Page 7 of Over the Edge

“Give those back,” he demanded.

“Come and get them,” she dared him. Her eyes glinted with amusement, now, and a smile played around her mouth. With her entire face aglow like that, she was so beautiful it felt like a punch in the gut to even look at her.

And then she had the gall to laugh. At him.Oh, game on, sweet cheeks.

She’d been a SEAL trainee plenty long enough to know better than to dare another SEAL to do anything. Just like he knew better than to go for the direct attack to retrieve his car keys.

Instead of reaching for them, he stepped forward, crowding her, using his larger body to force her backward. She took a step back. Another. Her eyes practically danced with challenge and laughter.

One more step and her shoulder blades bumped into the wood siding and peeling paint of the saloon.

He became aware that his chest was heaving. But then, so was hers. She stared up at him, all humor draining from her expression, leaving it abruptly intense. Incendiary.

Every little detail about her registered all at once. The feel of her quick breath on his skin. The fullness of her lower lip and the sweet curve of her upper lip. The smoothness of her cheeks in the red glow of the neon sign overhead. The way her sleeveless, scoop-necked top cupped the fullness of her breasts. The elegantly cut grooves in her shoulders and upper arms delineating lean muscles few women ever achieved. They shouted to him of health and hard work, discipline and a commitment to fitness that was sexy as hell.

He spotted her pulse leaping in her neck, far too fast for her to be as calm as she was acting. He noted the way her chest lifted toward him with each shallow breath, as if she wanted him to cup her breasts in his hands as much as he wanted to do it.

Would she taste as good as she smelled, spicy and sweet…or would she taste like the scotch from before, potent and dark?

An urge to find out nearly overcame him, but at the last second he stopped himself from kissing her.Two words, asshole. Swim. Buddy.

She was his teammate for God’s sake.

Two more words: Off. Limits.

“Last chance. Give me my keys.” His words were a bare murmur, but they left a visible trail of destruction as they brushed across her skin. Goosebumps lifted on her arms, and a shiver passed through her.

“Make me,” she muttered back.

He stared at her, and she stared at him, her gaze as hot as a blowtorch and fully as dangerous. They hovered on the edge of a cliff that, once they jumped off, there would be no coming back from. He ought to back up. Ought to step away. Ought to. But he wasn’t a SEAL for nothing. Danger excited him like nothing else. It made him feelalive.

He braced his hand against the wall beside her head and bent his elbow slowly, bringing his mouth within a few inches of hers.

He shouldn’t do this.

It was madness. But such sexy, hot madness.

Her head tilted slightly to one side, angled to kiss him, and her lips parted a little. His own head tilted the other way a bit, aligning them perfectly for a—

No!

Must not kiss his teammate!

From this distance, he couldn’t miss the desire raging in her gaze. He’d known for most of the past year that she had a thing for him. Hell, he had a thing for her, too. It had never been even a remote possibility, of course.

But now that he was leaving—

No. No. NO!

His brain finished the thought no matter how hard he willed it not to. Now that he was leaving and probably not coming back, what was to stop them from getting together? Even if only for a one-night hook-up?

Surely, they would both feel better if they scratched the constant itch jangling between them. Then they could move on with their lives. Not look back and wonder. No regrets—

Do not be that bastard who beds the girl and deploys in the morning.

But here she was, inches away from him, her lips soft, her body languid with desire, her nipples pebbled up beneath her skimpy shirt, invitation naked in her eyes.

As he stared at her, a whole world of possibilities unfurled in his mind’s eye. Long nights of hot, steamy sex with her. Lazy mornings with her resting in his arms. Hard driving sex, slow, easy lovemaking and everything in between. Hugs of comfort from her, brave smiles of farewell, and blistering passion to welcome him home—

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