Page 9 of Justice for the SEAL
Gemma took the condom from her friend’s hand, looking at it questioningly. “I have a condom in mypurse.”
“It’s probably been there since college.Usemine.”
“Today of all days, you don’t see why this is abadidea?”
“Today of all days is the reason you should do it. You’ve been beating yourself up about Royce for eight years. Eight fucking years, Gemma! Let it go already. You made a mistake. We all make them. But you’ve been living in some sort of prison you made for yourself, and the only time you come out – really come out – is for some publicflagellation.”
Gemma could feel her cheeks heating. “That’snottrue.”
“It is true.” April opened the bathroom door, the music and that tribal beat now filling the ladies’ room. “You need to go andgetlaid.”
Gemma turned and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was falling out of its tame style, auburn curls framing her face. The little makeup she had put on for work had virtually disappeared, save for a light touch of mascara that framed herhazeleyes.
She wasordinary.
Her eyes caught on the little lines fanning out from the corners ofhereyes.
And I’m getting oldasfuck.
Old as fuck and alone. And responsible – oh so responsible! And what did she have to show for it? Really show for it? Her career, of course. Everything had been about her career for so long, she could almost make herself forget she had ever wantedanythingmore.
Butshehad.
A quiet voice deep inside her remembered. She had wanted things she knew now would never be a part of her life. She thought she’d made her peacewiththat.
She was okaywithit.
Except suddenly she wasn’t okay with anything. She wasn’t okay with her tied-up hair, or her white blouse and navy skirt, or the lack of excitement she’d guaranteed with her walk on the straight andnarrow.
She reached up and pulled at the bobby pins that held her hairstyle in place, as if each one represented a decision that had gotten her to this place where she was so afraid of everything, including that guy out there who had probably moved on to somebody elsebynow.
She tucked the condom into her purse and stepped back into the dance club. She pushed past people, no longer concerned when her body brushed theirs. She was part of it now, part of this room and the energy here, but her mind was on the man she left on the dancefloor.
If he really was waiting for her, she would go to him. And whatever would be,wouldbe.
6
It tooka serious amount of willpower for Logan O’Malley to keep his hands on top of Gemma’s clothes during the cab ride back to his apartment. He wanted to explore her skin with a desperate kind of lust he’d rarely experienced. He explored every inch of her body as she stroked the hard ridge of his erection through hisjeans.
He hadn’t expected her to come back, but she had—her hair down and free and curling around her shoulders like a fucking promqueen.
He’d told her the truth when he said she was beautiful, but it had been an untouchable sort of beauty, polished and clean and so far out of his league he almost took himself out of the lineup before he even got up to bat. But when she came back to him, she was beautiful like a pinup. A movie star. A sex goddess. And her eyes told him clearly that was exactly what she wantedtobe.
Who is this woman toRoyce?
He shouldn’t be taking her home without the answer to that question, but he didn’t care half as much as he should. On the contrary, the fact that she had some association with the jarring events of his day seemed predestined. She was meant to be the one he would fucktonight.
His hand fisted in the fabric of her blouse, tugging it free from her skirt and touching the soft skin beneath. Already he had mapped out her body with his fingers and palms, knew the fullness of her breasts and the curve of her hips thatawaitedhim.
She moaned against his mouth as the car made a sharp turn, pressing her more tightly against his body. His eyes flashed to the window, the familiar streetlights telling him they were onlyblocksaway.
ThankGod.
He couldn’t take much more of this woman driving himcrazy.
He’d had a hard-on for nearly two hours and they needed some privacy before he stripped this woman bare and fucked her in the back ofataxi.
They pulled up to the curb and he hastily paid the driver, knowing he was tipping too much but refusing to wait for change. He pulled Gemma behind him into the building, yanked open the elevator gate and nearly pushed herinside.
