Page 8 of Over the Edge

Rewind, there, Double-O-Seven.

Anna Marlow was not the type of woman who waited around, crocheting doilies, for her man to come home to her. She was the kind of woman who would be on the front lines beside him, living large and saving the world. She didn’t strike him as a marrying kind of girl—

Whoa, whoa, whoa. Who said anything about marriage?

He’d never even kissed her and he already had a mental ring on her finger? What was wrong with him? Man, that scotch was messing with his head.

Push away from the wall, idiot. Turn around and walk away from her.

And yet, his feet didn’t budge. His hand stayed planted beside her head, and his mouth hovered mere inches from hers.

Run, Anna. Run fast and far. Last chance before we go off that cliff, baby.

She laid her hands lightly on his waist and he sucked in a sharp breath. Time stopped around them.

Bloody hell. Not a time stop.

Damn.

Damn, damn, damn.

CHAPTERTHREE

Anna stared up at Trevor in the hellish scarlet shadows. His expression was taut, vibrating with tension. It looked like raging desire on his face and felt like raging desire emanating from his body, but was that even possible?

He’d spent an entire year working with her day and night and had never shown even the tiniest hint of this fiery desire for her. Was he really that disciplined, or was this merely the scotch talking?

Of course, this was exactly why she never slept with men who’d been drinking. She wanted to know they actually wanted her, not just any willing—hell, breathing—female.

He was so crazy attractive. And apparently even more crazy clueless when it came to women. If he’d been this interested in her all along, how could he have missed the hints she’d been throwing at him? She’d all but eaten his ear earlier, and he’d barely acknowledged her existence.

She’d been waitingmonthsfor a night like this, off duty and off base, to find out if he reciprocated at least a little of her interest. But predictably, he’d fled Mabel’s the second she’d flirted with him even a little bit.

Honestly, it had been so loud in the bar that shehadto put her mouth on his ear and shout into it. But he’d jumped like she’d bit him.

His waist was hard and muscular under her hands. No inner tube for this man, no sir. Calling him an impressive physical specimen didn’t even come close to doing him justice. Hard muscles flexed everywhere her gaze landed on him.

She paused for a moment to make sure he wouldn’t bolt from this most basic of touches before pressing her case any further. When he continued to stare at her, a battle with himself raging in his eyes, she carefully floated her palms up his ribs and across the slabs of pectorals bulging on his chest. Heat permeated the soft cotton of his black polo shirt, scorching her hands.

Her mother always said a girl had to go after what she wanted in life. Although, her mother probably didn’t think men were included in things to go after. Nonetheless, she slid her palms around his neck, her fingers gliding through those soft, short hairs at the back of his neck.

A few months from now, when the Reapers went off this extended training rotation and returned to field ops, the guys would let their hair grow out longer and stop shaving. In many parts of the world, native men wore beards, and they were often necessary accoutrements for SEALs to blend in.

But for now, he was shaven smooth. In spite of the scotch he’d consumed, his eyes had the sharp confidence and alert, predatory awareness of a special operator. Which she personally found too hot for words. Some women liked their men to be pussycats; she liked tigers.

And she had her arms looped around the neck of one.

“What are you doing, Marlow?” he growled.

“You’re the one who pushed me against this wall.”

“You’ve got your arms around me,” he declared in what sounded like minor disbelief and major accusation.

“Why, yes. I noticed. Aren’t you the one who keeps telling me to use all the weapons at my disposal?”

He scowled but didn’t step away from her. Interesting. Goodness knew, he was plenty strong enough to tear out of her embrace.

She pushed away from the wall, which had the effect of plastering her body against his. Oh, my. She’d imagined this forforever. This fantasy had distracted her from the pain of countless push-ups, pull-ups, and runs.

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