Page 30 of Justice for the SEAL
“The age difference doesn’tbotherme.”
“You’re not the one everyone would refer toasold.”
“Hey.” He turned her around to face him. “I like you. I think you like me, too. There’s something goodbetweenus.”
She lifted wary eyes to his. “It’sjustsex.”
“It could be more, if you wanted ittobe.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry, Logan. This isn’t going to work. You must see that. And even if I weren’t, I can’t deal with a relationship right now. Not in the middle of the worst few days ofmylife.”
He nodded. “Come on. We need to go back to my place. It isn’tsafehere.”
She hung her head and covered her eyes with her hand. She didn’t trust herself at his apartment, but knew he wasright.
“You can have the guest room,”hesaid.
“Okay. Now I just need to have enough resolve to actually sleepinit.”
17
“Come on,you son of a bitch, show me what you’ve got.” Logan changed the resolution parameters on the computer program. He’d scanned in the photo of the license plate from the truck outside Gemma’s apartment, and was trying to get his computer to sharpen the image by making smart choices about the next pixel in line. So far, all he’d gotten was fuzzygibberish.
Without that plate number, he had no way of learning who was watchingGemma.
She was sleeping in the guest room after an especially quiet drive over to his apartment, and he was doing his damnedest not to thinkabouther.
Why did it bother him so much that she didn’t want to date him? He already had her attention in bed. Did he really need her to say she wanted morefromhim?
The problem isn’t sex. The problem is you want to hold her while she’s sleeping almost a much as you want to fuck hersenseless.
He sighedloudly.
He waspathetic.
With fast fingers he copied the image layer and tweaked the algorithm again, as if solving the license plate problem was as good as solving the problem ofGemma.
Lots of women liked younger men, but she seemed to think his age was a liability. His eyes went to the guest room door which had been closed for the better part of an hour andahalf.
Clearly, she wasn’t coming back out to tell him she’d changed her mind, and could she please sleep next to him tonight. He pulled his eyes back to his computer screen and made more minor adjustments, copied for imagelayers.
He stayed awake until his eyes were crossed just staring at the screen, because that way he could put off making a decision about Gemmatonight.
He stood and put his hands on his hips, staring at the guest room door for a long moment. “Fuck it.” He took off his glasses, plugged in the computer so it would keep working, and pulled his shirt overhishead.
He rapped lightly onherdoor.
Noresponse.
He tried the handle, pleased to find it open, and crawled in bed behind her. He put his arm around her midsection, the smell of her freshly-washed hair surroundinghisface.
He could tell the moment she woke up, her body stiffening. “If you want me to leave, justsayso.”
She threaded her fingers through his, her body relaxing once more, her breath deepening until he thought she wasasleep.
“It’s too easy to like you,” she saidquietly.
He nuzzled her back, inhaling her scent through his T-shirt. “It’s too hard to stay awayfromyou.”
