Page 44 of Harmless Scandals

“Hey, what’s up?” Mick asked.

“You rush, and I want to take it slow.”

“No. You think you want to take it slow, but you don’t. What you want is me to push you.”

“She’s different.”

Yeah, he knew it. They’d shared a handful of women, but none of them had been this emotionally connected. Mick had an idea that it would be different with her. It was the connection he’d made that first day when she had smiled at him. His heart had zinged. That hadn’t happened since he met Adam.

“She is, but I have a feeling she is okay with telling us when to back off.”

“Okay, but just remember, slow and steady.”

Mick watched as he pulled his t-shirt on, and inwardly sighed as he watched all that delicious bronze flesh disappear beneath it. The man did have a set of pecs and abs he liked to explore. Mainly with his mouth.

“Hey, eyes up here, perv,” Adam said, but Mick heard the laughter in his voice.

“I promise, no pressure.” He slipped his arms around Adam’s waist. “But no dragging your feet. I don’t want to miss this opportunity.”

“Okay.”

But he could tell from his tone that Adam wasn’t convinced of his plan. He knew it would work. They just needed to let her taste how good it could be with them. She wouldn’t be able to resist the idea.

They took the Jeep out for the ride. It was one of those spectacular days that had drawn both he and Mick to Hawaii in the first place.

The sun was high in the sky and the air was sweet from the morning rain. It was hard to remember their life in the military. One shit assignment after another, dealing with the worst scum in the world.

This was infinitely better.

“What are you thinking?” Serenity asked him.

He glanced over at her. He was driving and she was in the passenger seat beside him. She'd pulled her hair up into a messy bun, and she had sunglasses on, so he couldn't see her expression. But her voice was just inquisitive.

“That living here is better than hanging out in the desert hunting terrorists.”

“A-fucking-men,” Mick said from the backseat.

She chuckled. It was low and throaty, the one that always made his blood stir.

“I can understand that. When I left LA, I went to Washington state for a year.”

“Seattle?”

She shook her head. “Forks. I wanted a change from Southern Cali.”

“That is definitely a change,” Adam said.

She nodded. “It rained all the time and, at first, it was wonderful. I would go out in it and dance around. Then, not so much.”

“So, where did you go after that?” Mick asked.

If Adam hadn't glanced over at her, he wouldn't have seen the way her mouth tightened. But she answered.

“Arizona for a while. Then Colorado. After that, here. Actually, I came here for a vacation, not my first. But it was the first time I wasn't spending my time hiding from the paparazzi. This time, I rented a little cottage on the North Shore. And that's when it happened.”

“What?” Adam asked, although he noted to ask her about the paparazzi comment later.

“That click. Like something just seemed right being here. I moved over here two months later.”

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