeting his lips halfway. Warm and soft, Rachel’s mouth was everything he’d fantasized about. Her lips parted with a quiet moan that sent a shaft of desire straight through his body.

Rachel wrapped her arms around his neck, one elbow snagging on the pins of his uniform. There were kisses and then there were kisses, and this one was becoming X-rated pretty quickly. Of course it wasn’t every day that the woman he’d thought unattainable yet still starred in several of his late-night fantasies was in his arms, kissing him with a carnal passion that nearly met his own.

He was forgetting where he was, what he was doing. Riley reached for her hands, pulling them from around his neck, reluctance in his every move. With one last run of his tongue along her bottom lip, he broke the kiss. Riley settled his forehead on hers, his breath ragged and heavy.

“Welcome home, Riley,” she whispered.

They were the best damn words he’d ever heard.

WHAT WAS IT SHE WAS JUST saying to herself earlier today about avoiding the men who were only around for a bit of fun in bed? How she preferred a connection? Well, the pounding of her heart sure told her she was wrong.

Rachel always suspected Riley could be her downfall. She understood that now. It was probably the reason she’d always avoided him. Some hidden, elemental female part of her must have known he was the kind of bad-for-her boy she couldn’t resist. Downfall? Heck, she hadn’t even put up much of a fight. She’d met her ruin while offering cookies.

Riley could destroy a woman’s sense of self-preservation with one kiss.

“Nate was going to give me a lift home.”

She cocked her head toward the exit. “I think those two wanted to be alone. I offered and they left.”

Riley didn’t seem disappointed at his friend’s desertion.

“Hope you don’t mind,” she said, needing to hear him say the words. That he wanted to be with her.

Riley laughed. “After that greeting? I’m just sorry I made you wait. Hope it wasn’t too bad.”

She’d been hot, sticky and growing more and more uncomfortable as the minutes ticked past. But now—it was totally worth it. Rachel lifted the box that was to be his welcome home gift from Hailey. “I did eat most of your cookies.”

“And here I was really counting on eating those tonight,” he said, his voice teasing, and she laughed. Riley was pure charm.

She’d never spent any real time talking with the man, but she could see why he did so well with the ladies. In mere moments he’d managed to make her laugh, show his concern for her comfort and let her know that he could rock her world.

Emotional connections were overrated, right?

“Then I guess I owe you dinner,” she told him.

“At The Sutherland?” he asked, hope lacing his words.

Nate’s single SEAL friends had made no secret of their love of the good food served at her family’s bed & breakfast.

Rachel shook her head. “No, we made sure we booked no guests tonight so Nate and Hailey could be alone together. I was planning on making myself scarce. I could take you to a restaurant,” she suggested.

Some of the enthusiasm faded from his eyes, and for the first time Rachel noticed the tiny lines of fatigue on either side of his mouth and around his eyes. He was tired and from what little she had gleaned from Nate of Navy life on a boat, the last place a newly returning soldier wanted to be was in a crowded, noisy eatery.

Riley might be one of those always-out-for-a-good-

time kind of guys, but tonight he was a man recently arrived from a faraway war who probably just wanted to sit down someplace comfortable and relax with a beer.

“How about if I stop by a grocery store and pick up a few steaks? Do you have a grill at your place?”

“If I didn’t, I’d buy one. But yes, I have a grill on my patio,” he told her with a smile. His big body already seemed less tense.

He stooped and reached for his forgotten duffel bag. The one he’d dropped before he drew her into his arms and gave her hormones a sample of what they’d been missing. The material of his uniform pulled taut as his biceps bulged under the weight of his luggage. A ripple of desire instantly reminded her how dangerous this man could be to her. She’d known it, and avoided him. But not any longer. Today she’d indulge temptation.

They began to walk toward her car, but Riley paused to twine his fingers through hers. The move caught her off guard, was so unexpected she automatically gripped his hand tightly. Her thumb began a dangerous exploration all on its own. His hand, like the rest of him, was large, the skin rough and his fingers calloused. A man’s hands. Rachel imagined his fingers stroking along her bare skin. Those big hands of his cupping her breasts. Caressing her nipples.

Everything about Riley promised a woman he’d satisfy her like no other.

Tonight she’d put him to the test.

IN THE PAST, A CAR RIDE to a man’s house was sometimes filled with second thoughts. Reservations. Cold feet. Right now, with Riley, Rachel could only fume about their slowness due to all the traffic. And feel utter impatience. Anticipation.

“Mind if we stop off at my apartment before heading to the grocery store?” Riley asked, running a finger between his collar and his neck.

“Ready to get out of that uniform?” she asked, which hey, sounded a lot more sexual said out loud. But she couldn’t even work up a bit of embarrassment. She did want Riley. Out of his uniform. At least his pants.

“Something like that,” he told her, flashing gray eyes in her direction. Sweet heat emanated from him. All aimed straight at her.

Rachel’s mouth dried. Her breath hitched. She leaned toward him, aching to feel his lips on hers once more.

The car behind them honked, and Rachel jumped in her seat. “Just tell me the way,” she said, unable to keep the desire from her voice. She lifted her foot off the brake and applied it to the gas.

“Turn left at the next light,” he said, pointing the way.

Her fingers drummed against the steering wheel as she maneuvered through traffic. This would have been a funny situation if she weren’t the one living it. Here she was, so hungry for a man, she hadn’t even spotted the light changing from red to green. Rachel decided right then and there that as soon as she had that man alone in his apartment, she’d do whatever she could to take his mind off food and have him focus on her.

She glanced over at Riley, who didn’t appear very relaxed. Probably wouldn’t have to work too hard to change his mind. A tiny thrill ran down her spine and settled at the small of her back.

A tightness laced his voice as he gave her the final directions. Rachel liked that. She’d done that to him. Given him that edge. Ramped up his desire. With only a kiss. But a kiss that promised so much more.

A few minutes later she claimed a parking space in front of his building. Traditional stucco with a nod to San Diego’s Hispanic roots. Riley had that duffel bag out of her car and over his shoulder before she’d set the parking brake, and another tiny thrill rippled along every nerve ending of her skin.