Joanne Rock - Making a Splash

Another way he’d cut her to the core.

“You didn’t think it was such a bad idea ten minutes ago when we were in bed together.”

She’d need a crowbar to pry her jaw off the deck.

“You did not just say that to me,” she managed to reply finally, her throat cracking on a dry note at the reminder of how she’d been drawn to him like a magnet. “I was asleep . Are you going to hold it against me that I was having some anonymous sexy dream?”

“It was hardly anonymous. You said my name.”

“Did I?” She vaguely recalled this. “I wouldn’t know what I said or did because I was sleeping.”

“Would you like me to remind you?” His hands shifted ever so subtly on her arms, the play of his fingers up her shoulders taking the touch from gentle restraint to…Sensual? Romantic?

She didn’t know how to define it—the last time she’d checked, Jack Murphy had told her to have a nice life, since they clearly weren’t meant for each other. The news had come after their umpteenth argument about how to make a relationship work while she was still in college and he was globe-trotting for his father’s company. He’d ditched her and the family job in one swoop, encouraging her to date guys her own age since he was “tying her down,” preventing her from having a real college experience.

“You. Wouldn’t. Dare.” She knew him well enough to know he would never use her attraction against her. He was all about protectiveness. Doing what was best for her even when she’d hated it.

As his eyes narrowed, a dangerous light glittered in their depths. Too late she realized she’d just issued a challenge to a man who’d never known how to walk away from one.

HE WOULDN’T DARE?

Jack suspected she didn’t have any idea what he would dare when it came to her.

Alicia LeBlanc had transformed from a sweet college coed in need of a date for her fall formal, to a sexual dynamo with an attitude.

He didn’t know what to make of this woman who bore little resemblance to the studious business major she’d once been, or even the hardworking swimmer and sorority girl he remembered from before he’d joined the navy. But he didn’t feel the same limits with her as he had four years ago, that was for damn certain.

She’d grown even more beautiful, her athletic body still trim and lean but the curves subtly more voluptuous. Long blond waves fell around her shoulders. She wasn’t as tall as most swimmers, but she had a can’t-miss presence when she walked into a room. A throaty laugh you could hear across a crowded party. The abundance of freckles across her nose reminded him that as an avid diver and surfer, she loved the outdoors as much as he did. She’d started giving lessons in a variety of water sports during her senior year of college and had grown the business to include equipment rentals and a couple of employees.

Hell, she’d been game for any sport he’d ever wanted to play, and that was saying something. Most guys he knew couldn’t handle the mega-competitive weekend reunions at the Murphy household, but Alicia hadn’t just sat on the sidelines flipping burgers. She’d tried her hand as starting pitcher when they’d played stickball, and got prickly when her receivers hadn’t run the routes she’d dictated when they’d let her quarterback a team in the Turkey Bowl. She had a natural competitiveness that made her fit right in with his family.

If she hadn’t been so damn young—or maybe if she hadn’t been every bit as strong-willed as him—they might have gotten somewhere. But both those things had tripped them up and he hadn’t thought it would be fair to maintain the relationship when he’d made the decision to take a navy contract after…well, when the call to serve had become undeniably personal.

He hadn’t been at liberty to discuss the way the war had hit close to home back then. Couldn’t let her in on why he’d needed to sign that contract so badly. And the secrecy had cost them both.

He’d heard she’d dated half his high-school graduating class since then—okay, two other guys that he knew about. But she’d dated with enough of a vengeance that she’d shown him she didn’t care about the breakup.

It’d stung when he’d gotten the news on his first stint overseas, back when he’d been sitting on a ship in the Gulf of Oman.

“I’m going to give you fair warning, Alicia.” He kept his hands on her, ill prepared to deal with the riptide effect of being alone with her for the first time in four years. He was too exhausted—and too turned on from finding himself in bed with her. “Because even though I play to win, I believe in a level playing field.”

“How generous of you.” The soft words held plenty of sarcasm, but she didn’t move a muscle, her body perfectly still under his hands.

“I would dare a lot when it comes to you.” Because he’d never forgotten about her. Because she’d moved on with an ease that had rankled long afterward. “So if you won’t admit you felt something for me in the cabin earlier, I’m not going to think twice about proving what a lie that is.”

“Okay, so I felt something, damn it,” she snapped, leaning forward to get in his face. “Satisfied?”

Her gutsiness had always made her irresistible. And he had no reason to hold back now. She’d sparked a flame inside him and he couldn’t think of any reason not to follow it to its natural conclusion. Maybe this time it would burn itself out, since trying to shut it down four years ago had backfired. He’d thought about her more than any other woman he’d ever been with, probably because he’d stomped out the relationship too soon.

They might not have personalities that meshed for the long term. But they sure as hell had chemistry that would light things up in the here and now.

Damn it, they needed to find out what was between them once and for all.

“No. Admit it was for me. You were dreaming about me. You said my name.”

She pursed her lips. Brown eyes narrowed. Everything about her posture told him she would argue this all night. So he opted for a preemptive strike. Winding one arm around her waist and one around her back, he drew her to him. Her hands still clutched the blanket to her neck, so he pinned them between his chest and hers. Captive.

Her eyes went wide in the reflected glow of the running lights. Surprised. He could feel the rapid tattoo of her heartbeat against his chest. And he had no qualms about fitting his mouth to hers and tasting her lips.

The flavor of her damn near took out his knees. Familiar and foreign all at once, her mouth followed his. Part of him couldn’t believe she was here, in his arms, allowing him to touch her and kiss her. But they’d always been good together physically. And even though he’d been dead to the world when he’d fallen into that berth earlier, he could have sworn she’d been aware it was him she was touching.

He hadn’t been positive she’d said his name at all, half afraid he’d dreamed up all that heat radiating from her when she’d rubbed her thigh against his. Licked him. But now, feeling her mouth come alive under his, he knew he’d been right. The spark between them was still there.

Without warning, she broke the kiss and stepped back. Ocean air blew between them, cooling his hot skin and stirring the blanket she gripped around her as if it were a life vest.

“Uncle.” One hand lifted to her mouth, as if to stroke away his kiss. Or to preserve the feel of it? “Okay? You win. I must have known on some level it was you in bed because I thought I was dreaming about you. But you have to believe that I never would have started coming on to you if I’d been awake. It’s been four years and a lot of water under the bridge.”