Cathie Linz - The Marine Meets His Match

“The idea of a female cornering a big Marine like you. How old is this Heidi?”

“Eighteen. Why does that matter?”

“I was just curious, that’s all.”

“You’ll probably get to meet her yourself pretty soon. It’s only a matter of time before she comes here to check you out.”

“So let me get this straight. You want me to pretend to be your fiancée to discourage Heidi from chasing you? For how long?”

“A few weeks. Until she loses interest.”

“What if she doesn’t?”

“She will.”

“I don’t know…. She sounds the determined type.”

“Okay, then a few months. In return I’ll cut your rent in half for the next year.”

“Say that again?”

“You heard me.”

“I’d need that to be in writing.”

“I figured you would. So I had my attorney draw up a contract.” He pulled it out of his back pocket.

The folded paper was still warm from his body heat. She tried to ignore that fact and focused on the legal terminology. While the length of the mock engagement had been left vague, the drop in her rent was right there in black and white, along with the reminder that she was aware this was not a real engagement and did not constitute a promise of marriage.

Clearly he’d thought ahead somewhat, despite the fact that buying the building in the first place was a radical idea. Not to mention faking an engagement.

Had anyone said to her this morning that she’d even remotely be considering going along with Rad’s plan, she would have said they’d lost touch with reality. Rad was everything she wanted to avoid in life. He was big and bossy and arrogant and powerful.

Sure, he had that Adrian Paul thing going for him, with his dark hair and brooding eyes, and that slash of a smile that changed his entire face. But she’d never been a sucker for the dark, brooding type before. She preferred intellectual, sensitive types who shared her love of books.

But in the end, the offer was too good for Serena to pass up. She’d been struggling to make ends meet since she’d opened her bookstore a year ago. She was no longer a child unable to defend herself from a commanding personality. She could handle Rad.

“So what do you say?” he prompted her.

“Okay.” Her voice was deliberately brisk.

“You’ll do it?”

“Yes. But I have to warn you that things may get more complicated than you anticipate.”

“Why? Is there some guy in your life who will be upset that you’re engaged?”

Serena shook her head. She hadn’t had the time or energy to date much since opening the store. The few men she had gone out with hadn’t impressed her enough to see them for more than a few dates.

“Lies have a way of coming back to haunt you,” Serena told him. She should know. There were things in her past that she feared would one day catch up with her.

Watching the way she nervously nibbled on her bottom lip made Rad wonder two things. First, what personal knowledge did she have about lies in her past? Second, how would her lips feel beneath his? Okay, so maybe he thought about that first, but he did take a moment to think about what she’d said before getting caught up in a fantasy about her mouth.

He’d noticed her lush lips the moment he’d first met her. And her legs. He couldn’t see much of them today, as she was wearing a dress that swirled around her ankles. The thin material did have a nice way of clinging to her curves, however.

As for lying, well…Rad looked on this operation as more of a dark ops mission. Subterfuge and deception were requirements for a successful outcome, which in this case meant getting Heidi off his back.

Rad was confident that he could handle things. His sexual attraction to Serena was an added bonus. Not that he was looking to settle down and get married at this point in his life. That might be fine for his two older brothers but not for him. He valued his freedom.

But there was something to be said for hanging out with a gorgeous blond bookseller. Not that she was the kind of female who flaunted her good looks. No, she seemed to take care to keep them under wraps, like that ankle-length dress of hers. Which just made him want to unwrap her all the more.

She intrigued him. Made him want to learn more about her. Because there was a lot going on beneath her cool surface. When he’d touched her, the heat had been immediate. He’d always been good at intel and recon work. He looked forward to doing a little of both on her.

That wasn’t all he wanted to do with her. He wanted to know if her lips tasted as lush as they looked. He wanted to feel her long legs wrapped around his bare hips….

Chill out, he ordered his throbbing body. She’s just a female. Enjoy the moment, but don’t go looking for complications here.

He got out his PDA and got to work. “There are a few details we should get straight. Like how we met, how long we’ve known each other, that sort of thing. Then there’s the ring. What’s your ring size?”

“Seven. You’re not going to buy a ring, are you?”

“You have something else in mind?”

“I could pick up something inexpensive, a CZ, at one of the discount stores.”

“CZ?”

“Cubic Zirconia. Only a jeweler would be able to tell it’s not real, if I get something realistic carat-wise.”

“Okay. I’ll leave the ring to you. But I’ll pay for it.”

“Under fifty dollars. I don’t want to be worrying about losing it or anything.”

“How would you lose it? I thought you were supposed to wear an engagement ring all the time and not take it off.”

“That’s in a real engagement, which this isn’t.”

“Okay…But spend at least a hundred. I don’t want people thinking I’m cheap.” He used the stylus to change screens. “I made a checklist….”

“If you’re that prepared, I would have thought you’d have come up with a better cover story for your fiancée than saying the name of the first woman that came to mind. What did you tell her about me?”

“That you were a bookseller.”

“That’s all?”

“I may have said that you used to be a swimsuit model,” Rad couldn’t resist teasing her.

“You what?”

“Just kidding.”

“I should hope so. No one would believe I was a swimsuit model.”

“Why not?”

“Because real women have curves and I’m a real woman.”

His eyes strolled over her from head to toe. “I had noticed that.”

“I have hips.” She pointed to them as if he needed help locating them.

“Yeah, you do.” He nodded approvingly.

“Swimsuit models never have real hips.”

“I like females with hips. And long legs. And long blond hair and green eyes. In fact, there are a lot of things I like about you.”

His comment made her feel as if she’d swallowed a goldfish. Not that she’d ever done that, but still…

She had this strange fluttery feeling of what…anticipation? Is that what this was? She anticipated the next Harry Potter book, but it didn’t make her all funny inside.

Great. Now she knew what this was. It had just been a while since she’d experienced it, and never to this extreme. This was sexual attraction. This was her hormones leaping up and yelling yes, yes, yes, come to momma.

This was her inner-female responding to all that yummy male testosterone wrapped up in Rad’s six-foot-plus body.

Serena firmly ordered her hormones to shut up. She could not afford to be ruled by sex here. She needed to be a savvy businesswoman. To be practical. To be Serena Serious. “You don’t know me at all.” There, that was a practical, factual statement, even if she had delivered it in a too-breathy voice. Since when had she started sounding like Marilyn Monroe at Kennedy’s birthday party?